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Infotainment 14 DWARF PLANET MAKEMAKE examined for the first time
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STRONOMERS have obtained an important first look at the dwarf planet Makemake - finding it has no atmosphere. One of five such dwarfs in our Solar System including former planet Pluto, Makemake had until now eluded study. But in April 2011, it passed between the Earth and a distant star, and astronomers used seven telescopes to study how the star's light was changed. A report in Nature outlines how they unpicked Makemake's size, lack of atmosphere, and even its density. Few battles in the astronomy community are as fierce as the one surrounding the demotion of the planet Pluto from planet status in 2006 to one of what the International Astronomical Union then dubbed
“dwarf planets”. Pluto shares the category with four other little worlds: Ceres, Haumea, Eris and Makemake. Now Makemake has come under scrutiny by an international team led by Jose Luis Ortiz of the Andalucian Institute of Astrophysics in Spain, making use of seven different telescopes across Brazil and Chile. They watched as the dwarf planet blocked the light of distant star Nomad 1181-0235723, only for about one minute. The dwarf was known to be about two-thirds the size of Pluto, but the team put the measurement on a firmer footing, measuring it to be not quite spherical - about 1,430km across in one direction and 1,500km across the other. The team estimates that Makemake has a density of 1.7 grams per cubic
centimetre (similar to that of Pluto, but still less than a third that of Earth) - but the key test was that of the dwarf planet's atmosphere. “As Makemake passed in front of the star and blocked it out, the star disappeared and reappeared very abruptly, rather than fading and brightening gradually,” said Dr Ortiz. “This means that the little dwarf planet has no significant atmosphere. It was thought that Makemake had a good chance of having developed an atmosphere - that it has no sign of one at all shows just how much we have yet to learn about these mysterious bodies. “Finding out about Makemake's properties for the first time is a big step forward in our study of the select club of icy dwarf planets.” neWS DeSK
Dogs learn language differently to humans
New Zealand volcano ‘good for tourists’
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he volcanic activity on New Zealand’s North Island may ultimately do more to lure tourists than deter them, local tourist officials have claimed. Mount Tongariro, which stands alongside the peak that featured as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings, erupted for five minutes on November 21, sending a plume of ash and gas more than a mile into the air. Several flights were cancelled as a result. Experts say there is a “significant possibility” the volcano will erupt again, but the news is not discouraging locals, the New Zealand Times reports. Mike Smith of Visit Ruapehu, the official tourism organisation for the area, said: “For now we're in the spotlight, and sometimes that can turn out to be a positive”. “If it’s short term, which we all hope it is, then these things have a funny way of working out in a positive way. “If it’s longer term, and particularly over a number of weeks, then it’s more challenging.” Since the eruption, flights have resumed and a travel advisory for the area has been lifted – although the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the best known local trek, is closed until the weekend while the risk of further volcanic activity is assessed. Another local mayor was also optimistic about the eruptions, saying that it was “great …to be promoted on the world stage.” Mount Tongariro is one of three active volcanoes in Tongariro National Park, which were used as a backdrop for the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy. It previously erupted in August, for the first time in 115 years. It would not be the first time a natural disaster has boosted visitor numbers. The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland in 2010 – which caused widespread disruption to flights – ultimately attracted many visitors hoping for a glimpse of the country’s volatile natural powers. Research carried out by First Choice suggested that incoming travellers to Iceland were boosted by 12 per cent later that year, despite an initial dip. On an intriguing infographic, it argued that natural disasters can have “interesting and counter-intuitive” effects on tourism. neWS DeSK
While many dog-owners may marvel at their pet’s human-like ability to understand new words; research by scientists at the University of Lincoln, UK, suggests that dogs learn words in a fundamentally different way to us. Dogs have long been thought to learn new words in a similar way to humans; using an object’s shape such as ‘round’ for a ball, to associate words with objects. The importance of shape in human objectrecognition is known as ‘shape-bias’. However, when dogs are learning the name of a new object, researchers found that they associate the word to the object based first on its size and secondly on its texture, rather than on its shape. “A number of recent studies have suggested that the domestic dog's word comprehension is human-like. Arguments have been made to refute this claim but until now there has been no clear empirical evidence to resolve the debate,” says Dr Emilie van der Zee, a psychologist and co-author of the paper published in the journal PLOS ONE. “Our findings bring a fundamental new insight into this discussion and add to our understanding of the cognitive equipment necessary for true human word learning.” The researchers worked
with a five-year old border collie called Gable, using a series of challenges to test his word comprehension abilities. New objects and new object names were introduced by holding the object in view and sounding out the object name several times. Gable was then given the opportunity to play with the object while the word was repeated again. Researchers tested his knowledge of the new word by asking him to retrieve the object on its own, followed by picking it out of a line-up of familiar toys. Gable appeared to make distinctions based first on the object’s size, then on texture, after he had longer to become familiar with the new object. The shape of the new toy appeared to have no influence on his language-association. The study sheds further light on language abilities in other species and how they communicate with humans. The researchers believe that how word-knowledge is developed in dogs and how it works in reference to objects is fundamentally different to these processes in humans. The idea that dogs learn words in a very different way to us could advance our understanding of how languages first developed in humans. neWS DeSK
Lifetime of tea drinking can reduce risk of ovarian cancer
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lifetime of tea drinking can significantly reduce the risk of ovarian cancer in later life, according to the results of a new medical study. Women who begin drinking tea at a young age and drink the beverage more often are less likely to get the disease, which affects around 7,000 Britons a year. The results of the study were published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology and have been welcomed by the Tea Advisory Panel. Health experts conducted a two-year study of 1,000 women with an average age of 59, half of which were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, while a controlled group of 500 were free of the disease. They were questioned about their tea drinking habits from how often they made a cup, what kind of tea they drank and when they first started. The researchers discovered that the women without cancer were more likely to be tea drinkers from an earlier age than those diagnosed with the illness. But even within tea drinkers in both groups, those who did not have cancer had been drinking tea for longer and, on average, consumed more cups a day than the others. Researchers from the School of Public Health, Curtin University in Perth, Australia, carried out the study on 1,000 women living in southern China. Of the two groups, 79 per cent of women not diagnosed with cancer were tea drinkers compared to 51 per cent who have or have had the disease. They found that flavonoids, powerful compounds with strong disease-fighting properties, were found in black tea in particular. Previous studies have suggested that adding milk does not weaken their effect. Study co-author Dr Andy Lee said: “Tea is a safe and inexpensive beverage. Its consumption should be encouraged because of the potential benefit in preventing this common and deadly disease for women.” Dr Catherine Hood, of the Tea Advisory Panel, said studies had shown that flavonoids have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and reduce the growth of body cells. “Overall this new study adds to the evidence base linking tea consumption with reduced risk of ovarian cancer,” she said. “This is good news for British women among whom tea is a very popular beverage.” The study suggests it is not just the occasional cuppa that might help but a long term habit of drinking four or more cups a day. It shows almost 40 per cent of the non-diagnosed women drank four or more cups a day compared with 22 per cent of the other group. They were also more likely to have been drinking tea for longer – an average of 22.7 years for the non-diagnosed group compared to 18.3 years the others. neWS DeSK
Australian scientists claim South Pacific Island does not exist at all
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USTRALIAN scientists from the University of Sydney discovered in the third week of November 2012 that the South Pacific Island which is located between Australia and New Caledonia in South Pacific is not in existence. The island is shown on the marine charts, world maps as well as Google Earth, but in reality it has no existence. Geologists from the University of Sydney became suspicious about its existence when navigation charts which are used by ships showed 1400 metres depth in the area while the scientific maps as well as Google Earth showed large island at that place. When the geologists sailed through the place, they found nothing except the blue ocean. The error had broadcasted through to world coastline database, which is responsible for making a lot of maps. It is notable that the island which does not exist at all has also appeared in the scientific publications since 2000. No one has an idea how island appears on a lot of maps. neWS DeSK
Saturday, 24 November, 2012