Zark's

What is Best of Show?

Whenever I am teaching and begin to deviate from the planned course material, I always issue a warning that we are going off the traveled path and things might get a bit bumpy, if not downright unpredictable.  Such is today - so buckle up.

Last night I sat through my youngest son's high school graduation and was particularly intrigued by a young artist's accolades.  She had accumulated a number of "Best of Shows" throughout her high school career.  I am accustomed to athletic awards such as State Champions, World Series Champions, etc., but Best of Show?

Since the phrase intrigues me, it should be a tip-off that I have never won Best of Show.  Perhaps that explains this emptiness that I feel - just kidding.  But seriously, how many people in the world have never won Best of Show?

What motivates the masses of the world when we never have a chance of being "Best of Show" ?  Do we vicariously become 'Best of Show' through our sports, movie, and music heroes?  Is that healthy?  Is is different than earlier in history?

How Safe is Food Irradiation?

Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation in order to kill bacteria and other organisms.  A product of the 1950s, when atomic energy was the silver bullet for everything, food irradiation is commonplace in the world's food supply chain.  Something that has always nagged at me - we know that ionizing radiation such as gamma rays or x-rays damage DNA.  So why is not ingesting food with damaged DNA harmful?  I have no data to support this unease, but it still bugs me.

Irradiation of Food and Food Packaging on the U.S. FDA website has several pamphlets regarding irradiation. In 1963, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the irradiation of food to be safe. It also declares that irradiation makes meat and poultry safer by reducing the numbers of harmful bacteria and parasites. The conclusion is that irradiation is an important food safety tool in fighting foodborne illness.  Eating like an astronaut: our six-course space food taste explains that NASA prepared irradiated meats for the astronauts.  (In case you are interested, the authors considered the lunch enjoyable.)

Cat-food irradiation banned as pet theory proved tells that Australia has just ceased a mandated policy of irradiating pet food.  Over 90 cats last year were determined to have developed neurological damage after eating irradiated pet food.  Curiously dogs have not exhibited similar symptoms.  Mmm.  Why all of a sudden after irradiation has been used for decades?  There is a lot of noise out there - it is hard to determine what is truth.

The Mysterious Black Hole

A black hole is the ultimate Hotel California - once you check in, you can never leave.  The event horizon is the tipping point.  Any object approaching closer than the event horizon is destined to meet the singularity inside the black hole.  The spherical boundary, the event horizon depends upon the size of the black hole.  The gravitation of a black hole is no stronger than its comparable mass of a normal star or object.

Black Hole FAQ tells that a black hole the mass of our sun would be only 4.3 miles in diameter.  If the sun suddenly transformed into a black hole, the solar system would not be sucked into the black hole.  Everything would continue orbiting something now very dark.  The gravity inside the black hole is so intense that the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light.  Since photons travel at the speed of light, they can never leave the black hole.

However, black holes do leak.  Hawking radiation is a thermal radiation emitted by black holes.  First described by Stephen Hawking, black holes have non-zero temperature and entropy.  This means that they emit energy and can evaporate over googles of time.

'Ghost' Remains After Black Hole Eruption explains that the X-ray observatory Chandra has imaged the residual x-rays after a black hole emission.  The black hole is over 10 billion light years away and the emission took place only 3 billion years after the formation of the universe.  The ghost is shown in the picture below.

 

Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.)

Chandra has imaged black hole eruptions before.  Most powerful eruption in the universe describes an eruption imaged by the X-ray observatory in 2005.  This eruption had been in process for 100 million years.  Conjecture is that the black hole was swallowing more mass than it could absorb, so it ejected the mass before it was eternally captured.

World Energy Use Projected to Grow 44 Percent

The Energy Information Administration released new estimates on world energy consumption.  Between 2006 and 2030, consumption is projected to increase by 44%.  Their reference case assumes oil at $110 barrel in 2015 and $130 barrel in 2013.  (Mmm.  I thought we hit peak oil in Spring 2008.  I assert those prices are way, way, low unless we stay in this economic winter until 2030.)

Worldwide energy consumption will increase from 175 quadrillion BTU in 2006 to 246 quadrillion BTU.  94% of the growth will occur in the emerging and developing economies.  Greenhouse gases will only increase by 39% due to 'greener' technologies.  Below I show the projected increase in energy by fuel type.

 

From International Energy Outlook by the Energy Information Administration

Note that the slope is greater for fossil fuels (particularly coal) than either nuclear or renewables.  Secretary Chu joins with world leaders explains the G8 - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States have formed the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). "This partnership can help lead the world toward greater energy efficiency," Secretary Chu said. "It will facilitate greater cooperation on our shared goals: a healthier planet and a stronger global economy."  

An additional report just released tells that U.S. civilian nuclear power stations purchased 53 million pounds of uranium at an average price of $45.88 per pound during 2008.  The discouraging news is that only 14% was domestic production - the other 86% was purchased from foreign countries including Russia, Brazil, Australia, and Canada.

The graph above shows we have to either: a) develop a new source of energy, or b) find a way to economically implement carbon capture.  Neither are easy.

What Makes Us Age?

The theme from Fame shouts out, "I am going to live forever!"

But we don't and cannot.  It is not just us humans or other living organisms, the universe itself stretches.  Dark energy is repelling the very pieces of the universe apart.  Structure is being destroyed as we breathe.  We see the real-time confirmation of increasing entropy when we walk along the beach.  The sandcastles built so carefully by children and their parents will not survive the next high tide.

But we want to live forever.  Wiki tells us that aging for humans is multidimensional - physical, psychological, and social.  Long before Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida for the Fountain of Youth in 1513, mankind has been searching for some way to stop the aging process.  Researchers have identified the shortening of the telomeres as a contributor to aging.  These are regions of repeated DNA near the end of the chromosomes which signal the DNA reproductive mechanism to stop reproducing.

Scientists discover genes that slow ageing process tells that new research has identified additional secrets.  Genetic engineering of protein components of insulin and related pathways has extended lifespans of other organisms.  In particular, mutations of an insulin-like growth factor lgf1, can result in longer lives.  A common finding of several studies is dietary restriction - a simple reduction of caloric intake results in longer lifespans.

Why chimps, monkeys, don't develop Alzheimer's promises to help all of the aging boomers worried about that devastating neurological disorder.  Curiously researchers have discovered that a molecule that readily tags the plaque in older human brains will not tag the plaque in apes and monkeys.  (For some background on the plaque, see Restoring memories after Alzheimer's disease.)  Researchers are attempting to discover why the plaques are different.  But it does affirm the accuracy of Pittsburgh Compound B (PIB) for diagnosing Alzheimer's.

Cruise the downhill side of age 40 reminds us that 40 years old is the tipping point.  You are less likely to die from a traffic accident than from disease or lifestyle.  Sigh.  Meanwhile, I cannot get that catchy tune from Fame out of my head - I am going to live forever!

Alternatives in Hydrogen Fusion

In Hydrogen fusion without a tokamak, I described activity at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory that bombards a deutrium fuel pellet with energy from a powerful laser. The implosion overcomes the electrostatic repulsion of the two hydrogen nuclei, which both have a positive charge. The National Ignition Facility belongs in a James Bond movie with all of the lasers and associated power supplies.

Physicist's findings attract notice in scientific community is a low-key headline describing Friedwardt Winterberg's research on thermonuclear explosions.  The information on the experiments dating back 39 years provides alternatives to the Lawrence Livermore project. The physicist at the University of Nevada - Reno explains that only 10% of the energy produced by the laser approach is fusion, with the other 90% produced by nuclear fission, which produces radioactive byproducts. His approach is to use billion-volt discharges into deutrium.

A revolutionary concept for fusion energy describes some of Winterberg's concepts in greater detail.  Instead of using pulses from a laser array, periodic high-voltage pulses trigger microexplosions.  A military hydrogen bomb releases perhaps 10 millions tons of TNT energy, but the microexplosions are the equivalent of 55 pounds of TNT.  In contrast to the huge energy expenditure of the National Ignition Facilty, Winterberg's concept would only require the energy of 25 grams of TTNT.

Looking at the Moon

While performing research for my next book, I happened to find a way-cool picture of the moon which I downloaded from NASA and cropped for this posting.  It shows the Earth and moon from deep space, captured by Deep Impact.

NASA - Photograph of the Earth and Moon from Deep Impact

Wiki tells us the distance from the Earth to the moon is about 30 Earth diameters.  (It would take 142 days to reach the moon, traveling at 70 miles per hour.)  Wiki also explains that the moon's own rotation period almost exactly matches the orbit time around the earth.  Hence, the same side of the moon always faces the earth.  It is believed that frictional forces with the Earth's tides over millennium resulted in the synchronization.

Earth's moon tells that the light areas visible on the surface are called the highlands, whereas the darker areas are called maria.  The latter are volcanic basins resulting from large impacts.  The moon is still believed to have a molten core, although much smaller percentage-wise than the Earth.  Seismometers have detected quakes, probably caused by the Earth's gravitational forces.  Small magnetic fields have been detected, but nothing as strong as the Earth.

Over 70 spacecraft have been launched to the moon and 12 astronauts have walked on the surface.  It is a little less than 2200 miles in diameter and has only 1% of the earth's mass.  The surface area is about the same as Canada, Russia, and the United States combined.

Whenever I think of the moon, I remember a quotation by Jim Lovell in the movie, Apollo 13. "I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?"  

Department of Energy With Steven Chu

Steven Chu is the 12th Secretary of Energy for the United States.  (The DOE was created in 1977 in response to the 1973 energy crisis.)  The guy is talented - perhaps qualifying as a renaissance man.  Before selection by the new administration, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and professor of Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California.  Steven also won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1997. 

Time has a video interview of Dr. Chu that I encourage viewing.  I am impressed by his simplicity and practicality.  To tackle our immediate dependency upon foreign energy, Steven is reaching for low-hanging fruit such as improving efficiency.  He notes that today's refrigerators require only 25% of the energy required of the mid 1970s models.  That energy reduction is greater than all of the wind and solar energy produced by the United States.

He is advocating a smart grid that will reduce the excess capacity needed to handle peak energy usage.  Over 99% of the time, 10% of our national power generation capability is idle.  By better control and management, the investment of billions of dollars of new generation equipment can be avoided.  Similar to the energy reduction of refrigerators, he is pressing for more efficient use of energy in commercial and residential buildings.

I wrote recently about Dr. Chu's 2010 budget that deleted research funding for hydrogen cars.  As captured in Hydrogen cars get thumbs down from Steven Chu, ”We’re going to be moving away from hydrogen-fuel cells for vehicles,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “We asked ourselves, is it likely in the next 10 or 15, or even 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy? The answer, we felt, was no.” 

This is a gutsy call - one made from study, analysis, and a lifetime in engineering and science.  He is making a similar adjustment for carbon sequestration.  Dr. Chu has personally spoken about the undesirability of coal, but practicality has resulted in $2.4 billion boost for carbon capture and storage tech.  The developing world is going to burn coal and we need to develop technology that will keep them from choking the rest of the world with carbon dioxide.  Also, if successful, the United States has the world's largest coal reserves - a treasure of potential economical energy.

I assert that our global economic winter was triggered by spring 2008's exorbitant energy costs.  Granted, the financial system was a mess, but the trigger was the oil shock.  (As I was attempting to complete Butterflies Escape, I had to continually refactor the novel because many of the story threads became realized.)  The world's future is dependent upon developing sustainable energy.  With Dr. Chu, I believe we have the right leadership for it.

Looking Into the Skies for Brown Dwarfs

Wiki tells us that brown dwarfs are stars that were never large enough to initiate a sustainable hydrogen fusion cycle inside their core.  Unless the mass is sufficient, there is too little gravity to compact the hydrogen atoms for hydrogen fusion.  In Earth laboratories, researchers attempt to compensate for the low hydrogen density with temperatures more than ten times greater than our sun.

X-rays found from a lightweight brown dwarf adds that the mass limit for a self-sustaining hydrogen fusion cycle is about 80 times the mass of Jupiter.  Although described as 'failed' stars, they are far from inactive.  Sometimes they have frenetic magnetic fields that heat their atmospheres to over a million degrees Celsius.  Their energy is derived from the continued collapse of gas that originally promoted their formation.

NASA explains that brown dwarfs have 15-75 times the mass of Jupiter and have all been detected in binary systems where two stars orbit around each other.  An interesting thought is that since brown dwarfs radiate very little light, perhaps they could account for some of the missing mass in the universe now currently allocated to dark energy and dark matter.

Brown Dwarf Detectives tells that the first brown dwarf was not discovered until 1995, although it possible they are more of them than radiating suns.  Detection is through infrared spectrometry.  Because the hydrogen fusion cycle is missing, their heat signature is faint, and we can only detect them to about 100 light years from Earth.  (The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected one at 180 light years.)  The spectrum does reveal water, or superheated steam on the brown dwarfs, unlike conventional stars. 

How Much Junk Does Your DNA Carry Around?

Wiki tells us that 95% of the human genome is considered junk.  Pity the Amoeba dubia that has a genome 200 times larger than humans, but I digress.  The Human Genome Project explains that humans have approximately 25,000 - 30,000 genes, with 3.3E9 base pairs.  (Recall a base pair is two nucleotides on opposite DNA strands that are connected with hydrogen bonds.)

A really cool website is the Chromosome Viewer which allows you to select a chromosome (remember there are 24, counting both X and Y).  For example, chromosome 11 has 144 million bases.  Diseases or conditions associated with this chromosome include breast cancer, lung cancer, sickle cell anemia, and many, many, others. 

The genome faq also tells that the nucleus of most human cells contains two sets of chromosomes.  One set originating from each parent (unless a clone). Each set has 23 single chromosomes--22 autosomes and an X or Y sex chromosome. A normal female will have a pair of X chromosomes; a male will have an X and Y pair.  Also, I meant to mention this a couple of days ago with Damaging our DNA.  We begin life with about 100 gene mutations from our parents, or about 50 differences from each parent.

If you feel like a short science lesson, explore Genomics 101, a primer.  It reminds us that genes are specific sequences of base pairs that contain the instructions for generating unique proteins.  A chromosome is a physically separate molecule of DNA that contains anywhere from 50 million to 250 million base pairs.

Back to junk DNA.  Discovery of important role for junk DNA explains that researchers suspect all of those unused base pairs are different at the very beginning of the cell's life.  Studying a pond organism, they observed that proteins called transposases rearrange hundreds of thousands of pieces of DNA.  Then when no longer needed, the transposases are effectively 'erased' from the DNA memory.

So perhaps your DNA is not carrying around 'junk' after all.