Mystery bug found in Antarctica's Lake Vostok

There is something alive in Lake Vostok, deep beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet, and we don't know what it is. Water samples from the lake contain a bacterium that does not seem to belong to any known bacterial groups ? although whether it truly is a new form of life remains to be proven.

Russian scientists breached Lake Vostok in February 2012, after years of drilling. The lake lies beneath 3.5 kilometres of ice, and has been cut off from the rest of the world since Antarctica froze 14 million years ago.

The Russians' borehole was filled with lubricating kerosene, which contains bacteria ? causing concerns that the lake might be contaminated. But the project seems to have avoided this. When the drill hit the lake, it automatically withdrew in response to the pressure change. Lake water gushed into the borehole, pushing the kerosene up the hole before freezing.

Since last May, Sergey Bulat of the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in Russia and colleagues have been studying the water that froze onto the drill bit. "The samples proved to be very dirty," he says, with lots of kerosene. Preliminary genetic analyses reported last October found bacteria from the drilling fluid, not the lake.

Bulat has now gone back to the DNA samples. Comparing their DNA sequences to a database of known contaminants, he identified short fragments of DNA belonging to 19 different known bacterial species. "All of them proved to be contaminants, or bacteria from human skin," says Bulat.

More unusual

A twentieth species is more unusual. The genetic samples show less than 86 per cent similarity to the known major groups of bacteria. That could mean it belongs to an entirely new division, says Bulat, although he concedes that it could just be a new species.

"This is encouraging, but we don't really know much about it," says David Pearce of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. He says it would have been surprising if there hadn't been life in Lake Vostok, as organisms manage to survive in all manner of extreme environments. More interesting, he says, is what the life in Vostok looks like, and how different it is to everything else on Earth.

Pearce has studied samples from Lake Hodgson, which lies beneath just a few metres of ice in west Antarctica. He says 25 per cent of the genetic sequences he has found do not match anything found in DNA databases. So on its own, having an unusual DNA sequence does not prove that the Vostok bacterium belongs to a new group. There's a long list of systematic tests that will need to be carried out in order to prove that.

The results must also be independently replicated, says Martin Siegert of the University of Bristol, UK, who led an unsuccessful attempt to drill into another Antarctic lake - Ellsworth - last year.

Sediment life

If the bacterium does belong to a new group, it will quickly come under scrutiny. "The next question is, where does it come from?" says Siegert. Researchers think life is most likely in the sediments at the lake bottom, where there is food. But if Bulat's bacterium came from the sediment in Lake Vostok, it must have been sucked up through 700 metres of lake water when the Russian drill head broke through the icy roof above Vostok.

"The only way to find out is to go into the lake itself and do direct sampling," says Siegert. Robots could collect lake water and sediment.

American researchers recently drilled into Lake Whillans, a shallower subglacial lake that is connected to a subglacial network of lakes and rivers, and also found living microbes.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/295b7ad9/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn232530Emystery0Ebug0Efound0Ein0Eantarcticas0Elake0Evostok0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

bo jackson bo jackson hanukkah justin tv justin tv Sarah Savage Jaimie Alexander

Astronomers find 'lost' supernova

Mar. 7, 2013 ? The star Eta Carinae is ready to blow. 170 years ago, this 100-solar-mass object belched out several suns' worth of gas in an eruption that made it the second-brightest star after Sirius. That was just a precursor to the main event, since it will eventually go supernova.

Supernova explosions of massive stars are common in spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, where new stars are forming all the time. They are almost never seen in elliptical galaxies where star formation has nearly ceased. As a result, astronomers were surprised to find a young-looking supernova in an old galaxy. Supernova PS1-12sk, discovered with the Pan-STARRS telescope on Haleakala, is rare in more ways than one.

"This supernova is one-of-a-kind," said Nathan Sanders of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), lead author of the discovery paper. "And it's definitely in the wrong neighborhood."

Based on the presence of helium and other features, PS1-12sk is classified as a very rare Type Ibn supernova -- only the sixth such example found out of thousands of supernovae. Although the origin of this supernova type is unclear, the most likely cause seems to be the explosion of a massive star that previously ejected massive amounts of helium gas, much like Eta Carinae's Homunculus Nebula.

That origin was supported by the fact that the five previous Type Ibn supernovae were all found in galaxies like the Milky Way that are actively forming stars. (Since massive stars don't live long, they don't stray far from where they are born before exploding.)

PS1-12sk is different. It was found on the outskirts of a bright elliptical galaxy located about 780 million light-years from Earth. The site of the explosion shows no signs of recent star formation, and a supernova from a massive star has never before been seen in a galaxy of this type.

"It could be that we simply got very lucky with this discovery. But luck favors the prepared," said second author Alicia Soderberg of the CfA.

The finding suggests that the host galaxy might be hiding a star factory, allowing it to form massive stars where none were expected. Alternatively, PS1-12sk might have an entirely different origin such as a collision of two white dwarfs, one of which was helium-rich.

"Is this a runaway star from another star formation site? Is it a very local bit of star formation? Is it a different way for such a supernova to occur? None of these seems very likely so we have a real puzzle," said co-author John Tonry (University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy).

The research has been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/EUdVETpriTM/130307161634.htm

road conditions newt gingrich wives at last al green gina carano burger king delivery etta james at last

Ali Landry Is Expecting Third Baby!

Ali Landry is adding a third child to her growing family! Plus, see more stars who are expecting

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/pregnant-celebrity-photos-look-whos-popping/1-b-18178?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Apregnant-celebrity-photos-look-whos-popping-18178

kathy ireland brooke mueller all star weekend undercover boss barbara walters tupelo honey limp bizkit

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg urges women to 'lean in'

Gregory Bull / AP

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's new book, "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," will be released on Monday.

By Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

NEW YORK - For a book that has yet to be released, Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" ? part feminist manifesto, part how-to career guide ? has got a lot of people talking.

In the weeks leading up to the book's release on Monday, pundits and press hounds have been debating its merits. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called Sandberg a "PowerPoint Pied Piper in Prada ankle boots," and countless bloggers have suggested that Facebook's chief operating officer is the wrong person to lead a women's movement.?

---

"Most of the criticism has to do with the position she is coming from," said Susan Yohn, professor and chair of Hofstra University's history department.

Sandberg, 43, hopes that her message of empowerment won't be obscured by the lofty pedestal from which she speaks. But is the multi-millionaire with two Harvard degrees too rich to offer advice? Too successful? Does her blueprint for success ignore the plight of poor and working-class women? Does the book's very premise blame women for not rising to top corporate positions at the same rate as men?

And just how big is her house?

The questions keep coming largely because few people have actually read the book. But in it, Sandberg seems to have foreseen much of the criticism. The book acknowledges that critics might discount her feminist call to action with an easy-for-her-to-say shrug.

"My hope is that my message will be judged on its merits," she writes in the preamble.

Sandberg recognizes that parts of the book are targeted toward women who are in a position to make decisions about their careers. Still, she writes, "we can't avoid this conversation. This issue transcends all of us. The time is long overdue to encourage more women to dream the possible dream and encourage more men to support women in the workforce and in the home."

Published by Alfred A. Knopf Inc., "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" will be launched Thursday with a reception in New York City hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Arianna Huffington.

It's true that Sandberg is wealthy. She also has a supportive husband. Mark Zuckerberg is her boss. And, yes, her home in Menlo Park, Calif., has 9,000 square feet.

But as a woman in Silicon Valley, Sandberg hasn't exactly had it easy, and her tale shows she's no armchair activist. After all, not many women would march into their boss' office and demand special parking for expectant mothers. But Sandberg did just that when she worked at Google. Company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin complied.

After Sandberg moved to Facebook in 2008, she became even more outspoken on the issues facing women in corporate America. At a time when other executives, male or female, have largely stayed quiet, Sandberg has delivered speeches on topics such as "Why we have too few women leaders."

And she's no workaholic. In an age of endless work hours, Sandberg is famous for leaving the office at 5:30 to spend time with her family. She does admit, however, to picking up work once her kids have gone to bed.

Of the many inspirational slogans that hang on Facebook's walls, her favorite asks "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" "Lean In" is about pushing past fear.

"Fear is at the root of so many of the barriers that women face," she writes. "Fear of not being liked. Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of drawing negative attention. Fear of overreaching. Fear of being judged. Fear of failure. And the holy trinity of fear: the fear of being a bad mother/wife/daughter."

Sandberg peppers the book with studies, reports and personal anecdotes to back up her premise ? that for reasons both in and out of their control, there are fewer woman leaders than men in the business world and beyond. For example, the Fortune 500 has only 21 female CEOs. Sandberg is among the 14 percent of women who hold executive officer positions and the 16 percent of women who hold board of director seats, according to Catalyst.org.

For minority women, the numbers are even bleaker. Women of color, she writes, hold just 4 percent of top corporate jobs and 3 percent of board seats.

"A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes. I believe that this would be a better world," she writes. "The laws of economics and many studies of diversity tell us that if we tapped the entire pool of human resources and talent, our collective performance would improve."

At less than 200 pages, plus a good chunk of footnotes, "Lean In" does not purport to be the end-all solution to inequality. It deals with issues Sandberg sees as in women's control.

"Don't leave before you leave" is one of her catchphrases, aimed at successful women who gradually drop out of the workforce in anticipation of children they may someday bear. "Make your partner a real partner" is another. She says everyone should encourage men to "lean in" at home by being equal partners in parenting and housework.

"Lean In" is, by and large, for women who are looking to climb the corporate ladder (which Sandberg calls a jungle gym), and ideally their male supporters. She hopes it's the start of a conversation. To that end, Sandberg plans to donate all of the proceeds to her newly minted nonprofit, LeanIn.org.

Sandberg's book shares personal details that reveal a fair share of stumbles and lesser-known tidbits. Did you know she was an aerobics instructor in the 1980s ?big hair, silver leotard and all? The book paints a picture of an exceptionally successful woman who admits to lacking confidence at various points in her career.

Sandberg writes about the "ambition gap" between men and women in the workplace ? that while men are expected to be driven, ambition in women can be seen as negative. She writes about parents' gender-based approaches to child rearing that teach girls to be "pretty like mommy" and boys "smart like daddy," as she's seen on baby onesies sold at Gymboree.

And she writes about "feeling like a fraud" ? that insidious notion, felt largely by women but men as well, that success is due not to one's own merit but to some sort of gross oversight or accident.

Sandberg's book comes half a century after Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique," which identified "the problem that has no name" among largely white, suburban housewives who felt unhappy and unfulfilled in their roles at home. Friedan, too, was criticized for focusing on a privileged swath of womankind.

In a recent critical piece on Sandberg's movement, Michael Kazin wrote in the New Republic that, like Friedan, Sandberg, "also seems primarily concerned with the economics of gender. But there's a key difference: Friedan didn't share a view from the corporate boardroom."

Kazin's barbs echo most of the book's pre-release criticism. But some writers have gone further. In a Washington Post op-ed, Melissa Gira Grant dismissed Sandberg's "Lean In" movement as "simply the elite leading the slightly-less-elite, for the sake of Sandberg's bottom line." Dowd wrote that she believes "Sandberg has co-opted the vocabulary and romance of a social movement not to sell a cause, but herself."

In the end, "Lean In" is a call to action to make it easier for women to become leaders. It's a call for women to take space at the table, raise their hands, speak up and step up. It's a personal account of a woman who, through a mix of talent, luck and ambition, but also with plenty of internal and external obstacles along the way, managed to do that.

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, whom Sandberg thanks in the acknowledgements and cites as inspiration, praises "Lean In" on her Facebook page, saying that it "addresses internalized oppression, opposes external barriers that create it and urges women to support each other to fight both."

She adds that even the book's critics "are making a deep if inadvertent point: Only in women is success viewed as a barrier to giving advice."

Related content:

?

?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/03/07/17226247-facebooks-sheryl-sandberg-urges-women-to-lean-in-in-new-book?lite

twin towers gizmodo cnet iPhone 5 9-11 Chris Brown Tattoo Innocence of Muslims

NATO chief backs larger Afghan force through 2018

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan's president got reassurance Tuesday that NATO intends to backstop his troubled nation's security long beyond 2014, after NATO's chief endorsed keeping Afghanistan's security forces at the current strength for years to come.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told The Associated Press that keeping the Afghan force larger for longer is more cost effective, and it would be more acceptable to Afghans than foreign soldiers.

He spoke after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Monday.

"From the political point of view, it is better to give the defense ... an Afghan face, and from an economic point of view, it's less expensive to finance Afghan security forces than to send foreign troops," he said Tuesday as he toured a NATO base in Helmand province.

Fogh Rasmussen was commenting on a proposal favored by the Afghan government ? and debated by NATO ministers in Brussels last month ? to keep 352,000 Afghans in uniform through 2018. NATO is due to turn over security duties to local forces next year and pull out most of its troops. Fogh Rasmussen said most troops in Helmand have already traded combat patrols for advising the Afghans as they do the fighting.

The Afghan army has grown to 184,676 soldiers and the country's police force numbers 146,339 officers, just short of the planned 352,000 total, according to figures shared by NATO this week.

NATO had planned to shrink that combined force to 230,000 next year, but U.S. military and Afghan officials have both suggested keeping the Afghan security forces at their higher "surge" numbers to deal with an expected Taliban onslaught as foreign forces leave.

The "surge" refers to a temporary U.S.-led increase in troops in 2010, aimed at dealing a decisive blow to insurgents, and also to a parallel increase in numbers of Afghan security forces trained and armed by NATO.

The concern for Afghans is that after the NATO drawdown, their green troops could be overrun, and the country plunged back into civil war. Americans worry that the Taliban would use the chaos to regain power, defeating the original purpose of the U.S. military action in 2001.

Cash-strapped NATO members, including the U.S., must figure out who would cover the increased expense for maintaining the Afghan forces at the higher level ? from $4.1 billion annually for the 230,000 troops NATO had planned on, to an estimated $4.8 billion to maintain the surge-level forces.

Fogh Rasmussen says he expects NATO members to make a decision "in a matter of months," likely by summer, as part of their calculations on how many NATO troops to deploy after 2014. U.S. and NATO officials are discussing leaving a residual force of between 8,000 to 12,000 foreign troops to advise and train Afghans after NATO combat operations end.

The White House backs the plan for the Afghan forces, but it must first get through the domestic financial fallout of the automatic spending cuts that kicked in on March 1, dictating mandatory across-the-board reductions in the U.S. federal budget, including defense and foreign aid.

The NATO chief said he and Karzai also discussed signing a long-term security agreement between Afghanistan and NATO, after the U.S. and Afghanistan complete their bilateral security negotiations, possibly by November.

"Once that is concluded, it could serve as a template for a NATO training mission," he said. Fogh Rasmussen added he thought it would be possible to have one agreement covering all nations taking part in the training mission, rather than each nation negotiating with Afghanistan separately. The agreements map out the legal status of foreign forces on Afghan soil.

The NATO chief would not be drawn on Karzai's recent demand that U.S. special operations troops leave Wardak province, following his claims that Afghans linked to U.S. commandos had carried out extrajudicial killings, renditions and torture there. U.S. officials privately denied the charges, while asking Afghan officials to share any evidence they had of such incidents. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the Afghan investigation into the allegations is still ongoing.

Fogh Rasmussen would say only that he expected NATO special operations troops to be a key part of the future mission, especially after his visit with European special forces trainers and their Afghan counterparts at the base in Lashkar Gah.

"No doubt that Afghan special operations forces will be the bedrock of Afghan security in the future, so obviously they will also need our continued training, advice and assistance," he said.

___

Kimberly Dozier can be followed on Twitter http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-chief-backs-larger-afghan-force-2018-142543132.html

Jim Harbaugh Who Won The Superbowl Super Bowl Halftime Show 2013 Super Bowl Commercials 2013 Ray Lewis Murders 2013 Super Bowl Commercials illuminati

Video: Free agent predictions:?Offensive linemen

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/51060278#51060278

new england patriots Zayn Malik miss america 2013 Oscar Nominations ABC Family social security social security

Reminder: Register For Disrupt Hardware Alley

I love hardware. That's why I want you guys to bring some of the coolest hardware projects imaginable to Disrupt NY?this?year. That's why I want you guys in our Hardware Alley.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mSdWZOuBx1E/

nba all star weekend malin akerman jeff carter chomp national enquirer kate gosselin helicopter crash