NASA SDO: Extreme Solar Flare heading to Earth

The Sun by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. 

Credit: NASA

Scientists say an extreme X-Class solar flare is blasting its way to Earth and could mess up some power grids, satellites and radio transmissions.

Forecasters at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center don't yet know when Wednesday's solar storm will arrive here and which part of the planet will be facing the sun and bear the brunt of the effects.

It could be as early as Thursday morning to a few days.

Prediction Center director Tom Berger said scientists will have a better idea after they get more satellite data.

The X-Class flare is considered extreme on forecasters' scale, but just barely. Flares like this cause geomagnetic storms which can knock some power grids offline temporarily.

They also can damage satellites and disrupt radio transmissions but they expand the colourful Aurora Borealis (northern lights).

Space Debris damages ISS US segment

Space debris has damaged a cooling system radiator of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. segment in the P4 truss section, the NASA website said. 

It said images of the ISS surface captured by external cameras were being analyzed and data suggests there isn’t an ammonia leak from the system as a result of the 12 inch long puncture to the cover sheet. 

The NASA delegation to the Russian Mission Control Center has offered no comment on the situation. 

The hardware in question is one of the key elements of the heat rejection systems utilized by the orbital outpost.

So far, the ISS does not appear to be suffering any ill effects of the damage, while no leaking from the panels has been observed at this time.

MicroMeteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) strikes on space hardware are not uncommon and continue to be a major risk factor all spacecraft have to deal with.

Such MMOD strikes were observed on a large amount of Space Shuttle missions, especially late into the mission when the orbiter had undocked from the protection of the ISS and was preparing to head home.

The ISS is manned by Russia's Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Maxim Surayev, U.S. astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman and German astronaut Alexander Gerst.

Arecibo Observatory undergoing emergency repairs after earthquake damage

The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

The NAIC Arecibo Observatory's 305 meter (1,000 ft) radio telescope is undergoing emergency repair after being damaged during a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on January 13, 2014.

A large cable that supports the telescope's receiver platform had "serious damage," according to Bob Kerr, the Director of the Arecibo Observatory.

Bob Kerr

"A protocol structural survey following the January 13 earthquake revealed serious damage to [a] short cable section, with apparent breach of several cable strands," Kerr told reporters.

"An experienced structural engineering firm was brought to assess the damage, and to consider repair options."

The earthquake's epicenter was located in the ocean about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of Arecibo and was one of the largest to hit Puerto Rico in several years.

The quake caused some floor cracking in buildings and homes on the island, as well as power outages, but no major damages or injuries, officials said.

There were, however, at least 70 aftershocks with at least three of a magnitude 3.5 or greater.

The famous radio observatory is located near Puerto Rico's north coast, and opened in 1963. It was built inside a depression left by a sinkhole and is the largest curved focusing dish on Earth.

The dish's surface is made of thousands of perforated aluminum panels, each about 1 by 2 meters (3 by 6 feet), supported by a mesh of steel cables.

The receiver is on a 900-ton platform suspended 137 meters (450 feet) above the dish by 18 cables running from three reinforced concrete towers.

It was one of these 18 cables that was damaged, and this particular cable was actually a known potential problem.

Kerr said that during original construction of the telescope in 1962, one of the original platform suspension cables that was delivered to the observatory was too short, and another short cable section was "spliced" to provide sufficient reach to the platform.

"That cable segment and splice near the top of one of the telescope towers was consequently more rigid than the balance of the suspension system," Kerr said.

"When the earthquake shook the site, just after midnight on January 13, it is that short cable and splice that suffered damage."

The platform hangs above the Arecibo dish, supported by cables. 

Credit: Cornell University.

"You might say that our structural Achilles heel was exposed," Kerr added.

Inspectors from New York's Ammann & Whitney Bridge Construction, who have been inspecting the Arecibo observatory site since 1972, were brought in to access the situation.

Kerr said a relatively low-cost (less than $100,000) repair option was designed, and materials are now being procured to complete a repair that is expected to bring the telescope back into full service.

Scientific evidence reveals extent space missions damage human immune systems

Russian Cosmonaut Yelena Serova. 

Some speculate that space trips involve the development of "heat shock" proteins, which cling to Toll path receptors and cut down the immune system' detectors for finding pathogens. 

The end result is a small reaction to a possibly huge pathogen risk.

Evidence is coming to light just how much space missions take a toll on humans' immune systems.

At least 29 cases of infectious diseases being contracted on board a spacecraft were reported on during a 2012 study that looked into 106 flights and 742 crew members.

Head colds, fungal infections, and gastroenteritis were just some of the ailments that overtook the participants of the study.

What may be worse is the fact that they are million miles away from home and do not get to have sufficient bed-rest or comfort foods while under the weather.

It could be noted as quite an oddity, that space illness does not get the hype that it most likely deserves.

"The immune system can go on the fritz in space: wounds heal more slowly; infection-fighting T-cells send signals less efficiently; bone marrow replenishes itself less effectively; killer cells- another key immune system player-fight less energetically," states a 2012 Nasa article in Time.

In space, pathogens enjoy an easy time growing strong and creating a resistance wall to antimicrobials.

Specifically, herpes and staph have been reported as thriving in gravity-free environments of a spacecraft that are in extremely sterile conditions.

One particular study, which was released this week, checked out the space-born Drosophila flies.

Specimens of this type are often examined because of how close in comparison the flies' immune system is to that of humans.

It was discovered that in the instance of fungal infections microgravity wiped out the immune's response.

The researchers also studied the centrifuge-induced hypergravity, discovering that the flies' immune responses to fungi heighten as gravity increases way beyond the normal range.

On a lighter note, the immune response in the space flies to bacteria was mentioned as being "robust".

Induced gravity through the use of centrifuge seems to be the best bet at solving immune system errors, an idea thought of as resourceful for keeping on top of bone and muscle mass.

Increasing astronauts' immunity would be a plus for their experience on space missions.

It also raises the question regarding the health of Space Tourists.

Read more about Space medicines and threats to astronauts' health 

Copenhagen Suborbitals Test Launch: Capsule Survives – Mostly

On August 12, Copenhagen Suborbitals conducted a scheduled test of their Tycho Deep Space Capsule launch escape system.

The launch went according to plan, but not so the landing.

The spacecraft went into a tumble before dropping the capsule into the Baltic Sea at shield-crunching speeds.

“We had perfect launch, but quickly the entire configuration began to tumble,” said Kristian von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals.

“The main chutes clearly did not have complete deployment and the capsule hit water in high speed, buckling the bottom shield.”

Study finds child abuse and stunted brain development connection

A small team of researchers has found that various forms of child abuse can lead to stunted development in certain regions of the brain. The research carried out by Martin Teicher, Carl Anderson and Ann Polcari, all working in the Boston area, relied on questionnaires.

MRI brain scans were used to determine that certain parts of the hippocampus, all known to be sensitive to stress, were up to six percent smaller in adults who as children had been sexually, verbally or physically abused. The team has published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The three areas affected: the cornu ammonis, the dentate gyrus and the subiculum, all located in the hippocampus, are known to be vulnerable to stress which leads to less cell development than would normally occur in the absence of abuse.

To test the relationship between brain development and childhood abuse, the research team enlisted a group of otherwise healthy adult volunteers: 73 men and 120 women, all between the ages of 18 and 25.

All were given questionnaires that delved into their childhood, specifically addressing issues of verbal, mental and physical abuse and other types of stresses such as the death of someone close to them or problems between parents.

All were also given brain scans using an MRI machine. The team then compared the answers given on the questionnaires to the possibly impacted areas in the hippocampus of each volunteer. In so doing, they found that the brain regions under study were 5.8 to 6.5 percent smaller than average for those that reported such childhood stresses.

The researchers suggest that smaller brain regions due to childhood stress may help explain the abnormally high levels of mental illness (depression, bi-polarism, anxiety, etc.) seen in adults who have endured abuse as children and why so many wind up with drug dependency problems.

They also noted that one of the regions impacted, the subiculum, serves as a relay, moving information in and out of the hippocampus, which can have a direct impact on dopamine production. Those with reduced volume have been found to have problems with drug addiction and in some cases develop schizophrenia.

The researchers believe that increased stress leads to higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which in turn can slow or even stop the growth of new neurons in the brain which can result in permanently stunting certain brain regions.

The researchers are hoping their results will further highlight the damage that is done when children are subjected to adverse living conditions, leading perhaps to earlier interventions and possibly a means for developing treatments that may aid in preventing the stunting of brain regions, thus helping to pave the way for a better quality of life for those that have been abused as children.

More information: Childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced volume in the hippocampal subfields CA3, dentate gyrus, and subiculum, PNAS, Published online before print February 13, 2012, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1115396109

Abstract
Childhood maltreatment or abuse is a major risk factor for mood, anxiety, substance abuse, psychotic, and personality disorders, and it is associated with reduced adult hippocampal volume, particularly on the left side.

Translational studies show that the key consequences of stress exposure on the hippocampus are suppression of neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) and dendritic remodeling in the cornu ammonis (CA), particularly the CA3 subfield.

The hypothesis that maltreatment is associated with volume reductions in 3-T MRI subfields containing the DG and CA3 was assessed and made practical by newly released automatic segmentation routines for FreeSurfer.

The sample consisted of 193 unmedicated right-handed subjects (38% male, 21.9 ± 2.1 y of age) selected from the community.

Maltreatment was quantified using the Adverse Childhood Experience study and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores.

The strongest associations between maltreatment and volume were observed in the left CA2-CA3 and CA4-DG subfields, and were not mediated by histories of major depression or posttraumatic stress disorder.

Comparing subjects with high vs. low scores on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and Adverse Childhood Experience study showed an average volume reduction of 6.3% and 6.1% in the left CA2-CA3 and CA4-DG, respectively.

Volume reductions in the CA1 and fimbria were 44% and 60% smaller than in the CA2-CA3. Interestingly, maltreatment was associated with 4.2% and 4.3% reductions in the left presubiculum and subiculum, respectively.

These findings support the hypothesis that exposure to early stress in humans, as in other animals, affects hippocampal subfield development.

NASA Shuttle Atlantis Astronauts Risk Damage to Immune system

Astronauts are known to have a higher risk of getting sick compared to their Earth-bound peers.

The stresses that go with weightlessness, confined crew quarters, being away from family and friends and a busy work schedule - all the while not getting enough sleep - are known to wreak havoc on the immune system.

A research group led by immunobiologist Ty Lebsack at the University of Arizona has discovered that spaceflight changes the activity of genes controlling immune and stress response, perhaps leading to more sickness.

Between spaceflight affecting a crew's susceptibility to infections and previous observations of sickness-causing microbes thriving in a near-zero gravity environment, long journeys to far-away destinations such as Mars pose a big challenge to manned space missions.

"Taken together, our results hint at the possibility that an astronaut's immune system might be compromised in space," said Lebsack of the UA's department of immunobiology in the College of Medicine.

Lebsack and his colleagues focused their study on the thymus gland, the organ that serves as a "factory" and "training academy" for T-cells that are key players of the immune system.

They compared gene-expression patterns in thymuses from four healthy mice that had spent 13 days aboard NASA's STS-118 Endeavor Space Shuttle to those from an equal number of control mice on the ground.

Their finding: 970 individual genes in the thymus of space-flown mice were up or down-regulated by a 1.5 fold change or greater. When these changes were averaged, 12 genes in the thymus tissue of all four space-flown mice were significantly up or down-regulated.

"The altered genes we observed were found to primarily affect signaling molecules that play roles in programmed cell death and regulate how the body responds to stress," Lebsack said.

Programmed cell death plays an important role in a functioning body, for example in the disposal of cells that are no longer needed or damaged beyond repair. However, cell death must be tightly regulated in the immune system to ensure the process does not get out of hand.

"Many of the genes whose activity was down-regulated in the space-flown mice play important roles in maintaining that balance," Lebsack said. "Potentially, you could get more cell death aboard a spacecraft because of these differences."

The results fit in with experiments carried out on the ground to study how microgravity affects immune cells. In these experiments, scientists mimicked weightlessness using clinostats - apparatuses that slowly rotate the study object so the Earth's gravitational pull is never perceived as coming from one consistent direction.

"Previous studies with cell cultures in clinostats showed increased cell death in T-cells when you take away the gravity stimulus," said Lebsack, "so it was a logical step to test whether we find the same effects in animals exposed to an actual lack of gravity."

"We observed an overall pattern about the genes whose expression was changed by space flight: All of them are involved, in one way or another, in the development, control and programmed cell death of immune cells."

This study represents the first use of microarray technology to investigate gene expression in thymus tissue of space-flown mice, according to the authors. Complex research undertakings like this require specialists combining their different areas of expertise.

The research was funded by NASA, and will be published in the May 15 issue of the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry.

Link: http://uanews.org