Pre-Announcement Media Coverage

[John Smith]

We are seeing so many remarkable pre-announcement pieces showing up, this is a place to post and discuss them. This one for example, is making discoveries sound 'ho hum' which a few months/years ago were heralded as amazing breakthroughs. Today for example: 

"Nearly Every Star Hosts at Least One Alien Planet"

http://news.yahoo.com/nearly-every-star-hosts-least-one-alien-plane...

When a month or so ago they were making a BIG deal about finding one planet in the sweet zone which could possibly support life, son they they say 25% of them could support life! Including mention of red dwarfs, etc. The Zeta predicted evidence continues to build up!

Here is another blog that relates, describing a wobble:

NASA Scientists "Discover" a Wobbly Planet!?

https://poleshift.ning.com/forum/topics/nasa-scientists-discover-a-...

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3214101/Could-parts-...

Holiday hotspots could be devastated by a Mediterranean tsunami. Maps reveal 130 million lives at risk from once-a-century phenomenon

• Scientists modelled the effect of earthquakes off coasts of Sicily and Crete 
• Large tsunami waves would spread across the Mediterranean in minutes
• The say up to 1.5 sq miles (3.8sq km) of Crete would be left under the water
• Large areas of densely populated coastline would be hit by the waves

A large tsunami in the Mediterranean could engulf many popular holiday hotspots and threaten the lives of 130 million people living along the sea's busy coastlines, a new study has revealed.

Researchers examining the impact of earthquakes off the north coast of Africa have simulated the impact of the devastating waves one might trigger.

They found that if an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit off the coasts of eastern Sicily in Italy and southern Crete in Greece, it would leave large areas of the coastline under water.

The animation above shows how an earthquake off the coast of the Greek island of Crete would send a devastating tsunami out across the Mediterranean with little warning (Credit: Samaras et al/ Ocean Science)

The research suggests some of the most densely populated parts of coastline in the region, many of which are popular holiday destinations, would be hit by the huge waves.

Their model additionally found that almost 1.5 square miles (3.8 sq km) of Crete would be lost to the ocean while the steeper cliff faces of Sicily would mean just 0.2 square miles (0.5 sq km) would be lost.

The Greek islands, which are popular with tourists and the coastline of Peloponnese would be particularly badly hit. 

Researchers warn that while tsunamis in the Mediterranean are rare they tend to happen around once a century.

EUROPE'S BRUSH WITH TSUNAMIS 

Tsunamis - the devastatingly huge waves caused by underwater earthquakes - are usually associated with coastlines of Japan or the Indian Ocean.

But new research proves that massive tidal waves sparked by seismic activity have also ravaged European shores in the past - and could be repeated.

Scientists from the University of Portsmouth found geological evidence that tsunami waves have swept over Malta's coastline - rising to up to 66ft (20 metres) above sea level in some places.

They identified 70-ton boulders inland that had been picked up from the seabed before being carried along by the huge waves and dumped far inland.

Studies of neighbouring coastlines show there has been a major tsunami, on average, every 400 years, thought to be linked to earthquakes beneath Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy.

The north-east coast is now Malta's most densely populated region and if a similar sized wave struck today, it could threaten thousands of people, experts are warning.

Many residents and holidaymakers live by or visit the north-eastern coasts, where the towns are built right up to the edge of the shoreline.

And they say larger earthquakes could trigger even more devastating waves, like the one that hit off the coast of Crete in 365AD with a magnitude of between 8 and 8.5.

The resulting tsunami destroyed ancient cities in Greece, Italy and Egypt, killing some 5,000 people in Alexandria alone.

More recently, an earthquake of magnitude 7 hit the Messina region in Italy in 1908, causing a tsunami that killed thousands, with waves exceeding 33ft (10 metres) in height.

Dr Achilleas Samaras, an engineer specialising in wave dynamics at the University of Bologna in Italy and lead author of the study, said: 'We wanted to find out how coastal areas would be affected by tsunamis in a region that is not only the most active in the Mediterranean in terms of seismicity and tectonic movements, but has also experienced numerous tsunami events in the past.

'The main gap in relevant knowledge in tsunami modelling is what happens when tsunami waves approach the nearshore and run inland.

'Although the simulated earthquake-induced tsunamis are not small, there has been a recorded history of significantly larger events, in terms of earthquake magnitude and mainshock areas, taking place in the region.

'Our simulations could be used to help public authorities and policy makers create a comprehensive database of tsunami scenarios in the Mediterranean, identify vulnerable coastal regions for each scenario, and properly plan their defence.'

The Mediterranean sits on the boundary where the African tectonic plate slides under the Eurasian plates.

The researchers studied the impact of an earthquake along the boundary between the African and Eursian plates that run under the Mediterranean Sea. They focused on quakes off the coast of Crete and Sicily, as can be seen in the map above, which shows the boundary of the plates

[K Tonkin]

http://home.bt.com/news/science-news/dont-freak-out-but-scientists-...

Scientists think octopuses 'might be aliens' after DNA study

Their genetic code is so strange that researchers think they might be something else altogether.

Not to send you into a meltdown or anything but octopuses are basically ‘aliens’ – according to scientists.

Researchers have found a new map of the octopus genetic code that is so strange that it could be actually be an “alien”.

The first whole cephalopod genome sequence shows a striking level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes identified – more than in a human.

Not only that, the octopus DNA is highly rearranged – like cards shuffled and reshuffled in a pack – containing numerous so-called “jumping genes” that can leap around the genome.

“The octopus appears to be utterly different from all other animals, even other molluscs, with its eight prehensile arms, its large brain and its clever problem-solving abilities,” said US researcher Dr Clifton Ragsdale, from the University of Chicago.

“The late British zoologist Martin Wells said the octopus is an alien. In this sense, then, our paper describes the first sequenced genome from an alien.”

The scientists sequenced the genome of the California two-spot octopus in a study published in the journal Nature.

They discovered unique genetic traits that are likely to have played a key role in the evolution of characteristics such as the complex nervous system and adaptive camouflage.

Analysis of 12 different tissues revealed hundreds of octopus-specific genes found in no other animal, many of them highly active in structures such as the brain, skin and suckers.

The scientists estimate that the two-spot octopus genome contains 2.7 billion base pairs – the chemical units of DNA – with long stretches of repeated sequences.

And although the genome is slightly smaller than a human’s, it is packed with more genes.

Reshuffling was a key characteristic of the creature’s genetic make-up. In most species, cohorts of certain genes tend to be close together on the double-helix DNA molecule.

A gene is a region of DNA that contains the coded instructions for making a protein.

In the octopus, however, there are no such groupings of genes with related functions. For instance, Hox genes – which control body plan development – cluster together in almost all animals but are scattered throughout the octopus genome.

It was as if the octopus genome had been “put into a blender and mixed”, said co-author Caroline Albertin, also from the University of Chicago.

[Nancy Lieder]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/our-solar-system-may-have-had-a...

Hint hint another planets in our solar system, another BIG one, another one that zinged out into space and does not go round and round the Sun.

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3181719/How-stars-tr...

How stars travel the Milky Way: Map provides the first evidence of stellar migration in our galaxy

• Created using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III, it shows how a third of stars in our galaxy have changed orbit 
• Scientists studied 100,000 stars to reveal their motions, locations and compositions of stars over four years
• The map reveals how stars tend to migrate radially, moving closer or farther from the galactic center with time

Nearly a third of the stars in our own galaxy have dramatically changed their orbits.

This is according to a new map of the Milky Way that provides the first clear evidence of migration of stars throughout our galaxy.

The study could provide astronomers with a new understanding of how stars are formed and travel throughout the Milky Way.

This map of the Milky Way reveals how stellar orbits can change. It shows two pairs of stars (marked as red and blue) in which each pair started in the same orbit, and then one star in the pair changed orbits. The star marked as red has completed its move into a new orbit, while the star marked in blue is still moving. Nearly a third of the stars in our own galaxy are known to have changed their orbits

The map was created using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS) which studied 100,000 stars over four years.

'We were able to measure the properties of nearly 70,000 stars in our galaxy for this particular study,' said Donald Schneider, an astronomy professor at Penn State University.

'This exercise can be described as galactic archaeology.

'These data reveal the locations, motions, and compositions of the stars, which provide insights into their formation and their history.'

'In our modern world, many people move far away from their birthplaces, sometimes halfway around the world,' said Michael Hayden of New Mexico State University (NMSU), the lead author of the new study.

'Now we're finding the same is true of stars in our galaxy. About 30 per cent of the stars in our galaxy have traveled a long way from where they were born.'

The study shows how stars tend to migrate radially, moving closer or farther from the galactic center with time. This map, which was not part of the study, charts 219 million stars in the Milky Way in an incredible new map, which is the largest of its kind ever produced

The key to creating and interpreting this new map is measuring the elements in the atmosphere of each star.

'From the chemical composition of a star, we can learn its ancestry and life history,' Hayden said.

The chemical information comes from spectra, detailed measurements of how much light the star gives off at different wavelengths.

Spectra show prominent lines that correspond to elements and compounds. Reading the spectral lines of a star can tell astronomers the chemicals the star is made of.

'Stellar spectra show us that the chemical makeup of our galaxy is constantly changing,' said Jon Holtzman, an astronomer at NMSU who was involved in the study.

'Stars create heavier elements in their cores, and when the stars die, those heavier elements go back into the gas from which the next stars form.'

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3179343/Failed-stars...

Failed stars have aurora that glow a million times brighter than the northern lights and could show the way to new planets

• Brown dwarf failed stars have been difficult to classify 
• Experts now believe they act more like supersized planets than thought 
• Discovery could help experts spot planets beyond Earth 

The so-called failed stars, which are difficult to detect and also remain hard to classify, are too massive to be planets but physicists from the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford have revealed that they host powerful auroras just like Earth.

The international team of researchers made the discovery by observing a brown dwarf 20 light years away using both radio and optical telescopes.  

Their findings provide further evidence that suggests these stars act more like supersized planets, and could help researchers find new planets beyond Earth.

So-called failed stars, which are difficult to detect and also remain hard to classify, host powerful aurora just like Earth, researchers have found.

WHAT IS AN AURORA? 

Auroral displays result when charged particles manage to enter a planet's magnetic field. 

Once within the magnetosphere, those particles get accelerated along the planet's magnetic field lines to the planet's poles where they collide with gas atoms in the atmosphere, producing the bright emissions associated with auroras.

Dr Stuart Littlefair, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: 'Brown dwarfs span the gap between stars and planets and these results are yet more evidence that we need to think of brown dwarfs as beefed-up planets, rather than 'failed stars'.

'We already know that brown dwarfs have cloudy atmospheres - like planets - although the clouds in brown dwarfs are made of minerals that form rocks on Earth now we know brown dwarfs host powerful auroras too.'

He added: 'Sometimes the best thing about a scientific result is simply the thrill of discovering something exciting and cool. 

'The northern lights on Earth are one of the most spectacular and beautiful things you can see.

'I've always wanted to see them, but have never got the chance. 

'It's particularly ironic that I got to discover an auroral light show which is vastly more powerful and many light years away!'

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Lccf54JGE

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Annals of Seismology JULY 20, 2015 ISSUE

The Really Big One

An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.

When the 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Tohoku, Japan, Chris Goldfinger was two hundred miles away, in the city of Kashiwa, at an international meeting on seismology. As the shaking started, everyone in the room began to laugh. Earthquakes are common in Japan—that one was the third of the week—and the participants were, after all, at a seismology conference. Then everyone in the room checked the time.

Seismologists know that how long an earthquake lasts is a decent proxy for its magnitude. The 1989 earthquake in Loma Prieta, California, which killed sixty-three people and caused six billion dollars’ worth of damage, lasted about fifteen seconds and had a magnitude of 6.9. A thirty-second earthquake generally has a magnitude in the mid-sevens. A minute-long quake is in the high sevens, a two-minute quake has entered the eights, and a three-minute quake is in the high eights. By four minutes, an earthquake has hit magnitude 9.0.

Lengthy article continues.............

“I would think twice” about living in the Pacific Northwest.” Michio Kaku.

[Moderating Staff]

Comment by Ryan X 1 hour ago

• NASA hints at ‘another Earth’ before big announcement Thursday

Is this another big NASA "no big deal" announcement?  NASA tends to hype things that turn out to be much less than extraordinary when the information is released, but I guess we will find out tomorrow what NASA is so excited about... ...again. 

[Howard]

NASA’s ‘Planet X’ Files Leaked: NASA Knows Nibiru Is Coming (Jul 17)

http://www.inquisitr.com/2259891/nasas-planet-x-files-leaked-nasa-k...

[Nancy Lieder]

This could not be more pointed!

http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/07/15/what-sea-level-rise-look...

[Mark]

Geographers offer advice on how to survive the earthquake predicted to obliterate the Pacific Northwest

• Cascadia 'megathrust' faultline is 1,000km-long from California to Canada
• It will clash with 700-square-mile plate in Pacific Ocean causing tsunami
• Only way to escape is on foot as roads will 'liquefy', geographers say 
• Start running when you hear dogs barking, they will be reacting to the sound of compressional waves which humans cannot hear
• Citizens will have 20 minutes to walk or run to higher ground
  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3161264/Escape-foot-roads-l...

Scientists have outlined their tips on how to survive the earthquake that will hit the Pacific Northwest.
The killer quake along Cascadia, a fault line which runs from Cape Mendocino, California, to Vancouver Island, Canada, is 72 years overdue, according to peer-reviewed studies.
The 'Big One' will hit when Juan de Fuca, a 700-mile chunk of the Pacific Ocean, slides under Canada and America, causing the entire coastal region to sink at least six feet.
When - not if - it arrives, it is unlikely the people of coastal Oregon, Washington and California will be able to escape.
But if they want to try, there are a few tips they should keep in mind.
Run, don't drive, to higher ground, says Kevin Cupples, the city planner for the town of Seaside, Oregon, in an interview with the New Yorker.
The force of the quake will cause liquefaction, when solid ground acts like liquid, across vast swathes of the porous region.
In the areas that aren't 'liquefied', the highways will likely be crumpled by landslides, with 30,000 avalanches set to hit Seattle alone.
Citizens will have a 20-minute interval to climb to the highest altitude possible before the full force of the tsunami hits, scientists predict.
Their alert will be when dogs start barking.
The first sign the quake is coming will be a set of compressional waves, only audible by dogs. Then there will be the quake, then 20 minutes later, the tsunami.
Geographers estimate that many could survive just by walking - however, they need to be going at least 3.5mph.
If everyone ups their average speed from 2.5mph to 3.5mph, the death toll drops to 15,970. About 70 per cent of them would be in Washington, nearly 30 per cent in Oregon and only 4 per cent in California.