Cyclone Thane in TamilNadu Updates

Cyclone Thane kills 33 in southern India

Cyclone Thane, with a wind speed of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, has lashed the coastal districts of southern India, killing at least 33 people.

The cyclone ripped through the coast between Cuddalore city in Tamil Nadu state and the union territory of Pondicherry on Friday, according to India's National Disaster Management Authority.

Officials say the deaths have been mostly due to building collapses and electrocution caused by heavy rainfall and strong winds, which have uprooted trees and power lines.

Cuddalore is the worst-hit region, with an estimated 5,000 fishermen's homes damaged.

The bad weather has also affected trains and flights in the region.

The cyclones that form frequently over the Bay of Bengal bring widespread destruction and flooding to India's southern and eastern coasts.

Japanese Encephalitis Virus

Three more kids die of Japanese encephalitis, toll 332

Three more children succumbed to the killer Japanese encephalitis virus Monday, taking the toll in eastern Uttar Pradesh to 332, officials said.

“Of these, 305 are children and 27 adults,” an official spokesman told IANS.

As many as 1,942 cases of Japanese encephalitis were detected during the current monsoon season, when the virus spreads, the spokesman added.

The districts to be affected by the disease were Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, and Siddharth Nagar, he said.

K.P. Kushwaha, who heads the encephalitis unit at the BR Medical College in Gorakhpur that has become the nodal centre for dealing with JE said that they also received a lot of patients from neighbouring Bihar.

As per hospital records, about 250 patients admitted over the past two months were from Bihar.

Planet with two suns 'discovered'

Astronomers claim to have discovered a planet which orbits two suns, like the fictional planet Tatooine in the " Star Wars" sci-fi film.

An international team, which made the finding through NASA's Kepler spacecraft, says the planet, called Kepler-16b, is about 200 light years from Earth and is believed to be a frozen world of rock and gas, about the size of Saturn.

It orbits two stars that are also circling each other, one about two-thirds the size of our sun, the other about a fifth the size of our sun. Each orbit takes 229 days; the stars eclipse each other every three weeks or so.

Alan Boss, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC and a member of the team, was quoted by the media as saying, "You would never get constant daylight because the two stars are so close together.

"They would come together in an eclipse every 20.5 days and then move apart again. As their separation increased, they would go down at different times, and that could make cocktail hour hard."

In fact, the team, led by Laurance Doyle at the Carl Sagan Centre for the Study of Life in the Universe at the Seti Institute in California, spotted the planet after noticing unusual signals in data collected by the Kepler spacecraft.

Images captured by Kepler's camera showed two stars orbiting each other and producing eclipses as they moved in front of one another. Both stars were small in comparison with our own sun, at about 69 and 20 per cent of the sun's mass.

On closer inspection, the footage revealed further eclipses that could not be explained by the movement of the two stars, or an additional third star. Instead, a subtle drop in light from the stars, which amounted to a dimming of only 1.7 per cent, was attributed to an orbiting planet.

The astronomers turned next to a ground-based telescope, the Whipple Observatory in Arizona. With this, they monitored the shifting velocity of the heaviest star as it moved around in its orbit.

Those observations gave Doyle's team the details they needed to reconstruct the orbits of the stars and its planet.

They showed that the two suns orbit each other every 41 days at a distance of about 21 million miles. The planet completes a circular orbit around both stars every 229 days at a distance of 65 million miles, according to the findings published in the 'Science' journal.

Josh Carter, another team member, added: "Kepler-16b is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet - a planet orbiting not one, but two stars. Once again, we're finding that our solar system is only one example of the variety of planetary systems nature can create."

NASA spacecraft unravels comet mystery

A NASA spacecraft's flyby with a comet showed erosion on the Tempel 1's surface since it skimmed by the Sun in 2005, and revealed the first clear pictures of the crater made by a Deep Impact probe.

But the Valentine's night encounter was not easy for the US space agency's Stardust-NExT mission spacecraft, which had to fight an onslaught of debris from the comet in order to snap dozens of revealing pictures.

"Comets, unlike any other body in the solar system, are unique when they are in the inner part of the solar system where the Earth is," said Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator.

"They are literally coming apart and sending tons and tons of gas and rocks and dust out in space," he said.

"They don't just spew off things in a uniform way. They send off clods of dirt and ice and rock that come apart," Brownlee said, playing audio of the impact sustained by the spacecraft. The sound was like rapid firecracker bursts.

"A good analogy is thinking of a B-17 in World War II flying through flak -- sometimes a large number of impacts in less than a tenth of a second -- so it is a very dramatic environment."

The pictures that Stardust snapped showed some erosion over the past five years, and for the first time allowed scientists to see the crater made by a NASA probe, an impact which was obscured by a huge dust cloud the first time around.

"We never saw the crater as we went by, it was there somewhere that created a lot of mystery, it also helped to create this mission," said co-investigator Pete Schultz of Brown University.

Tempel 1 was last glimpsed in 2005 by NASA's Deep Impact mission as the comet was shooting toward the Sun on its five-year orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

Dave Lindahl Scam

Health Tips Today: Eyes Say About Our Health

14 Things Your Eyes Say About Your Health.

Looking people straight in the eye may or may not reveal their honesty -- but the eyes *can* tell you about cholesterol, liver disease, or diabetes, if you know what to look for.

"The eye is a unique window into health," says ophthalmologist Andrew Iwach, spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and executive director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco. "It's the only place in the body where, without surgery, we can look in and see veins, arteries, and a nerve (the optic nerve)."
The eyes' transparency explains why common eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration can be detected early with regular eye exams.
"Unfortunately, people get busy and delay not only eye exams but regular physicals. That's why eye doctors sometimes discover other issues, like diabetes or high blood pressure," Iwach says. Especially vulnerable, he says: People like caregivers, who worry about others around them while neglecting care for themselves.
Keep your eye out for these 14 problems.

1. Red flag: Disappearing eyebrows

What it means: Shaved eyebrows are a fad (or fashion, if you will) in some circles. But when the outer third of the brow (the part closest to the ears) starts to disappear on its own, this is a common sign of thyroid disease -- either hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid gland) or hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid gland). The thyroid is a small but critical gland that helps regulate metabolism, and thyroid hormones are among those critical to hair production.
More clues: Brows tend to thin with age naturally. But with thyroid disease, the brow-hair loss isn't evenly distributed; it's a selective dropout on the ends. There's usually a loss of hair elsewhere on the body, too, but the brows are so prominent, it's often noticed here first. Early graying is a related sign of a thyroid problem. Women are more often affected than men, and hyperthyroidism especially strikes women in their 20s and 30s.
What to do: Mention this symptom to a dermatologist or your regular doctor. Most other symptoms of both hyper- and hypothyroidism are notoriously broad and general. Before you see a doctor, make note of any other changes you've noticed, possibly concerning weight, energy levels, bowel or menstrual regularity, mood, or skin changes.

2. Red flag: A stye that won't go away

What it means: The vast majority of the time, a small, raised, often reddish bump along the inner or outer eyelid margin is just an unsightly but innocuous stye (also called a "chalazion"). But if the spot doesn't clear up in three months, or seems to keep recurring in the same location, it can also be a rare cancer (sebaceous gland carcinoma).
More clues: Actual styes are plugged-up oil glands at the eyelash follicle. Fairly common, they tend to clear up within a month. A cancerous cyst that mimics a stye, on the other hand, doesn't go away. (Or it may seem to go away but return in the same spot.) Another eyelid cancer warning sign: Loss of some of the eyelashes around the stye.
What to do: Point out a persistent stye to an ophthalmologist (a medical doctor who specializes in the eye). A biopsy can confirm the diagnosis. The stye is usually removed surgically.

3. Red flag: Bumpy yellowish patches on the eyelid

What it means: Xanthelasma palpebra, the medical name for these tiny yellow bumps, are usually a warning that you may have high cholesterol. They're also called "cholesterol bumps" -- they're basically fatty deposits.
More clues: Sometimes people mistake these bumps for a stye, but with xanthelasma, there tends to be more than one bump and they're quite small.
What to do: See your doctor or a skin or eye specialist. A diagnosis can usually be made by sight. An ophthalmologist can also examine the eye and see deposits; for this reason, in fact, sometimes high cholesterol is first diagnosed during a routine eye exam. The problem usually isn't serious and doesn't cause pain or vision problems. A physician will also evaluate you for other signs of coronary artery disease.

4. Red flag: Burning eyes, blurry vision while using a computer

What it means: You might be a workaholic, and you definitely have "computer vision syndrome" (CVS). The eyestrain is partly caused by the lack of contrast on a computer screen (compared with ink on paper) and the extra work involved in focusing on pixels of light. What's more, by midlife the eyes lose some of their ability to produce lubricating tears. Irritation sets in, adding to blurriness and discomfort.
More clues: Does the problem worsen in the afternoon (when the eyes tend to become drier)? Is it worse when you're reading fine print (more eyestrain)? People who wear glasses or contacts tend to be bothered more by CVS. "Sometimes the problem is made worse by a fan positioned so it blows right in the face," the AAO's Iwach adds, noting that the air further dries tired eyes.
What to do: Reduce glare by closing window shades, investing in a computer hood, or checking out antireflective coating for your glasses (if you wear them). Simply tinkering with the contrast of your screen can help, too. White areas should neither glow brightly like a light source nor appear gray. Flat-panel LCD display screens (like those on laptops) cause less eyestrain than older models. Keep reference material close to the same height as your monitor, giving your eyes a break from having to refocus so much.

5. Red flag: Increasing gunk in the eye

What it means: Blepharitis -- inflammation of the eyelids, especially at the edges -- can have several causes. Two of them, surprisingly, are conditions better associated with other body parts: scalp dandruff and acne rosacea (which causes flushed red skin, usually in the faces of fair-skinned women at midlife).
More clues: The eyes may also feel irritated, as if specks have gotten in them. They may burn, tear, or feel dry. The crusty debris tends to gather in the lashes or the inner corners of the eyes, or even on the lids.
What to do: With clean hands, apply a warm, damp washcloth to the eyes for about five minutes at a time to loosen debris and soothe the skin. See a doctor, who may prescribe an antibiotic ointment or oral antibiotics, as well as artificial tears.

6. Red flag: A small blind spot in your vision, with shimmering lights or a wavy line

What it means: An ocular migraine (also called an "ophthalmic migraine," "optical migraine," or "migraine aura") produces this disturbed vision, with or without an accompanying headache. Changes in blood flow to the brain are thought to be the cause.
More clues: The visual distortion starts in the center of the field of vision. It might appear as a bright dot, dots, or a line that can seem to move and disrupt your ability to see properly, as if you were looking through a pocked or cracked window. It's painless and causes no lasting damage. Individuals seem to have different triggers (ranging from chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol to stress). A headache, possibly severe enough to cause nausea, sometimes follows.
What to do: If you're driving, pull over until the phenomenon passes (usually within an hour). Do have an eye specialist check it out if vision impairment lasts more than an hour or so, to rule out serious problems such as a retinal tear; or if you also experience other symptoms elsewhere that could indicate stroke or seizure (such as fever, loss of muscle strength, or speech impairment).

7. Red flag: Red, itchy eyes

What it means: Many things can irritate eyes, but itchiness accompanied by sneezing, coughing, sinus congestion, and/or a runny nose, usually screams "I'm allergic!" When the eyes are involved, the trigger is usually airborne, like pollen, dust, or animal dander.
More clues: An eye allergy can also be caused by certain cosmetics or ointments. Some people, for example, are allergic to the preservative in eye drops used to treat dry eyes.
What to do: Staying away from the allergic trigger is the usual treatment. Antihistamines can treat the itchiness; those in eye-drop or gel form deliver relief to the eyes faster. If the problem turns out to be an allergy to eye drops, look for a preservative-free brand.

8. Red flag: Whites of the eye turned yellowish

What it means: Two groups of people most often show this symptom, known as jaundice: Newborns with immature liver function and adults with problems of the liver, gallbladder, or bile ducts, including hepatitis and cirrhosis. The yellow in the white part of the eye (the sclera) is caused by a buildup of bilirubin, the by-product of old red blood cells the liver can't process.
More clues: "Other tissues of the body would have the same look, but we can't see it as clearly as in the whites of the eye," says ophthalmologist Iwach. (Skin can also turn yellowish when a person consumes too much beta carotene -- found in carrots -- but in those cases the whites of the eyes remain white.)
What to do: Mention the symptom to a doctor if the person isn't already under care for a liver-related disease, so the jaundice can be evaluated and the underlying cause treated.

9. Red flag: A bump or brown spot on the eyelid

What it means: Even people who are vigilant about checking their skin may overlook the eyelid as a spot where skin cancer can strike. Most malignant eyelid tumors are basal cell carcinoma. When such a tumor appears as a brown spot, then -- as with any other form of skin cancer -- it's more likely to be malignant melanoma.
More clues: Elderly, fair-skinned people are at highest risk. Look especially at the lower eyelid. The bump may look pearly, with tiny blood vessels. If the bump is in the eyelash area, some eyelashes may be missing.
What to do: Always have any suspicious skin spots or sores checked out by a dermatologist, family physician, or eye doctor. Early detection is critical, before the problem spreads to nearby lymph nodes.

10. Red flag: Eyes that seem to bulge

What it means: The most common cause of protruding eyes is hyperthyroidism (overactivity of the thyroid gland), especially the form known as Graves' disease. (First Lady Barbara Bush had it.)
More clues: One way to tell if an eye is bulging is to see whether there's any visible white part between the top of the iris and the upper eyelid, because normally there shouldn't be. (Some people inherit a tendency toward eyes that bulge, so if the appearance seems to run in a family, it probably isn't hyperthyroidism.) The person may not blink often and may seem to be staring at you. Because the condition develops slowly, it's sometimes first noticed in photos or by the occasional visitor rather than by someone who lives with the person every day.
What to do: Mention the symptom to a doctor, especially if it's present in tandem with other signs of Graves' disease, including blurry vision, restlessness, fatigue, increase in appetite, weight loss, tremors, and palpitations. A blood test can measure thyroid levels. Treatment includes medication and surgery.

11. Red flag: Sudden double vision, dim vision, or loss of vision

What it means: These are the visual warning signs of stroke.
More clues: The other signs of stroke include sudden numbness or weakness of the arm or leg or face, typically on just one side of the body; trouble walking because of dizziness or loss of balance or coordination; slurred speech; or bad headache. In a large stroke (caused by a blood clot or bleeding in the brain), these symptoms happen all at once. In a smaller stroke caused by narrowed arteries, they can occur across a longer period of minutes or hours.
What to do: Seek immediate medical help by calling 911.

12. Red flag: Dry eyes that are sensitive to light

What it means: Sjogren's (pronounced "show-grins") syndrome is an immune system disorder. It impairs the glands in the eyes and mouth that keep them moist.
More clues: Sjogren's usually affects women over age 40 with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Usually the eyes and mouth are affected together. The person may also have vaginal dryness, dry sinuses, and dry skin. Because of a lack of saliva, it can be difficult to chew and swallow.
What to do: A doctor can diagnose Sjogren's through testing. Artificial lubricants (such as artificial tears) are usually necessary to protect the eyes, as well as to improve eating. Drinking plenty of water also helps.

13. Red flag: Sudden difficulty closing one eye, inability to control tears in it

What it means: Bell's palsy is an impairment of the nerve that controls facial muscles (the seventh cranial nerve), causing temporary paralysis in half the face. It sometimes follows a viral infection (such as shingles, mono, or HIV) or a bacterial infection (such as Lyme disease). Diabetics and pregnant women are also at higher risk.
More clues: Half of the entire face, not just the eye, is affected. Effects vary from person to person, but the overall effect is for the face to appear droopy and be weak. The eyelid may droop and be difficult or impossible to close, and there will be either excessive tearing or an inability to produce tears. The effects tend to come on suddenly.
What to do: See a doctor. Most cases are temporary and the person recovers completely within weeks. Rarely, the condition can recur. Physical therapy helps restore speaking, smiling, and other tasks that require the facial muscles working in unison, and it also helps avoid an asymmetrical appearance. Professional eye care can keep the affected eye lubricated and undamaged.

14. Red flag: Blurred vision in a diabetic

What it means: Diabetics are at increased risk for several eye problems, including glaucoma and cataracts. But the most common threat to vision is diabetic retinopathy, in which the diabetes affects the circulatory system of the eye. It's the leading cause of blindness in American adults.
More clues: The changes linked to diabetic retinopathy tend to show up in people who have had the disease for a long time, not those recently diagnosed. The person may also see "floaters," tiny dark specks in the field of vision. Sometimes diabetes causes small hemorrhages (bleeding) that are visible in the eye. There's no pain. People with poorly controlled blood sugar may have worse symptoms.
What to do: Someone with diabetes should have a dilated eye exam annually to catch and control the earliest stages of retinopathy, glaucoma, cataracts, or other changes -- before they manifest as changes you're aware of.

Dave Lindahl Scam

How Technology Saves Lives

Technology can save lives. But the report out of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] shows in stark, dramatic fashion just how crucial technology is to protecting you and your families from harm or even death.

NOAA says that last year, its “satellites were critical in the rescues of 295 people from life-threatening situations throughout the United States and its surrounding waters.”

That’s a huge deal. How did the satellites help?

“The satellites picked up distress signals from emergency beacons carried by downed pilots, shipwrecked boaters and stranded hikers, and relayed the information about their location to first responders on the ground,” NOAA says.

And NOAA says “of the 295 saves last year, 180 people were rescued from the water, 43 from aviation incidents, and 72 in land situations where they used their handheld personal locator beacons."

What are these satellites exactly? Well, NOAA says they are “polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites” which work along with Russia’s COSPAS spacecraft as part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, called COSPAS-SARSAT.

NOAA says “This system uses a network of satellites to quickly detect and locate distress signals from emergency beacons onboard aircraft and boats, and from smaller, handheld personal locator beacons called PLBs.”

This is how I like my taxpayer money spent. Bravo to NOAA.

Which states saw the most NOOA rescues? Alaska had the most people rescued last year with 77, NOAA says, followed by Florida with 37, and West Virginia with 17, the latter involving those aboard a downed Army Reserve helicopter.

“With each rescue, the COSPAS-SARSAT system performs the way it was intended — as a real, life-saving network,” said Chris O’Connors, program manager for NOAA SARSAT, in a statement.

And it gets even cooler. NOAA says that when a NOAA satellite ferrets out the exact “location of a distress signal within the United States or its surrounding waters, the information is relayed to the SARSAT Mission Control Center based at NOAA’s Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md.” From there, that information is quickly bounced over to a Rescue Coordination Center, operated by either the U.S. Air Force, for land rescues, or the U.S. Coast Guard, for water rescues.

This is the 29th year of this fine collaboration, COSPAS-SARSAT, which has already been recognized with supporting more than 28,000 rescues worldwide, according to NOAA, including more than 6,500 in the United States and its surrounding waters.

Dave Lindahl Scam

Earthquake in Papua New Guinea

Powerful earthquake hits Papua New Guinea.

Earthquake News Updates! A powerful earthquake struck waters off Papua New Guinea early Thursday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no threat of a widespread, destructive tsunami.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 and struck 20 miles (32 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.

It hit near the island province of New Britain, 295 miles (470 kilometers) northeast of the national capital Port Moresby. Residents contacted by phone said they could not even feel the tremor.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement saying there was no threat of a widespread, destructive tsunami.

'Balloon head' dolphin discovered

A new type of dolphin with a short, spoon-shaped nose and high, bulbous forehead has been identified from a fossil found in the North Sea.

The Platalearostrum hoekmani was named after Albert Hoekman, the Dutch fisherman who in 2008 trawled up a bone from the creature's skull.

Up to six metres in length, the dolphin lived two to three million years ago.

The so-called rostrum bone and a model of the dolphin are on display at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam.

As museum researchers Klaas Post and Erwin Kompanje write in the museum's journal Deinsea, the North Sea has been a rich source of fossils in recent decades as bottom-trawling has become more prevalent.

The practice has yielded tens of thousands of pieces of the fossil record - many of which defy classification.

What is clear from the singular bone found by Mr Hoekman is that the animal from which it came fits neatly in the family of marine mammals known as Delphinids - the ocean-going dolphins that actually includes both killer and pilot whales.

More specific classification within this family is somewhat speculative.

The bone shows an unusually large tip region containing six teeth known as the premaxilla. This feature suggests the broad, blunt nature of the creature's snout.

Based on analyses of similar fossils and modern relatives within the family, the researchers are convinced they have found a new species whose closest living relative is the pilot whale.

Massive blast 'created Mars moon'

Nasa News Updates! Scientists say they have uncovered firm evidence that Mars's biggest moon, Phobos, is made from rocks blasted off the Martian surface in a catastrophic event.

The origin of Mars's satellites Phobos and Deimos is a long-standing puzzle.

It has been suggested that both moons could be asteroids that formed in the main asteroid belt and were then "captured" by Mars's gravity.

The latest evidence has been presented at a major conference in Rome.

The new work supports other scenarios. Material blasted off Mars's surface by a colliding space rock could have clumped together to form the Phobos moon.

Alternatively, Phobos could have been formed from the remnants of an earlier moon destroyed by Mars's gravitational forces. However, this moon might itself have originated from material thrown into orbit from the Martian surface.

Previous observations of Phobos at visible and near-infrared wavelengths have been interpreted to suggest the possible presence of carbonaceous chondrites, found in meteorites that have crashed to Earth.

This carbon-rich, rocky material, left over from the formation of the Solar System, is thought to originate in asteroids from the so-called "main belt" between Mars and Jupiter.

But, now, data from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft appear to make the asteroid capture scenario look less likely.

Recent observations as thermal infrared wavelengths using the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) instrument on Mars Express show a poor match between the rocks on Phobos and any class of chondritic meteorite known from Earth.

These would seem to support the "re-accretion" models for the formation of Phobos, in which rocks from the surface of the Red Planet are blasted into Martian orbit to later clump and form Phobos.

"We detected for the first time a type of mineral called phyllosilicates on the surface of Phobos, particularly in the areas northeast of Stickney, its largest impact crater," said co-author Dr Marco Giuranna, from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome.

These phyllosilicate rocks are thought to form in the presence of water, and have been found previously on Mars.

Read more>>

Tropical Storm Karl heads to Gulf of Mexico

Tropical Storm Karl dumped heavy rains on the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday as it moved toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it was expected to pick up steam and become a hurricane threatening Mexico's central coast by the weekend.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Igor spun into a dangerous Category 4 storm that could generate dangerous rip currents along the U.S. East Coast over the weekend and bring large swells to the Bahamas and Virgin Islands before that. Category 2 Hurricane Julia was not a threat to land.

In Mexico, the government issued a hurricane watch for its eastern Gulf Coast from La Cruz in Tamaulipas state south to Palma Sola. It is expected to reach the coast on Saturday.

Karl made landfall on Yucatan about 30 miles (50 kilometers) up the coast from the Quintana Roo state capital of Chetumal on Wednesday, with winds of about 65 mph (100 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It hit about midway between the cruise ship port of Majahual and the coastal town of Xcalak.

Violeta Pineda, who has operated thatch-roof bungalows known as the Hotel Kabah Na for 13 years, said waves were rolling about 25 yards (meters) onto the beach and eating away at a stretch of road that runs along the coast.

"There is a lot of wind," said Pineda, whose hotel is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Majahual.

Electricity went out briefly around Majahual. But the town took an almost-direct hit from Category 5 Hurricane Dean in 2007 — the third most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to hit land — and "this is nothing in comparison," said Pineda.

Karl's center passed close to the state capital, where there were reports of heavy rain and wind, downed trees and power outages.

The storm then moved inland over tiny rural hamlets and its winds declined to about 40 mph (65 kph).

It is expected to move back over water and into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.

Assistant state Public Safety Secretary Didier Vazquez said security forces had taken some people from coastal towns to shelters, while others preferred to ride out the storm in their homes.

Double strike 'killed dinosaurs'

Double space strike 'caused dinosaur extinction'

The dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by at least two space impacts, rather than a single strike, a new study suggests.

Previously, scientists had identified a huge impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico as the event that spelled doom for the dinosaurs.

Now evidence for a second impact in Ukraine has been uncovered.

This raises the possibility that the Earth may have been bombarded by a whole shower of space rocks.

The new findings are published in the journal Geology by a team lead by Professor David Jolley of Aberdeen University, UK.

When first proposed in 1980, the idea that an asteroid or comet impact had killed off the dinosaurs proved hugely controversial. Later, the discovery of the Chicxulub Crater in the Gulf of Mexico was hailed as "the smoking gun" that confirmed the theory.

The discovery of a second impact crater suggests that the dinosaurs were driven to extinction by a "double whammy" rather than a single strike.

The Boltysh Crater in Ukraine was first reported in 2002. However, until now it was uncertain exactly how the timing of this event related to the Chicxulub impact.

In the current study, scientists examined the "pollen and spores" of fossil plants in the layers of mud that infilled the crater. They found that immediately after the impact, ferns quickly colonised the devastated landscape.

Ferns have an amazing ability to bounce back after catastrophe. Layers full of fern spores - dubbed "fern spikes" - are considered to be a good "markers" of past impact events.

However, there was an unexpected discovery in store for the scientists.

They located a second "fern spike" in a layer one metre above the first, suggesting another later impact event.

Professor Simon Kelley of the Open University, UK, who was co-author on the study, said: "We interpret this second layer as the aftermath of the Chicxulub impact."

Vampire bats

Peru battles vampire bat rabies menace.

Peru's health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.

Four children in the Awajun indigenous tribe have died after being bitten by the bloodsucking animals.

Health workers have given rabies vaccine to more than 500 people who have also been attacked.

Some experts have linked mass vampire bat attacks on people in the Amazon to deforestation.

The rabies outbreak is focused on the community of Urakusa in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon, close to the border with Ecuador.

The indigenous community appealed for help after being unable to explain the illness that had killed the children.

The health ministry said it had sent three medical teams to treat and vaccinate people who had been bitten.

Most of the affected population had now been vaccinated, it said, although a few had refused treatment.

Vampire bats usually feed on wildlife or livestock, but are sometimes known to turn to humans for food, particularly in areas where their rainforest habitat has been destroyed.

Some local people have suggested this latest outbreak of attacks may be linked to the unusually low temperatures the Peruvian Amazon in recent years.

Solar tsunami from Sun may hit Earth

Solar tsunami from Sun may hit Earth on Tuesday.

The Earth is in the path to be hit by a wave of violent space weather as early as Tuesday after a massive explosion of the sun, scientists have warned.

Astronomers witnessed the huge flare above a giant sunspot the size of the Earth, the explosion aimed directly towards Earth.

It sent a "solar tsunami" racing 93 million miles across space, which is likely to hit the planet on Tuesday.

The wave of supercharged gas is likely to spark spectacular displays of the aurora or northern and southern lights.

However, a really big solar eruption could shut down global communication grids and destroy satellites, if it reaches today.

A recent warning by NASA said that Britain could be at the receiving end of widespread power blackouts for a long time after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation "space storm".

"It looks like the first eruption was so large that it changed the magnetic fields throughout half the Sun's visible atmosphere and provided the right conditions for the second eruption," said Dr Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey.

"This means we have a very good chance of seeing major and prolonged effects, such as the northern lights at low latitudes," she added.

Cargo - Switzerland's first science fiction film

The first science fiction film to come out of Switzerland has received its UK premiere.

Cargo - an atmospheric thriller set on a space freighter in the 23rd century - was screened on Monday as the closing film of the Sci-Fi-London film festival.

Directed by Ivan Engler, Cargo sees the human race living on overcrowded space stations because Earth can no longer support life.

The only hope of escape is making an expensive voyage to the paradise planet of Rhea which is five light years from Earth.

Dr Laura Portmann (played by German actress Anna-Katharina Schwabroh) signs up for a lengthy journey on the rusty old cargo ship Kassandra in order to make the money to travel to Rhea, where she wants to join her sister.

The young doctor is left in charge of the ship while the the rest of the crew is in cryogenic hibernation. But as she patrols the decrepit freighter she realises there's something not quite right in the hold.

Early reviews have picked up on the film's portrayal of the tediousness of space travel, and its impressive visual effects.

Ivan Engler talks about the challenges of making the film as a first-time director.

What was the main challenge of making Switzerland's first major science fiction film?

Switzerland does not have a big film industry, so we had to "invent" many things ourselves.

There were no sound stages big enough to hold all our sets, so we transformed an old and derelict industrial building into a film studio, with workshops, offices, a staff canteen, props storage etc.

Our budget was very limited (as a first-time director you only have access to limited state funding) so we had to find ways to be able to make the movie as "epic" as it is now.

The key to this was that we were extremely thorough in pre-production.

In post-production we put together a team of newcomers and rookies that we trained for the first four months - we were very lucky to find such excellent talent for Cargo.

What other sci-fi films have inspired you as a writer/director?

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner left a permanent imprint in my brain since I saw it when I was around 15. It is my absolute all-time favourite movie, followed by Akira and Alien 1&2.

Next to that, I totally love the films of Michelangelo Antonioni (Blow Up / Zabriskie Point / Il Deserto Rosso) and of Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris).

One of the main reasons in Cargo for the hero's arrival on the beautiful planet Rhea was my desire to have a quiet moment of somebody in a park - as in Antonioni's Blow Up - where concepts of truth and fiction slowly start to dissolve.

How big is the science fiction genre in Switzerland?

The sci-fi genre was non-existent until Cargo. The only exception was the artwork of HR Giger. We were pioneers.

What's been the reaction at film festivals?

Of course the people that did not love the film did not come to me after the screenings!

The ones that came loved the movie. I got spontaneous hugs from people who told me that Cargo was the film they had been waiting for.

Whenever I see the film at festivals I have to curl my toes from time to time because there are still many moments with which I'm not happy!

Science fiction was well-represented at the Oscars and at other film awards this year. Has that been an inspiration?

Oh, not at all.

Of course it is always nice to win any kind of recognition and awards. But my only motivation to make films is that I have an extreme urge inside of me to tell stories. I have to. If I cannot tell stories, I feel bad, unhappy, unfulfilled.

What are your plans to follow up Cargo?

I'm represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in the US and they just sent me on a big tour to meet all the producers and studio executives.

I am reading scripts at the moment and also developing my own stories. We will see where that all leads.

I definitely want to make more sci-fi films in the future.

The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film took place 28 April - 3 May. The Sci-Fi-London Oktoberfest takes place 14-16 October.

Tamil film star Ajith's F2 drive confirmed

Ajith Kumar is set to don the role of a race drive.

Tamil film actor Ajith Kumar is set to don the role of a race driver, but for a change it won't be on the silver screen.

The 39-year-old is set to race at the best tracks in the world starting at Silverstone in England. Ajith will be driving wheel-to-wheel with some of the best upcoming racers of the world at the FIA Formula Two championship this year.

Ajith, whose entry into the feeder series was confirmed on Wednesday, will be the third Indian driver on the F2 grid.

He will join the talented 21-year-old Armaan Ebrahim, who is in his second season in F2, and Parthiva Sureshwaren, who is making a comeback to international racing after a brief period away from competition.

"I am very excited about getting into competitive racing again and am looking forward to the first race next month," said Ajith.

"I am confident of achieving some success in the championship." Ajith, a motorsport enthusiast, is not new to racing.

He made his international debut in 2003 at the Formula BMW Asia Championship, where he had limited success. His best result was in the Korea round where he qualified 4th and finished 6th.

In 2004, he competed in the British Formula 3 Scholarship Class, where he managed two podium finishes.

This year, the actor competed in the final round of the MRF racing series in Chennai in February but failed to finish the race due to mechanical problems.

Though the MRF cars had decent pace, it is obvious Ajith will have to do a lot of homework just to make sure he safely reaches the checquered flag, let alone podiums.

The actor himself is aware he won't get retakes and to get himself race-ready he has gone through test rounds in Malaysia. "I did some testing in Malaysia recently and am looking forward to more practice runs in Snetterton (circuit in UK) & Silverstone before the event kicks off on April 16 (at Silverstone)."

He will need all the preparations as F2 is as competitive as any other international series and is filled with dangers too. Last July, British driver Henry Surtees died on the track after being hit by a wheel which came off another car during the F2 round at Brands Hatch.

Sureshwaren, who will share the grid with Ajith, is confident the actor will adapt fast. "He (Ajith) has seen race action before," said Sureshwaren. "I spoke to Ajith about it and he is pretty confident of doing well. He has been showing a lot of interest to work on his driving and Armaan and I will of course be with him, helping him to adapt fast."

Obama signs health care reform into law

Barack Obama signs landmark US healthcare bill into law.

US President Barack Obama has signed his landmark healthcare bill into law in a ceremony at the White House.

For House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enactment marks the pinnacle of her career, delivering a landmark law that has eluded Democrats for decades without a single Republican vote. Weeks after insisting that the House could not pass the legislation, the San Francisco Democrat led her chamber to do just that, showing a mastery of legislative maneuvering unmatched by any of her predecessors from either party in recent memory.

On Tuesday, Obama singled out Pelosi as "one of the best speakers the House of Representatives has ever had," and Republicans turned to her as the chief target of their ire. So widespread were her kudos that she rivaled the president as the Washington leader most responsible for bringing Democrats' hard-fought victory to fruition.

The East Room ceremony marked the start of a White House campaign to sell the $940 billion, 10-year legislation to a public that is still skeptical and confused after a year of bitter debate that deeply divided the nation and gave rise to the conservative Tea Party movement.

Republicans scoffed at Democratic claims that the political tide would turn.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced a bill to repeal health reform, while 13 Republican state attorneys general filed suit to strike the legislation as unconstitutional, arguing that the federal government cannot force individuals to purchase health insurance, as the legislation would require in four years.

Most states require individuals to carry auto insurance, and the White House predicted the lawsuits would be easily defeated.

But Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning argued that it is akin to forcing people to buy electric cars. Other states filing suit were Florida, Michigan, Texas, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Alabama, South Dakota, Louisiana, Idaho, Washington and Colorado.

"With all due respect, you don't pass a bill the American people didn't want, then try to sell them on it," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "Democrats here in Washington can celebrate all they want. But that celebration is going to be short-lived. The American people aren't fooled."

The final legislation is not yet complete, as the Senate opened debate on a separate package of changes that the House approved as a condition of passing the underlying Senate legislation. The Senate parliamentarian turned back the first GOP attempt to defeat the bill on parliamentary grounds.

Democrats are using a special procedure known as reconciliation to pass the bill on a simple-majority vote to avoid a Republican filibuster.

But Republicans have many more amendments in store aimed at changing the bill and embarrassing Democrats. If any succeed, they would require the House to pass the second bill again, opening a can of worms for Pelosi. The White House is counting on Democrats sticking together to defeat those amendments.

The history of most middle-class entitlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, suggests that once enacted, they gain popularity as people begin receiving benefits and worry less about the cost to taxpayers.

The provision likely to prove most unpopular is the mandate that everyone carry insurance or pay a fine, but that will not go into effect until 2014.

Popular changes, such as a ban on policy cancellations when people get sick, will go into effect within months. Uninsured people with pre-existing conditions will be able to buy into a temporary high-risk pool, and children with such conditions can no longer be denied coverage. Parents will also get to keep adult children on their health plan until they turn 26.

Polls are mixed. A USA Today/Gallup poll showed a nine-point turnaround in support for health care reforms since the House passed the bill on Sunday, with 49 percent now favoring the law versus 40 percent opposed. A Bloomberg poll found support stuck at about 40 percent.

The legislation, while complex and far-reaching, is not as revolutionary as either side portrays it. Most people with employer-paid insurance are likely to see few changes, at least in the short run. The overhaul maintains the structure of employer-provided health care that many experts believe is the root of the current system's dysfunction.

There is an expansion of public programs, especially Medicaid, but government already pays for more than half of U.S. health care delivered in the United States. Private insurance not only survives, but it will be expanded.

Water on the Moon - CHANDRAYAAN-1’s discoveries

CHANDRAYAAN-1 discovers Millions of tonnes of ice on the moon.

CHANDRAYAAN-1’s momentous discoveries of water on the moon in different forms do not seem to end. In its latest discovery, the third so far, the spacecraft’s radar called Miniature-Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) has found more than 40 craters in the moon with ice deposits.

The craters vary from two kilometres to 15 km in diameter. They are situated in the North Pole, in the permanently shadowed regions of the moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimated that there could be at least 600 million tonnes of water ice in these craters.

The Mini-SAR is a NASA instrument that flew on board Chandrayaan-1, which lifted off from the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on October 22, 2008. The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments from different countries, including India. This is the second NASA instrument on board Chandrayaan-1 to discover water on the moon.

Earlier, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) detected water molecules in extremely minute quantities on the moon’s surface soil and rocks. An Indian instrument called Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer (ChACE), which is a mass spectrometer and was housed in the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), also obtained “very clear signatures of H{-2}0 (18 atomic mass unit, or amu) intensifying” in the thin atmosphere of the moon. The MIP crashed on the lunar surface on November 14, 2008 (Frontline, October 23, 2009).

Prof. Paul Spudis, Principal Investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, United States, said: “The new discoveries by Chandrayaan-1 and other lunar missions show that the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.”

J.N. Goswami, Principal Scientist, Chandrayaan-1, called the latest discovery “an interesting and new result”. He was confident that whatever signals the scientists were getting about the presence of ice deposits in the craters were correct. “It is quite interesting from our perspective. We thought it would be there and it is there,” he said.

Prof. Goswami, who is also Director, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, pointed out that the M3 had earlier found water molecules on the moon’s surface soil and rocks. “We are now finding it in solid form. So this is very important. Water is an important resource if people want to go to the moon,” he said.

The latest discovery presaged a “positive direction for future explorations with respect to lunar resources and pursuit of pure science”, said Mylswami Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1 and 2. “Earlier, we had seen the physical phenomenon of water getting formed in one region of the moon. We are now seeing water getting retained in another region as ice deposits. This is called volatile transportation,” he added.

Spudis said, “The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon.” The new findings have added to the growing scientific understanding of the multiple forms of water on the moon.

Annadurai is happy that the three important discoveries were made by Chandrayaan-1’s instruments. “These discoveries indicate that we had a good combination of instruments on board Chandrayaan-1. They could not have been made by optical instruments, which need sunlight to see what is there,” explained Annadurai.

For instance, the Mini-SAR mapped the moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters, which are not visible from the earth. The radar uses the polarisation properties of reflected radio waves to characterise surface properties. Results from the mapping showed deposits having radar characteristics similar to ice.

In the estimate of S. Satish, the spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the discovery had significant implications for undertaking future missions to the moon and for interplanetary travel.

The amount of ice estimated to be present in the craters held promise for establishing colonies on the moon, he said. He also said, “The ice can be used for production of oxygen for sustaining the astronauts’ stay in the moon and to provide water to their habitat.” He predicted that future missions would concentrate on landing rovers near the craters so that an accurate estimate of the amount of ice available in them could be had.

However, a scientist of the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, cautioned that it would be extremely difficult to set up human colonies in these permanently shadowed regions of the moon’s North Pole. While lunar explorations with more orbiters, landers and rovers would get a boost with these discoveries, it was premature to talk of establishing human colonies, he said.

'Ring of Fire' in the sky on Jan 15

Watch ‘Ring of Fire’ in the sky Jan 15

January 12 2010 : On Jan 15, people living in the southern tip of the country at Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu will get to watch the ’Ring of Fire’ when the moon will cover the sun’s disc during the millennium’s longest annular solar eclipse.

However, sky gazers in Delhi will also have something to cheer about as they will get to see more than half of the eclipse.

Annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon’s shadow is smaller than that of the visible disc of the sun. The covered sun, therefore, appears as a ’Ring of Fire’, with its rays appearing spread out from the outline of the moon.

Last time India saw this ’Ring of Fire’ was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020.

The maximum duration of the eclipse would be 11 minutes 08 seconds over the Indian Ocean, thus making it the longest annular eclipse of the millennium.

"People in southern parts of the country, especially in Dhanushkodi near Rameshwaram, will be lucky to see the heavenly sight of ’Ring of Fire’. The eclipse will be best viewed at Dhanushkodi for a duration of 10 minutes and 13 seconds," said N. Rathnasree, director of Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi.

In India, the eclipse will start around 11 a.m. and end around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse will first be seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then move obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It will then move to Kerala and end in Mizoram in the northeast.

Delhi will see the partial phase of this solar eclipse. It will start at 11.53 a.m. and end at 15.11 p.m. The maximum eclipse of 53 percent will be at 13.39 p.m.

Nehru Planetarium and the Amateur Astronomers Association in Delhi are organising a public watch Jan 15.

"Arrangements will be made by the Amateur Astronomers Association and Nehru Planetarium for people to watch the celestial activity. We will put out telescopes for the event," said Rathnasree.

Rathnasree said people should not watch the eclipse with naked eyes, and advised them to take precautionary measures while watching the celestial activity.

The eclipse will be the longest of the millennium - that is between 2001 and 3000. People in most parts of India will witness the partial phases of the eclipse.

The annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a 300 km wide track that will traverse half of the Earth.

The path of the moon’s shadow begins in Africa at 10.44 a.m. and passes through Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. After leaving Africa, the path crosses the Indian Ocean.

The central path then continues into Asia through the extreme southern part of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path, including entire India, or Bangladesh.

Five worlds beyond our Solar System

Nasa's Kepler planet-hunter detects five worlds

January 05 2010 : Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has detected its first five exoplanets, or planets beyond our Solar System.

The observatory, which was launched last year to find other Earths, made the discoveries in its first few weeks of science operations. Although the new worlds are all bigger than our Neptune, the US space agency says the haul shows the telescope is working well and is very sensitive.

The exoplanets have been given the names Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b. They were announced at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.

The planets range in size from an object that has a radius four times that of Earth, to worlds much bigger than even our Jupiter. And they all circle very close to their parent stars, following orbits that range from about 3.2 to 4.9 days.

This proximity and the fact that the host stars are themselves much hotter than our Sun means Kepler's new exoplanets experience an intense roasting.

Intriguing density

Estimated temperatures go from about 1,200C to 1,650C (2,200F to 3,000F). "The planets we found are all hotter than molten lava; they all simply glow with their temperatures," said Bill Borucki, Kepler's lead scientist from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

"In fact the upper two are hotter than molten iron and looking at them might be like looking at a blast furnace. They are very bright in their own right and certainly no place to look for life." Kepler 7b will intrigue many scientists. It is one of the lowest-density exoplanets (about 0.17 grams per cubic centimetre) yet discovered.

"The average density of this planet with its core is about the same as Styrofoam," explained Dr Borucki. "So it's an amazingly light planet, something I'm sure theoreticians will be delighted to look at in terms of trying to understand [its] structure."

Kepler blasted into space atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 6 March, 2009. It is equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space. The telescope's mission is to continuously and simultaneously observe more than 100,000 stars.

It senses the presence of planets by looking for a tiny "shadowing" effect when one of them passes in front of its parent star.

'Water worlds'

Kepler's detectors, built by UK firm e2v, have extraordinary sensitivity.Nasa says that if the observatory were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front of it.

The space agency hopes this sensitivity will lead it to planets that are not only Earth-size but which orbit their stars at distances more favourable to life, where liquid water might potentially reside on their surfaces.

The mission's scientists told the AAS meeting that Kepler had measured hundreds of possible planet signatures but that these needed further investigation to establish their true nature. To confirm the existence of the most ideal Earth-like planets would take a few years, they warned.

In the meantime, all detections will help scientists improve their statistics on the distributions of planet size and orbital period. The follow-up observations needed to confirm the new exoplanets' existence used a suite of ground-based facilities including the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.

2012: End of the World

2012: Beginning of the End or End of the World or Why the World Won't End?

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question(Q) : Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.

Answer(A) : Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Question(Q) : What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?

Answer(A) : The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Question(Q) : Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?

Answer(A) : Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Question(Q) : Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?

Answer(A) : There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Question(Q) : Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?

Answer(A) : Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Question(Q) : What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?

Answer(A) : A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Question(Q) : Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?

Answer(A) : The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Question(Q) : How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?

Answer(A) : For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.