Existence of Universe before the Big Bang

London, Nov 30 (IANS) Scientists may have uncovered evidence that the universe existed before the Big Bang.

Concentric circles discovered in cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) - the after-effects of the Big Bang - display evidence of events that took place before most scientists believe the universe came into being.

The controversial finding points to the existence of a universe that did not begin 13.7 billion years ago, as is generally accepted, but is instead a cycle of so-called aeons.

The discovery has been posted online by Professor Roger Penrose from Oxford University and Professor Vahe Gurzadya from Yerevan State University, Armenia, the Daily Mail reports.

Most scientists believe the universe was created in the Big Bang around 13.7 billion years ago. Stars and galaxies started to form around 300 million years later.

Our sun was born around five billion years ago, while life first appeared on the earth around 3.7 billion years ago. The CMB dates to 300,000 years after the Big Bang and has now cooled to around -270 degrees Celsius.

But Penrose and Gurzadyan argue that evidence unearthed by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotophy Probe in the CMB shows imprints in the radiation that are older than the Big Bang.

They say they have discovered 12 examples of concentric circles, some of which have five rings, meaning the same object has had five massive events in its history.

They believe the circles are imprints of extremely violent gravitational radiation waves generated by supermassive black hole collisions in a previous aeon before the last big bang.

Penrose believes that his new theory means that black holes will eventually consume all the matter in the universe.

Want to stop daydreaming? Have sex!

We often find ourselves drifting away while at work or studying but experts have said that it's bad for health - and now the best way to avoid daydreaming is to make love, it seems.

Mind-wandering turns out to be extremely common - users reported daydreaming almost 50 per cent of the time - mostly during brushing their teeth or doing other grooming, reports New Scientist.

During only one activity - making love - did the frequency of mind-wandering drop below 30 per cent.

Crucially, episodes of mind-wandering tended to precede bouts of low mood, but not vice versa, suggesting that the former caused the latter.

Matthew Killingsworth and colleague Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University conducted the study, and found that daydreams about pleasant things were linked to improvements in mood, but only slight improvements.

Thinking about neutral topics while mind-wandering was linked to a similarly modest drop in happiness, but daydreams about unpleasant topics coincided with a sharp drop.

But the claim that mind-wandering causes unhappiness needs to be further evaluated, they said, because he and others have shown the effect can run in the opposite direction.

"It's difficult to make causal claims. But it's undoubtedly the case that negative mood and mind-wandering are inextricably linked," Jonathan Smallwood at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The connection suggests that cutting down on mind-wandering, either by practising meditation or simply by keeping busy, could help people battle depression.

"The irony is that mind-wandering also underlies invention. We don't want to tell people not to do it," Smallwood said.

'Sees the invisible'

Chemists from the University of South Carolina are reportedly developing a camera that has the ability to see the invisible - be it bloodstains or any other substances.

Called multimode imaging in the thermal infrared, they claim the new technology could help in crime scene investigations.

Michael Myrick, Stephen Morgan and their graduate student colleagues said that the luminol test (mainstay method for detecting bloodstains and other body fluids at crime scenes) has certain disadvantages.

Luminol, for instance, is potentially toxic, has been reported to dilute blood solutions below DNA detection limits, can smear informative blood spatter patterns, and can provide false positive results.

In their reports, the scientists described the construction and successful testing of a camera that takes images in several different ways.

It captures hundreds of images in a few seconds, while illuminating its subjects with pulses of invisible infrared light waves.

Some of these photos are taken through special filters, which block out particular wavelengths, allowing certain chemical components to stand out from their surroundings.

The camera detects blood diluted to as little as one part blood in 100 parts water.

In tests, the camera was able to make invisible stains and patterns emerge from a background of four different types of fabric, also distinguishing between blood, household bleach, rust, soda pop, and coffee.

The camera also successfully detected an invisible watermark that the team printed on a piece of fabric.

"These results indicate that this system could be useful for crime scene investigations by focusing non-destructive attention on areas more likely to be suitable for further analysis," concludes the report.

Curvy women 'live longer'

A heavy rear can guarantee your chances of living longer, says a new study.

This means that Jennifer Lopez, Nigella Lawson and Beyonce as well as other curvy women are in great shape to live longer thanks to their well-rounded -figures.

Scientists have found that having a big bottom and thighs could help prevent metabolic disorders like heart disease, strokes and -diabetes.he study found that fat apparently grows differently in the upper and lower parts of the adult body, rather than remaining stable in both areas.

Almost 30 men and women in the study were encouraged to gorge on ice-cream, chocolate, sugary drinks and other highly fattening food for eight weeks.

Researchers measured body fat and fat cell size before and after the unhealthy diet regime.

They found that on average the participants put on 5.5lb (2.5 kilos) of upper body fat and 3.3lb (1.5 -kilos) of lower body fat.

But there was a striking difference in that fat cells around the stomach and heart grew in size - but not number - by producing more fat synthesising proteins.he reverse was true for thigh fat cells in the lower part of the body which increased in number, but did not get bigger.

Dr Michael Jensen, research leader at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said the findings challenge the concept that the number of fat cells doesn't vary between the upper and lower body.

It also supports the idea that increased capacity to produce lower-body fat cells creates some form of protection to the upper body and potentially helps to prevent -serious metabolic diseases.

"The cellular mechanisms are different. The accumulation of abdominal fat happens largely by individual cells expanding in size - while with fat gain in the femoral or lower body it is the number of fat cells that increases. So, different mechanism, different impact," the Daily Express quoted Jensen as saying.

In -future, drugs that alter the way fat is stored around the body could be used to combat -diseases.

The study is published in US journal -Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Life on Mars could be similar to that on Earth

Washington, Nov 3 (ANI): Scientists from MIT have said that if life on Mars does exist, it wouldn't be too different from that on Earth.

"We think that if there is life on Mars, it could be related to us," Discovery News quoted Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer and scientist Christopher Carr as saying.

"We would feel awfully silly if we spent a lot of time looking for something that was very different and didn't spend time looking for something that was very similar. Life could have arisen independently, but that is not the most likely scenario," he added.

MIT is developing, along with NASA, a project known as the Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes (SETG) that would attempt to isolate, amplify, detect and identify nucleic acids on Mars.

Carr said that Martian DNA could remain viable for about one million years or so underground, where it would be shielded from the harsh ultraviolet rays and space radiation that sterilize the planet's surface.
"The problem is that there are processes at work on Mars that destroy organic materials. If you want to have a fighting chance of getting to material that has been unaffected by these processes, it's good to go down," Carr said.

It will take another two years to refine SETG technology before it's ready for field tests in Chile's Atacama Desert or the dry valleys of Antarctica-both of which resemble the cold, dry deserts of Mars.

Sunless days can lead to Sadness

Days when one is not exposed to sunlight can lead to seasonal affective disorder or SAD, which can leave you depressed and lethargic, say experts.

Once dismissed by medics, the condition is now recognised by psychiatrists and doctors and its symptoms also include insomnia and aching joints as a result of a change in season.

But experts believe that because the symptoms are similar to other illnesses, it is often undiagnosed, leaving sufferers struggling to cope, reports the Daily Mail.

'Light has many physiological effects on the body,' says Russell Foster, a neuroscientist at Oxford University.

'Cells in the eyes register light so the brain knows when it is day or night. This triggers the release of certain hormones that regulate hunger and digestion, growth, mood and energy.'

Darkness causes an increase in the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps us sleep.

There is also a reduction in serotonin, crucial for keeping us alert, and often called the feel-good hormone, which also regulates the digestive system. Light triggers the release of cortisol, which helps us wake up.

'If you drive to work in the dark, spend all day indoors in artificial light, and return in the dark, your internal body clock has nothing to lock onto and normal rhythms can be thrown,' says Foster.

He recommends you should experience two hours of natural light a day, even if it's via a large window.

Astronomers find giant extragalactic planet

Astronomers have for the first time spotted a planet that originated outside the galaxy.

Till date, about 500 planets have been discovered. This is the first known planet to have been born elsewhere.

The gas planet, at least 25 percent heavier than Jupiter or 400 times heavier than Earth, orbits a star that started life in a dwarf galaxy, according to the journal Science Express.

Known as HIP 13044b, the hydrogen and helium planet sits in a solar system belonging to a group of stars called the Helmi stream, some 2,000 light years away from Earth, the Telegraph reports.

Between six and nine billion years ago, the Helmi merged with the Milky Way in an act of 'galactic cannibalism'. It is now in a southern constellation of the Milky Way called the Fornax or Furnace.

Because of the vast distance, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla, Chile, could not detect the planet visibly, using the 2.2 metre-diameter telescope.

Instead, they inferred its existence from tiny telltale wobbles of the star.

These are caused by the gravitational tug of its large orbiting companion, which the astronomers detected with a high-resolution spectrograph attached to the telescope.

Rainer Klemen, of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, said: 'This discovery is very exciting. For the first time, astronomers have detected a planetary system in a stellar stream of extragalactic origin.'

The planet is orbiting a star which is approaching the end of its life, having exhausted its hydrogen fuel and gone through a stage of massive expansion - called the red giant phase - in which it probably consumed the inner planets in its solar system.

It has now contracted again and is burning helium in its core.

While buying an i-pad

Make no mistake while buying an iPad, the iPad is certainly a cool product - an amazingly capable machine. In fact, if you are the sort of person who buys an expensive computer just to surf the Internet and occasionally check e-mails, it is the perfect device. Well, almost. That's because the iPad does not support Adobe's Flash software.

And while Apple's iPod has its reasons for not allowing Flash support on the iPad - not in the least because Flash is a resource-hungry software - it remains very popular with web developers looking to add interactive multimedia to their websites. The iPad does not have cameras or output cables such as an HDMI port to connect to high-definition televisions.

Yet, the iPad faces a slew of competitors - some releasing their tablet devices now and some over the next few months. Devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak, both of which run Google's Android version 2.2 mobile operating system. There is also the BlackBerry PlayBook, which albeit smaller than the iPad, is far more powerful pound-for-pound, thanks to its dual-core one gigahertz Cortex A9 processor.

Then there are local tablets, such as the OlivePad. It was reviewed in this column a few months ago and left us quite unimpressed. And that is not all there is on the local (or Chinese) front.

The big difference between local tablets and big-brand ones is in the quality of the screen. You can make out the poor screen resolution on cheaper tablets. Worse, almost all of them lack capacitive multi-touch. Instead, they have resistance touch, which, if you ask someone used to multi-touch devices, is like going back to a standard definition TV from high-definition TV.

So, if you were to buy a tablet, or are considering buying one, go for a big-name brand. But which one? The iPad has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, while the PlayBook and GALAXY Tab both have seven-inch diagonal screens. This means that the latter two products are, at a stretch, pocketable. But the iOS operating system is proven and the iTunes Apps Store has a lot more applications than the Android Marketplace. The QNX operating system on the PlayBook will be familiar to drivers of Audi and BMW cars, and its makers claim that it will allow "true" multitasking of various applications at the same time.

Many newer tablets on the market have far better hardware than the now slightly dated iPad, though keep in mind that I use the term dated with care as the iPad is still under a year old. Things move in the real world at a dizzying speed. But there should be a newer version of the iPad out sometime next year. Maybe, Apple might eventually even start selling the iPad in India and I believe they will soon. Also, the basic 16 GB WiFi-only version of the iPad should be a lot cheaper than some of the competition.

So, should you get one? Deciding which one to buy will become a lot easier once there are some more products officially available in India. But, for now, is the format worth it? If you type a lot from home, maybe not. It will not replace your work computer though it is an incredible tool to have even away from work. Besides, it is a lot lighter and cheaper than a laptop. But if all you do is reply to mails, keep your replies short since typing is an issue. On the other hand, products such as the iPad have a lot of cool, time-wasting applications - perfect for use when you are stuck at airports, flights and during boring meetings.

Most importantly, tablets are still cool. Like laptops were a decade ago, before they came to signify you were a corporate drone if you toted one. So yes, go, get a tablet.

Earth-like planet found

A team of planet hunters led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet (three times the mass of Earth) orbiting a nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's "habitable zone," where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. If confirmed, this would be the most Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered and the first strong case for a potentially habitable one.

This undated handout artist rendering provided by Lynette Cook, National Science Foundation, shows a new planet, right. Astronomers have found a planet that is in the Goldilocks zone _ just right for life. AP Photo

To astronomers, a "potentially habitable" planet is one that could sustain life, not necessarily one that humans would consider a nice place to live. Habitability depends on many factors, but liquid water and an atmosphere are among the most important.

But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.

Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between in the land of constant sunrise it would be shirt-sleeve weather, said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from NASA's Great Observatories--the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like "arms," seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced by tidal forces generated in the collision.

"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."

The planet is tidally locked to the star, meaning that one side is always facing the star and basking in perpetual daylight, while the side facing away from the star is in perpetual darkness. One effect of this is to stabilize the planet's surface climates, according to Vogt. The most habitable zone on the planet's surface would be the line between shadow and light (known as the "terminator"), with surface temperatures decreasing toward the dark side and increasing toward the light side.

"Any emerging life forms would have a wide range of stable climates to choose from and to evolve around, depending on their longitude," Vogt said.

This handout photo released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows a montage of young and hot stars located in the Tarantula nebula taken with a 2.2-metre telescope. AFP

The researchers estimate that the average surface temperature of the planet is between -24 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-31 to -12 degrees Celsius). Actual temperatures would range from blazing hot on the side facing the star to freezing cold on the dark side.
If Gliese 581g has a rocky composition similar to the Earth's, its diameter would be about 1.2 to 1.4 times that of the Earth. The surface gravity would be about the same or slightly higher than Earth's, so that a person could easily walk upright on the planet, Vogt said.
The findings are based on 11 years of observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. "Advanced techniques combined with old-fashioned ground-based telescopes continue to lead the exoplanet revolution," said Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution. "Our ability to find potentially habitable worlds is now limited only by our telescope time."
Vogt and Butler lead the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey. The team's new findings are reported in a paper to be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

This handout photo released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows a montage of young and hot stars located in the Tarantula nebula taken with a 2.2-metre telescope. AFP

The paper reports the discovery of two new planets around the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 581. This brings the total number of known planets around this star to six, the most yet discovered in a planetary system other than our own solar system. Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have nearly circular orbits.

The most interesting of the two new planets is Gliese 581g, with a mass three to four times that of the Earth and an orbital period of just under 37 days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and that it has enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere, according to Vogt.

This image of the Tarantula Nebula was obtained with the near-infrared optics. Using a combination of instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date, one weighing at birth more than 300 times the mass of the Sun, or twice as much as the currently accepted limit of 150 solar masses. AFP

Gliese 581, located 20 light years away from Earth in the constellation Libra, has a somewhat chequered history of habitable-planet claims. Two previously detected planets in the system lie at the edges of the habitable zone, one on the hot side (planet c) and one on the cold side (planet d). While some astronomers still think planet d may be habitable if it has a thick atmosphere with a strong greenhouse effect to warm it up, others are skeptical. The newly discovered planet g, however, lies right in the middle of the habitable zone.

"We had planets on both sides of the habitable zone--one too hot and one too cold--and now we have one in the middle that's just right," Vogt said.

"It's really hard to detect a planet like this," Vogt said.

Scientists have aimed Hubble to take a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of the nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074. The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170 000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the most active star-forming regions in our local group of galaxies. In this representative color image, red shows emission from sulphur atoms, green from glowing hydrogen, and blue from glowing oxygen.

The researchers also explored the implications of this discovery with respect to the number of stars that are likely to have at least one potentially habitable planet. Given the relatively small number of stars that have been carefully monitored by planet hunters, this discovery has come surprisingly soon.

"If these are rare, we shouldn't have found one so quickly and so nearby," Vogt said. "The number of systems with potentially habitable planets is probably on the order of 10 or 20 percent, and when you multiply that by the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, that's a large number. There could be tens of billions of these systems in our galaxy."