Ozone Hole Opened Over The Arctic

Ozone Layer cartoon

Ozone is Earth's natural sunscreen, shielding life from excessive amounts of ultraviolet radiation. But Earth's ozone layer has been damaged by well-intentioned chemicals - chlorofluorocarbons, used for refrigerants and aerosol spray-cans - that have the unintended consequence of destroying ozone molecules.


A huge Arctic ozone hole opened up over the Northern Hemisphere for the first time this year, an international research team.


The hole covered 2 million square kilometres - about twice the size of Ontario - and allowed high levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation to hit large swaths of northern Canada, Europe and Russia, the 29 scientists say.


The discovery of the "unprecedented" hole comes as the Canadian government is moving to reduce staff in what Environment Minister Peter Kent calls the "streamlining" of its ozone monitoring network.


Environment Canada scientists say the "chemical ozone destruction over the Arctic in early 2011 was - for the first time in the observation record - comparable to that in the Antarctic ozone hole."


It also highlights the importance of Environment Canada's ozone networks, which scientists have warned could be drastically reduced. Department officials say ozone monitoring will continue but will be "streamlined" to eliminate "redundancy."


The scientists say maintaining "comprehensive" data is "critical" to understanding Arctic ozone depletion and the threats it poses.


They used U.S. and European satellites, along with ground stations and scientific balloons - including those operated by Environment Canada - to find and track the hole. "The satellites, ground stations and balloons each provide a piece of the puzzle", says co-author Kaley Walker, at the University of Toronto. "It is important to have them all."

The peak of the Ozone Layer in late March

The hole formed over the Arctic in February and March, then swung across northern Canada, northern Europe and Central Russia to northern Asia, prompting scientists to issue warnings this spring about excess radiation.


A report shows just how big and remarkable the hole was and how it moved. It also points to what scientists are calling "ominous" changes in the Arctic stratosphere, about 20 kilometres above the surface, which may be linked to climate change and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.


The ozone-destroying chlorine compounds have been banned internationally, but they are so "long-lived" the scientists expect them to stay in the atmosphere for decades. Scietists say it will likely be about 70 years - "a full generation of humans" - before the chlorine compounds disappear from the atmosphere. Meantime a cooling trend in the stratosphere, which is thought to be tied to increasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, could create more ozone holes.


They also say "more acute Arctic ozone destruction could exacerbate biological risks from increased ultraviolet radiation exposure, especially if the vortex shifted over densely populated midlatitudes, as it did in April 2011." The "polar vortex" is the frigid air mass that circles the polar region in winter and can dip as far south as New York and Rome.

I love the Ozone Layer sticker

The lowest value (deepest hole) ever recorded was 73 Dobson Units on September 30, 1994, while the broadest hole occurred on September 29, 2000, when the ozone-depleted area stretched 29.9 million square kilometers. The record for mean size of the ozone hole - the greatest extent over a one-month window - was September 7 to October 13, 2006, when the hole reached 26.2 million square kilometers. The mean ozone hole in 2010 was 22.2 million square kilometers.




In 2010 report, the science advisers to the Montreal Protocol found that:


- Global ozone and ozone in the Arctic and Antarctic is no longer decreasing, but is not yet increasing.


- The ozone layer outside the Polar Regions is projected to recover to its pre-1980 levels some time before the middle of this century. The recovery might be accelerated by greenhouse gas-induced cooling of the upper stratosphere.


- The ozone hole over the Antarctic is expected to recover much later.


- The impact of the Antarctic ozone hole on surface climate is becoming evident in surface temperature and wind patterns.


- At mid-latitudes, surface ultraviolet radiation has been about constant over the last decade.




Ozone hole 2011, compared to previous years:

Alien Spaceships are Coming to Earth, November 2011

Planet Earth and it's natural satelite - the Moon

NASA confirmed that three alien spaceships are on track to arrive in Earth’s atmosphere.
Three giant alien spaceships are heading for Earth! Scientists predict they will arrive in November of  2011.


Three giant ships with aliens are traveling to Earth. We will meet them soon - in November, estimated scientists from the Research Center of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Do not rush to enjoy your dream to see a UFO, because the intentions of the aliens are not clear. 


Aliens who recently passed by Jupiter, are detected by the system HAARP, based in Alaska. HAARP was designed to study the phenomenon of northern lights.
“Three giant spaceships are heading toward Earth. The largest one of them is 200 miles wide. Two others are slightly smaller. At present, the objects are just moving past Jupiter.  Judging by their speed, they should be on Earth by the fall of  2011” said John Malley, the lead extraterrestrial expert at SETI. 


Scientists are adamant that these are alien ships. In November 2011 - when they reach Mars' orbit - they will be close enough to be seen with optical telescope. The U.S. government is aware of the "event". 

Alien (not a real picture)

Recently controversial site "Wikileaks" revealed many classified documents, proving that senior NASA and U.S. figures are informed about the journey of the three extraterrestrial ships. They are even making plans to battle the spaceships. They have been concealing information from the U.S. public for decades. According to "Wikileaks" there is sufficient evidence that the UFO invasion has begun - something that SETI has predicted.
The three spaceships will mark the official beginning of the alien invasion.


A Chinese official had obtained over than 1,000 secret NASA photographs depicting not only human footprints, but even a human carcass on the surface of the Moon. Some of the bones in the carcass were missing, the official said. The human corpse must have been dropped on the Moon from an alien spaceship, whereas the extraterrestrials kept some tissue samples for research.


Dr. Ken Johnson said that U.S. astronauts had found and photographed ancient ruins by an unnatural artificial origin, on the Moon.
US astronauts had seen large unknown mechanisms on the Moon.


Beginning in August of 2011 the U.N. will begin preparing citizens of the world for the attack of the three spaceships – which are believed to come from Planet Zeeba.

Earth and Moon - part of the Solar System

These news really sound like a screenplay for some fantastic sci-fi movie. But the scientist are very serious, they say their statements are true.
Alies - a dream for some, a fear for another, a fiction for others.


Looks like in just a mounth we all will see if there are aliens. 
If they are having good or bad intentions.
So... we will wait, until November comes.

Particles Travel Faster Than Light

Neutron, illustration

Physicists reported that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos can travel faster than light, a finding that - if verified - would blast a hole in Einstein's theory of relativity.


Physicists have found that tiny particles called neutrinos are making a 454-mile (730-kilometer) underground trip faster than they should — more quickly, in fact, than light could do. If the results are confirmed, they could throw much of modern physics into upheaval.


In experiments conducted between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy, the tiny particles were clocked at 300,006 kilometres per second, about six km/sec faster that the speed of light, the researchers said.


"This result comes as a complete surprise" said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the experiment, known as OPERA. "We wanted to measure the speed of neutrinos, but we didn't expect to find anything special."


Results from the CERN laboratory in Switzerland seem to break this cardinal rule of physics, calling into question one of the most trusted laws discovered by Albert Einstein.

Speed of Light, illustration

Scientists spent nearly six months "checking, testing, controlling and rechecking everything" before making an announcement.


Researchers involved in the experiments were cautious in describing its implications, and called on physicists around the world to scrutinise their data, to be made available online overnight.


But the findings, they said, could potentially reshape our understanding of the physical world.


"If this measurement is confirmed, it might change our view of physics" said CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci, a view echoed by several independent physicist contacted by AFP.


In the experiments, scientists blasted a beam producing billions upon billions of neutrinos from CERN, which straddles the French-Swiss border near Geneva, to the Gran Sasso Laboratory 730 kilometres away in Italy.


Neutrinos are electrically neutral particles so small that only recently were they found to have mass.


"The neutrinos arrived 60 nanoseconds earlier that the 2.3 milliseconds taken by light" Ereditato told AFP.


Under Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, however, a physical object cannot travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.


Newton's theory of gravity, still explains the movement of planets well enough to send missions into space, even if Einstein's theories proved that it was not quitecorrect.


Theoretical physicists are sure to begin searching for new explanations to account for the unsuspected quickness of neutrinos.


It could be that "the particles have found a shortcut in another dimension" besides the four - three in space, plus time - we know about.


"Or it could simply mean that the speed of light is not the speed limit we thought it was."

Dinosaur Feathers Found in Amber

The dinosaur feathers encased in amber

CNN - Dinosaur feathers discovered in 80-million-year-old amber provide new clues about dinosaurs.

Paleontologists made this discovery of feather specimens near Grassy Lake in southwestern Alberta, Canada, and described the results in the journal Science.

Researchers don't know which feathers were actually from birds that flew and which might have been from theropod dinosaurs, but the filament structures resembles those seen in other non-avian fossils.

There appear to be two types in the sample: those resembling the feathers of modern birds, and "protofeathers" which are similar to the hair-like structures found in a halo around dinosaur specimens from China in early Cretaceous rock. Those simpler feathers in the amber, which differ from what modern birds have, may have came from small, meat-eating dinosaurs.

"Sort of finding a dinosaur trapped in the amber itself, it’s the best we can do" said Ryan McKellar, a paleontology graduate student of the University of Alberta and lead author of the study.

Although the feather fragments themselves are tiny - ranging from only 2 to 8 millimeters in length - they are preserved in 3D in extraordinary detail, scientists say.

Even some of the pigment remains, so we know what color feathers may have covered these prehistoric creatures. The dinosaur-looking ones display a pale to dark brown color, while the bird-like feathers have a wide range of appearances: There are white downy feathers, as well as flattened, veined feathers of black, brown, and lots of shades in between.

The dinosaur-looking feathers resemble mammal hair-fur and would be useful for things like insulation, and perhaps camouflage and display. The bird-like feathers are even more specifically formed: Some fragments have structural adaptations for flight, and others show characteristics of being able to pick up water, so they could carry water back to their nests or dive better.

How do feather fragments get so well preserved?

About 80 million years ago, these feathers likely blew into some tree resin and, over time, it hardened into an intermediate stage called copal, which then turned to amber. The resin hardens as its volatile component dissipates, and what's left behind is similar to plastic in structure.

The amber used in jewelry today is usually about 17 million to 40 million years old; more than 65 million years old is too brittle for decorative purposes, meaning there probably aren't dinosaur feathers in your mother's amber necklace.

But insects do often get trapped in amber; in fact, McKellar and colleagues found a feather fragment trapped in a spider web in one of the pieces of amber. That's right, there were spiders making spider webs 80 million years ago.

Metamaterial Sheets Make Invisibility Cloaks

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have formulated a new method that can be used for large scale manufacturing of metamaterials. The metamaterials are alloys with slightly unusual properties. This class of materials can interact with light in a different manner. Some of these materials can be used for producing futuristic optical devices like invisibility cloaks, superlenses and other devices.


The prototypes for such state of the art gadgets have been already developed but the main problem is that these materials are hard to fabricate in large quantities. The new printing methodology is said to be able to manufacture sheets of metamaterials with dimensions large enough to create practical devices. Small sheets measuring hardly a few hundred nanometers were developed till now which were hardly sufficient for anything except laboratory demonstrations.


The team of scientists is led by John Rogers, professor of material engineering at the University of Illinois. Metamaterials have an intricate and complex molecular lattice. It has a layered structure with overlapping metal layers. The main constraint while designing these alloys is that the dimensions should be comparable to the wavelength of the light spectrum in which the material has to operate. Till now, complex techniques like electron beam lithography. Rogers and his group have developed a simpler alternative that is economically feasible. It is basically a stamp based printing technique that can be used for bigger pieces of metamaterials. Some of the substances belonging to this category of materials have a negative refractive index with respect to infrared light and hence do not reflect the incident light. This property makes it suitable for making super lenses, hi tech optical communication devices, night vision invisibility cloak, etc.


The fabrication process is pretty simple. Initially, the desires hard plastic stamp is shaped on which a fishnet like pattern of layer is embossed. This stamp is then placed in an evaporation chamber where it gets coated with alternative layers of sacrificial layer and metamaterials. The main metamaterial ingredients are oxides of magnesium and silver. In this way a mesh gets deposited on the stamp. Later, this stamp is placed on a plastic or glass plate. Then the sacrificial layer is etched away and the pattern is deposited on the glass layer. The size of the material can be increased by improving the stamp surface area and these stamp fabricated patterns have better optical characteristics.


Now, the most time consuming thing in this method is making the moulds for the stamps precisely. Once the mould is ready, any number of reusable stamps can be manufactured for the printing of metamaterial sheets. It might take a few more years for making this technology commercial. Let’s hope that this technology can make Harry Potter-like invisibility cloaks.

By 2018 The World Will End 7 Times!

For the next 7 years there are 7 dates on which the world will end. Predictions and scientific theories are telling us when and how will end the world.


According to different soothsayers there are different dates meant to be the end of the world, all of them in various years.


The american prophet, Harold Camping, convinced 200 000 people all over the world that on May 21st 2011 (a few weeks ago) will be fulfilled the biblical prophecy about the Second Coming.
As we can see (thanks God) that didn't happen. But Harold doesn't give up easily, he changed the date to October 2011. 


The most popular and discussed end of the world date is December 21st 2012. The Mayans predict that will be the last day of our civilization. 
On this day, according to ancient text - the Mayan prophecy - will occur so-called parade of planets: Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn will arrange in a line, in the center of which will be the Sun.
Because of the unusual proximity of the Earth to the star will start a chain reaction: in the atmosphere will penetrate energy flows so strong that the surface of our planet will not sustain them.


There is another prediction for the same date - December 21st 2012. This time it comes from the Ancient Sumerians. Nibiru - the mystic planet, will be so close to the Earth, that will cause a shift of the magnetic poles and will completely change the orbit of our planet.
It's giant mass will cause the rise of huge water masses, which in turn will flood thecontinents and will destroy all life on Earth.


The second most discussed end of the world date is Spetembet 22nd 2012. That would be the energetical world end. It's said that it will be caused by natural-technological global catastrophe. According to calculations of a group of scientists from NASA's strong eruption of the Sun, whose electromagnetic pulse will damage virtually all power and electronicequipment for a long period of time will cause the death of billions of people.


Dutch astrophysicist, Pierre van der Meere said, that the Sun will explode in 2013 and this will literally burn the Earth.


Russian astrophysicist, thinks that a new Ice Age will begin in 2014. This will destroy most of the fertile lands on Earth and humanity will gradually die of hunger. 


According to Vanga, the great bulgarian fortune teller, millions of people will be deceased from the festering sores, skin cancer and other diseases due to chemical warfare.


American climatologist, James Hansen, believes that in 2016 the glaciers will melt and flood large parts of land that will become uninhabitable.


2018 is the year for which Nostradamus predicted that will start a global nuclear war that will destroy mankind.


Well, we went so far. We've been through 2000, 2001, 2006, 2010 end of the world predictions.
I believe we will live through this. Of course, the world is going to end someday, but I don't think it's close.


Live your life with happiness, do whatever you want to, enjoy every second. :)  Be happy with what you do and who you are!