Category Astronomy/Space

A Perseid seen in August 2010 above the four enclosures of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. Credit: ESO / S. Guisard. Click for a larger image

12 Aug evening -13 August morning sees the annual maximum of the Perseid meteor shower. Meteors (‘shooting stars’) are the result of small particles, some as small as a grain of sand, entering Earth’s atmosphere at high speed. The tail of the Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed near Earth in 1992, leaves such debris in Earth’s path. On entering the atmosphere, these particles heat the air around them, causing the characteristic streak of light seen from the ground. This shower of meteors appears to originate from a single point, called a ‘radiant’, in the constellation of Perseus, hence the name.

#IMA...

This is a perspective rendering of the Martian chloride deposit. Credit: LASP / Brian Hynek

Mars turned cold and dry long ago, but there is evidence of an ancient lake that likely represents some of the last potentially habitable surface water ever to exist here. There is an 18-sq-mile chloride salt deposit (about the size of the city of Boulder) in the planet’s Meridiani region near the Mars Opportunity rover’s landing site. As seen on Earth in locations such as Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, large-scale salt deposits are considered to be evidence of evaporated bodies of water.

Digital terrain mapping and mineralogical analysis of the features surrounding the deposit indicate that this one-time lakebed is no older than 3...

DIAPH3 silencing reduces the population of stable MT and alters MT topology. NB. Inhibition of MT stability arising from DIAPH3 downregulation enhances susceptibility to MT poisons, and that the DIAPH3 network potentially reports taxane sensitivity in human

The biomarker – diaphanous-related formin-3 or DIAPH3 – participates in a protein interaction that makes cells rigid. The study found that when this biomarker is lost or lowered, cells become “deformable,” squeezing through tissue spaces, causing disease growth or progression. This phenomenon is known as an amoeboid phenotype.

ie DIAPH3 interacted with microtubules (MT), and its loss altered several parameters of MT dynamics as well as decreased polarized force generation, contractility, and response to substrate stiffness...

“This mountain is among the tallest features we’ve seen on Ceres to date,” said Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. “It’s unusual that it’s not associated with a crater. Why is it sitting in the middle of nowhere? We don’t know yet, but we may find out with closer observations.”

Also puzzling is the famous #Occator crater, home to Ceres’ brightest spots. A new animation simulates the experience of a close flyover of this area. The crater takes its name from the Roman agriculture deity of harrowing, a method of pulverizing and smoothing soil.

In examining the way Occator’s bright spots reflect light at different wavelengths, the Dawn science team has not found evidence that is consistent with ice...