Once again, Kepler is reshaping our understanding of planets
3 prominent researchers discuss how recent findings from the Kepler mission are deepening our knowledge of planets beyond our solar system, as well as redefining the boundaries where life could exist
2011-09-19
(Press-News.org) This has been a good year for Kepler, NASA's planet-hunting satellite telescope.
Last week, a team of astronomers announced they had discovered a planet that orbits two stars – a discovery that already has the field rethinking how planets are formed. And earlier this year, it was announced there are hundreds of possible planets in a small region of the Milky Way Galaxy, including 20 that have already been confirmed. Planets are also being found in a diversity of solar systems. All of this possible because of Kepler.
Three prominent researchers – Jack J. Lissauer, NASA's Ames Research Center; UC Berkeley's Geoffrey W. Marcy; and MIT's Sara Seager – recently discussed how Kepler's discoveries are reshaping thinking about exoplanets. Among the topics: whether scientists need to revisit what they regard as the "habitable zone" in a planetary system – the distance from a star where liquid water on a planet can exist and possibly life.
"The diversity of exoplanets has really forced us to reconsider what the habitable zone really is," said Seager, professor of Physics and the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and faculty member at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. "For example, some super-Earths are massive enough that they could retain a different atmosphere than we have on Earth. These super-Earths may hold on to the light gases, hydrogen or hydrogen and helium. In this case, if they have a massive atmosphere they could have a massive greenhouse effect. This could actually increase the range of the habitable zone in a planetary system."
Marcy agreed. "We have very Earth-centric views of what conditions are necessary for life…. [b]ut we now know there are many other types of planets, maybe even moons around planets, where there could be the conditions necessary for life," said Marcy, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Director of U.C. Berkeley's Center for Integrative Planetary Science, and a co-investigator on the Kepler space telescope mission. "So we're beginning to broaden our perspective about what types of planets and environments might be suitable for life."
INFORMATION:
The complete dialogue is available at: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/astrophysics-exoplanets-milky-way
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-09-19
In advance of a United Nations conference today on the global challenges of treating cancer and other diseases, the UBC Graduate School of Journalism has launched an ambitious multimedia site, The Pain Project, which documents one of the greatest challenges to treating chronic illnesses: severely constrained access to morphine.
The Pain Project, www.internationalreporting.org/pain, results from a year-long investigation by UBC's International Reporting Program (IRP). Teams traveled to India, Ukraine and Uganda to determine how these countries manage the pain of patients ...
2011-09-19
EUGENE, Ore. -- (Sept. 19, 2011) -- The thought of toys being given out as part of children's meal deals might be easier to swallow, and better for you, if the toys are part of a collectible set and tied to healthy, nutrition-rich food choices. Who says? Kids and their parents do.
The findings of a new study come during a time of debate over obesity in the United States -- about one-third of adults are now obese, as are 17 percent of children ages 2-19, notes the Centers for Disease Control -- and the growing belief that toys with fast-food meals only serve to put fatty, ...
2011-09-19
SalesFUSION, the maker of SalesFUSION 360, an integrated sales and marketing demand generation platform, debuted a new native version of its marketing automation application for Dynamics CRM 2011 this summer. Known as inDynamics because of its native email and web analytics features, SalesFUSION's unique approach on integrating marketing and sales for Microsoft CRM brings the power and feature set of an enterprise app inside the Dynamics CRM framework.
SalesFUSION recently announced that over 110 companies are actively using its marketing automation platform with Dynamics ...
2011-09-19
Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, August 8, 2011—Can a flexible LED conformably placed on the human heart, situated on the corrugated surface of the human brain, or rolled upon the blood vessels, diagnose or even treat various diseases? These things might be a reality in the near future.
The team of Professor Keon Jae Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST) has developed a new concept: a biocompatible, flexible Gallium Nitride (GaN) LED that can detect prostate cancer.
GaN LED, a highly efficient light emitting device, has been commercialized in LED ...
2011-09-19
In more than 70 per cent of legal disputes over informed consent, patients allege the doctor failed to properly explain the risks of complications, a University of Melbourne study published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia has found.
Professor David Studdert from the Melbourne School of Population Health and Melbourne Law School and co-authors reviewed nearly 2000 negligence claims against doctors insured by Avant Mutual Group Limited and complaints lodged with the Health Services Commissioner of Victoria between January 2002 and December 2008.
The authors ...
2011-09-19
A new paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, explains weaknesses in our understanding of climate change and how we can fix them. These issues mean predictions vary wildly about how quickly temperatures will rise. This has serious implications for long term political and economic planning. The papers lead author is Dr Nigel Fox of The National Physical Laboratory, The UK's National Measurement Institution.
The Earth's climate is undoubtedly changing, but how fast and what the implications will be are unclear. Our most reliable models rely ...
2011-09-19
Scientists at Queen's University have pioneered a new combination treatment for prostate cancer. The treatment, which has been successful in phase one of trials, will now be tested for efficacy in a second phase.
The treatment, aimed at men with an advanced and aggressive form of prostate cancer which has spread to the bone, is the first of its kind to be developed. It combines traditional chemotherapy treatments with two doses of a radioactive chemical which can target areas of the bone affected by prostate cancer.
Aggressive and advanced prostate cancer is responsible ...
2011-09-19
Current policy pressures on universities to focus on improving their research excellence and to widen participation make it hard for them to engage meaningfully with excluded communities, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). University-community engagement remains marginal to the organisation, funding, management and strategic control of universities. This reduces their benefits for excluded communities.
"Traditionally, universities have regarded excluded communities with an air of detached benevolence," says Dr Paul Benneworth ...
2011-09-19
To cost‑effectively protect the climate, not only an emissions
trading scheme but also financial support for new technologies is
needed. Economising on targeted funding, for example for renewable
energies, makes climate protection more expensive ‑ as scientists of
the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now
calculated for the first time, using a complex computer simulation
that spans the entire 21st century. Without funding, energy
technologies with high cost reduction potentials will hardly stand a
chance, ...
2011-09-19
Using this garment-based patient biomonitoring platform allows us to register a number of the patient's physiological parameters in a non-intrusive manner. "The information gathered by an intelligent t-shirt using e-textile technology is sent, without using wires, to an information management system, which then shows the patient's location and vital signs in real time", explain the UC3M researchers. The system is designed to be used in hospitals and can be divided into two parts: the fixed infrastructure, which would be pre-installed in the hospital, and the mobile units, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Once again, Kepler is reshaping our understanding of planets
3 prominent researchers discuss how recent findings from the Kepler mission are deepening our knowledge of planets beyond our solar system, as well as redefining the boundaries where life could exist
