Huge vortex seen on Saturn moon
Nasa's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a swirling green mass of gas at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan.
Scientists say the polar vortex is turning faster than the moon itself rotates on its axis.
The formation of the vortex may be related to the changing seasons; Titan's southern winter is on its way.
The vortex may eventually form a "polar hood" - an area of dense, high altitude haze - just such a feature was seen over the north pole during winter.
Titan, Saturn's largest satellite, is covered by a thick haze composed of carbon-based (organic) molecules.
Cassini's visible-light cameras caught signs of a yellowish area forming in the haze over this region as early as March 27.
Clouds were first spotted massing around the south pole on 22 May when the spacecraft looked at infrared wavelengths.
"We've been watching this vortex become more developed in the last three to four months, and now, captured in exquisite detail, we're seeing finer-scale features within the detached haze than have been seen to date," said Jason Perry, from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Since Cassini arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, Titan has had a visible "hood" high above the north pole.
It was northern winter during this period, and much of the high northern latitudes were in darkness.
But the hood - an area of denser, high-altitude haze compared to the rest of the moon's atmosphere - was high enough to still be illuminated by sunlight.
Saturn's August 2009 equinox signalled the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere for the planet along with moons such as Titan.
Now the high southern latitudes are moving into darkness. Scientists think the formation of the vortex at Titan's south pole may be related to the coming southern winter and the start of what will be a south polar hood.
On Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus and Earth, similar vortices are centered on the north or south pole.
However, the polar vortices on these planets are each distinct. Titan's south polar vortex also appears extraordinary in that it contains what appears to be a cloud of condensing organic material containing carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen.
Cassini despatched the piggybacked Huygens probe to Titan in early 2005. Huygens sent back valuable data from its descent through the moon's thick atmosphere and subsequent touchdown on the surface. - BBC
Cassini at Saturn: Huygens Results (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)
The New Solar System: Ice Worlds, Moons, and Planets Redefined
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Alien Abduction - Atlantic County, NJ
Atlantic County - 7-6-12: First, I never remember seeing a UFO. I didn't even know I was being abducted until 2 days ago. I read some reviews of the book "Taken" and some red flags went up for me. I will start with how an abduction usually begins: Usually night but it has happened during the day. I am in bed and I feel a presence in the room then I feel like a heavy wait is on me, I can't move my body but can move my eyes and control my breathing. Then I fall asleep or at times it seems like nothing happened , the feeling just goes away. I only remember bits and pieces like a dream things like being in water I can breath. One afternoon, I remember lying facedown and hearing someone say "the disease resides at the base of the spine" but I now think it said device, the device resides at the base of the spine. I felt little tingled at the small of my back, no pain. On another night years later, a presence came into my room and said " you have no idea whats in store for you tonight" then it left. During the night I awoke to the worst pain on the left side of my face. I went to the emergency room, was admitted by a nurse but I left before being seen by a doctor. The worst part about this is I know when this is going to happen before they come. But when I get in bed I suddenly dont care! It's like it's ok to be taken from my bed for whatever reason. Even as I type this it's like there is nothing to worry about. It really makes no sense to me, I know I do not want this to happen to me. I feel like a prisoner in the back of my mind I know there is nothing I can do, and I must go. So this has gone on since I was in the 6th grade, Im 30 now. Being a psychic I thought it was a sprit or demon messing with me. This was nothing new, and I always felt I could handle whatever came my way... as a very small child I would follow "clear people" around the house. But I never told my family about it. I could also give a description of one face I saw but it is not like anything I have ever seen. NOTE: The above image is a rendering.
This case is under investigation by Ken Pfeifer and Jack Nicholias of MUFON New Jersey.
www.worldufophotos.com
The Real Men In Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and their Connection to UFO Phenomena
Mystery of the Men in Black: The UFO Silencers
The Big Book of UFOs (Ufos Extraterrestrial Beings)
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Marriage, based on love, banned in village
A village in India's Uttar Pradesh state has banned love marriages and imposed a series of restrictions on women, reports say.
Council leaders in Asara village have reportedly barred women under 40 from shopping alone and from using mobile phones outside.
They have also ordered women to cover their heads when outside.
Village heads say the measures are a response to cases of harassment, but PTI reports police are investigating.
The village council order was issued at a meeting on Wednesday, officials said.
The council also ruled that those marrying for love would not be allowed to live in the village, reports said.
Baghpat district, which is where Asara village is located, is only about 40km (25 miles) from the Indian capital, Delhi. - BBC
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Shanghai Scientists May Have Found AIDS Vaccine
Shanghai scientists are claiming a breakthrough in the search for an HIV vaccine, with clinical trials on humans expected to begin in three years' time, given sufficient funding. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, say they are the first in the world to use fruit fly cells to produce HIV-1 virus-like particles which then successfully generated immunity in mice.
Shanghai scientists are claiming a breakthrough in the search for an HIV vaccine, with clinical trials on humans expected to begin in three years' time, given sufficient funding.
Scientists from the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, say they are the first in the world to use fruit fly cells to produce HIV-1 virus-like particles which then successfully generated immunity in mice.
The HIV-1 virus is the most common strain of HIV viruses.
The scientists' research has been published in the leading Journal of Virology.
Currently, there is no effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. Medicines can only control duplication of the virus, not kill it.
Thus, a safe and effective vaccine is of vital importance if the spread of HIV/AIDS is to be controlled.
However, previous research into HIV vaccines has not gone smoothly.
In 2009, an experimental HIV vaccine developed in Thailand for the first time cut the risk of contracting HIV by 31 percent in humans after failed trials in previous years.
"But that vaccine can't be used for wide-scale injection on humans due to its low protection rate and poor effects on virus load reduction," said Paul Zhou, leading scientist in the Shanghai discovery.
"Concerning the previous researches on HIV vaccine, we decided to stick to the production of HIV virus-like particles," he said.
Virus-like particles resemble viruses, but are non-infectious because they do not contain any viral genetic material.
So far, VLPs have been successfully developed into vaccines for the prevention of infection by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the human papilloma virus (HPV), the cause of cervical cancer.
Zhou said that current methods of producing HIV-1 VLPs had many limitations but his team developed a novel strategy to produce them using fruit fly cells.
In the laboratory, mice injected with the HIV-1 VLP developed an immunity against the HIV virus.
Zhou said his team's method of producing the VLPs boded well for the development of a vaccine against HIV-1.
"In the next step, we will do tests on monkeys.
"The success of monkeys will pave the way for clinical trials on human beings." - CAS