Astronomers discover many-planet system

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Astronomers discover many-planet system LA SILLA, Chile (UPI) -- European astronomers say they've discovered a planetary system with at least five and possibly seven planets, the most yet seen outside our solar system. Scientists of the European Southern Observatory using a telescope at La Silla, Chile, found the planets orbiting a sun-like star 127 light years from earth, an ESO release said Tuesday. "We have found what is most likely the system with the most planets yet discovered," Christophe Lovis, lead author of the paper reporting the result, said. "This remarkable discovery also highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet research: the study of complex planetary systems and not just of individual planets." The astronomers measured tiny oscillating movements of the star caused by the complex gravitational attractions from five or more planets. The five strongest signals correspond to planets with masses similar to Neptune orbiting the star with periods ranging from about 6 to 600 days. "We also have good reasons to believe that two other planets are present," says Lovis. One is suspected to be a Saturn-like planet orbiting in 2200 days. The other is thought to be the least massive exoplanet ever discovered, with a mass of about 1.4 times that of Earth. It is very close to its host star, at just 2 percent of the Earth-sun distance, ESO scientists say. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Scientist: Wind, solar energy is future BOSTON (UPI) -- A Nobel Prize-winning U.S. scientist says the world could soon enter an era in which renewable wind and solar power will be the globe's main sources of energy. Walter Kohn, who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, told a meeting of the American Chemical Society that total oil and natural gas production, which today provides about 60 percent of global energy consumption, is expected to peak about 10 to 30 years from now, followed by a rapid decline, an ACS release said Tuesday. But ongoing research and development of alternative energy could lead to a new era in human history in which two renewable sources -- solar and wind -- will become Earth's dominant contributors of energy, Kohn said. Global photovoltaic energy production increased by a factor of about 90, and wind energy by a factor of about 10, during the last 10 years, Kohn said. He expects vigorous growth of these two effectively inexhaustible energies to continue. Kohn, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, cited students on his campus who spent their own funds to convert an athletic building to total solar power. "When it comes to providing leadership by young people in the area of energy conservation and energy efficiency and global warming -- they are fantastic," he said. "It is a major social commitment for our times." Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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U.S., Calif. developers in spat over rat RIVERSIDE, Calif. (UPI) -- Property owners and developers in Southern California have failed in an effort to remove a native kangaroo rat from the endangered species list, officials said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded populations of the big-eyed Stephens' kangaroo rat were diminishing despite protection efforts and left it on the list, the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise reported Thursday. The decision Wednesday was bad news for developers and property owners who have been coping with the rat protections for more than two decades. The rat favors habitat that is prime for building and development -- flat, open areas. When the rodent was listed as endangered in 1988, it jeopardized or delayed residential and commercial development on about 22,000 acres in Riverside Country. The restrictions triggered an outcry and the rodent became the bane of local developers, the Press-Enterprise said. In 1995 the Riverside Farm Bureau petitioned the wildlife service to de-list the animal, arguing scientific data showed the species was doing well and should not have been listed in the first place. The petition languished for 15 years, and the bureau sued Fish and Wildlife last year to force a decision. It was not the one they hoped for. The Farm Bureau has not decided whether to challenge the decision in federal court, an attorney representing the bureau said. Wildlife advocates applauded the decision. "There is less habitat now than when the species was listed," Ileene Anderson, a Los Angeles biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said. "So it is unimaginable that they would make any other decision than to keep it under Endangered Species Act protections." Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Geneticists find 'zombie' gene in disease NEW YORK (UPI) -- Dead, "junk" genes in the human genome sequence can come to life, researchers say, to cause one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy. Scientists say the "junk" DNA is found in regions of the genome dating back hundreds of thousands of years, The New York Times reported Thursday. Some of the genes, geneticists found, can rise from the dead like zombies to cause facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. This is the first time, they say, they have observed a dead gene come back to life and cause a disease. FSHD affects about one in 20,000 people, causing a progressive weakening of muscles in the upper arms, the shoulders and in the face. The suspect genes had seemed permanently disabled, but "the first law of the genome is that anything that can go wrong will," said Dr. Francis Collins, a human geneticist and director of the National Institutes of Health. About 20 years ago, geneticists zeroed in on the region of the genome that seemed to be involved in FSHD -- a long chain of repeated copies of a dead gene. The dead gene was also repeated in another area of the genome but that area of repeats seemed innocuous, unrelated to the disease. Under certain circumstances, geneticists have discovered, the "innocuous" genes can come back to life, triggering FSHD. The findings suggest a way to search for treatments, says David Housman, a geneticist at MIT who was not involved in the research but is chairman of the scientific advisory board of the FSHD Society, an advocacy group. "It has made it clear what the target is," he said. "Turning off that dead gene. I am certain you can hit it." Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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