Scientists Stumped By Sun’s Asymmetrically Reversing Magnetic Field

April 27, 2012 2 comments

idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com

The Sun’s magnetic field is reversing, South becoming North, as it does approximately every 11 years on a cycle, but this time, something even stranger is going on: The North is moving much faster than the South, and space scientists aren’t sure why.

“Right now, there’s an imbalance between the north and the south poles,” Jonathan Cirtain, NASA’s project scientist for a Japanese solar mission called Hinode, in a recent article on NASA’s website. “The north is already in transition, well ahead of the south pole, and we don’t understand why.”

Further, the asymmetrically reversing solar magnetic field could have an effect on Earth, resulting in increased solar flares and the accompanying bursts of radioactive particles called “coronal mass ejections,” or CMEs, that can hit Earth and cause brilliant Northern Lights displays and problematic geomagnetic solar storms, according to NASA scientists.

“This usually leads to a double peak in the sunspot number and CME rate as a function of time,” Nat Gopalswamy, a solar scientist NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an email to TPM.

Gopalswamy and his team studied the Sun’s shifting magnetic field from Read more…

Categories: Sun Tags: ,

Feds to consider biometrics for permanent residents to combat fraud

April 27, 2012 Comments off

canada.com

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is in support of extending biometric ID requirements to permanent residents. He says he would consider amending his current omnibus immigration bill to include such a policy.Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is in support of extending biometric ID requirements to permanent residents. He says he would consider amending his current omnibus immigration bill to include such a policy.

Photograph by: Postmedia News , National Post

OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says he supports extending biometric ID requirements to permanent residents and would consider amending his current omnibus immigration bill to make it happen.

“I think in principle, we should be doing everything we reasonably can to identify visitors or immigrants and ensure they don’t represent a threat to Canada’s safety, so biometrics is the best technical tool at our disposal and I think in principle, that it should be applied to not just temporary but also permanent residents,” Kenney said Thursday after testifying before a Commons committee reviewing Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration Act.

After hinting at it during the meeting, he confirmed the government was “considering” amending the bill to ensure Read more…

Categories: Biometrics Tags: , ,

Weird Weather is Making America Antsy

April 27, 2012 Comments off

livescience.com

Top pest issues for homeowners in the last year were ants, spiders, flies, mosquitoes, mice and wasps

Is your house driving you buggy? If so, you’re not alone.  A national survey in the U.S. found that 84 percent of American homeowners experienced a pest problem in the last 12 months, which could make this a good year for pest control professionals. Slightly more than half of all homeowners think it’s essential to use the services of a pest control company. 

The top pest issues for homeowners in the last year were ants (49 percent), spiders (43 percent), flies (37 percent), mosquitoes (34 percent), mice (30 percent) and wasps (29 percent), according to a survey of more than 1,300 homeowners sponsored by Home Team Pest Defense, a residential pest control company.

“Pests have appeared earlier than usual this year due to warm winter, early spring and recent heavy rains,” said Russ Horton, the company’s national technical director. “We have already seen termite swarms in Texas, Georgia and Florida, odorous house ants in the Mid-Atlantic, and scorpions in Arizona.”

 

The survey also found Read more…

Categories: Weather Tags: ,

Russia and China are intensifying cooperation in the military sphere

April 27, 2012 Comments off

ruvr.ru

 

Russia and China are intensifying cooperation in the military sphere

Russian-Chinese war games “Naval Interaction-2012” in the Yellow sea has entered its active phase on April 24. 25 warships, 13 aircrafts, 9 helicopters and 2 units of the special forces of the two countries participate in them. Taking into account the number of participating forces and the scenario, these manoeuvres are apparently the most large-scale in the modern history of bilateral relations.

According to “Interfax”, the Russian party is represented in the war games by large antisubmarine ships “Admiral Tributz”, “Marshal Shaposhnikov” and “Admiral Vinogradov”, as well as logistics ships. The detachment is headed by the

flagship of the Fleet – Guards’ guided-missile cruiser “Varyag”.

China is represented by 18 military ships, including the flagship missile destroyer “Harbin”, and 5 missile frigates, including “Chzhoushan” and “Suyzhow”, which were performing combat tasks on distant borders escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden.

The scenario includes joint crossing of a “dangerous” area, firing various weapons at sea and air targets, and rescue operations at sea. The ships will be covered from the air by deck helicopters Ka-27; and a sea infantry sub-unit of the Pacific Navy is placed under the detachment’s command in order to conduct special operations.

According to the RF Ministry of Defence message, the goal of the manoeuvres is strengthening and development of the Russian-Chinese relations and Read more…

Categories: China, military, Russia Tags: , ,

Iran preparing for ‘the Last Six Months’

April 27, 2012 Comments off

wnd.com

Source says leaders expect attack that will usher in ‘messiah’

nuclear-bomb-mushroom-cloud

By Reza Kahlili

Despite the recent declaration by Iran that it does not want a nuclear bomb and statements by regime officials that they are willing to negotiate over the nuclear issue, indications from within Iran signal massive preparation for an all-out war as part of its destiny.

Nine years ago a Revolutionary Guards arm, the Holy Defense, published a book, “The Last Six Months,” in which it describes the conditions needed in the last six months prior to the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah. The book was distributed in the hundreds of thousands to all Guards, Basij and army bases throughout the country.

Islam’s Shiites believe their 12th Imam, Mahdi, will reappear at the end of times and kill all the infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all four corners of the world.

The book admonishes the military forces that they must be prepared to do their duties during those six months and that there will be many Read more…

Categories: Iran Tags:

Atlantic Hurricane Forecast: Storms Close to the Coast

April 27, 2012 Comments off

accuweather.com

Astronaut, Ron Garan, snapped this photo of Hurricane Irene from aboard the International Space Station on August 22, 2011. NOAA averages are based on data from 1981-2010.

AccuWeather’s 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecasts 12 named tropical storms, five named hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

The 2012 hurricane forecast is near-normal for the Atlantic Basin.

Potential Impact This Year
Predicting exactly where storms will make landfall in the U.S. would be extremely difficult, but there are some indications of areas where storms may brew and coasts that may be vulnerable based on Read more…

Categories: Weather Tags: ,

Cispa approved by House but critics urge Senate to block ‘horrible’ bill

April 27, 2012 Comments off

guardian

cispa wikipedia

Cispa has undergone several amendments, but Michelle Richardson of the ACLU said: ‘Cispa goes too far for little reason’. Photograph: Rex Features

Free speech advocates are calling for the Senate to block controversial cybersecurity legislation they claim will give the US authorities unprecedented access to online communications.

The House of Representatives on Thursday ignored the threat of a White House veto to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa). The bill aims to make it easier for companies to share information collected on the internet with the federal government in order to help prevent electronic attacks from cybercriminals, foreign governments and terrorists.

Sponsors of the bill have made several amendments to Cispa in the past week, but critics say the bill still threatens to overrule existing privacy protections for citizens, and hands the National Security Agency too much power to access and use people’s private information.

The Center for Democracy and Technology said it was “disappointed that Cispa passed Read more…

Categories: internet, Privacy Tags: , ,

Warm Ocean Waters to Blame for Antarctic Ice Melt

April 26, 2012 Comments off

livescience.com

Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf.
Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf.
CREDIT: British Antarctic Survey

When it comes to melting ice shelves in Antarctica, the danger comes from below, new research suggests.

By discovering the anatomy of ice loss across this chilly expanse, research may be able to forecast how the continent will melt in the future — and also how much global seas may rise.

Team member David Vaughan, a scientist at the European Union initiative ice2sea, said this study “shows the key to predicting how the ice sheet will change in the future is in understanding the oceans.”

Water or wind?

Scientists have long known that the wide platforms of ice extending from the southernmost continent have been shrinking away. But what’s behind the melting hasn’t been clear — whether warm ocean currents or surface winds have a bigger impact on the ice.

Now, a new satellite survey of Antarctica places the blame largely on the water. “In most places in Antarctica, we can’t explain the ice-shelf thinning through melting of snow at Read more…

Categories: Climate Change Tags: , , , ,

29,000 troops ‘axed within 5 years’

April 26, 2012 Comments off

ukpress

silhouette of soldiers saluting The US Army could axe as many as 24,000 enlisted staff and up to 5,000 officers within five years to meet a projected reduction in the force driven by budget cuts and the winding down of two wars, a Pentagon chief signalled.

Pressed on the possibility of involuntary terminations, Thomas Lamont, an assistant secretary of the army, told a Senate Armed Services panel that redundancies were possible as the army shrinks from a peak of 570,000 to 490,000.

“I hate to throw out numbers, but I have seen numbers that would approach enlisted category perhaps as high as mid-20s, 23, 24,000,” Mr Lamont said.

“On the officer contingent, again these are very rough numbers and all based again on assumptions and attrition rates, officers may go up” to 4,500 to 5,000.

Defence secretary Leon Panetta, in announcing the Pentagon budget earlier this year, also said the Marines would drop by 20,000, to 182,000. The Pentagon has indicated that the reductions would Read more…

Categories: military, United States Tags: ,

Pentagon confirms plan to create new spy agency

April 25, 2012 Comments off

foxnews.com

panetta_hearing_030712.jpg

March 7, 2012: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP)

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that it is carving out a brand new spy agency expected to include several hundred officers focused on intelligence gathering around the world.

At a time of budget cutbacks, particularly in the military, it’s unclear how the Defense Department has been able to move around the money to afford a new agency. The Pentagon wouldn’t get into specifics saying only that the so-called “Defense Clandestine Service” wouldn’t involve “significant new resource requirements.”

The service would be an offshoot of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Officers drawn from that agency would be sent to beef up U.S. intelligence teams in areas that are now receiving more attention. They include Africa, where Al Qaeda is increasingly active, as well as parts of Asia, where the North Korean missile threat and Chinese military expansion are causing increasing U.S. concern.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby called the Read more…

Categories: GOVERNMENT Tags: , , , ,