Kicked Out of the Galaxy

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Credit: NASA E/PO, Sonoma State University, Aurore Simonnet

It takes a lot to get kicked out of the galaxy – a lot of speed, that is.  Scientists from Vanderbilt have identified 16 stars located between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies that appear to have started their lives in the inner part of a galaxy, but now exist outside the galaxy.  To blame?  A massive black hole.

The stars’ high metallicity indicates the inner-galaxy start.  Their positions outside the galaxy indicate that they were drawn by something that could generate the massive speed required to overcome a galaxy’s gravitational pull – and that could be a huge black hole in another galaxy.

For more, read here: Rogue stars ejected from the galaxy found in intergalactic space | Research News @ Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University.

Population Growth Affects Genetic Variation

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Illustration credit: netalloy – http://www.clker.com/profile-44021.html

Over the past 2,000 years, the world’s population has grown from a few million people to seven billion.  Scientists at Cornell have documented a strong correlation between this explosive growth and the number of genetic variants present.  The increased genetic variants have implications for the complexity of genetic-related disease.

Read more at: Cornell Chronicle: Population boom led to more rare genes.

To Bee or Not To Bee

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Credit: http://frank.itlab.us/

You probably already know that bees pollinate plants that grow the food we eat and the flowers that we enjoy.  You may have heard the fairly recent reports that said bee populations were declining, perhaps so much that we should be worried about our food system collapsing.

However, a more recent study has found that to be an alarmist theory, not supported by the facts.  Bee populations are not becoming extinct.  95% of the bee species have not gone extinct.  Some species are hard to find, but they were small and hard to find to begin with.

For the complete story, read: Hive and Seek: Domestic Honeybees Keep Disappearing, but Are Their Wild Cousins in Trouble, Too? [Slide Show]: Scientific American.

The Kidney With Three Owners

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When a kidney transplant recipient’s new kidney started to exhibit the same problems as his original kidney, he chose to donate it to a third person.  For the first time ever, surgeons  (at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago) transplanted it a second time.  In the 3rd person, it not only flourished, but it repaired the new damage it was starting to exhibit.

For the complete story read the press release at Northwestern Memorial Hospital - http://www.nmh.org/nm/kidney-transplanted-twice

Quantum Teleportation Goes Long Distance

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So, are you unimpressed with the previous successes showing quantum teleportation across short distances?  Then you’ll like the results of these Chinese physicists who have demonstrated the ability for quantum (photonic) communication across a distance of 97 kilometers.  The implication is that we are now one step closer to satellite based teleportation across very large distances.

Read more here:  Chinese Physicists Smash Distance Record For Teleportation  – Technology Review or read the scientists’ paper here: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1205.2024v1.pdf.