5 Hot News: April 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Taylor Swift, Fun. To Fight Adele At Billboard Awards

While Taylor Swift, Fun. and Maroon 5 are all the top nominees at the upcoming Billboard Awards with 11 nods each, music lovers might be surprised by the staying power of Adele and her February 2011 album release 21.

Two years after dropping her unstoppable sophomore album, the singer finds herself up for a handful of awards at the May 19 broadcast, including Top Billboard 200 album. Swift’s Red, Mumford Sons’ Babel and One Direction‘s two 2012 album releases Take Me Home and Up All Night are all vying for that prize as well.

Adele will face off against more high-rollers in the Top Pop Album category. Maroon 5′s Overexposed, 1D’s two albums once again and Justin Bieber‘s Believe are all hoping to win.

Maroon 5 are up against Swift in the Top Artist prize against the likes of 1D, Rihanna and Bieber. Among Fun.’s many nods are Top Hot 100 Song for “Some Nights,” Top Duo/Group and Top Hot 100 Artist.

With Fun., Swift and Maroon 5 going into the show the night’s big nominees, other big contenders include Rihanna, who notched 10 nods, Juno Awards winner Carly Rae Jepsen with 9 and 1D with 8 nominations. One Direction will try and snag the Top New Artist prize from Gotye, Jepsen, The Lumineers and Psy.

Swift and Bieber, as well as fellow nominees Bruno Mars and Miguel, will all perform at the show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan will host the ceremony, airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Prince is also slated to take home the Billboard Icon Award at the Sin City festivities.

The nominees were picked based on album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, touring, streaming and social interactions on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vevo and Spotify.

Who are you rooting for at the Billboard Awards? Leave a comment below!

New Evidence of Climate Change: Earth's Current Warming Not Seen In Last ...

New Evidence of Climate Change: Earth’s Current Warming Not Seen In Last 1,400 Years

By Robert Christie | Apr 22, 2013 02:39 PM EDT

Off the Coast of Greenland

A new study shows further evidence of global warming, according to the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

"Earth’s climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years, according to new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents," the press release stated.

The current era of continuing global warming, has allowed a "natural cooling trend" to do a 180. The study, which included the work of over 80 scientists from 24 different nations, was done through research of pollen, tree rings, ice cores, lake and ocean sediments, and historical records from across the globe.

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“This paper tells us what we already knew, except in a better, more comprehensive fashion,” said co-author of the study and tree-ring scientist Edward Cook. Cook works at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,

Scientists focused on the Medival Warm Period, stemming from 950 to 1250, as more proof that global warming is manmade.

The study showed that certain areas in Europe and North America were warm while certain areas in North America remained cold.

“If we went into another Medieval Warm Period again that extra warmth would be added on top of warming from greenhouse gases,” Cook said.

The study also found that tempetures varied more between continents in the same hemisphere than they did between hemispheres,

According to co-author Heinz Wanner of the University of Bern, the Medival Warm Period is not the only era which shows that humans are at fault for global warming.

“Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age stand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern,” Wanner said in the press release.

The study also pointed out the long-term cooling period that occurred within the last 2,000 years. The causes could include changes in land-surface vegetation, slow variations in Earth's orbit, and the upswing in volcanic activity.

When industrialization began in the 19^th century cooling started to disappear. In the 20^th century warming was two times a large in the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere. Compared to the late 20^th century, some regions saw warmer 30-year intervals during other parts of the last 2000 years. To clarify, years between 21 and 80 AD were most likely warmer than years between 1971 and 2000.

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

More to Saudi Arabia's Connection to Boston Bombings Than Meets the Eye?

The House Committee on Homeland Security on Sunday emailed TheBlaze a copy of their request to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for more information on the Saudi national originally described as a

During his Monday evening broadcast, Glenn Beck addressed news surrounding Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, the Saudi national who was at one point considered a "person of interest" by U.S. authorities in the aftermath of the Boston bombings. "Believe me we

Celebrity news channel E! will livestream this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner red carpet, according to the Washington Post. The news comes just one year after former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw criticized the WHCD as "an event that

Background points: A Saudi national originally identified as a "person of interest" in the Boston Marathon bombing was set to be deported under section 212 3B — "Security and related grounds" — "Terrorist activities" after the

ISS experiment confirms state of wrung-out wet towel in space

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has this week returned a request from a couple of high school science students to perform a simple experiment aboard the International Space Station: wringing out water from a wet washcloth. It's shown first that a washcloth on the ISS is stored in a sort of hockey puck form, smashed down to its smallest physical form to avoid taking up any unnecessary space aboard the space station. From there it's a lengthy task just unfolding the piece of material for basic use.

nfb_spaceschool

The washcloth itself is made wet offscreen as the task appears to spoil the surprise for the viewer. The viewers, mind you, are part of the brand new NFB Space School just revealed this week. This program is housed by the National Film Board in Canada and will continue to make use of the efforts of Chris Hadfield aboard the ISS as well as other Canadians willing to join in on the education.

Once water is released into the station, you'll see it take on a blob-like form. Once it is (seemingly) inside the cloth, it travels with the cloth. This is similar to what would happen if Hadfield were much closer to the surface of our planet, but were the cloth this wet and he were standing on the Earth's ground, gravity would have the water dripping down from the cloth.

Because of the surface tension of the materials included here and the extremely low gravity present on the ISS, the water stays together – for the most part – even when the cloth wrings it out. You'll see the "tube of water" promised to you in the title of this article about 2 minutes in to the demonstration video.

The NFB Space School has been launched today as well – this being an online resource for science enthusiasts and everyday learners online. This program appears at the moment to be prepared for students across the world, provided by Canada's NFB in support of space exploration and the expansion of scientific knowledge in general. Have a peek at SlashGear's International Space Station tag portal for more news from our high-flying astronaut friends!

[via NFB Space School]

H7N9 Bird Flu Cases In China Rise To 104; Deaths At 21

The number of confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases in China increased by two to 104 during the 24-hour period through 4 p.m. on Monday, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Twenty-one of the sick have died.

The two new cases were in Zhejiang Province, which has in recent days surpassed Shanghai with the most cases with 40 versus 33.

More than 40% of the H7N9 cases involve victims that have not handled poultry, state media said. However, authorities at the same time have said there has been no confirmed person-to-person transmission of the flu. "Our knowledge of H7N9 bird flu is very limited," the Shanghai Daily newspaper quoted Yang Weizhong, deputy director the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying today.

Beijing and major eastern Chinese cities have closed live poultry markets and are taking other precautions to limit the spread of the new virus. Fujian Sunner, a large chicken process that supplies Yum!'s KFC chain and McDonald's, said today it lost 78 million yuan, or about $13 million, in the first quarter, harmed in part by fallout from the spread of H7N9 bird flu. Consumers have been wary of chicken, even though the government says cooked meat is safe.

Chinese-language media last week estimated that the country's poultry industry has lost 17 billion yuan, or $2.7 billion.

– Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina

For Reese Witherspoon, arrest is a 'PR nightmare' - USA Today

Reese Witherspoon and her hubby Jim Toth thrown in the slammer! Check out her mugshot HERE!

ATLANTA (AP) — Reese Witherspoon is "deeply embarrassed" about what she said to police officers after she and her husband were arrested during a traffic stop in Atlanta. The Oscar-winning actress released a statement

Actress Reese Witherspoon and her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, were arrested and briefly jailed on Friday, EW has confirmed with the Atlanta Department of Corrections.

Chrissy Amphlett dead; Divinyls lead singer was 53

The frontwoman for the Australian band had been battling breast cancer and multiple sclerosis. Christina Amphlett of the band the Divinyls, best known for the 1991 hit "I Touch Myself," died Sunday at her home in New York. She was 53 years old. our

AUSTRALIA'S FIRST LADY OF ROCK. April 22, 2013, 3:30 pm Joanna Holcombe The Hype. Chrissy Amphlett, best remembered as the rebellious first lady of Australian Rock and Roll, has passed away aged 53 in New York City after battling cancer.

Amphlett passed away overnight in New York, where she lived with her husband, surrounded by family and friends. Although there is no official cause of death, Amphlett had battled multiple sclerosis for almost 15 years, and had suffered from breast

Australian singer Chrissy Amphlett, best known as the frontwoman of the pop-rock group The Divinyls, has died in New York after a battle with breast cancer.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 27: Hall of Fame inductee Little Patty poses with Chrissy Amphlett bakstage at the 2009 ARIA Hall of Fame awards at The Forum Theatre on August 27, 2009 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty

Monday, April 22, 2013

NASA Discovers Three Potentially Earth-like Worlds

Kepler 69-c orbits a star like our own Sun and might be habitable. (Credit: Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech)

NASA's Kepler mission, which seeks out planets outside of our solar system, has just discovered five new planets around two stars – and three of them have the potential to be habitable.

The two stars that the Kepler mission has found planets around are currently designated Kepler-62 and Kepler-69. Kepler-62 is about 1,200 light years from Earth, and contains five planets. Of those five, two of them are in the "habitable zone" of the star – meaning that they're in a distance where liquid water could potentially exist on the surface. Having liquid water on the surface is generally considered to be necessary for life.

Kepler-62 is a K2-type star, meaning that it's cooler than our star. If you were to stand on the surface of one of its planets, it would appear to be orange. The star itself has about 69% of the mass of our Sun and has about 64% of the Sun's radius.

The two planets within Kepler-62?s habitable zone are Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f. They are the outermost planets of the star system – the other three lie even closer to the Sun. Kepler-62e has about 60% more mass than the Earth. Kepler-62f appears to have a rocky composition (like our own planet) and is only about 40% bigger than the Earth. That means that Kepler-62f is the smallest known planet to lie in the habitable zone of another star.

Kepler-69, which is about 2,700 light years from Earth, is even more interesting than Kepler-62. That's because Kepler-69 is a G-type Star – just like our own Sun, although it's somewhat less massive. There are two planets around Kepler-69. Kepler-69b is extremely close to the star's surface – it completes its orbit every 13 days. Kepler-69c is more interesting, however. It's only about 70% more massive than the Earth and lies within a similar orbit to Venus.

The researchers investigating Kepler-69c don't yet have enough data to say for certain what its like. It may be a rocky planet like Earth. However, in the paper where they present their results, the researchers noted that it's also possible that it "may be a water world and quite unlike any planet in our Solar System." Most likely, however, the planet appears to be much cooler than Venus, which has an extremely high surface temperature thanks to its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. If that's true, it's possible that life could develop there whether its a rocky world or an oceanic one.

The discovery of Kepler-69c, the researchers continue, is "a progressive step on the road to detecting the first truly Earth-like planet orbiting a star like our Sun."

"The Kepler spacecraft has certainly turned out to be a rock star of science," said NASA's John Grunsfeld in a press release. "The discovery of these rocky planets in the habitable zone brings us a bit closer to finding a place like home. It is only a matter of time before we know if the galaxy is home to a multitude of planets like Earth, or if we are a rarity."

Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.

Planets Outside Of Our Solar System

Hubble spies a nursery in a nebula - Sydney Morning Herald

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The Sydney Morning Herald

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April 22, 2013

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Ben Cubby

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The Hubble Space Telescope following its release from the space shuttle Discovery.

The Hubble Space Telescope: The planet’s eye into the distant wonders of the universe. Photo: NASA/AP

Astonishing new images from the Hubble Space Telescope have pierced through a nebula of gas and dust 1500 light years from Earth, to reveal a nursery of newborn stars.

The Horsehead Nebula, a vast plume that forms part of the constellation Orion, is a favourite of astronomers because of its distinctive dark shape, which is set against a background of glowing hydrogen gas.

Using infrared cameras, which capture more wavelengths of light than the human eye, the telescope was able to peer within the Horsehead.

New Hubble image showing part of the sky in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter).

Dust to dust: A New Hubble image of the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion constellation. Photo: NASA/AFP

The nebula, first recorded by astronomers in 1888, is known as a stellar nursery because new stars form there as gases interact with gravity and magnetism.

”In infrared light, we can pierce right through some the bulky plumes of dusty material which usually mask and obscure the inner regions of the horsehead,” said Joe Liske, astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Germany.

”The result is this rather fragile-looking structure, made of delicate wispy folds of gas, very different from the nebula’s appearance [to the naked eye].”

New images were released to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the Hubble’s launch. They were taken with a new infrared camera installed by space-walking astronauts in 2009.

Hubble has made more than 1 million observations since its launch in 1990 but it is ageing.

It is to be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to blast into orbit in 2018.

A sharp eye

Observations have refined the rate at which the universe is thought to be expanding
Recorded the collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994
Recorded evidence of other plants, and disc-like ”proto planets”, orbiting other stars
Showed black holes are probably at the centre of all galaxies
Found a fifth moon orbiting Pluto