The Large Hadron Collider already holds the title of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, but researchers at CERN are gearing up to boost the LHC’s energy output even further in hopes of catching a glimpse of Higgs boson particle.

CERN says it will be boosting the energy output of the Large Hadron Collider by around 14%, which should improve the accelerator’s chances of advancing the scientific community’s understanding of particle physics and, again, to hopefully confirm or deny the existence of the Higgs boson particle.

“When we started operating the LHC for physics in 2010, we chose the lowest safe beam energy consistent with the physics we wanted to do,” said Steve Myers, director for accelerators and technology at CERN.

“Two good years of operational experience with beam and many additional measurements made during 2011 give us the confidence to safely move up a notch, and thereby extend the physics reach of the experiments before we go into the LHC’s first long shutdown.”

The Large Hadron Collider accelerates particles at just about the speed of light, and smashes them together head-on. Detectors within the accelerator are able to detect the resulting debris from the violent collision. With the added increase in energy output, scientists expect to reap three times the amount of data from each of its experiments.

The Large Hadron Collider will continue operating with an elevated energy output until November, after which point the LHC will be shut down for 20 months to make preparations for an even larger energy boost.

CERN boosting Large Hadron Collider energy output in search of Higgs boson is a post from: The Inquisitr

Diabetes has been in the news lately a lot, especially with the controversial news that deep-fried donut burger hawker Paula Deen kept her diagnosis quiet until she was tapped to promote a diabetes drug.

Talk show host Bill Maher has gotten some flak in the past for saying that Americans are busy vaccinating over common illnesses while we “dig our graves with knives and forks,” but the statement seems to have some degree of truth when you look at statistics surrounding the growing epidemic of diabetes in America. 8.3% of Americans struggle with one form of Diabetes- either type 1 or type 2- and more than 95% of diabetics in America suffer from type 2 diabetes. (Which is more linked to lifestyle and habits.)

Complicating the handling of diabetes is that there is no one specific approach to combat it. According to Stephanie Dunbar, director of nutrition and medical affairs for the American Diabetes Association, patients vary in their responses to diabetes treatment. Dunbar begins:

“People need to do what works for them. There are people who do well on a lower-fat diet and others who do well on a lower-carb diet.”

As for whether a low in carbs approach works for everyone, Dunbar explains:

“Some people may need more or less [carbohydrates.] About 45 grams allows someone to follow the diabetes plate method; we call it create your plate. It calls for half the plate to be non-starchy veggies, a fourth plate whole grains and a fourth plate protein.”

Experts say that even insulin dependent diabetics can enjoy the occasional sweet with proper planning. Are you concerned about the growing prevalence of diabetes in America?

Diabetes a Growing Threat With No Single Dietary Answer is a post from: The Inquisitr

Teenagers are often more prone to experiencing signs and symptoms of depression, and the use of anti-depressants in this particular population has been the subject of much debate and study.

And while several drugs on the market are used to treat teens with depression, a study done in the early 00′s led to increased concern that the drugs enhanced the possibility of suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts. That in turn led to a high-level “black box” warning issued by the Food Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 when concerns about the link between depression drugs in teens and suicide risk was probed.

However, subsequent clinical research has failed to replicate the study’s results, and more recent controlled studies contrasting certain depression medications with placebos showed no increased suicide risk with the former over the latter. According to rxDaily, Robert Gibbons, PhD, of the University of Chicago Medicine recently headed up a new analysis of 41 studies that encompassed more than 9,000 people and found no increased risk of suicide in young people medicated with common anti-depressants versus placebos. Gibbons explains:

“The key finding here, when we re-analyze all the patient-level longitudinal records in these studies, is that antidepressants neither increase nor decrease suicidal thoughts or behavior in children… Maybe children think about suicide in part because of depression, but also maybe due to other reasons not related to depression that are not affected by antidepressants.”

Gibbons also surmises that the risk of suicide may be due to depression itself more commonly, and not the drugs used to treat the depression:

“Basically, the results say that the mechanism by which the antidepressants affect suicide rates is by decreasing depression. It follows that if a treatment is not working for an individual, the risk for suicidal behavior and perhaps worse remains high.”

Gibbons’ team’s analysis was published in the February 2012 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Depression Drug, Suicide Link Reexamined is a post from: The Inquisitr

We love our cats but there are some people who love them maybe just bit too much and seem to collect them like other people collect stamps or bottle caps the only problem is that at some point they cross the line from being a cat lover to being that crazy cat person that we all like to make fun of.

In fact if the research of evolutionary biologist Jaroslav Flegr from the Charles University in Prague is even close to being on the money those crazy cat people could be suffering from a medical illness due to those cats that they love so much.

Now it is a well know fact that cats carry a very tiny organism that gets excreted in their feces and is potentially dangerous to humans. This is one reason that pregnant women are warned to stay away from cat litter boxes during their pregnancy as the parasite can be transmitted to their unborn child and could lead to brain damage or death.

The parasite is called Toxoplasma gondii (T.gondii or Toxo for short) and Flegr believes it can also affect a healthy person’s brain.

But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”

via The Atlantic

Flegr has been pursuing this theory in relative obscurity for decades, and a certain ridicule from those that have seen his research. However that may change as some scientists, like Robert Sapolsky from Stanford, think that Flegr may actually be onto something with his theory.

 Flegr’s “studies are well conducted, and I can see no reason to doubt them,” Sapolsky tells me. Indeed, recent findings from Sapolsky’s lab and British groups suggest that the parasite is capable of extraordinary shenanigans. T. gondii, reports Sapolsky, can turn a rat’s strong innate aversion to cats into an attraction, luring it into the jaws of its No. 1 predator. Even more amazing is how it does this: the organism rewires circuits in parts of the brain that deal with such primal emotions as fear, anxiety, and sexual arousal. “Overall,” says Sapolsky, “this is wild, bizarre neurobiology.” Another academic heavyweight who takes Flegr seriously is the schizophrenia expert E. Fuller Torrey, director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, in Maryland. “I admire Jaroslav for doing [this research],” he says. “It’s obviously not politically correct, in the sense that not many labs are doing it. He’s done it mostly on his own, with very little support. I think it bears looking at. I find it completely credible.”

via The Atlantic

So folks, the next time you see some crazy cat person disappearing into the home full of cats you might want to think twice about making fun of then because they may in fact be ‘crazy’.

It seems that the Crazy Cat Lady may have a medical explanation is a post from: The Inquisitr

Our bodies are pretty incredible and for the most they are amazingly resilient, able to bounce back from most injuries and illnesses it finds itself subjected to, but even with all those abilities to recover there are times, and diseases that are harder to fight and survive from.

One of the hardest of those diseases is cancer but even there our bodies have a warrior capable of battling cancer cells all the while not damaging healthy cells in the area. Called T-Cells, of the cytotoxic family, and they are an integral part of our body’s immune system.

There are actually six different types of T-Cells and they each have different functions to help heal our bodies but with the primary purpose of killing off things that shouldn’t be in our bloodstream.

What’s interesting about T cells is that they are highly efficient killers, almost the smart-bomb of the body if you will. In the case of the cytotoxic T cell, it secretes a glycoprotein to its surface that is able to detect a unique antigen that is present with cells that are cancerous. Researchers are working to learn more about these cells so they can gain control of them to create a new weapon in the fight against cancer.

via Geek.com

Here is a video of a T-Cell in action.

T-Cells, our body’s warrior in the war against cancer [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the 33 years it was available on the market before the drug Mediator was withdrawn, somewhere between one and two thousand patients may have died from cardiovascular side effects.

A new study co-authored by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) probed the number of estimated hospitalizations and deaths linked to the weight-loss drug- known often by its generic name, benfluorex- estimating the total number of hospitalizations at around 3,100 and deaths at about 1,300, but Inserm concedes that number could be higher. Over three decades, the Mediator was used as an appetite suppressant- intended to control blood sugar in diabetic patients who were obese- but was often prescribed as a general weight-loss drug.

The French drug maker behind the weight-loss drug Mediator, Servier, is being investigated “on suspicion of dishonest practices and deception,” and the drug was pulled from the market in 2010 amid evidence it damaged heart valves and caused users to suffer pulmonary hypertension, potentially leading to heart failure. A related drug- fenfluramine, which was marketed as Pondimin, Ponderax and Adifax- was pulled from the market in the late 90′s after it was determined that there was a link between use of the medications and heart valve damage, and it was part of the controversial weight-loss drug combo Fen-Phen.

Mediator was widely available in its market between 1976 and 2009, when the weight-loss drug was pulled amid concerns about heart valve damage. 145 million packets of the weight-loss drug were sold during the time it was available, according to the study recently published in the medical journal Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety.

Weight-Loss Drug in France May Have Killed 1,300, Study Says is a post from: The Inquisitr

Researchers in the United States have been treating Mice with the popular cancer drug bexarotene and have found positive results in reversing Alzheimer’s in mice.

According to the research group mice injected with bexarotene became “rapidly smarter” while the plaque in their brains that was causing Alzheimer’s started to disappear just several hours after they received the drug.

In the US Journal Science lead author Gary Landreth and his team from the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio found “shocking” and “amazing” results. Gary told the AFP:

“Things like this had never, ever been seen before.”

Bexarotene works by boosting levels of the protein Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), that protein clears up amyloid plaque in the brain which is a key part of treating Alzheimer’s disease.

It only took six hours for the drug to work and researchers claim that the effects lasted for up to three days. Within days mice began performing better in tests, specifically memory based and social testing.

At this time clinical trials for humans are being designed and researchers expect to have results back in the next year.

Clinical trials for humans are being designed and should produce early results in the coming year, researchers said.

If tests show positive results the drug could mean big money for Japanese pharmaceutical giant Eisai who bought the worldwide rights to the drug in 2006. Bexarotene is currently available in 26 countries throughout Europe, North America and South America. The drug has been on the market since 1999 and is used as a treatment for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Do you think research for bexarotene should move forward at a quicker pace?

Popular Cancer Drug Being Used To Reverse Alzheimer’s In Mice is a post from: The Inquisitr

Those silly stripes on Zebra’s aren’t just for decoration, a new study suggests that they evolved out of the necessity to scare off pesky horseflies.

One group of researchers believes that the stripes make it harder for predators to single out an individual zebra from the herd, however evidence to that theory has been lacking.

The newest theory started when scientists investigating horses realized that dark-coated horses attracted more bloodsucking horseflies than white horses. Since Zebra embryos start out with dark skin they therefore developed white stripes before birth to fend off bloodsucking insects.

Fending off horseflies not only helps avoid nasty bites, it can keep dangerous germs away from the Zebra’s which can lead to sickness and even death.

To test their theory researchers visited a horsefly-infested horse farm near Budapest where they painted test surfaced with black and white stripes of varying widths and angles, they then covered the areas in glue. Researchers quickly learned that stripes closely matching those of zebra’s led to far less horseflies.

Researchers also included all-white, all-black and black-and-white striped horse models. In the end horseflies visited the zebra striped zones far less then other zones.

While researchers have not excluded the possibility that Zebra stripes might serve other purposes other then pest control they did tell  LiveScience, ”we believe that escaping biting flies, which are annoying to their hosts and transmit lethal diseases, would be a very important selection factor, which may have a much stronger effect than the benefits of striped coat patterns suggested previously.”

What other functions do you think Zebra stripes may serve?

Zebra Have Stripes Because Of Pesky Horseflies is a post from: The Inquisitr

Aside from increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and your sister constantly asking if you tried that Jillian Michaels workout DVD yet, it seems obese patients have another potential consideration- more frequently feeling chronic pain.

A vast study including more than one million participants found a higher incidence of chronic pain in patients who are obese compared to those who are not, and the heaviest individuals studied reported the highest levels of chronic pain. The study, published in a January issue of the medical journal Obesity, found that issues like “lower back pain, tension-type or migraine headache, fibromyalgia, abdominal pain and chronic widespread pain” were found in higher numbers among the obese participants.

Data was culled from a Gallup poll done by phone between 2008 and 2010, and subjects were categorized by BMI as low to normal weight, overweight, obese I, obese II or obese III. Researchers found in a given time slot that overweight participants were found to be 20 percent more likely to report pain, with 68 percent reporting in the third group, 136 percent in the fourth group and and 254 percent in group five, which was obese III.

According to LiveScience, while chronic pain conditions were accounted for, they did not entirely explain away the link between obesity and chronic pain:

But those conditions didn’t account for all of the reasons for the pain-obesity link. The researchers statistically accounted for any musculoskeletal disease, which is often linked to obesity due to the extra strain on joints from the weight. “What we found is that the weight-pain link persisted, suggesting that there are other factors driving the association,” [researcher Joan] Broderick told LiveScience.

Depression, inflammation and genetics were all suggested as potential causes for higher rates of chronic pain linked to obesity.

Chronic Pain More Common in Obese Patients, Study Indicates is a post from: The Inquisitr

A new study out of the Division of Urology at Duke Cancer Institute indicates that coronary artery disease- the most common cause of sudden death- may pose another risk to sufferers.

In the past, results from studies examining the link between coronary artery disease and prostate cancer have yielded conflicting results. The latest study involved 6,390 men in a four-year, randomized trial to test the efficacy of drug in the prevention of prostate cancer. Of the more than 6,000 participants in the study, 547 reported a diagnosis of coronary artery disease at the start of the research, and tended to be older, more frequently overweight and presenting with co-morbid conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

Subjects underwent testing at the two and four-year marks, and the group with CAD were found to be far more likely to develop prostate cancer, even when controlling for other factors. A diagnosis of CAD was linked with a 35% higher likelihood of prostate cancer- 24% higher at the two-year mark and 74% higher at the four-year mark. Jean-Alfred Thomas II, MD was lead author of the study, and he explains that it’s difficult to tell whether lifestyle choices influence the likelihood of developing prostate cancer. Thomas says:

“What’s good for the heart may be good for the prostate… We controlled for a number of risk factors, including hypertension, taking statins or aspirin. We don’t have a good grasp on what’s causing the link, but we are observing this association.”

The study was published in the medical journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Prostate Cancer, Heart Disease Link Probed is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mars, our neighbor, once the dreams of science fiction writers and astronomers, one of which only wrote about the live that could have lived on Mars, and still might; while the other seeks to prove that there might actually have been life on that red planet eons ago.

Part of proving that idea is being able to show that there was water on the surface of Mars, water that would have been the foundation of life, just as it is here on earth.

To help find the facts behind whether there was, or even still is, water on Mars the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express space craft which houses the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionsphere Sounding (MARSIS) has detected sediment on the planet, the type of sediment that you would find on the floor of an ocean.

 It is within the boundaries of features tentatively identified in images from various spacecraft as shorelines that MARSIS detected sedimentary deposits reminiscent of an ocean floor.

“MARSIS penetrates deep into the ground, revealing the first 60 – 80 meters (197 – 262 ft) of the planet’s subsurface,” says Wlodek Kofman, leader of the radar team at the Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG). “Throughout all of this depth, we see the evidence for sedimentary material and ice.”

The sediments detected by MARSIS are areas of low radar reflectivity, which typically indicates low-density granular materials that have been eroded away by water and carried to their final resting place.

via GizMag

Scientists are interpreting these sedimentary deposits, which may still be ice-rich, as another indication that there once an ocean in this spot.

At this point scientists have proposed that there were two main oceans on the planet. One was aroun the 4 billion year ago range with the second at around 3 billion years ago.

For the scientist the MARSIS findings provide some of the best evidence yet that Mars did have large bodies of water on its surface and that the water played a major role in the planet’s geological history.

Scientists gets further evidence that Mars once had oceans is a post from: The Inquisitr

DNA sequencing has located the oldest living thing on Earth, and scientists say that is… some seagrass.

Very anticlimactic, yes, but the discovery seems to have unearthed a plant that is far older than the previous oldest living thing on Earth, which was a Tasmanian plant estimated to be 43,000 years old. The seagrass in question is located over 40 ocean meadows (which exist) and 2,000 miles between Cyprus and Spain. The findings were published in the journal PLoS ONE, and Professor Carlos Duarte credits asexual reproduction for the longevity of the oldest living thing. He says:

“They are continually producing new branches. They spread very slowly and cover a very large area giving them more area to mine resources. They can then store nutrients within their very large branches during bad conditions for growth.”

According to Duarte via the Telegraph, living things “that can only reproduce sexually are inevitably lost at each generation,” and the oldest living thing, seagrass, can reproduce asexually and create clones of itself. However, after between 12,000 and 200,000 years of life on Earth, it seems the seagrass is now facing a threat- changing temperatures:

Despite its historical robustness, Duarte says the patch of P. oceanica is now threatened by climate change. The Mediterranean is warming three times faster than the world average, and each year P. oceanica meadows decline by around 5 per cent. “They have never experienced the speed of climate that the Mediterranean is currently experiencing,” he says.

The journal concludes that the “findings call for further research on these life history traits associated with clonality, considering their possible ecological and evolutionary implications.”

Oldest Living Thing Discovered by Scientists, Is Relatively Ordinary is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the nebula itself is pretty stunning under normal conditions, scientists at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have used an infrared HAWK-I camera to ‘cut through’ the thick clouds of gas and dust that normally hide smaller celestial bodies – revealing hundreds of thousands previously unseen stars, some of which are 10 times less massive than the sun.

One of the stars within Carina Nebula, the mysterious and highly unstable star Eta Carinae, was the second brightest star in the entire night sky for several years in the 1840s.

It is likely to explode as a supernova in the near future in astronomical terms, say the ESA scientists, causing a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months.

Eta Carinae appears near the lower left corner of the new image (seen above). It is surrounded by clouds of gas that are glowing under the onslaught of fierce ultraviolet radiation from newborn stars.

Another star group within Carina, The Trumpler 14 cluster, can be easily spotted in visible light images, but in this infrared view, many fainter stars can also be detected

Toward the left side of the image (below), a small concentration of yellowish stars can be seen. This stellar grouping, which cannot be seen in visible light, was spotted for the first time in the new data from the VLT, ESO officials said.

For more previously unseen images of the amazing Carina Nebula, watch the following video clip:

Images & Source: Space.com

Carina Nebula: New Photo Reveals Hidden Secrets of Majestica Nebula is a post from: The Inquisitr

Could some form of microbial life possibly exist on Mars? According to the findings of an international team of researchers, it is highly unlikely that life in any form currently exists on Mars, as conditions on the planet have been far too hostile for too long.

The team of researchers spent three years going over soil data collected from NASA’s Phoenix Lander mission. Based on the data, researchers believe that Mars has been arid for as much as 600 million years, which greatly limits the probability that life exists on the planet.

“We found that even though there is an abundance of ice, Mars has been experiencing a super-drought that may well have lasted hundreds of millions of years,” study leader author Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, said in a statement. “We think the Mars we know today contrasts sharply with its earlier history, which had warmer and wetter periods and which may have been more suited to life.”

That doesn’t mean that scientists are ready to rule out life on Mars entirely, however unlikely it may be.

“Future NASA and ESA missions that are planned for Mars will have to dig deeper to search for evidence of life, which may still be taking refuge underground,” Pike said.

via

Mars too dry to support life, researchers say is a post from: The Inquisitr

I am pretty sure that this isn’t a question that you ever thought you would be needing to answer but it might be a wise idea if you want to keep what you already have in your stomach where it belongs; but for the more adventurous this might prove to be rather interesting.

You see artist Stefani Bardin wanted to find out just how our bodies processed food like Ramen against more natural ‘whole foods’ so  she decided to team up gastroenterologist Dr. Braden Kuo from Harvard University and with the use of two different types of pill cams document the process.

The two different pill cams had the one that measured pressure, temperature, and pH sensors to monitor the conditions in the gastrointestinal tract and then the second that recorded video footage while inside the body.

To better understand how the body processes different food one subject received gatorade, instant ramen, and gummi bears. The second subject got a healthier selection with handmade noodles, hibiscus tea and pomegranate-cherry juice gummies.

Aa the two different types of food made its way through the subject’s system it was recorded by the pill cams, and while the end product of this is suppose to be an art installation of some sort the video alone is pretty interesting as you can see how our bodies treat process and natural foods.

via Geekosystem

You ever wondered what semi-digested Ramen looks like inside your body? [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Breastfeeding is associated with a great many benefits to mother and child and relatively few drawbacks, and more research has been added to the mounting pile of evidence that breast is best.

In the past, there had been some indication in research that moms who breastfeed and are asthmatic might have been placing their babies at increased risk of asthma by picking breastmilk over formula. However, two new research reports suggest that- unsurprisingly- breastfeeding leads to better cardiovascular outcomes in infants overall.

The new data suggests that breastfed babies seem to get the same benefits- if not more- from nursing relationships with asthmatic moms. Dr. Wilfried Karmaus specializes in asthma, and commented on the findings to Reuters. Karmaus- who was not involved in the research- said that breastfeeding should be encouraged among moms who suffer from asthma:

“I think the evidence is that breastfeeding increases lung volume, independent of if the mother is asthmatic or not. If the lung volume is increased, then you are less susceptible to get asthma. It’s important even to tell asthmatic mothers to breastfeed their children.”

The data came from two studies- a large one out of the UK, and a smaller study that took place in New Zealand. And while some docs say that the research comes down on the side of breastfeeding unequivocally, others believe that the question is still up for debate. Dr. Theresa Guilbert is a pediatric pulmonologist from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin. Guilbert says that the question as to whether moms with asthma pass it on through breastfeeding is still “controversial,” and she commented:

“There’s a lot of things that breastfeeding is very, very good for… I think the jury’s still out on the risk of breastfeeding from mothers that are asthmatic. I don’t think any of that (evidence) is now strong enough to tell moms they should stop breastfeeding… because of all the other important benefits that breastfeeding conveys to the child.”

It was noted that any direct link between breastfeeding and asthma risk is difficult to prove given the vast number of factors- like diet, air quality and demographic data- that can influence outcomes.

Breastfeeding Increases Lung Function, Combats Asthma, Study Says is a post from: The Inquisitr

This isn’t funny in the least but you can almost hear the movie scripts being written right now, everything from horror to suspense – oh wait, they’ve done those already haven’t they.

So this is more a case of life imitating art as word comes from the Antarctica that a team of Russian researchers that were drilling through the two-mile-thick layer of ice that covers Antarctica’s Lake Vostok have been out of radio contact for the last five days.

This is the lake that scientists have been drooling over because they believed it would give them an incredible look into the past as the lake hasn’t been exposed to the air for more than 20 million years.

Of course there could be any number of reasons for them losing contact but with only days to go before they have to winterize the station the other scientists are understandably very concerned for their missing colleagues.

One of their American colleagues, Dr. John Priscu of Montana State University, says he has no way to reach the drilling team, and they’re coming up on the deadline to winterize their station before Antartica’s summer season ends.

“Temps are dropping below [minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit] and they have only a week or so left before they have to winterize the station,” he told Fox News. “I can only imagine what things must be like at Vostok Station this week.”

via TDW

Here’s hoping that they haven’t woken something up eh.

Let the movie scripts begin – Russian drilling team at the Antarctica go missing is a post from: The Inquisitr

A team of scientists recently set off on an expedition to the deep seas near New Zealand to sample various deep sea creatures, but what they found surprised them: a ‘supergiant’ amphipod measuring about 13 inches long.

Amphipods are shrimp-like crustaceans that thrive in lakes and oceans the world over, so they’re not an uncommon sight. What’s uncommon about the latest find, however, is just how big it is; amphipods are generally only between 2 and 3 centimeters long, but this supergiant amphipod is about 20 times that size.

“The moment the traps came on deck we were elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after these fish for years,” expedition leader Alan Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab said in a press release.

“However, seconds later, I stopped and thought ‘what on earth is that?’ whilst catching a glimpse of an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible. It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach,” Jamieson said.

This isn’t the first time a supergiant amphipod has been seen–abnormally large amphipod specimens were first discovered back in 1899, according to a report, but weren’t seen again until the 70s and 80s.

“The surprising thing is that we have already been to this deep trench twice and never come across these animals before,” Jamieson added.

“In fact a few days after the discovery we deployed all the equipment again on the same site and we didn’t photograph or capture a single supergiant; they were there for a day and gone the next.”

Supergiant amphipod discovered in deep seas near New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scientists attempting to map our galaxy have found a trip-star system that could potentially support life and which is only 22 light years away from Earth.

The rocky planet is known as  GJ 667Cc and is 4.5 times the size of Earth and orbits in the middle of the ‘Goldilocks zone.”

The planets destination is in an area that can sustain water without boiling or freezing.

GJ 667Cc orbits a red dwarf star every 28 days and appears to absorb as much light energy as Earth does from its sun.

According to the astronomers who spotted the planet and accompanying trip-star system:

“If it has an atmosphere, it’s probably reddish all the time, because the star is really red,” and “It would be like being evening all the time.”

The group also says that the system’s binary stars would be very prominent in the planets sky.

At this time researchers must conduct more researcher to determine GJ 66vCc’s atmosphere and to determine if one side is stuck facing the sun while the other faces away which would greatly decrease the chance that the planet can sustain life.

It may be a “super earth” but only time can tell if that’s actually the case.

Scientists Discover “Super Earth” Which Could Possibly Support Life is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just in time for the sun’s busy season, scientists believe they may have figured out just what causes sunspots to appear on the surface of our very own star.

It’s been known for some time that the spots appear darker because the area where the sunspot is located is cooler, giving it a darker appearance–but scientists haven’t been able to figure out what causes the cooling that results in a sunspot.

According to new research conducted at the University of Hawaii, the reason behind this may have to do with the formation of hydrogen molecules. The formations are believed to decrease the pressure on the surface, which allows for magnetic fields to form. When the magnetic field strengthens, it inhibits the flow of heat to the area, resulting in a sunspot.

The vast majority of the sun’s atoms–about 90 percent–are hydrogen, but since the sun is so hot, hydrogen mostly only exists on the surface in the form of single ionized atoms in gaseous form. In the early formation of sunspots, however, the surface temperature can cool to the point where hydrogen atoms are able to bond together, forming a hydrogen molecule.

“The formation of a large fraction of molecules may have important effects on the thermodynamic properties of the solar atmosphere and the physics of sunspots,” said Dr. Sarah Jaeggli, a scientists who conducted the research while studying at the University of Hawaii.

Sunspots form due to magnetism, according to new theory is a post from: The Inquisitr