Science World

NASA, ESA Ramp Up Planet-hunting Missions

Artist concept depicts multiple-transiting planet systems - stars with more than one planet orbiting it - that have been discovered recently by NASA's Kepler mission. )(NASA)

Artist conception of multiple transiting planet systems – stars with more than one planet orbiting it – discovered recently by NASA’s Kepler mission. (NASA)

NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission stirred up excitement this week when mission officials announced they’d hit the proverbial jackpot – discovering and confirming a record 715 new planets orbiting 305 stars.

Nearly 95 percent of these newly found planets are smaller than Neptune, but four are about 2.5 times bigger than Earth and are located within what scientists call the habitable zone, meaning they are just the right distance from their parent stars for liquid surface water, an important element of life, to form.

Artist rendering of NASA's TESS - Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite in space (NASA)

Artist rendering of NASA’s TESS – Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite in space (NASA)

Even though the spacecraft was hobbled last summer after experiencing problems with accurately pointing its telescope, Kepler accumulated so much observational data during its operational time that astronomers will have plenty of information to wade through which could lead to possible new discoveries.

Meantime, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) aren’t wasting any time preparing the next generation of planet-hunting missions.

NASA plans a 2017 launch of its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The TESS space telescope, which will be equipped with an array of telescopes, will conduct an all-sky survey.

TESS will be on the lookout for a variety of transiting exoplanets – planets that are detected when their host stars dim as they pass – that orbit the nearest and the brightest stars the sky.

TESS will look for and identify gas giant planets as well as Earth-like planets orbiting within their host stars’ habitable zone.

WFIRST-AFTA (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets) rendering of on-orbit situation. (Mark Melton, NASA/GSFC)

Artist rendering of WFIRST – Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (NASA)

Sometime in the early 2020s, NASA plans to launch an ambitious mission called The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

The WFIRST is an infrared space observatory that will not only join the search for potentially habitable extrasolar planets, but will help scientists learn more about the nature of dark energy and why the universe is rapidly expanding.

Scientists are also hoping WFIRST will help them learn more about how stars, galaxies and black holes form and evolve.

Just last week, ESA announced it has green-lighted an initial six-year mission that will join the search for alien planets orbiting within neighboring star systems.

The Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), a space-based observatory, will launch on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, sometime between 2022 and 2024.

An artist's drawing of one of ESA's proposed PLATO space telescopes - notice the bank of 34 telescopes.(© ESA)

An artist’s drawing of one of ESA’s proposed PLATO space telescopes. Notice the bank of 34 telescopes.(© ESA)

PLATO will feature 34 separate telescopes  searching for planets among up to a million stars.

ESA said PLATO will observe and monitor stars that are relatively nearby and will look for planets, especially those that are Earth-like and super-Earth-like, that transit in front of them.

Along with looking for planets located in a star’s habitable zone, PLATO will also examine seismic activity in a discovered planet’s host star enabling scientists to learn more factors such as its mass, radius and age.

ESA officials are also planning to couple various measurements made by PLATO along with ground-based radial velocity observations. Joining data from these two sources should help scientists calculate an exoplanet’s mass and radius so they can get an idea its composition.

Ancient Zircon Reveals Age of Earth’s Crust

A 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal, the oldest confirmed piece of the Earth's crust, is providing new insight into how the early Earth cooled from a ball of magma and formed continents just 160 million years after the formation of our solar system, much earlier than previously believed.  (John Valley)

A 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal provides insight into how the early Earth cooled from a ball of magma 160 million years after the solar system formed. (John Valley)

A tiny sliver of ancient zircon reveals the crust of our planet formed at least 4.4 billion years ago—160 million years after the birth of the solar system, according to a new study.

Earth itself is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old.

The researchers examined some of the oldest materials ever found on the planet to reach their conclusions, which were published in Nature Geoscience.

They say the ancient zircon provides evidence Earth cooled from a blazing ball of fire covered by a magma ocean much more quickly than previously thought.

“This confirms our view of how the Earth cooled and became habitable,” said research leader John Valley, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “This may also help us understand how other habitable planets would form.”

Valley said that his team’s study provides further support for the “cool early Earth” theory which suggests the planet’s temperatures dropped low enough to allow liquid water to accumulate and pool into oceans soon after Earth’s crust formed from molten rock..

The team’s work follows up previous studies which used lead isotopes to date the zircon crystals found in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia.

Research from Valley’s team showed the zircons crystallized some 4.4 billion years ago as Earth cooled from its previous molten state. They were also able to confirm the Australian zircon crystals they studied were the oldest known material of any kind to form on Earth.

“The study reinforces our conclusion that Earth had a hydrosphere before 4.3 billion years ago,” and possibly life not long after,  Valley said.

 A timeline of the history of our planet places the formation of the Jack Hills zircon and a   "cool early Earth" at 4.4 billion years. (Andree Valley)

A timeline of the history of our planet places the formation of the Jack Hills zircon and a
“cool early Earth” at 4.4 billion years ago. (Andree Valley)

The researchers used a new technique called atom-probe tomography, as well as secondary ion mass spectrometry, to make their findings.

These research methods allowed the team to calculate the mass of individual atoms of lead contained within the zircon sample.

In doing so, the researchers were able to precisely measure both the zircon’s age as well as its thermal history.

Valley said he and his team noticed the lead atoms were clustered together, rather than being randomly scattered throughout the sample, as had been predicted.

They were like “raisins in a pudding,” he said.

The researchers found those clumps of lead atoms formed one billion years after the zircon crystallized. The lead atoms themselves, according to the scientists, had been created by the radioactive decay of uranium and were then disbursed into clusters within the zircon when the crystals were reheated.

Location of the Jack Hills in Australia where the oldest piece of Earth's crust was found (NASA Earth Observatory)

Location of the Jack Hills in Australia where the oldest piece of Earth’s crust was found (NASA)

“The zircon formed 4.4 billion years ago, and at 3.4 billion years, all the lead that existed at that time was concentrated in these hotspots,” Valley said. “This allows us to read a new page of the thermal history recorded by these tiny zircon time capsules. The Earth was assembled from a lot of heterogeneous material from the solar system.”

Early in its existence, Earth underwent an intense bombardment of meteors and about 4.5 billion years ago, also collided with an object the size of Mars.

This massive collision “formed our moon, and melted and homogenized the Earth. Our samples formed after the magma oceans cooled and prove that these events were very early,” said Valley.

Scientist Proposes New DNA-based Naming System for All Living Organisms

DNA helix

DNA helix

All living organisms on Earth could soon have a new name if a Virginia Tech professor has his way.

Boris Vinatzer has developed a system that classifies and names organisms based on their genome sequence.

His study was published today in PLoS One.

Vinatzer says his new system would provide scientists and others with a much more precise and clear “universal language” that could make communicating about all life on Earth easier.

Adopting his system would provide each of Earth’s organisms, whether it’s a bacterium, plant, fungus or animal, with a heartier, more detailed and useful name, according to Vinatzer.

The naming system is based on the one devised in the 18th century by Carl Linnaeus (aka Carl von Linné), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who is often referred to godfather of genus (taxonomic rank). The Linnaeus classification system has been used by scientists worldwide for more than 200 years.

Carl Linnaeus is a botanist who in the 18th century devised a system for classifying living things that is still used today. (Wikimedia Commons)

Carl Linnaeus is a botanist who in the 18th century devised a system for classifying living things that is still used today. (Wikimedia Commons)

Genome sequencing technology has progressed immensely in recent years and it now allows us to distinguish between any bacteria, plant, or animal at a very low cost,” said Vinatzer, who is with Virginia Tech’s Fralin Life Science Institute. “The limitation of the Linnaeus system is the absence of a method to name the sequenced organisms with precision.”

Rather than completely change the current naming convention of biological classification, Vinatzer sees his system more as a way to add more specific defining data to the classification of every organism within its already named species.

Since the naming system would depend on an organism’s specific genetic code, he says it would allow for a much quicker and more universal way of identifying new life forms.

The system begins with the sampling and sequencing of an organism’s DNA.

The sequenced DNA is then used to produce unique code that is specific to that individual organism, but is also based on its similarity to other like organisms that have already been sequenced.

Scientist Boris Vinatzer at work in his lab ( Virginia Tech)

Scientist Boris Vinatzer at work in his lab ( Virginia Tech)

Unlike the current method of biological classification where the names of organisms may change and vary over time, Vinatzer says the code system would make names  permanent and standardized.

He also says that naming life forms based on his proposed code system would be faster than today’s long and detailed process that requires analyzing one organism’s physical characteristics compared to another’s.

Back in 2009, Vinatzer and a colleague had success with using genome sequencing to trace a pathogen that was devastating kiwifruit crops around the world back to China.

Study Finds Genetically Altered Immune Cells Kill Cancer

A microscopic view (purple)of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia - B-ALL. (VashiDonsk/Wikimedia Commons)

A microscopic view (purple)of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia – B-ALL. (VashiDonsk/Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center say they’ve been able to successfully train a patient’s own immune cells to find and destroy cancer.

In the largest-ever clinical study of patients with an advanced form of leukemia, the researchers found that 88 percent of the subjects treated with their own genetically modified immune cells were able to achieve complete remission from the disease.

“These extraordinary results demonstrate that cell therapy is a powerful treatment for patients who have exhausted all conventional therapies,” said one of the study’s senior authors, Michel Sadelain, director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering. “Our initial findings have held up in a larger cohort of patients, and we are already looking at new clinical studies to advance this novel therapeutic approach in fighting cancer.”

The study findings were reported in Science Translational Medicine.

The patients in the study all suffered from a relapse of Adult B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). This form of blood cancer develops in a person’s B cells, a type of white blood cell.

Chemotherapy IV drip bottle (Linda Bartlett/Wikimedia Commons)

Chemotherapy IV drip bottle (Linda Bartlett/Wikimedia Commons)

B-ALL can be difficult to treat. Most patients tend to relapse after successful initial therapies and there are few treatment options for those who do relapse.

One of the few treatment options is an aggressive form of chemotherapy called salvage chemotherapy. But, of all the relapsed B-ALL patients who have this treatment, only about 30 percent respond positively.

Even if the salvage chemotherapy is successful, the patient would, at best, be in remission and not cured.

For any hope of long term survival, B-ALL sufferers need to undergo a successful bone marrow transplant.

For the study, the team gathered 16 people with relapsed B-ALL and infused the volunteer patients with dosages of their own genetically modified T-cells, another white blood cell that protects the body from infection.

So why can’t our T-cells naturally fight cancer as they do with viruses like the flu? It turns out that our immune system isn’t able to recognize cancer cells as foreign intruders as it would with other forms of infection. So, in their natural state, T-cells aren’t helpful in attacking  cancer cells.

Scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor. (NIAID via Wikimedia Commons)

Scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor. (NIAID via Wikimedia Commons)

Immune cells need to be specially trained to find and destroy  cancer cells. The researchers “taught” the T-cells through genetic modification to look for and kill cancer cells that contain a protein called CD19.

According to the study, the successful results achieved by this form of therapy far exceeded the positive response rate of patients who had salvage chemotherapy treatment alone.

There were side effects to the cell therapy, including flu-like fever, muscle pain, low blood pressure and difficulty breathing, something the doctors referred to as cytokine release syndrome. Cytokine is a form of protein.

The study’s investigators are continuing their research to see whether cell therapy could be as successful at treating other forms of cancer as has shown to be with relapsed B-ALL.

New Research Provides Insight into When a Volcano Will Erupt

Mount Hood in Northern Oregon (Eric Klemetti, Denison University)

Mount Hood in Northern Oregon (Eric Klemetti, Denison University)

New research by scientists from at the University of California-Davis and Oregon State University may make it easier to predict when a volcano is ready to erupt.

A new study published recently in the journal Nature says that before an eruption, the volcanic magma – or the molten/semi molten rock under the volcano – must first be in a state where it is fluid enough to erupt.

“People think about there being this big reservoir of liquid magma under a volcano, but we don’t think it’s in that state all the time,” said Kari Cooper, lead author of the study and an associate professor at the University of California-Davis.

They’ve also found that the time it takes for magma to liquefy takes less time than previously thought, making a dormant volcano an active one in as little as a couple of months.

The researchers made their findings after studying Mount Hood, a dormant volcano near the Oregon/Washington border.

The magma that would supply an eruption of Mt. Hood lies between four to five kilometers beneath the volcano.

“The question is, ‘what percentage of time is the magma in an eruptible state?”’ Cooper asked.

The California/Oregon research team found that the magma tucked beneath Mt. Hood has been has been stored for at least 20,000 to 100,000 years. It has been in a cold or immobile state for between 88 percent and 99 percent of those years.

For the magma to liquefy to eruption levels, the researchers said that its temperature will need be more than 750 degrees centigrade.

Kari Cooper discusses research conducted with colleague Adam Kent at Mount Hood (UC Davis)

“If the temperature of the rock is too cold, the magma is like peanut butter in a refrigerator,” said the co-author of the study, Adam Kent, from Oregon State University. “It just isn’t very mobile. For Mount Hood, the threshold seems to be about 750 degrees centigrade. If it warms up just 50 to 75 degrees above that, it greatly increases the viscosity of the magma and makes it easier to mobilize.”

This boost in temperature is caused when hot magma located much deeper beneath the Earth’s crust pushes its way to the surface and mixes with the cooler more solid volcanic rock.

Kent said that the mixing of the hot and colder types of magma is what set off Mount Hood’s last two eruptions about 220- and 1,500-years-ago.

Fortunately, according to the researchers, when Mt. Hood did erupt, they weren’t very violent in nature.  The magma oozed out of the top of the volcano, instead of exploding like other volcanic eruptions.

“What happens when they mix is what happens when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste in the middle,” Kent said.  “A big glob kind of plops out the top, but in the case of Mount Hood – it doesn’t blow the mountain to pieces.”

Kent and his colleague Alison Koleszar found in a previously conducted study, that mixing magma from two different sources, that may also have different compositions, not only could trigger an eruption, but also adds a “constraining factor” that determines just how violent the eruption could be.

Mount Saint Helens (a neighbor of Mount Hood) erupting on July 22, 1980 (USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory )

Mount Saint Helens (a neighbor of Mount Hood) erupting on July 22, 1980 (USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory )

The researchers said that crystals form within the magma as it cools.  The ability for the magma to be mobile depends on the amount of crystallization.  When the volcanic rock is more than 50 percent crystalline it’s pretty much immobile and not really in a state for eruption.

As the magma grows colder, the scientists added, the crystallization process itself also slows down.

Studying volcanic rock from previous Mount Hood eruptions the researchers were able to determine the age of the crystals by observing the rate of decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements.

According to the study, calculating a combination of the magma crystal’s age along with its rate of growth can provide scientists with a geologic fingerprint to help them determine just when the magma becomes heated enough to cause an eruption.

“What is encouraging from another standpoint is that modern technology should be able to detect when magma is beginning to liquefy, or mobilize,” Kent said, “and that may give us warning of a potential eruption. Monitoring gases, utilizing seismic waves and studying ground deformation through GPS are a few of the techniques that could tell us that things are warming.”

Survey Reveals American’s Attitudes About Science and Technology

A scientist works in a laboratory at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya.  (Australia Dept of Foreign Affairs & Trade/Creative Commons)

A scientist works in a laboratory at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. (Australia Dept of Foreign Affairs & Trade/Creative Commons)

Americans like scientists.  They’re really interested in learning all about the latest scientific breakthroughs too.  But, unfortunately, it appears that a number of them can also use some tutoring to learn and better understand science.

This bit of insight into the American public’s perception and understanding of science was determined by a survey of more than 2,200 people and is included in the latest biennial report from the National Science Board (NSB).

“It’s important for Americans to maintain a high regard for science and scientists,” said John Besley, from Michigan State University. “It can help ensure funding and help attract future scientists.”

Besley reviewed the survey data and was the lead author of the section of the NSB’s paper that examined the public perceptions of science and technology.

Every two years, the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation, prepares and releases its report, “Science and Engineering Indicators,” which is also presented to the President and Congress.

The 2014 edition of the report finds that more than 90 percent of Americans think scientists are “helping to solve challenging problems” and are “dedicated people who work for the good of humanity.”

But when it comes to being able to answer some fundamental science questions, Americans apparently have a bit of difficulty.  Out of a total of nine questions about physical and biological sciences, they were able to correctly answer an average of 6.5 of them.

Scientists work on a project for NASA's Goddard Flight Center (NASA/Albert Shih)

Scientists work on a project for NASA’s Goddard Flight Center (NASA/Albert Shih)

About 74 percent of those surveyed, for example, knew that the Earth revolved around the sun (thank you Mr. Copernicus). And when it came to the theory of evolution, only 48 percent knew that human beings developed from earlier species of animals.

Other highlights in the NSB survey include:

  • More than 90 percent, representing a majority of Americans, said that they were “very interested” or “moderately interested” in learning about new medical discoveries.
  • About 60 percent of Americans said that they had visited a zoo, aquarium, natural history museum or a science and technology museum.
  • Just about 90 percent of those who were surveyed said that they think the benefits of science outweigh any potential dangers.
  • Close to 33 percent of those who responded to the survey said that they think science and technology should get more funding.

And so members of the scientific community, it appears that the American public in general, needs to brush up on science, is quite supportive of you and your work, but they’re perhaps a bit unsure of just how to pay for it.

Researchers Trace Face’s Evolutionary Transformation

(National Cancer Institute)

(National Cancer Institute)

When you examine your face in the mirror, do you ever wonder how the most unique and identifying part of your body originated and developed?

Writing in a new study published in Nature, a team of French and Swedish researchers offers new fossil evidence that just might explain why we have protruding noses with two nostrils, rather than one big hole between our eyes.

Using special high-powered X-ray imaging equipment, researchers studied a series of fish fossils that ranged in age from ancient to a bit more recent. In the middle of that series of fossils was the skull of a 410-million-year-old, long-extinct species called Romundina a member of the Placoderm (armored fish) class of fish from the Devonian period – 419.2 to 358.9 million years ago.

Scientists know vertebrates evolved from jawless species into those with jaws. Researchers describe this structural transformation as dramatic, causing the face to effectively turn inside out.

Most of today’s vertebrates have jaws; the only species that don’t are lamprey (eels) and hagfishes.

By placing the Romundina in the middle of their fossil sequence, between more primitive and advanced species, researchers were able to map out the main steps of the transition between jawless and jawed vertebrates.

They noted that as the embryos of jawless vertebrates developed, blocks of tissue grew forward on each side of the brain, where they met in the mid-front of the face and formed a big upper lip that surrounded one centrally located nostril just in front of the eyes.

3D reconstruction of the skull the fish Romundina showing a mixture of facial structures found in both jawless and jawed vertebrates. (Vincent Dupret, Uppsala University/Nature)

3D reconstruction of the skull the fish Romundina showing a mixture of facial structures found in both jawless and jawed vertebrates. (Vincent Dupret, Uppsala University/Nature)

For jawed vertebrates, they found that this same tissue grew forward just under the brain but then pushed its way between the fish’s left and right nasal sacs, which opened to the outside independently of each other.

The researchers say that this particular evolutionary change is why our faces have two nostrils instead of one big hole in the middle like the jawless vertebrates. And, the reason why our nose is located at the front of our face is because the brain of jawed vertebrates also happens to be much longer than the jawless; otherwise our nose would be positioned much further back between our eyes.

Up until they released their findings, the French and Swedish research team said that very little was known about the intermediate steps of the transformation between jawless and jawed vertebrates.

Planetary Scientists Get Into Balloon Game

The high-altitude balloon that carried the HySICS instruments with WASP is inflated with helium at sunrise on the morning of Sept. 29, 2013. (HySICS Team/LASP)

The high-altitude balloon that carried the HySICS instruments with WASP is inflated with helium at sunrise on Sept. 29, 2013. (HySICS Team/LASP)

A new device developed by NASA will help planetary scientists take advantage of high altitude research balloons, a relatively inexpensive observational platform that has long been used by other scientists.

The balloons, which can climb to the edge of space, have been utilized by researchers  across multiple scientific disciplines, helping them to make groundbreaking findings.

However, until now, there hasn’t been anything that provides scientists who study planets, moons and other planetary systems, the precision they need to utilize high altitude balloons.

“Planetary scientists really haven’t been involved in balloon payloads,” said NASA’s Terry Hurford. “Planetary targets move with respect to the stars in the background. And because you need to track them to gather measurements, you need a system that can accurately point and then follow a target. These challenges are why planetary scientists haven’t gotten into the balloon game.”

Wallops Arc Second Pointer and the HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science after a high altitude balloon mission in September. (NASA)

Wallops Arc Second Pointer and the HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science after a high altitude balloon mission in September. (NASA)

The new device that will change that is called the Wallops Arc Second Pointer (WASP).  When hoisted aloft by a balloon, WASP can aim astronomical instruments at their planetary objectives with sub arc-second accuracy and stability.

“Arc-second pointing is unbelievably precise,” said David Stuchlik,  WASP project manager. “Some compare it to the ability to find and track an object that is the diameter of a dime from two miles away.”

With their observational tools lifted up high above 95 percent of atmosphere, planetary scientists can do their work free from many of the problems that come with using traditional ground-based observatories, such as atmospheric distortion, which makes stars look like they’re twinkling.

With the help of WASP, planetary scientists will also be able to make their observations in the ultraviolet– and infrared-wavelength bands, something they really can’t do from the surface of the Earth. The WASP has been designed to be quite flexible so that it can be used to help carry out a variety of diverse scientific research projects.

Wallops Arc Second Pointer payload prepared to launch on-board a scientific balloon. (NASA)

Wallops Arc Second Pointer payload prepared to launch on-board a scientific balloon. (NASA)

The WASP has been successfully tested three times, most recently in September 2013, when a 30-story balloon lifted it to an altitude of nearly 37,186 meters above Fort Sumner, New Mexico, with an engineering test unit of the HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS). From atop most of the Earth’s atmosphere, the WASP was able to precisely point the HySICS unit so that it could measure the Earth, sun and moon.

WASP will get two workouts this coming September. HySICS researchers will conduct another balloon test flight and then WASP will get the chance to show how it performs for a planetary observational experiment, known as the Observatory for Planetary Investigations from the Stratosphere (OPIS), that will study Jupiter and planets beyond the solar system.

Earth’s Magnetic Fields Guide Salmon Home to Spawn

Oncorhynchus nerka otherwise known as the sockeye salmon (Current Biology, Putman et al.)

Oncorhynchus nerka otherwise known as the sockeye salmon (Current Biology, Putman et al.)

Earth’s magnetic fields play a significant role in helping salmon find their way home to spawn, according to two new studies from  Oregon State University.

After poring over 56 years of data, the researchers found that a magnetic map is responsible for providing sockeye salmon with their keen sense of direction which guides them home, even when they’ve been away at sea for years.

“To find their way back home across thousands of kilometers of ocean, salmon imprint on the magnetic field that exists where they first enter the sea as juveniles,” said Nathan Putman of Oregon State University who headed both studies, which were published in Current Biology. “Upon reaching maturity, they seek the coastal location with the same magnetic field.”

Imprinting is an animal’s special form of learning. While specific definitions of imprinting differ, in general this kind of learning takes place during a specific and critical period of the animal’s life, usually early in life. The effects of this learning process are long-lasting and cannot be easily altered.

A second study by the Oregon researchers found that even young chinook salmon produced at a hatchery can zero in on the direction of their ancestors’ feeding grounds with the help of Earth’s magnetic field. The researchers think salmon pass along—from generation to generation—some kind of built-in GPS system programmed to always send them home.

Chinook salmon at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center. (Emily M. Putman)

Chinook salmon at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center (Emily M. Putman)

“In essence, the fish act as though they have a map based on the magnetic field,” said Putnam. “When the fish experience a magnetic field that is north or south of their typical ocean range, they change their swimming direction to go back.”

In previous research projects, Putman and his colleagues showed that migrating sea turtles depend on the magnetic fields to sense both their north-south and east-west positions. Up until those findings were made, scientists had doubted magnetic fields could explain how migratory animals guide themselves in the east-west direction.

For the research behind the sockeye salmon study, the Oregon group focused on the salmon that were from the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Like other species of Pacific Salmon, the sockeyes leave the river and head out to the sea, but in this case there’s a bit of a glitch.

“When they attempt to return, they are confronted with a giant obstacle: Vancouver Island is blocking direct access to their river,” said Putnam. “So the fish must make a choice: do they use the northern inlet or the southern inlet in their detour?”

The Earth’s magnetic field doesn’t remain constant because something known as geomagnetic field drift causes the fields to slowly move about. Scientists say this happens due to the movement of our planet’s liquid outer core.

So with geomagnetic field drift in mind, the researchers reasoned that if the sockeyes really do follow the magnetic fields, their choice between traveling through the northern or southern inlet should gradually change back and forth over the years as the fields shifted.

Sockeye salmon return to home waters to spawn after years at sea (Current Biology, Putman et al.)

Sockeye salmon return to home waters to spawn after years at sea. (Current Biology, Putman et al.)

Their choice in what direction to take would be due to whichever inlet provides the best match of the magnetic value of the Fraser River when they left years earlier.  A comparison of records kept by fisheries since the 1950s, with the researcher’s model that predicted the shifting magnetic fields, showed the fish traveled in the expected direction.

The research behind the second, or Chinook salmon, study also revealed that the fish don’t rely on just one aspect of the magnetic field, but on a combination of two— magnetic intensity and its inclination angle.

The salmon are able to determine their position, and can be guided to their destinations, by simply picking up on the subtle differences in both the intensity and inclination characteristics. The researchers found the fish didn’t need any prior experience to gain those unique navigational skills.

Can Power of the Mind Control Chronic Pain?

Millions of people around the world live each day in pain (Shanghai killer whale via Wikimedia Commons)

Millions around the world live with pain every day. (Shanghai killer whale via Wikimedia Commons)

Utah researchers say they’ve developed a technique that allows patients to use the power of their minds to help treat chronic pain.

One in five people worldwide suffers from daily chronic pain, according to a 2004 report. A 2011 paper from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) showed that one in three U.S. adults is affected by this condition.

The University of Utah’s Eric Garland said his team’s technique not only helps relieve pain, but can also decrease prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients.

A variety of therapies are used to treat chronic pain including over-the-counter pain relievers,   exercise and diet, alternative medical therapies such as acupuncture, and prescription opiate-based pain medications, which can have serious side effects and lead to dependency.

Garland calls his new intervention technique Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) and said it is designed to train people to react differently to pain, stress and opioid-related cues.

“Mental interventions can address physical problems, like pain, on both psychological and biological levels because the mind and body are interconnected,” Garland said. “Anything that happens in the brain happens in the body—so by changing brain functioning, you alter the functioning of the body.”

Eric Garland, from the University of Utah, developed a new mindfulness-focused treatment for people with chronic pain (Nick Steffens)

Eric Garland, from the University of Utah, developed a new mindfulness-focused treatment for people with chronic pain (Nick Steffens)

In a study published online in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Garland said the new treatment method led to a 63- percent reduction in the misuse of opioids, as compared to a 32-percent decrease among those who took part in a conventional support group.

Patients who were a part of the new treatment group also reported a 22 percent drop in pain-related impairment, something that the researchers said continued for three months after the end of their treatment period.

According to Garland, the MORE technique zeroes in on the basic processes involved in both chronic pain and the abuse of opioids, by combining three therapeutic components; mindfulness training, reappraisal and savoring.

The mindfulness training component consists of training the patient’s mind to increase its awareness, gain control over their attention, and learn to control automatic habits.

The reappraisal module is the process of taking the meaning of a stressful or negative experience and turning it around in such a way that it is seen as something positive and promotes growth.

Savoring is a method of learning that teaches patients to center their attention on positive events in their lives, heightening their sensitivity to naturally occurring positive experiences, such as enjoying a beautiful sunset or the special feeling of closeness with a loved one.

Painkillers containing opioids are sometimes prescribed by medical professionals for chronic pain, but they can have serious side effects and could promote dependency (e-Magine Art.com  via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Painkillers containing opioids are sometimes prescribed for chronic pain, but can have serious side effects and could promote dependency. (e-Magine Art.com via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Right now, Garland’s MORE technique is being tested in a preliminary brain imaging trial as a way to help smokers quit the habit.

Plans for further testing include working with those who have mental health problems or are addicted to alcohol. If these trials are successful, the research team plans to work with active-duty soldiers suffering with chronic pain while also conducting a larger trial among the general population.

Garland and his team envision the MORE technique as something that could be prescribed by doctors as an addition to traditional pain management methods.