Japan Earthquake Shook Atmosphere

Here's a piece printed in LiveScience.com. It's a very good site for scientific data.





The giant earthquake that struck Japan this year not only shook the Earth, but also rattled the highest layer of the atmosphere, scientists find.




This research could lead to a new type of early warning system for devastating tsunami and earthquakes.




The magnitude 9.0 quake that struck off the coast of Tohoku in Japan in March unleashed a catastrophic tsunami, ushered in what might be the world's first complex mega-disaster and set off microquakes and tremors around the globe.




Past research revealed the surface motions and tsunami that earthquakes generate can also trigger waves in the atmosphere. These waves can reach all the way to the ionosphere, one of the highest layers of the atmosphere.




Now scientists report the Tohoku quake generated the largest such disturbances seen yet, creating ripples in electrically charged particles reaching nearly 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth.




Investigators measured these disruptions, called seismotraveling ionospheric disturbances, using about 1,000 global positioning system (GPS) receivers in Japan and Taiwan. Disruptions of the electrically charged particles in the ionosphere would lead to anomalies in radio signals between the ground receivers and the GPS (global positioning satellites) satellites, data that scientists can measure.




Scientists detected a disc-shaped rise in electron density in the ionosphere about seven minutes after the earthquake. Concentric waves of fluctuating electron density then flowed out in the ionosphere from this disk at speeds of about 450 to 500 mph (720 to 800 kph). All in all, this disruption was about three times greater than the next largest one ever seen, which came after the 2004 magnitude 9.3 Sumatra earthquake.




The ripples that flowed from the initial disc-shaped disturbance in the ionosphere appear to be linked to the tsunami, a connection that has the potential to save lives.




"This signature in space that we can see with GPS could provide early warning that a tsunami is coming," says researcher Jann-Yenq "Tiger" Liu, an atmospheric scientist at Taiwan's National Central University , to OurAmazingPlanet.

One important question in determining how much of a warning his phenomenon might provide is: "Is there any detectable precursor in the status of the ionosphere before this disturbance is actually observed?" asks atmospheric physicist Gaopeng Lu at Duke University, who did not take part in this study. "In that way, we might be able to predict the occurrence of earthquakes."




Liu and his colleagues detailed their findings online June 28 in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Space Physics.



Andrew Joseph

Dumping Of Radioactive Water

Blah-blah-blah... it's old news - it happened on Monday, so I assume you already know... but, in order to pump out more of the radioactive water from the Dai-ichi (Big One) nuclear facility in Fukushima-ken (Province of Fukushima), they had to empty their storage vessels first.
After the facility was damaged by the March 11, 2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami, the plant nearly went into a nuclear meltdown as the nuclear rods began to heat up thanks to  a lack of power to the cooling generators.
To keep the rods from melting, salt water from the nearby ocean had to be dumped into and atop it. This is the water that is radiated.
Now... while things are under more control at the nuclear facility, there is still the urgency to get rip of this now-radiated water as there is still a lot more water to be cleaned up.
Since there is a limited amount of storage space for the radiated water, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has a simple plan... dump the radiated water back into the Pacific Ocean from whence it came.
So... the plan is to dump 11,500 tons of radioactive water. Of course, it's only mildly radioactive water, and will dissipate quickly without any long-term affects to the area or to local marine life.
Hopefully.
This water is some accumulation from the pits under Reactors No. 5 & 6 at Dai-ichi.  By dumping this water, it will free up space for the 10,000 tons of more highly radioactive waste  water that was in Reactors No. 1-4 - especially No.2. 
So... the deed was done on Monday, April 4, 2011.
Yukio Edano, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, explains, "The measure was to prevent highly radioactive water from spreading. But we are dumping radioactive water, and we feel very sorry about this."
Reactor No.2, was discovered last week to have a crack in its pits, leaking radioactive materials into the surrounding water and earth. While dangerous, it is not a nuclear emergency.
Attempts to plug the crack with concrete failed, as did attempts of using a melange of sawdust, shredded newspapers, polymers and cement. Next attempt involves a liquid glass.

(Ed. Note: I always though glass was a liquid! - but apparently I was wrong!
Glass is an amorphous solid. There is a fundamental structural divide between amorphous solids (including glass) and crystalline solids. Structurally, glass is similar to liquids, but it is not a liquid.)

Andrew Joseph
PS: you know what's really sad? I didn't have to look up most of the information contained in this blog. I just knew it! I guess my subscription to Popular Science and Design engineering is paying off!

Build Me Up Buttercup

Despite the stereotypical view of the Japanese being short – they are actually the same average height as the French (wee-wee, monsieur)—Japan is home to a flower with the world’s longest genome.

I know – it sounds impressive. I thought it was something dirty, too. But then I realized I had no idea what the heck it meant. So I looked it up. Just for us. Now we can all seem a little bit smarter than the rest of the non-Wonderful Rife readers. They’re all idiots.

The Japanese flower – the Paris Japonica is the beautiful flower up here on the left. In an article released in September or October of 2010, the canopy flower, also known as the Kinugasaso, is a species of the genus Paris in the family Melanthiaceae – and has a genome with about 150 billion base pairs – that’s about 50 times larger than humans and gaijin (foreigners in Japan).

Because all organisms have cells – we share a common denominator with plants. Each cell has a nucleus, and each nucleus contains DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Humans are supposed to have 46 chromosomes in our cells... the DNA in our cells would stretch out to 2 metres.

But the Paris Japoinica has 150 billion base pairs of DNA per cell, and is the largest genome of any plant... and if you were to stretch the DNA from a single cell, it would be over 100 meters long – which would be taller than Big Ben, the famed British tower in London, England.

This doesn’t mean that the flower is more complex than us... well, it does, but in a somewhat dangerous way that I’ll save for a few paragraphs.

The genomes contained within the plant – well, most of the DNA is actually called non-coding DNA. It means that the DNA in the plant is not used to create skin, hair, eyes or brain or even leaves and flowers. It’s multiples of repeated DNA sequences.

It’s not more intelligent or more complex than a human being. It just has extra DNA that isn’t really related to the overall structure of the plant. So what does the extra long genome mean?

Here’s the kicker: When it comes to cell division, because of the amount of DNA that needs to be copied, it takes a heck of a lot of time relative to a human being or other organisms on this plant. This plant is not an annual. It is unable to grow its cells fast enough to produce a plant, a flower and a seed in one year, and for that reason, it is known as a perennial.

What it does mean is that it takes a lot longer to replicate. It’s a scientific fact that organisms with long genomes like the Paris Japonica, well, they are predisposed to have a greater risk of extinction.

It also means that people are going to need to look after these plants to ensure they have enough time to replicate, because they are not a quick-to-adapt species.

Here’s some info about the plant. It will flower in July – sometimes every year. The white flower (see photo) sits above a base of eight leaves and thrives best in a cool, humid or shady place. Hmmm... stupid science... cool or humid? Which one? I guess the sub-alpine area of Japan is best for it.

And because I feel the need to blind you all with science, when the Paris Japonica flower became the genome leader, it did so by besting the marbled lungfish, which only had 130 billion base pairs.

As mentioned, the Paris Japonica is the plant with the largest genome size... but since it’s crowning achievement as having the largest genome, a few other organisms have been found to have larger ones – like the current record holder, Polychaos dubium, a freshwater ambeoid (real close to an amoeba) which has 670 billion base pairs of DNA.

Somewhere glad I can achieve orgasm faster than these organisms can replicate,
Andrew Joseph
Today’s title is by The Foundations: It’s a cute song, and I’m sure you all know it: GENOME.
PS: Why this title and not the Thomas Dolby song: She Blinded Me With Science - well... Build Me Up Buttercup and Foundation all mean (in my mind) building blocks of life - DNA. I'm saving Thomas Dolby for later.