user: Q: Rosetta discovers water on comet 67p like nothing on Earth

The Rosetta spacecraft has detected water coming off comet 67P, the rubber duck-shaped lump of ice and dust that it placed the Philae robotic lander on last month.

The presence of water is not a surprise, but what has wrong-footed researchers is the makeup of the water, which is nothing like that seen on Earth.

Measurements from Rosetta’s Rosina instrument found that water on comet 67P /Churyumov-Gerasimenko contains about three times more deuterium – a heavy form of hydrogen – than water on Earth.

The discovery seems to overturn the theory that Earth got its water, and so its ability to harbour life, from water-bearing comets that slammed into the planet during its early history.

Comet 67P is thought to have come from what is called the Kuiper belt, a broad band of frozen bodies that begins beyond the orbit of Neptune. The main asteroid belt contains more rocky objects that circle the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Kathrin Altwegg at the University of Bern said that rather than comets ferrying water to Earth, it may have arrived onboard asteroids instead. Details of the discovery are reported in the journal, Science.

“Today asteroids have very limited water, that’s clear. But that was probably not always the case, said Altwegg. In the earliest period of the solar system, 3.8bn years ago, asteroids are thought to have crashed into Earth regularly in what is called the late heavy bombardment. “At that time, asteroids could well have had much more water than they have today,” Altwegg said.

The Rosina instrument measured water coming off the comet as it flew around the body. Scientists plan to take more measurements as the comet nears the sun and its begins to spew more water vapour and dust out into space.

Measurements from other comets have found water with similar deuterium contents to that on Earth. But the strange composition of comet 67P’s water suggests that the picture of comets bringing water to Earth is too simplistic. “In the end, Earth’s oceans are probably a mix of many things,” Altwegg told New Scientist magazine.

Matt Taylor, Rosetta project scientist, said that teams at the European Space Agency were still looking for the Philae lander, which ran out of battery power soon after it bounced down onto the comet’s surface.

“Once we get the identification of where the lander is, it will give us a better fix on what we believe the illumination conditions are and a better idea of when we would expect the lander to have sufficient illumination to be able to start charging its batteries and come back online,” he said.

If the Philae lander can summon enough power from the feeble sunlight to come out of hibernation, a British instrument called Ptolemy could help to verify whether the water measurements from Rosetta are accurate. But another option is for Rosetta to fly through the jets of debris that will grow as the comet closes in on the sun.

“Part of our future plan is to do this,” said Taylor. “We’re focusing on what is known as an activity campaign to try and fly directly through a jet and we aim to do that hopefully around summertime next year.”

A: Findings from Rosetta spacecraft’s Rosina instrument appear to suggest previously held theory is simplistic


IN: Spotted: Ultra-rare cat species captured on camera in Borneo
Several rare and endangered bay cats were spotted on camera in a heavily logged section of rainforest in Borneo, where scientists didn't expect to find them, a group of researchers announced yesterday.

The bay cat, or Bornean marbled cat, has only been recorded on video a handful of times before and was only first photographed in 2003, according to a release from the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London, whose scientists set up the cameras.

In the same area where the bay cats were found, in the northern Borneo, cameras also captured four other cat species, making it one of only four spots where all of these species have been recorded.

The four other cat species were the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata). Three out of four of these species are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"We were completely surprised to see so many bay cats at these sites in Borneo where natural forests have been so heavily logged for the timber trade," said Robert Ewers, an Imperial College London researcher, in the statement. [Watch: Cameras Spot Rare Bay Cats in Borneo]

Very little is known about Borneo bay cats because they are shy and have low population densities, according to the IUCN. However, scientists estimate there are fewer than 2,500 adults remaining in the wild, and that their population will decline by 20 percent in the next 12 years due to deforestation in Borneo, the IUCN reported.

Unlike other camera traps that are often set up at strategic locations, these were placed at random locations, which apparently helped to spot the endangered cats.

"We discovered that randomly placed cameras have a big influence on the species recorded," said Oliver Wearn, a researcher at the Zoological Society of London. "This is something I was taught in school I remember doing a project on which plant species were most abundant on our playing field, and being taught to fling quadrats [a geometric tool used to define a study area] over my shoulder in a random direction before seeing what plants lay within it, rather than placing it somewhere that looked like a good place to put it the same principle applies here."
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: Several rare and endangered bay cats were spotted on camera in a heavily logged section of rainforest in Borneo, where scientists didn't expect to find them, a group of researchers announced today (Nov.


Input: Plumbers find $50,000 gold bar stored under bathtub
You never know where you may strike gold.

Two Calgary plumbers in mid-February, who were in the process of renovating a bathroom, uncovered a gold bar worth more than $50,000 after tearing up a bathtub, the CBC reports.

"Who stores gold bars underneath their tub, right? Kinda crazy," said Alif Babul, who added that he had never seen anything like it in his 12 years on the job.

The one-kilogram bar, stamped by a jeweler, was returned to the owners of the house.

"My wife and I had a long chat about that. I said to my wife, 'I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's the right thing to do,'" Babul told CBC.

The owners said they had lost track of the gold bar’s whereabouts.

As for Babul’s apprentice, Dean Materi, his plumbing career is off to a golden start.

It was his second day on the job, the Calgary Herald reported.
What was this article about?
++++++++++
It's about: You never know where you may strike gold.


Q:
Danny Murphy Dead -- Quadriplegic Actor Dies At 59
Actor Danny Murphy -- who appeared in comedy classics like "There's Something About Mary" and "Kingpin" -- has died of cancer at the age of 59 ... TMZ has learned.Danny was famous for his hilarious cameos in Farrelly brothers' movies. Peter Farrelly was a childhood friend, and gave him his first acting role.Murphy became a quadriplegic in a diving accident when he was 19, and didn't decide to get into acting until much later in life. He was 40 when he got the "Kingpin" role.Danny's agent Cynthia Kazarian confirms he died in Florida ... where he'd recently moved to do other things outside of acting.He became an activist for disabled actors, and his theater company, Blue Zone Productions ... was created in 2008 specifically to assist performers with disabilities.
What was this article about?
A:


assistant: Actor Danny Murphy -- who appeared in comedy classics like "There's Something About Mary" and "Kingpin" -- has died of cancer at the age of…