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Friday, July 13, 2012

Pluto now has at least five moons. Can we go back to calling it a planet?

Long considered a planet, Pluto was reclassified as a 'dwarf planet' in 2006 by the?International Astronomical Union. Will the discovery of a fifth moon prompt astronomers to reconsider?

By Francie Diep,?Space.com / July 12, 2012

This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle marks the newly discovered moon, designated P5, as photographed by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on Saturday.

NASA/ESA/M. Showalter (SETI Institute)

Enlarge

Scientists on Wednesday (July 11) announced the discovery of a fifth moon orbiting Pluto in a major solar system find. But while many people think of moons as accessories for planets, like the Earth's moon or Jupiter's many moons, Pluto doesn't quite make the cut in the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) definition of "planet."

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Despite of some determined lobbying by die-hard supporters to change its dwarf planet status, more moons around Pluto won't change its classification, experts say.

"Does it change the planetary status? Of course not," Michael Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, wrote to SPACE.com in an email. Brown's discovery of Eris, a rocky object about the size of Pluto, was a major factor in the IAU's decision to reassess exactly what constitutes a planet.

The IAU ruled that to be called a planet, an object has to meet three conditions. It must orbit the sun without being another object's satellite, it must have enough gravity to make it sphere-shaped and it must clear the area around it of other objects. But even with Pluto's five moons, it doesn't "clear the neighborhood."

Six years after the IAU's ruling, some controversy still surrounds the decision, but the official ruling is unlikely to change in response to finding more Plutonian moons. [The Moons of Pluto Revealed (Photos)]

Pluto isn't the only dwarf planet that has moons. The dwarf planets Eris and Quaoar have one, while Haumea has at least two.

No one has found any other dwarf planet that has five moons, but that may be because scientists have studied Pluto more carefully than other dwarf planets, say both Brown and Alan Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and an advocate for classifying more objects as planets.

"It might turn out that Kuiper Belt planets commonly have significant numbers of moons," Stern told SPACE.com.

For Pluto, at least, the number of known moons may continue to grow in the near future. As scientists continue to scrutinize Pluto, looking for objects around it that may affect the New Horizons spacecraft that will arrive at Pluto in 2015, they may find even more moons.

The scientists responsible for finding out everything they can about Pluto before New Horizons' arrival have found that Pluto's moons are arranged in concentric circles around the dwarf planet. They've found moons located in what they call positions 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

"It makes you wonder if there's something at location 2 and locations 7, 8 and 9," said Mark Showalter, a planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., who led the team that discovered Pluto's new moon.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?and?Google+.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/QKc2TiDG4TE/Pluto-now-has-at-least-five-moons.-Can-we-go-back-to-calling-it-a-planet

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Is Italy's Berlusconi plotting a comeback?

ROME (AP) ? When Silvio Berlusconi resigned after dominating Italy's political scene for two decades, he left a country in financial shambles and a personal legacy tarnished by sex and corruption scandals.

Commentators called it the end of an era.

Eight months later, the political world is abuzz with signs that the 75-year-old media mogul is plotting a return to power that even his closest allies had considered impossible.

Even as his one-time friend, now bitter foe Gianfranco Fini appeared incredulous in a television interview Thursday night ? saying "Italians no longer believe in miracles" ? Berlusconi's allies were talking him up.

"He's our strongest candidate," said Angelino Alfano, a former justice minister previously considered as Berlusconi's heir apparent.

Berlusconi himself has yet to commit. But his friends are now openly calling him a candidate and spreading reports that business leaders are pushing him to enter the race for elections next spring. He reportedly has designed a new symbol with a patriotic touch for his party ? a kite in the Italian tricolor.

The billionaire businessman with a reputation for rebounding from setbacks was apparently keeping his supporters ? and potential ballot-box opponents ? in suspense, for now.

Excitement had been building among his backers that he might formally announce his candidacy at a political meeting Friday at a Rome hotel. Instead, after hours of waiting, Alfano, secretary of the Freedom People party that Berlusconi created, told reporters that Berlusconi "sends his regards" because he wouldn't be coming due to an unspecified "commitment."

So what's changed from the November night when he left the presidential palace by a back door following his resignation to avoid jeering demonstrators outside? The arrival of an increasingly unpopular austerity program aimed largely at reversing the excesses of his era.

Berlusconi, a three-time former premier, has always claimed to be attuned to the popular mood, such as abolishing the property tax on first homes to spur his victory in 2008 elections. His successor at the head of a technocrat government, economics professor Mario Monti, has given Italy an air of respectability in European and international circles but his economic recovery package is causing more pain than growth.

In what has become a symbol of that pain, Monti restored the property tax in one of his first acts as premier.

As Monti's approval sinks, so are Italy's economic prospects.

On Thursday, credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded Italy's government bond rating two notches on concerns that deteriorating financial conditions in Europe will lead to a sharp rise in borrowing costs. At the same time, Italy's industrial association warned that the nation was mired in recession with no sign of recovery.

One of Monti's chief economic advisers, Corrado Passera, called Moody's downgrade "unjustified," saying it failed to take into account what the Monti government has done.

Monti made clear this week he has no intention of seeking office after his term ends next spring.

The newspaper La Repubblica, one of Berlusconi's staunchest opponents, claims the possibility that the media mogul might come back "terrorizes Brussels," referring to the European Union that has been demanding reforms from debt-laden Italy. It said many in Brussels fear Berlusconi would undo Monti's reform program, although his party has been supporting it in parliament.

Italy's leading newspaper Corriere della Sera explained the reason behind enthusiasm from his allies. It said Berlusconi's camp has figures showing his party could win as much as 28 percent of the vote with Berlusconi on the ticket compared to 10 percent without him. Nearly 30 percent would not be enough to win the election, but could make Berlusconi a major player in any coalition.

It's not that Berlusconi has been out of the public eye. His allies in the media circulate photos of him jogging to stay in shape, holding family reunions and looking after his AC Milan soccer team. Meanwhile, his media foes have gleefully shown him boarding his corporate jet accompanied by a bevy of beautiful women.

Berlusconi, however, has made only occasional appearances at his trial in Milan on charges of having sex with an underage woman and then using his office to try to cover it up. Witnesses have testified about spicy parties at Berlusconi's villa, but both he and the Moroccan woman have claimed they never had sex. In Italy, defendants are not required to attend their trials.

On the economic front, he has let himself be quoted as saying Italy should leave the common euro currency and print its own money, only to backtrack, leaving it unclear what his financial rescue plan might be.

"There is more talk in Germany of a return to the mark than in Italy of a return to the lira," he told a German newspaper.

Last year, months before he resigned, Berlusconi said he would not run again and designated Alfano as his successor at the head of his party. Now Alfano is leading the chorus of supporters asking him to take the lead.

"It's the worst (possibility)," said former school teacher Luciana Schirru, echoing many other people interviewed in Rome. " I hope he won't run and that it was the heat that gave him this idea. We are living a period of total crisis, but at least as a country we have credibility at a European level.

"If he comes back, we won't even have that."

___

AP reporter Paola Barisani contributed from Rome

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-berlusconi-plotting-comeback-125344358.html

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Atlantic Hints at Strategy for Final Years of Giving - The Giveaway ...

Ten months after appointing a new president to conduct a review of its final years, the Atlantic Philanthropies is giving nonprofits some additional clues about what to expect between now and the time its last grants are announced in 2016.

In a letter Tuesday to grantees, Christopher G. Oechsli, Atlantic?s leader, says that ?not all program work will continue to 2016.?

The foundation?s giving in Australia concludes this year, while grant making in South Africa and Vietnam will finish in 2013.?Atlantic?s support of efforts to help elderly people in the United States and Ireland now has a narrower focus, he said.

What?s more, Mr. Oechsli told The Chronicle that while the foundation is considering grants to key civil-liberties organizations, it will no longer finance efforts to protect the rights of people who suffered after September 11.

In an e-mail, Mr. Oechsli said it was too soon to say when other programs would wrap up and how much money would be available for each region and priority. He said the foundation would focus its remaining dollars on projects and organizations that are likely to produce significant impact.

Atlantic?s endowment stands at $2.2-billion, he said. Of that amount, $1.3-billion has yet to be committed in the form of grants.

The foundation?s Web site, updated Monday, describes Atlantic?s remaining priorities.

Among the many types of work it will continue to emphasize: efforts to abolish the death penalty in the United States, to help people suffering from dementia in Ireland, and to cut down on the number of U.S. students who are expelled from school or arrested for minor infractions.

?Send an e-mail to Caroline Preston.?

Source: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/the-giveaway/atlantic-drops-strategy-hints-for-final-years-of-giving/2547

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Skulls shed new light on the evolution of the cat

ScienceDaily (July 11, 2012) ? Modern cats diverged in skull shape from their sabre-toothed ancestors early in their evolutionary history and then followed separate evolutionary trajectories, according to new research from the University of Bristol published July 6 in PLoS ONE.

The study also found that the separation between modern domestic cats and big cats such as lions and tigers is also deeply rooted.

Dr Manabu Sakamoto and Dr Marcello Ruta in the School of Earth Sciences studied the skull shape of extinct sabre-toothed cats, modern (conical-toothed) cats and prehistoric 'basal' cats (ancestors of modern cats). This is the first time these three different types of cats have been analysed together in a single dataset.

The researchers quantified skull shape by taking various measurements, adjusting these measurements for size differences, then investigating the distribution of cat skulls in shape-space. By estimating ancestral positions through shape-space and time, they investigated patterns of skull shape evolution across the cat family tree.

They found an early and conspicuous divergence between the conical-toothed cats and sabre-toothed cats, with all sabre-toothed cats being more closely related to each other than they were to modern conical-toothed cats.

There was also a marked separation between modern small-medium cats (that is, the domestic cat and its close relatives, the cheetah, puma, ocelot, serval and lynx) and modern big cats (such as the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar), with a divergence in skull shape early in their evolutionary history. This means that small-medium cats and large cats followed different evolutionary trajectories with respect to skull shape.

Dr Sakamoto said: "Our study is the first to determine the interrelationships between modern conical-toothed cats, sabre-toothed cats, and some basal cats.

"It also highlights how simple measurements can be used not only to investigate shape-space distribution, but also to successfully discriminate and identify different cat species -- this could be useful for museums who may have as yet unidentified cat specimens in their collections.

"Lastly, our results show that differences in cat skull shape have deeply rooted evolutionary histories, first between the sabre-toothed and conical-toothed cats, and then between small-medium and large cats."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Bristol University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Manabu Sakamoto, Marcello Ruta. Convergence and Divergence in the Evolution of Cat Skulls: Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Morphological Diversity. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (7): e39752 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039752

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120711141010.htm

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Ukraine postpones Tymoshenko appeal for third time

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-postpones-tymoshenko-appeal-third-time-003946927.html

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Monday, July 2, 2012

Rosol out 1 round after beating Nadal at Wimbledon

Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic returns a shot to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany during a third round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Saturday, June 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany returns a shot against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic during a third round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Saturday, June 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany returns a shot to Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic during a third round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Saturday, June 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ? The man who beat Rafael Nadal stood courtside signing autographs, his sudden celebrity lasting longer than he did at Wimbledon.

Less than 48 hours after stunning Nadal, Lukas Rosol lost Saturday to No. 27-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Afterward, fans surrounded Rosol seeking his signature before he returned to the obscurity of the minor-league challenger circuit.

"I knew that this can happen," he said of the loss.

His resume suggested as much. The 26-year-old Czech, ranked No. 100, was playing in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time after losing each of the past years in the opening round of qualifying.

Rosol not only beat Nadal, he overpowered him. There was no fluke about one of the biggest upsets ever at tennis' biggest tournament.

"I thought, 'Thank God I didn't have to play that guy, because he definitely would have beat me 6-0, 6-0,'" Serena Williams said. "He was hitting so hard, and hitting winners on absolutely everything."

In the wake of the win, Rosol heard plenty about how improbable it had been.

"All the people are like talking, 'Maybe you will lose (third) round. You can't play like this again,'" he said. "I was thinking only just to don't sleep and open (my) eyes again and play good tennis."

His sequel came on cozy Court 12 instead of Centre Court, with a crowd of only about a thousand spectators and no live TV coverage. At one point, he tried to challenge a call before realizing there's no replay review on Wimbledon's smaller courts.

Windy conditions didn't help the big-swinging Rosol, who whiffed on one forehand. He hit just seven aces after totaling 22 against Nadal.

Kohlschreiber, meanwhile, mixed his pace, hitting slice backhands and short shots that kept Rosol off balance and on the move.

"I think I have the right game plan against him," the German said. "Everything I saw against Nadal, I figured out I think the perfect tactic."

Kohlschreiber conceded he caught a break with Rosol's upset win.

"Of course, I'm very happy that I'm not playing against Rafael Nadal, that's for sure," he said. "If I would go to the match against Nadal, the chances would be 90-10 to win or lose. Today was more 50-50."

Following Wimbledon's traditional day off on the middle Sunday, the entire fourth round is scheduled for Monday. No. 4-seeded Andy Murray raced the clock to complete his third-round match, beating Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 and finishing under the Centre Court roof at 11:02 p.m. Wimbledon has an 11 o'clock curfew.

Murray will next play No. 16 Marin Cilic, coming off the second-longest match in Wimbledon history. He took 5? hours Saturday to beat unseeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (3), 17-15.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic will next face unseeded Viktor Troicki, and six-time champ Roger Federer will play unseeded Xavier Malisse.

On the women's side, top-ranked Maria Sharapova will play No. 15-seeded Sabine Lisicki, and defending champion Petra Kvitova will face No. 24-seeded Francesca Schiavone.

Four-time champion Serena Williams will face unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova. Williams hit a Wimbledon-record 23 aces to beat Zheng Jie 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7, while Shvedova won all 24 points in the first set ? a so-called "golden set" ? and beat French Open runner-up Sara Errani 6-0, 6-4.

"I had no idea," Shvedova said. "My manager came and she said like, 'They checked the stats. They said it's really true. You won 24 points in a row.'"

It was the first known golden set by a woman in the Open era.

Kohlschreiber advanced to Wimbledon's fourth round for the first time, and his next opponent will be another surprise entry in the round of 16, qualifier Brian Baker. The American, mounting a comeback from health issues that sidelined him for several years, continued his surprising run by beating Benoit Paire 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

"For sure, it's a great chance for both of us," Kohlschreiber said. "If you play in the last 16 and you're not facing Federer, Nadal, Murray, whatever ? the big guys ? it's a great chance to reach the quarterfinals, for sure."

As for Rosol, he'll play in a German challenger he won last year. He also hopes to watch his victory over Nadal.

"For sure, I would like to see the video at home," he said, "to see what happened that day."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-07-01-TEN-Wimbledon/id-0cd69510020c4077b3fddad46c15fad6

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Spain: No regrets for not eliminating Italy

By CHRIS LEHOURITES

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:29 p.m. ET June 30, 2012

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -Two weeks ago, long before either team had earned a spot in the final, Spain had a chance to eliminate Italy from the European Championship.

In the final round of group matches, Spain played Croatia knowing that a 2-2 draw would send both teams to the quarterfinals - and send Italy home early for the third straight time at a major championship.

It didn't happen, and now it is Italy that will be trying to stop Spain from winning its third straight major championship on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.

"We'll never regret not having drawn with Croatia to eliminate Italy," Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said. "That wouldn't have been good for the sport."

Xavi Hernandez, the man in the middle of Spain's attack, said Saturday that the world champions did what they were supposed to do against Croatia: win the match and the group.

"We did our job in the group stage despite all the speculation about a 2-2 draw leaving Italy out," Xavi said. "We'll never remember that, win or lose tomorrow, we could have eliminated Italy already."

The Italians will head into Sunday's match as an unexpected finalist but looking very much like the kind of team that can finally knock Spain off its perch at the top of the football world.

In their opening Group C match, Italy held the defending champions to a 1-1 draw. Antonio Di Natale scored first, but Cesc Fabregas equalized in a game in which the Azzurri looked more similar to Spain than to the stereotype of a defensive Italian team.

"Italy and ourselves have come through a similar route and now we have to reach the maximum level that a final will require," Del Bosque said. "In the group stage match, they were possibly better than us in the first half. They were the team that caused us the most problems."

Even if the route was similar, Italy's path may have been more impressive.

They played needing a win against Ireland, at the same time that Spain turned in a 1-0 victory over the Croats on June 18, putting both through. The Italians then struggled to finish against England in the quarterfinals but still advanced by winning a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.

It wasn't until the semifinals against Germany that Italy really showed its strength, controlling play throughout the match and holding on to beat the three-time champions 2-1 with two goals from striker Mario Balotelli.

"I am convinced that a team needs to have a specific system and style of play. He was part of this strategy," Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said of Balotelli. "He made lots of forward runs, he was a target up front when we had to counterattack, and therefore he played a great match."

The Spanish had less trouble against France in the quarterfinals, but their finishing then seemed to go fishing for the semifinal match against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal. Spain needed penalties to get through that one.

"Sure, our attack may not have been as aesthetically pleasing to watch as we would have liked, but we were always in control of all of our matches," Del Bosque said.

So heading into Sunday's match, it's the Italians who are scoring more goals, leaving the Spanish to worry about the back line when the superstar midfield loses the ball.

If the superstar midfield, which has been the key to Spain's titles at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, does lose the ball.

"(Our defensive) work has been fundamental to our game plan, especially in the last few games where our back line was always there when it needed to be," Spain defender Sergio Ramos said. "We're proud that our work is being valued and hopefully we don't concede a goal in the final because that would be the ultimate compliment to our work."

More newsFranck Fife / AFP - Getty Images

Four things to watch in Euro final

PST: Will Andrea Pirlo maintain his sublime play or will Xavi Hernandez direct Spain's passing brilliance to another major trophy? We preview Sunday's Euro 2012 final.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48024406/ns/sports-soccer/

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