The New Solar System

Pluto no longer a Planet, Charon; No Upgrade in Status

So the decision was handed down by the IAU committee today. Pluto was demoted. It's no longer a planet. Charon, which is Pluto's moon did not get a promotion either. Here is my previous post on this topic. There were speculations that it would be upgraded to the status of a planet. The word "planet" received a brand new definition:

"a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

Pluto does'nt qualify. The decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.
Planets: Mercury to Neptune. Total of 8 planets
Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite." These are not real planets
Small Solar System Bodies: All other objects orbiting the Sun.
Two of the objects that were being considered to be called planets are now in the same category as Pluto (dwarfs): the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto aslo nicknamed as "Xena."

Pluto Facts:

* Named after underworld god

* Average of 5.9bn km to Sun
* Orbits Sun every 248 years
* Diameter of 2,360km
* Has at least three moons
* Rotates every 6.8 days
* Gravity about 6% of Earth's
* Surface temperature -233C
* Nasa probe visits in 2015

Pics of the Day

August 14th celebration in Pakistan Source: Reuters.com

Officials from the Department of Medical Sciences wear chicken outfits while holding signs that read 'eating cooked chicken is safe' in Bangkok Source: dailytelegraph.co.uk

Freedom of Press or War of Deception

"Propaganda Intern in Iraq" - Fmr. Lincoln Group Intern Describes Paying Iraqi Press to Plant Pro-American Articles Secretly Written by U.S. Military.

Poincaré conjecture proof and Grigory Perelman, a k a Grisha's refusal to accept the Fields Medal

The Poincaré Conjecture was first posed by the French mathematician, Jules Henri Poincaré, in 1904, and seeks to understand the shape of the universe by linking shapes, spaces and surfaces. More can be found about Poincaré Conjecture here. Dr. Perelman refused to accept the Fields medal (eq. to being a Nobel prize in Mathematics), as he has other honors, and he did not attend the ceremonies at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. Story can be found here and here. Perelman is a Russian topologist. He published his solution to the Poincaré Conjecture last month on the internet to everyones surprise. Poincaré’s conjecture asserts that if any loop in a certain kind of three-dimensional space can be shrunk to a point without ripping or tearing either the loop or the space, the space is equivalent to a sphere. According to this conjecture, a sphere, a cigar and a rabbit’s head are all the same because they can be deformed into one another.
Another interesting link.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, Bell's palsy may indicate pre-diabetic state

Research out of UK published in Diabetes Care 2006;29:1929-1930, evaluated medical records for up to 10 years before diabetes was diagnosed in patients and suggests that occurance of carpal tunnel syndrome, Bell's facial palsy and other peripheral neuropathies may point to early signs of diabetes.
Article can be searched here

Articles of Interest from Aviation, Aerospace and Environmental Medicine Volume 77, Number 8, August 2006

Abstracts:
Microgravity Effects on Fine Motor Skills: Tying Surgical Knots During Parabolic Flight Azhar; Russ; Vladimir; William; Merrell, Ronald C.
The health provider on a space exploration mission cannot evacuate a patient to Earth. Contingency plans for medical intervention must be designed for autonomy. This study measured the effect of microgravity on performance of fine motor skills such as basic surgical tasks. Conclusion: Specific metrics of surgical task performance are essential in developing education modules for providers of medical care during exploration-class missions.
Ventilatory Effects of Prolonged Hyperoxia at Pressures of 1.5-3.0 ATA Gelfand, Lambertsen, Christian J.; James M.
It was hypothesized that long-duration exposures to toxic levels of hyperoxia would have effects on respiratory control function or activity. Methods: Ventilatory parameters of human subjects breathing spontaneously at rest were measured before, during, and after hyperoxia in a study of organ systems' tolerance to toxic O2 exposures at 1.5 ATA (17.7 h), 2.0 ATA (9.3 h), 2.5 ATA (5.7 h) and 3.0 ATA (3.5 h). Hyperoxia has concurrent toxic and physiological effects on respiratory control; degrees depend on O2 dose (exposure pressure and duration).
Rotation Velocity Change and Motion Sickness in an Optokinetic Drum Bubka, Bonato, Burrmey, Mycewicz
Stationary subjects who view the interior of an optokinetic drum often experience motion sickness (MS) symptoms, perhaps because visual and vestibular sensory inputs are in conflict. It was predicted that intermittently changing drum rotation velocity would cause an increase in sensory conflict, and subsequently lead to more MS. Conclusions: These results support the hypothesis that a conflict between sensed and expected effects of self-motion alone can lead to MS. Changing rotation velocity increases sensory conflict that in turn leads to more MS.

Pictures of Wah Garden

Above pictures courtesy of Trope http://pictorialmatters.blogopot-com/2005/08/mughal-gardens-wah.html

Credits:
Wah Gardens
Azra Hameed, Aga Khan Visual Archive, MIT
Exterior view of lower terrace showing tree-lined path 1980
Bagh-I-Hasanabdal, Bagh-I-Bahish A'in, Gulistan-I-Irum
Client: Shah Jahan Built: 1639 Style/Period Mughal









Photographer Azra Hameed, Aga Khan Visual Archive, MIT
Exterior detail of ruins and dried up pool foundation, showing chadar (sloping surface) 1980

Unfortunately, just like in many other developing countries; environmetal pollution, overpopulation and unplanned development has changed the face of Wah and its surroundings.
The Wah Garden is located about 2 kilometers east of Hasanabdal beside the Grand Trunk Road. It was not initially a formally planned garden, but was used as a transit camp by Mughal emperors. It was developed over the years, cultivated by the successive emperors who used it. The garden now contains all the features of a traditional Mughal garden. It is famous for its beautiful ponds, reflecting pools, water channels, cascades and fountains built during the reign of Shah Jahan. A large water tank to the eastern end supplies its three water channels that run parallel to the length of the garden. Fifteen fountains flow from the central water channel.
The garden also contains a baradari, or detached pavilion. The interior walls of the baradari were originally embellished with stucco traceries depicting fruits, vases, foliage and trees, of which remains can still be seen. Seven watchtowers were discovered along the perimeter wall, and a hammam, or bath, is attached to the southern wing of the baradari. The gardens fell into disarray during the Durrani and the Sikh periods. During the British period, the garden was handed over to Muhammed Hayat Khan of Wah, to prevent further deterioration. After 1976, the government took over the gardens for archeological study.
Source:http://www.tourism.gov.pk/historical_sites.html

Human Factors Issues In Medicine: Recent Articles in the Journal of HFES.

The Journal of HFES issued a supplement to August 2006 issue on Human Factors in Medicine.
Here are some of the highlights from the published articles:

- Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) relies heavily on imaging devices . Despite its benefits, several challenges exists because of reduced field of view and degraded depth perception. The results of DeLucia and colleagues suggest ways that surgeons can navigate better during MIS.
- Filik et al. found that using tall man letters to emphasize differences in similar names resulted in increased attention to high-risk drug names.
- A literature review by Drews and Westenskow shows that graphical displays can improve patient safety, though few are in use today. They suggest ways to improve such displays for use by anethesiologists.
- Drews and colleagues found that when anesthesiologists were able to view a display that visualized drug concentrations in a simulated patient, they could more precisely and safely monitor anesthesia, thus emphasizing accuracy by providing feedback.
- Signs of acute cardiac ischemia can be tricky to recognise, even for seasoned physicians. Computer-based decision support tools that help predict serious events are not widely used for reasons that are not well understood. Lai et al. developed a Web-based tutorial that physicians said increased their level of understanding of one such tool.
- Using a qualitative user-center design approach, Escoto et al. found that physicians and clinical assistants differ on some of the issues that medical error reporting systems might capture. Implementing such reporting systems might lead to better patient care if these systems are designed with the users' professional cultures and other factors in mind.
- Training health care workers to draw blood for testing has traditionally been done on a low-tech, simulated arm, which performed better in a comparison by Scerbo and colleagues versus performance using a high-tech virtual reality simulator. Analysis suggests that the design of new medical VR technologies must adhere to human factors principles if they are to facilitate training and improve patient safety.

How about Planet Moon?

UPDATE on this topic here.
Check out the new solar order that upgrades Asteroid Ceres and Planet Charon to planets. Pluto, it's moon Charon, and 2003 UB313, a Pluto-sized object located at the fringes of our solar system, would be reclassified as planetary "plutons." Every round object circling the sun may become a Planet, unless it orbits another planet. How about planet moon? If the newly proposed planet definition next week gets approved by by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), moon will be a planet in a few billion years. If the center of gravity, called the barycenter, is outside the larger object, then the smaller object is a planet. That definition elevates the Pluto's moon Charon to planethood. Not all astronomers agree with that idea. Theoretically, Earth's moon was born in a catastrophic collision more than 4 billion years ago. Initially it was very close to the planet but began drifting away very slowly. About 1.5 inches (3.74 centimeters) every year. Right now the system's barycenter is inside Earth. But that will change over time. At that point the Moon would be promoted to planetary status.
We will find out on August 24, 2006 after the IAU meeting in Prague. Go to the update on this topic.

Pakistani Woman Plans a Space Tour

Virgin Galactic founded by Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin airline is sponsoring Burt Rutan's Spaceship One which won the X prize in october 2004. The spacecraft for actual space travel is still on the drawing board. No prototype for commercial space travel has been built and tested. This story might be just a marketing ploy by Virgin Gallactic.

Here is a link to the Virgin Galactic website.


Reported by DAWN
Aug 18 2006
A Pakistani woman has been selected to join a commercial space flight in 2008 by Virgin Galactic for its first commercial space flight. Ms Namira, is an accomplished artist. Virgin Galactic selected Ms Namira for its exclusive Founders’ Club (first 100 people for the flight). As a founding member she will be among the lucky few to kickoff the new industry of space tourism.

Quote of the Moment

"Organisms are adapted to their environments, and it has appeared adequate to say of them that their organization represents the 'environment' in which they live...."
-- Humberto Maturana

NASA Gears up for Shuttle Atlantis Launch. Aug 27th 2006

STS-115 Mission
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is set to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Sunday, Aug. 27.
Commander Brent Jett and his five crewmates will travel to the International Space Station to install a new 17-ton segment of the station's truss backbone, adding a new set of giant solar panels and batteries to the complex. Three spacewalks are planned.

- Launch Rehearsal Video
- NASA TV

NASA Goofs up Moon Landing Tapes

This is interesting. Conspiracy theorists will love this. Reuters reported that NASA has apparently lost track of 700 tapes (magnetic tapes), containing video and data relating to Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon. Here is the News bulletin:


NASA can't find original tape of moon landing REUTERS
Mon Aug 14, 5:48 PM ET
The U.S. government has misplaced the original recording of the first moon landing, including astronaut Neil Armstrong's famous
"one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," a NASA spokesman said on Monday. Armstrong's famous space walk, seen by millions of viewers on July 20, 1969, is among transmissions that NASA has failed to turn up in a year of searching, spokesman Grey Hautaloma said. "We haven't seen them for quite a while. We've been looking for over a year and they haven't turned up," Hautaloma said. The tapes also contain data about the health of the astronauts and the condition of the spacecraft. In all, some 700 boxes of transmissions from the Apollo lunar missions are missing, he said. "I wouldn't say we're worried -- we've got all the data. Everything on the tapes we have in one form or another," Hautaloma said. NASA has retained copies of the television broadcasts and offers several clips on its Web site. But those images are of lower quality than the originals stored on the missing magnetic tapes. Because NASA's equipment was not compatible with TV technology of the day, the original transmissions had to be displayed on a monitor and re-shot by a TV camera for broadcast. Hautaloma said it is possible the tapes will be unplayable even if they are found, because they have degraded significantly over the years -- a problem common to magnetic tape and other types of recordable media. The material was held by the National Archives but returned to NASA sometime in the late 1970s, he said. "We're looking for paperwork to see where they last were," he said.