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What Does It Take to Be X-Class?

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What Does It Take to Be X-Class? Solar Flares: What Does It Take to Be X-Class? Sun Emits an X-Class Flare On August 9 3 'Uneducated Guesses' 5 Study of Abalone Yields New Insights Into Sexual Reproduction 8 Japan's Tohoku Tsunami Created Icebergs in Antarctica 11 DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space, NASA Evidence Suggests 14 Genetically Modified 'Serial Killer' T-Cells Obliterate Tumors in Leukemia Patients 16 Engineers Reverse E. Coli Metabolism for Quick Production of Fuels, Chemicals 19 Diamond‘s Quantum Memory 21 New Microscope Reveals Nanoscale Details 23 Chimpanzees Are Spontaneously Generous After All, Study Shows 26 The Thrill of Boredom 28 Genetic Basis for Muscle Endurance Discovered in Animal Study 31 Scientist Develops Virus That Targets HIV: Using a Virus to Kill a Virus 34 In Auto Test in Europe, Meter Ticks Off Miles, and Fee to Driver 36 Humankind‘s Ascent Took Path of Yeast Resistance 39 With Photovoltaic Polarizers, Devices Could Be Powered by Sunlight, Own Backlight 43 Severe Low Temperatures Devastate Coral Reefs in Florida Keys 45 Billion-Year-Old Piece of North America Traced Back to Antarctica 47 When East Met West Under the Buddha‘s Gaze 50 Math Ability Is Inborn, New Research Suggests 53 Were the best world leaders mentally ill? 56 'Amino Acid Time Capsule': New Way to Date the Past 59 Reality check: Why dreams aren't what they seem 61 New Conducting Properties Discovered in Bacteria-Produced Wires 64 Genomic Biomarker Signature Can Predict Skin Sensitizers, Study Finds 66 Nanoparticle Size Is Readily Controlled to Make Stronger Aluminum Alloys 68 Why Plant 'Clones' Aren't Identical 72 A Spectacular Spiral in Leo 74 Did Past Climate Change Encourage Tree-Killing Fungi? 76 What Shapes a Bone? Diet and Genetics Dictate Adult Jaw Shape 79 Females Can Place Limits On Evolution of Attractive Features in Males, Research Shows 81 NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter 83 Light Shed On South Pole Dinosaurs 85 Northern Humans Had Bigger Brains, to Cope With the Low Light Levels, Study Finds 87 Has Sculpture Become Just Another Pretty Face? 89 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Engineers Solve Longstanding Problem in Photonic Chip Technology 91 All-Natural Terraces 94 Taller Women Are at Increased Risk of a Wide Range of Cancers, Research Suggests 98 Large Variations in Arctic Sea Ice: Polar Ice Much Less Stable Than Previously Thought 100 Fossils of Forest Rodents Found in Highland Desert 103 First Opal-Like Crystals Discovered in Meteorite 106 Water Flowing On Mars, NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest 108 DNA Strands That Select Nanotubes Are First Step to a Practical 'Quantum Wire' 110 Ninety-Six Star Clusters Discovered Hidden Behind Dust of Milky Way 112 Slowing Climate Change by Targeting Gases Other Than Carbon Dioxide 114 Testing the Waters of Abstraction 116 Six Million Years of Savanna: Grasslands, Accompanied Human Evolution 119 'Big Splat' May Explain the Moon's Mountainous Far Side 123 Lifestyles of the Old and Healthy Defy Expectations 125 Is Our Universe Inside a Bubble? First Observational Test of the 'Multiverse' 127 Breeding Crops With Deeper Roots Could 'Slash CO2 Levels' 129 Engineers Develop One-Way Transmission System for Sound Waves 131 Darth Vader vs. Death Strip 133 Some Plants Duplicate Their DNA to Overcome Adversity 138 First True View of Global Erosion 140 Indium-Free Transparent, Flexible Electrodes Developed 143 Ancient Tides Quite Different from Today -- Some Dramatically Higher, Some Lower 146 Engineers Fly World's First 'Printed' Aircraft 148 Bionic Microrobot Mimics the 'Water Strider' and Walks On Water 150 The Golden Years, Polished With Surgery 152 Sugar Doesn't Melt -- It Decomposes, Scientists Demonstrate 155 In the Battle to Relieve Back Aches, Researchers Create Bioengineered Spinal Disc Implants 157 Microbes Consumed Oil in Gulf Slick at Unexpected Rates, Study Finds 159 Oxygen Molecules Found in Nearby Star-Forming Cloud 162 Manipulating Light at Wil 164 Vast Family of New Catalysts for Use in Drug Discovery, Biotechnology 166 Rainforest Plant Developed 'Sonar Dish' to Attract Pollinating Bats 169 Elliptical Galaxies Are Not Dead 171 Sun-Free Photovoltaics 173 Largest-Ever Map of Plant Protein Interactions 176 Fall of the Neanderthals 179 'Brain Cap' Technology Turns Thought Into Motion 181 Chandra X-Ray Observatory Images Gas Flowing Toward Black Hole 185 Aging Brains Are Different in Humans and Chimpanzees 187 World Population to Surpass 7 Billion in 2011; 190 Fundamental Matter-Antimatter Symmetry Confirmed 192 New Invisibility Cloak Hides Objects from Human View 195 Reservoirs of Ancient Lava Shaped Earth 197 One Step Closer to Learning How Cilia Movement Is Coordinated 199 2 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 167 September 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Solar Flares: What Does It Take to Be X-Class? Sun Emits an X-Class Flare On August 9, 2011 An X-class flare began at 3:48 AM EDT on August 9, 2011 and peaked at 4:05 AM. The flare burst from sun spot region AR11263, before it rotated out of view. The image here was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light at 131 Angstroms. (Credit: NASA) ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2011) — Solar flares are giant explosions on the sun that send energy, light and high speed particles into space. These flares are often associated with solar magnetic storms known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The number of solar flares increases approximately every 11 years, and the sun is currently moving towards another solar maximum, likely in 2013. That means more flares will be coming, some small and some big enough to send their radiation all the way to Earth. The biggest flares are known as "X-class flares" based on a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class (near background levels), followed by B, C, M and X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. So an X is ten times an M and 100 times a C. Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9. C-class and smaller flares are too weak to noticeably affect Earth. M-class flares can cause brief radio blackouts at the poles and minor radiation storms that might endanger astronauts. And then come the X-class flares. Although X is the last letter, there are flares more than 10 times the power of an X1, so X-class flares can go higher than 9. The most powerful flare measured with modern methods was in 2003, during the last solar maximum, and it was so powerful that it overloaded the sensors measuring it. The sensors cut out at X28. The biggest X-class flares are by far the largest explosions in the solar system and are awesome to watch. Loops tens of times the size of Earth leap up off the sun's surface when the sun's magnetic fields cross over each other and reconnect. In the biggest events, this reconnection process can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs. If they're directed at Earth, such flares and associated CMEs can create long lasting radiation storms that can harm satellites, communications systems, and even ground-based technologies and power grids. X-class flares on December 5 and December 6, 2006, for example, triggered a CME that interfered with GPS signals being sent to ground-based receivers. 3 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 167 September 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila NASA and NOAA -- as well as the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and others -- keep a constant watch on the sun to monitor for X-class flares and their associated magnetic storms. With advance warning many satellites and spacecraft can be protected from the worst effects. On August 9, 2011 at 3:48 a.m. EDT, the sun emitted an Earth-directed X6.9 flare, as measured by the NOAA GOES satellite. These gigantic bursts of radiation cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, however they can disrupt the atmosphere and disrupt GPS and communications signals. In this case, it appears the flare is strong enough to potentially cause some radio communication blackouts. It also produced increased solar energetic proton radiation -- enough to affect humans in space if they do not protect themselves. There was also a coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with this flare. CMEs are another solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and affect electronic systems in satellites and on Earth. However, this CME is not traveling toward and Earth so no Earth-bound effects are expected. Story Source: The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110809162011.htm 4 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 167 September 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila 'Uneducated Guesses' August 3, 2011 What if the educators making important decisions about schools and colleges are acting too much on their guts and not enough based on actual evidence? To Howard Wainer, that's no hypothetical. He is convinced that, from elementary school through higher education, the best evidence is frequently ignored. His new book, Uneducated Guesses: Using Evidence to Uncover Misguided Education Policies, is about to appear from Princeton University Press. Parts of the book relate to current controversies over standardized testing and the Advanced Placement Program. (Other parts are more focused on K-12.) Wainer is critical of the movement to make the SAT optional in college admissions, and argues that students who don't submit SAT scores perform worse in college than do those who submit the scores.
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