Smallest Transiting Extrasolar Planet Found

Scientists have discovered a planet only twice as large as the Earth orbiting a star slightly smaller than the Sun. It is the smallest extrasolar planet planet outside our solar system whose radius has ever been measured. The planet's composition is not yet certain, but it is probably made predominantly of rock and water. It orbits its host star in 20 hours, which is the shortest orbital period of all exoplanets found so far. Astronomers infer its temperature must be so high (over 1000 C°) that it should be covered in lava or superheated water vapour.

Most of the 330 or so exoplanets discovered so far are giant planets, primarily composed of gas, like Jupiter and Neptune. This new object, named CoRoT-Exo-7b, is very different. "Finding such a small planet wasn't a complete surprise", says Dr Daniel Rouan. "It could be an example of a so-called ocean planet, whose existence was predicted some years ago: a Neptune-like planet, made of ice around a rocky core, drifts so close to its star, the ice the melting to form a fluid envelope."

Such a small planets such as this one is extremely difficult to detect. CoRoT-Exo-7b was found because it passes in front of its host star, causing the star to dim very slightly once per orbit – a so-called transit, which in this case is only 0.03% deep. link

The Black Wolf: The 1st Genetically Modified Predator

Art by Frank Frazetta. Creepy © current copyright holders

Emergence of black-colored wolves is the direct result of humans raising dogs as pets and beasts of burden, according to new. And dark coloring may also aid the survival of the species as wolf habitat is affected by climate change in the future.

Using genetic analysis of gray wolf populations from North America and Europe, the researchers traced the source of the dominant gene responsible for dark coat color in wolves to domesticated dogs and conclude the trait was passed to the gray wolf population, as well as to coyotes, by mating between the closely-related wild and domestic canid species. The transition could have taken place as recently as the arrival of European domestic dogs in North America or as long as 14,000 years ago when humans migrated into North America across the Bering Strait.

Since then, black fur has become commonplace in wolf packs, perhaps because snow-covered northern environments are shrinking and darker coloring allows for greater stealth while hunting in areas without snow. While gray wolves can be found in colors ranging from white to gray to black, light-coloration is predominantly found in the arctic tundra where wolves prey on barren ground caribou. The researchers note that the relationship between coat color and habitat is often attributed to adaptation and natural selection, but this is the first example of a genetic modification that likely arose due to human selection becoming adaptive and selected for when back in nature.

"Although it happened by accident, black wolves are the first example of wolves being genetically-engineered by people," said Marco Musiani. "Domestication of dogs has led to dark-colored coats in wolves, which has proven to be a valuable trait for wolf populations as their arctic habitat shrinks," Musiani said. "It also shows that human activities can help enrich the genetic diversity of wild animal populations, which is a very unexpected finding."

Werewolf of London

Ref: Molecular and Evolutionary History of Melanism in North American Gray Wolves. 2009. T. M. Anderson, et al. Science 323: Published Online February 5, 2009.

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Story & art by the great team of Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandell

Fossils of the Oldest Life on Earth Found

Challengers of the Unknown © DC Comics

Ref.: Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period. 2009. G. D. Love et al. Nature 457: 718-721

Go read the full story over at the Palaeoblog.

They’ve been nice enough to link to us many times over the past few years!

The Atom: Servant of Man!

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House of Secrets #27 © DC Comics
Jack Schiff (Script); Morris Waldinger (Pencils); Tommy Nicolosi (Inks)

The Secret of the Dinosaur Skeleton

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Strange Adventures #138 © DC Comics
Gardner Fox (Script), Gil Kane (Pencils), & Joe Giella (Inks)

This Day In History: 1st Primate In Space

In 1961, the U.S. launched a 4-year-old male chimpanzee named Ham on a Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket into suborbital flight to test the capabilities of the Mercury capsule. During his 16.5 minute suborbital flight, Ham experienced about 7 minutes of weightlessness, reached an altitude of 108 miles and a speed of 13,000 mph.

He was wired to medical sensors to monitor his vital signs. During flight, Ham performed some simple tasks such as pulling levers when a light came on for a reward of banana pellets. Ham was recovered safely 1,425 miles downrange. This was a test flight before risking the lives of human beings.

After Ham's successful flight, NASA was ready to launch the first Mercury astronaut, Alan Shepard, into sub-orbital flight three months later. link

Superman #147 © DC Comics

Quantum Teleportation - A Mark Merlin Mystery!

Teleportation works because of a remarkable quantum phenomenon called entanglement which only occurs on the atomic and subatomic scale. Once two objects are put in an entangled state, their properties are inextricably entwined. Although those properties are inherently unknowable until a measurement is made, measuring either one of the objects instantly determines the characteristics of the other, no matter how far apart they are.

Abstract: Quantum teleportation is the faithful transfer of quantum states between systems, relying on the prior establishment of entanglement and using only classical communication during the transmission.

We report teleportation of quantum information between atomic quantum memories separated by about 1 meter. A quantum bit stored in a single trapped ytterbium ion (Yb+) is teleported to a second Yb+ atom with an average fidelity of 90% over a replete set of states.

The teleportation protocol is based on the heralded entanglement of the atoms through interference and detection of photons emitted from each atom and guided through optical fibers. This scheme may be used for scalable quantum computation and quantum communication.

It’s all explained here

Ref: Quantum Teleportation Between Distant Matter Qubits. 2009. S. Olmschenk. et al. Science 323: 486-489.

A MARK MERLIN MYSTERY!:

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House of Secrets # 42 (March, 1962) © DC Comics
Pencils: Mort Meskin; Inks: George Roussos