The Mysterious Case of the Missing Noble Gas

Xenon has almost vanished from Earth's atmosphere. Geoscientists think it might have disappeared in space

By Ewen Callaway and Nature magazine

Image: htx.pppl.gov

From Nature magazine

The evidence is in every breath of air, but answers are harder to come by. Xenon, the second heaviest of the chemically inert noble gases, has gone missing. Our atmosphere contains far less xenon, relative to the lighter noble gases, than meteorites similiar to the rocky material that formed the Earth.

The missing-xenon paradox is one of science?s great whodunits. Researchers have hypothesized that the element is lurking in glaciers, minerals or Earth?s core, among other places.

?Scientists always said the xenon is not really missing. It?s not in the atmosphere, but it?s hiding somewhere,? says inspector, sorry, professor Hans Keppler, a geophysicist at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. He and his colleague Svyatoslav Shcheka are the latest geoscientists to tackle the case, in a report published today in Nature.

Elementary, my dear Watson

They went looking for answers in minerals. Magnesium silicate perovskite is the major component of Earth?s lower mantle ? the layer of molten rock between the crust and the core, which accounts for half the planet?s mass. The sleuthing scientists wondered whether the missing xenon could be squirreled away in pockets in this mineral. ?I was quite sure that it must be possible to stuff noble gases into perovskite,? says Keppler. ?I suspected xenon may be in there.?

The researchers tried dissolving xenon and argon in perovskite at temperatures exceeding 1,600 ?C and pressures about 250 times those at sea level. Under these extreme conditions ? similar to those in the lower mantle ? the mineral sopped up argon yet found little room for xenon.

Those results may sound disappointing, but they gave Keppler and Shcheka an idea. What if xenon isn?t hiding at all?

More than 4 billion years ago, Earth was molten. Meteorites bombarded the planet, causing it to lose much of its primordial atmosphere. Keppler and Shcheka suggest that argon and the other noble gases hid in perovskite, but most of the xenon could not dissolve in the mineral, and disappeared into space.

?This is completely different from what everybody else is saying. They are saying the xenon is here but it's hiding somewhere. We are saying it is not here because very early in Earth?s history it had no place to hide,? says Keppler.

When Earth cooled, argon and other noble gases started seeping out of the perovskite and filling the atmosphere. Xenon, dissolved in the mineral at only trace levels, could in turn make up only trace amounts of the atmosphere.

As further support for their hypothesis, the scientists point out that the relative ratios of three noble gases ? xenon, krypton and argon ? in the atmosphere roughly correspond to their solubility in perovskite.

The theory may also explain why lighter isotopes of xenon are even more depleted from the atmosphere than heavier ones. ?Nobody has ever been able to explain this,? says Keppler. He and Shcheka suggest that over billions of years, when xenon was seeping into space, lighter isotopes were most likely to escape.

Case closed?

Ignoble gas
Not so fast, says Chrystele Sanloup, a geoscientist at Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris: ?I don't think this discovery accounts for the missing xenon.? She notes that the theory does not totally explain all of the excess heavy xenon in the atmosphere, nor for additional xenon made from the radioactive decay of uranium and plutonium in rocks.

Besides, any explanation for Earth?s missing xenon should also apply to Mars, where the atmosphere also has a dearth of the noble gas. Keppler and Shcheka suggest that here, too, the ancient xenon escaped into space: the planet?s puny gravitational field prevented it from holding onto the gas. As a result, all xenon currently found on Mars is what little could dissolve in perovskite.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ceab76321dc3c5513aad3fe4ff812686

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Rowan Williams marks beginning of Hate Crime Awareness Week

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Archbishop Canterbury Rowan Williams has spoken about how hate crime ?should have no possible place in a society that respects the dignity of all? in a statement to mark the beginning of Hate Crime Awareness Week.

The archbishop?s statement is below:

?Hate crime is a fundamental challenge to an individual?s dignity and identity. As such it should have no possible place in a society that respects the dignity of all; and it should find no possible justification in any kind of religious belief.

?Christian faith has at its core the conviction that God values each of us infinitely; and it should spur us on to combat hatred and prejudice wherever we encounter them. My prayers are with you as you gather to remember all those who have been affected in any way by hate crimes. I share your hope that with vigilance and solidarity we may work together for a society free from such outrages.?

An act of remembrance for the victims of hate crime will be held in St Paul?s Cathedral in London on Oct. 13.

The short, inclusive, quiet and reflective ceremony ? for those of different faiths and those of no faith ? will mark the beginning of Hate Crime Awareness Week.

The service is being supported by 17-24-30, an organization founded to support the victims of the London nail bomb attacks in 1999.

Source: http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/10/10/rowan-williams-marks-beginning-of-hate-crime-awareness-week/

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Questions and answers on presidential debates

President Barack Obama waves he boards Air Force One before departing for Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, in Las Vegas. Obama will face Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tonight in the first of four presidential debates. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

President Barack Obama waves he boards Air Force One before departing for Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, in Las Vegas. Obama will face Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tonight in the first of four presidential debates. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Tired of being deluged with TV commercials telling you that President Barack Obama or challenger Mitt Romney "approved this message?" The candidates will deliver their message for themselves Wednesday night in the first of three head-to-head presidential debates.

Some questions and answers about the debates:

Q. Who opens and closes?

A. Obama gets the first question Wednesday. Romney gets the last word. The order was determined by a coin toss.

Q. What is the focus Wednesday night?

A. Domestic issues ? the economy, health care, the role of government and governing.

Q. Where are the debates being held?

A. Wednesday night's is at the University of Denver. To follow: A vice presidential debate Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky.; the second presidential debate Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.; the third presidential debate Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

Q. How long are the debates?

A. Ninety minutes. Each debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT and ends at 10:30 p.m.

Q. What is the format for Wednesday's debate?

A. There are no opening statements. The candidates will have two-minute closings. The domestic policy debate will be divided into six segments of approximately 15 minutes each. The moderator will open each segment with a question, and the candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment to hopefully facilitate a lively debate.

Q. What about the format for the remaining debates?

A. The vice presidential debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, and each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion.

The second presidential debate will be a town hall format. Audience members will ask questions on foreign and domestic topics. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion.

The final presidential debate will follow the format of the first debate, except the focus will be on foreign policy.

Q. Who are the moderators?

A. For Wednesday's debate, it's Jim Lehrer, executive editor of the PBS NewsHour. The vice presidential debate moderator will be Martha Raddatz, senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC News. Candy Crowley, chief political correspondent for CNN and "State of the Union" anchor will moderate the second presidential debate. The third presidential debate will be moderated by Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent of CBS News and moderator of "Face the Nation."

Q. Who picks the specific topics for each segment?

A. The moderator.

Q. Who runs the debates?

A. The Commission on Presidential Debates, established in 1987. The organization is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt corporation. It has sponsored debates since 1988. The co-chairs are Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., a former Republican National Committee chairman, and Michael McCurry, a former White House press secretary for Bill Clinton.

Q. Is Crowley the first woman to moderate a presidential debate?

A. No. Former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson did it in 1992. The candidates then were President George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.

Q. What is the record of diversity among moderators?

A. Presidential debate moderators Simpson and ex-CNN anchor Bernard Shaw are African-Americans. Another African-American, PBS' Gwen Ifill, moderated two vice presidential debates. There has never been an Asian or Latino moderator. Shaw moderated a presidential debate in 1988 and a vice presidential debate in 2000, and Ifill moderated in 2004 and 2008.

___

Online:

Commission on Presidential Debates: http://www.debates.org .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-03-Debate-Format-QandA/id-68f92fa6bacd46aeabd0b3c07e8e3086

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JetBlue: Free flights for disgruntled voters in presidential election

17 hrs.

Samantha Bomkamp , Associated Press

In a marketing gimmick that piggybacks on next month's presidential election, JetBlue is offering a way for Americans to make good on threats to leave the country if "the other guy" wins.

The New York airline said Wednesday that it will give away 2012 seats, or 1,006 round-trip flights, for customers that come out on the losing end of the battle between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Travelers who visit jetblue.com/electionprotection and pick their choice for President will be entered into the contest to win a (temporary) escape outside the U.S. JetBlue's international routes include Mexico and the Caribbean.

The free flight would not include taxes, fees or a hotel.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/jetblue-free-flights-disgruntled-voters-presidential-election-6255330

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Challenge: Who Thought the River Needed Improvement? [Search Research]

Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution?using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: what inventor thought the river needed improvement?

Quite a while ago this device was promoted as a solution for a navigation problem. The man who created it lived by the side of a river that was difficult to navigate at certain times of year.

Not long after he had trouble getting downstream, this man proposed that the state should improve the condition of the river.

The question for today is pretty simple, but fun to figure out:

1. Who is the inventor of this gadget?

2. What is the name of the river that prompted this call for improvements?

3. What did he propose doing to improve the river?

This sounds like an ordinary search question, but the answers will probably surprise you!

Let us now how you solved it!

Search on!

Wednesday search challenge (10/3/12): Who thought the river needed improvement? | SearchReSearch

---

Daniel M. Russell studies the way people search and research?an anthropologist of search, if you will. You can read more from Russell on his SearchReSearch blog, and stay tuned for his weekly challenges (and answers) here on Lifehacker.

Image via Josef Hanus (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/8qaIqCPatXg/challenge-who-thought-the-river-needed-improvement

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Judge Hits Abbott Laboratories with $700M in Fines for Off-Label ...

Updated 4:14 p.m.

A federal district judge in Virginia on Monday hit Abbott Laboratories with the second-largest criminal fine for a single drug.

The pharmaceutical company was ordered by?U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Wilson of the Western District of Virginia?to pay a criminal fine amount of $500 million, a forfeiture of $198.5 million, and $1.5 million to the Virginia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for marketing the drug Depakote for uses not approved as safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Depakote was being promoted to control behavioral disturbances in dementia patients and to treat schizophrenia. According to a Justice Department press release, these uses were never approved by the FDA.

The fines are connected with Abbott?s guilty plea to a criminal misdemeanor charge for misbranding last May.

Abbott also entered a civil settlement agreement under which it agreed to pay $800 million to the federal government and several states to resolve claims that its practices caused false claims to be submitted to government healthcare programs.

The ruling also required Abbott to enter into a five-year probationary period. As a result, every year Abbott's CEO and board of directors will need to personally certify that the company is complying with the law.

Abbott has also agreed to enter a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the Office of the Department of Health and Human Services that requires enhanced accountability and transparency, as well as monitoring activities conducted by internal and independent external reviewers.

Stuart Delery, acting assistant attorney general for the DOJ?s Civil Decision, said in the DOJ release that,??Today?s sentencing confirms that the resolution we reached with Abbott in May is the right result. And it emphasizes the importance of the U.S. government's coordinated efforts to combat healthcare fraud.?

In a written statement, Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel said the company was happy to resolve the matter.

"Abbott takes our responsibility to our patients and health care providers very seriously and has comprehensive compliance and training programs," said Stoffel. "We're pleased to resolve this matter and look forward to the successful completion of our obligations under the agreements."

Source: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/10/doj-hits-abbott-laboratories-with-500m-criminal-fine-for-off-label-drug-marketing.html

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Overweight TV anchor responds to viewer 'bully' on weight

ABC News' Suzan Clarke and Katie Kindelan report:

Jennifer Livingston, a morning anchor with WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wis., is used to getting feedback from viewers.? But when a male viewer wrote her a letter chiding her for being overweight, the mother of three took action.

In an on-air editorial address Tuesday morning that lasted more than four minutes, Livingston acknowledged being overweight - even obese - then added, "To the person who wrote me that letter, do you think I don't know that?"

She followed up by thanking her colleagues, family friends and the others who have come to her defense.

"I will never be able to thank you enough for your words of support and for taking a stand against this bully," she said. "We are better than this email. We are better than the bullies that will try to take us down."

Livingston's bold statement in her own defense made headlines around the world and today she told "Good Morning America" why she decided to speak out.

"This was a personal attack," Livingston said.? "Calling me obese is one thing.? Calling me a bad role model for our community that I've worked at for 15 years and especially for young girls when I have three girls was a low blow and I thought it was uncalled for and I wanted to call him out on it."

In a story on its website, WKBT identified the letter writer as Kenneth W. Krause.

"I think, in his mind, he [Krause] views himself as being helpful which is what I think a little bit of the problem is," she said.? "He doesn't see that the way that he approached it was clearly hurtful to me. He's trying to shame me into losing weight.? That's not being helpful. That's being a bully."

Livingston's husband, Mike Thompson, who is an evening anchor on the same station, posted the viewer's letter on his Facebook page. As posted, the letter read:

"It's unusual that I see your morning show, but I did so for a very short time today. I was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn't improved for many years. Surely you don't consider yourself a suitable example for this community's young people, girls in particular. Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain. I leave you this note hoping that you'll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle."

Thompson defended his wife on "GMA," explaining that Krause, like others who comment anonymously, did so without knowing the facts.

"What really angered me more so than his attack on her not being a role model for the community is that he doesn't know Jennifer. He doesn't know me. He doesn't know our family," Thompson said.? "He doesn't know that Jennifer has ran triathlons. He doesn't know that she ran in a race last weekend, a 5-K race.? She works out two or three times a week.? She is going to run in a race this weekend.? He doesn't know that."

"He doesn't know that she has a condition, a thyroid condition, that makes it harder for her to lose weight. He doesn't know any of that," he said.? "He just decided to attack her for no reason."

In her on-air address, Livingston also pointed out that October was National Anti-Bullying Month, and advised parents to be careful how they conducted themselves around their children so they didn't pass on negative lessons.

"I do believe that for the majority of kids out there, this behavior is learned.? It's coming from somewhere else," Livingston said on "GMA."? "We all as adults need to take the time to have the discussion with our children about what's important, about whether kindness is the way that we want to be or do we want to be critical about the way someone looks."

Livingston also urged children who were victims of bullying not to allow themselves to be defined by those bullies, a lesson she said she and Thompson passed along to their own 10-year-old daughter.

"We basically told her that this might be something that she has to deal with in the future," she said.? "She needs to be strong and hopefully she can follow my example and now the example of people all over the world."

Commenters on Thompson's page engaged in a fierce discussion about topic. As of Tuesday night, more than 1,500 people had posted their opinions.

"This story is all over Facebook and your wife is amazing!!! Seriously can you imagine having to be the person who wrote the email, to have to live each day as a mean and rude person. I feel sorry for the person who wrote it. That person is a jerk and that is a miserable thing to be," one person wrote, echoing many emails of support.

But others felt differently, including one poster who took Livingston to task for her response and her weight:

"Since when is it a virtue to be obese?" the commenter wrote. "And where is the bullying in the e-mail? The tone of the e-mail does not offend. It is normal that a viewer would write about a public personality about her excess weight. The fact that you love her with her excess weight Mr. Thompson does not mean it is ok to be fat ... don't hide behind bullying, this man is not bullying you, he is just asking you to do something about your excess weight. GIVE UP A FEW BURGERS AND CUT THE CHEESE. START MOVING JENNIFER!"

WKTB said Krause submitted the following statement in response to Livingston's editorial:

"Given this country's present epidemic of obesity and the many truly horrible diseases related thereto, and considering Jennifer Livingston's fortuitous position in the community, I hope she will finally take advantage of a rare and golden opportunity to influence the health and psychological well-being of Coulee Region children by transforming herself for all of her viewers to see over the next year, and, to that end, I would be absolutely pleased to offer Jennifer any advice or support she would be willing to accept."

Also Read

Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/overweight-tv-anchor-jennifer-livingston-responds-bully-125420053--abc-news-fashion-and-beauty.html

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