Technology Science - Earth has asteroid companion

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The moon isn't the only hunk of space rock that has been travelling around the sun with the Earth for ages.

Canadian scientists have discovered that the Earth is also accompanied by a "Trojan" companion â€Â" an asteroid that travels a constant distance ahead of it at all times, sharing nearly the same orbit around the sun.

Similar objects have been found travelling with other planets in our solar system, including Mars, Jupiter and Neptune.

Trojan asteroids

Trojan asteroids were first predicted to exist in 1772 by Italian-French astronomer and mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. He recognized that there are certain points where the gravitational pull of two objects such as the Earth and the sun on a third object such as an asteroid balance each other off, allowing the object to remain, on average, at a fixed distance from the other two masses.

Those points are now called Lagrange points, and the two where Trojans can be found are referred to as Trojan points. Trojan asteroids aren't necessarly found precisely at the Trojan point, but may instead orbit them so that the Trojan point represents their average position.

The first Trojan was observed orbiting with Jupiter in 1906.

Objects in the solar system are traditionally given names from classical Roman and Greek mythology, and the first Trojan asteroid was named Achilles, said Martin Connors. Because of his role in the Trojan war, similar asteroids have been called Trojans ever since.

"In a way, these are sort of like secondary moons," said Martin Connors, the Alberta scientist who led the discovery published in Thursday's issue of Nature.

Like the moon, the asteroid known as 2010 TK7 is under the control of Earth's gravity and has been orbiting stably with the Earth for at least 10,000 years. However, Trojans are not satellites â€Â" unlike the moon, the Trojan asteroid does not orbit the Earth. Viewed from the Earth, the asteroid sits 60 degrees from the sun.

"You would think that the gravity of the planet would just like to pull the asteroid in," said Connors. "But when it does do that, it moves closer to the sun, and then the sun's gravity makes it go faster, and it pulls away from the planet again."

Gravity balancing act

Along the Earth's orbit, it is only when an object such as the asteroid sits at one of two Trojan points at a 60-degree angle from the Earth that the Earth's and the sun's gravity balance each other off, allowing the object to remain nearly stationary relative to the Earth.

2010 TK7 is about 300 metres across, making it rather large compared to other nearby asteroids. According to NASA, it is now about 80 million kilometres from Earth. By comparison, the moon is on average 384,000 km away.

Connors, who holds a Canada Research Chair in space science at Athabasca University, has been searching the skies for nearby Trojans for about 15 years.

It isn't easy because the area being searched is 60 degrees, or very close to the sun when viewed from Earth. That means the objects are only visible for a short time just before sunrise or just after sunset.

Connors combed through data collected by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles from NASA's WISE (wide-field infrared survey explorer) telescope. It orbits the Earth and detects asteroids by scanning for the infrared radiation they give off after warming up in the sun. That radiation doesn't make it through the atmosphere, so it is invisible from Earth.

After finding two asteroids that looked like they could be Trojans, Connors sent the data to Paul Wiegert at the University of Western Ontario, who used computer modelling to see how similar objects should behave. That made it clear that the researchers would need more observations of the asteroid to confirm it was a Trojan.

They called upon Christian Veillet, executive director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Kamuela, Hawaii, to use the telescope to scrutinize the asteroid's orbit for six days this past April. The observations confirmed that the asteroid is a Trojan.

Connors said the discovery of one Trojan orbiting with the Earth means there are likely others. Such nearby asteroids wouldn't require much energy to visit with a space probe, since they are so close and have a similar orbit to earth, he said. However, 2010 TK7 itself isn't a good candidate for such a visit because its orbit is tilted relative to the Earth's.

Trojan asteroids are of interest to scientists because they may hold material leftover from the formation of the solar system, Connors said. While meteorites also contain such material, they typically have wandered long distances and scientists can never be quite sure where they came from. Trojan asteroids likely have remained close to the Earth for a long time, and the material they contain is more likely to originate near the Earth.

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Technology Science - Fuel efficiency to double for U.S. vehicles by 2025

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The U.S. government has a deal with 13 automakers to increase fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon (4.3 L/100 km) for cars and light-duty trucks by 2025, President Barack Obama announced Friday.

That is about double the 27 miles per gallon (8.7 L/100 km) average that cars get now, and builds on a 2009 deal with the auto companies that will see cars and trucks averaging 35.5 mpg (6.6 L/100 km) by 2016.

The greater fuel efficiency is likely to push up the price of new vehicles, but the actual increase will not be known until the regulations are written, starting in September.

Buyers of new vehicles will actually get closer to 40 mpg (5.9 L/100 km) because manufacturers will get credit for electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.

The auto companies

Ford, GM, Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo were at the announcement in Washington.

Obama was enthusiastic about the deal.

"This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we’ve ever taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Obama said at a Washington meeting with auto industry executives representing 90 per cent of the U.S. car market.. The United Auto Workers union and California, which has been pressing for higher standards, were also represented.

He said the new standard will also reduce consumers' driving costs and cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

"It means filling up your car every two weeks instead of filling it up every week," he said.

The deal was a compromise between environmentalists and the carmakers.

With files from The Associated Press

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Technology Science - Privacy commissioner investigates BC Hydro smart meters

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British Columbia's privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into BC Hydro's Smart Meter program after complaints that the information collected by the device breaches personal privacy.

Elizabeth Denham said Thursday that the investigation will ensure that the program designed to measure energy consumption complies with the privacy law and Hydro's obligations regarding collection, use, disclosure, retention and security of personal information.

The utility started installing the meters in Prince George and Richmond this week and plans to have 1.8 million of them in homes and businesses throughout the province by the end of next year.

Denham said that rather than measuring energy use for each billing period as is currently the case, smart meters provide more frequent information about people's electricity use.

The information gathered from individual homes will be transmitted wirelessly back to the Crown corporation, detailing peak usage and other information.

"The privacy and security of energy consumption data is a very real issue for citizens throughout the province," she said in a statement. "With an increase in the frequency of the information collected from Smart Meters comes an increased responsibility on BC Hydro to ensure that privacy and security is built into the Smart grid."

BC Hydro has been consulting with Denham's office on the privacy and security implications of its smart meters, and the commissioner said the utility has committed to fully co-operate with the investigation.

Hydro has said that consumption data will remain secure and private, as it is now, and that the information will be encrypted, "much like online banking."

The meters are expected to display energy consumption information in kilowatts or the equivalent dollar amount as well as provide usage patterns for various appliances.

© The Canadian Press, 2011

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Technology Science - Cellphones pose no added cancer risk for kids

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Children and teens who use cellphones are not at a statistically significant increased risk of brain cancer compared with their peers who do not use the devices, a study published Wednesday suggests.

The study is the first to look specifically at children and the risk of cancer from cellphones. Bullit Marquez/Associated Press

Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland, studied data collected in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

The team looked at the medical records of 352 children aged 7 to 19 who were diagnosed with brain tumours between 2004 and 2008. The study also included 646 control subjects.

They found that 265 patients (75.3 per cent) and 466 control subjects (72.1 per cent) reported having spoken on a mobile phone more than 20 times prior to when the case patient was diagnosed with a tumour. Also, a slightly higher proportion of tumour patients versus control subjects â€Â" 55 per cent against 51 per cent â€Â" reported regular cellphone usage. But these differences were not statistically significant.

Risk not related to amount of use

In a subset of study participants for whom data was available from their cellphone company on their mobile usage, brain tumour risk was not found to be related to amount of use.

No increased risk of brain tumours was observed for brain areas receiving the highest amount of exposure.

The study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Because it was not a randomized control trial, it shows correlations only and cannot definitively rule out a causal link between cellphone use and cancer.

Still, researcher Martin Roosli said no previous paper has examined whether cellphone use among children and teens is associated with a difference in brain tumour risk.

"Because we did not find a clear exposure-response relationship in most of these analyses, the available evidence does not support a causal association between the use of mobile phones and brain tumors," Roosli and his fellow researchers write.

"[This study] provides quite some evidence that use of less than five years does not increase the chance of a brain tumour, but naturally we don't have a lot of long-term users," Roosli told Reuters. If there is a risk, "it would be a really small risk," he said.

However, the researchers still advise a "careful watch" of the trend that has seen cellphone use increase among children over the years.

Two years ago, a number of government agencies around the world suggested that anyone who uses a cellphone should keep a little distance between the phone and their body. Britain, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Russia and India advised that children limit their use of cellphones. Health Canada gave no such advice, saying there is "no convincing evidence" of an increased cancer risk from exposure to radio frequencies from cellphones.

At the time, Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority â€Â" citing a lack of research â€Â" encouraged parents to err on the side of caution and limit the time their children spend on cellphones.

The bulk of research into cellphones has found no definitive evidence that short-term use poses significant health risks to humans.

The new Swiss study was funded in part by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication. The latter is partly supported by Swiss mobile operators, but the researchers say those funding the study were not involved in its design or the collection and interpretation of data.

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Technology Science - Northern B.C. fracking licence concerns critics

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Critics are concerned that the B.C. government is allowing a natural gas company to draw water from a northern BC Hydro reservoir to use in a controversial technique called fracking.

The government has approved a long-term water licence for Talisman Energy to draw water from Williston Lake, a BC Hydro reservoir in northern B.C. for the next 20 years.

The water will be piped out of the Williston Reservoir, mixed with sand and chemicals and used to fracture shale rock underground to release natural gas.

What is fracking?

• Hydraulic fracturing, or "hydro-fracking," is a form of natural gas extraction in which a pressurized mix of water and other substances is injected into shale rock formations or coal beds to release trapped natural gas.
• A fluid mixture of water and chemicals is injected under high pressure deep underground, creating or widening fissures in the rock.
• Then, sand or another solid, often ceramic beads, is pumped in to keep the fissures propped open so that methane gas can escape from pores and fractures in the rock.

It's one of several major water requests the government is considering from companies engaged in the process called fracking.

But critics are concerned the controversial process has been approved without serious public consultation. They say the process requires too much water and leaves toxic waste water behind.

The government is defending the practice saying it has a safe record in B.C.

"We have not received any reports or instances of aquifer contamination resulting from any fracking operations in British Columbia," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

"Our technical assessment indicates that the reservoir’s water levels can support the extraction," said the statement.

Fracking draws critics back east

The practice of fracking has sparked widespread protests by environmentalists in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and was recently suspended in Quebec pending a detailed environmental review

Critics in B.C. are also concerned.

"We should not be giving away the public water resource," says Independent MLA Bob Simpson

Talisman calls it "environmentally sustainable," but Simpson disagrees.

What are the environmental concerns?

• The process uses large amounts of fresh or potable water.
• Space is needed to store the waste water safely; sometimes, this involves clearing trees or disrupting habitats.
• The waste water must be treated at facilities that critics say are not always equipped to remove the contaminants particular to hydro-fracking.
• The fear is that the chemicals used and released during fracking contaminate drinking- and groundwater â€Â" either during the process itself or through the waste water that is recycled and used afterward. The substances released along with the natural gas can continuing leaking from the well for decades after the extraction process.
• Some of the methane gas being extracted during fracking escapes or is vented at the well head during the process and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
• Some people living near fracking wells have complained of noxious fumes that they say cause headaches, nausea and other symptoms and that they attribute to some of the substances released during fracking, such as benzene and toluene.
• Researchers say that shale gas extraction through fracking causes enough emissions to give it a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than conventional gas or oil.

"To use fresh water for hydraulic fracturing â€Â" pour toxins into that water...put it into permanent storage â€Â" taking it out of the water's cycle. How's that sustainable?"

Ben Parfitt of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says he hasn't seen a water licence this big before.

He says the government promised public debate about water and fracking but nothing significant ever happened.

"I'm not aware of any....[robust] consultation taking place. I don't think the public has any idea," he said.

Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson declined repeated requests for an interview, but staff at the ministry issued a statement saying the licence met all the requirements before it was approved.

"Prior to approval, a technical assessment of water availability was done, as well as several meetings with First Nations in March and April and correspondence with stakeholders and local and federal governments," said the statement.

No public consultation was required for the licence because it will draw a maximum of 3.65 million cubic metres of water per year, well below the 10 million cubic metres per year required to trigger an environmental assessment, according to the statement.

B.C. is already providing gas companies with 78 million cubic metres a year of water from rivers, creeks and streams on short-term permits â€Â" the equivalent of drawing down 31,000 Olympic swimming pools each year.

Parfitt says the natural gas industry's future demands for water exceeds the amount of water all of Vancouver uses.

The Williston Reservoir is B.C.'s biggest freshwater body, and in the top 10 reservoirs worldwide. It's located across a vast swath of northern B.C., stretching from approximately MacKenzie to Tsay Kay Dene to Hudson's Hope.

The water for the Talisman project is to be drawn from the Farrell Creek near Hudson's Hope, through a pipeline near Beryl Prairie Road.

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Technology Science - South Korea says millions hit by hackers

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South Korea says an alleged hacking attack that originated in China compromised the personal information of millions of the cyber-savvy country's internet users.

The Korea Communications Commission said in a statement Thursday that hackers purportedly attacked popular internet and social media sites Nate and Cyworld and that information of 35 million people was stolen.

The regulator said the attack took place Tuesday and that operator of the sites, SK Comms, alleged the source was from internet protocol addresses in China.

IP addresses are the web equivalent of a street address or phone number.

South Korea has been subject to such attacks with blame frequently pinned on hackers using addresses in China. China has denied all charges of hacking in the past.

© The Associated Press, 2011

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Technology Science - Northerners have bigger eyes and brains, study finds

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Scientists have found that people from northern parts of the world have larger eyeballs and brains to help them deal with long, dark winters.

But the Oxford University study does not make a link between bigger brains and smarter people, perhaps to the chagrin of some northern Canadians.

Researchers with Oxford's Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology studied the eye sockets and cranial capacity of 55 human skulls from a dozen regions around the world and found that the farther away people live from the equator, the larger their eyes and heads are.

People who live closer to the North and South Poles have evolved larger brains and eyes so they can cope with the short days and low light levels they experience every winter, the scientists said in a report published online Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.

"In order to maintain good vision, high-latitude humans are having to increase the size of the eyes in order to cope with those lower light levels," Eiluned Pearce, one of the report's authors, told CBC News.

Pearce said her findings suggest that the influence that ambient light levels have in the eye size of birds and primates also applies to humans' eyes.

Brains grow to accommodate eyes

Larger eyes give more visual input into the brain, so specific areas of the brain seem to increase to accommodate the eyes, according to the Oxford report.

But having a bigger head is not necessarily a sign that people in the North are smarter, Pearce said.

"This research doesn't support that, I'm afraid," she said with a laugh.

But the research findings had Yellowknife Mayor Gordon Van Tighem wondering if bigger eyes and heads could be a sign of northerners' potential.

"With the long hours of darkness in wintertime, they would need to avoid being lulled into complacency and use their advanced vision to read more books and make better observations about what's going on around them to then become smarter than everyone else," Van Tighem suggested.

Others in the Northwest Territories' capital city were skeptical about the Oxford researchers' findings.

"My eyes look pretty normal, so I think that's kind of baloney," one man told CBC News on the streets of downtown Yellowknife on Wednesday.

"They are Oxford, so you can't really say that kind of stuff about them, but [it] seems far-fetched to me."

Local truck driver Alex Debogorski, who is known around the world from the History Channel reality series Ice Road Truckers, has his own theory about the effect that driving on ice roads in the dark has on his brain.

"When the roads are real rough, I get a sore neck from holding my head up. All that bouncing around, trying to hold my head up, makes me smarter just from having blood flowing through my head," he said with a hearty laugh.

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