Ripples in Space Are Evidence of Universe's Early Growth Spurt

When the universe expanded tremendously after the Big Bang, the resulting gravity waves interacted with the cosmic microwave background to produce this characteristic “B-mode” pattern. Credit: BICEP2 Collaboration

Big news in the cosmos today! Researchers from the BICEP2 south pole telescope have found ancient proof that the universe expanded tremendously after the Big Bang, a theory known as inflation. The discovery tells us (albeit indirectly) about an even earlier stage of the universe than we’ve ever before observed, and it provides crucial evidence that inflation did indeed occur. In so doing, it extends our model of the early universe from about one second after the Big Bang right back to less than 10-37 seconds after the event — a stunning leap forward (or backward, as the case may be).

To understand this, let’s back up 13.8 billion years or so, to the Big Bang. Also known as the birth of the cosmos and the origins of time and space, this burst of everything set the universe in motion. But a few niggling issues cast some doubts on the Big Bang theory — one of which was the mystery of how the universe came to be so uniformly spread out.

Enter the idea of inflation, in 1980, which suggested that just a few instants after the big moment, the universe suddenly grew enormously. This addition to the cosmic timeline explained why the universe was relatively uniform and it fit nicely with what we already knew about the universe’s earliest moments. However, cosmologists had no direct proof of inflation.

One way to prove inflation occurred, physicists thought, would be to look for gravitational waves created in its wake. These are basically ripples in the “fabric” of space-time — what the universe is made out of. Gravity is a relatively weak force, though, so we could only hope to detect the largest waves out there, caused by huge interactions like black holes colliding. Even though inflation was a relatively huge thing — it literally shaped the whole universe — the gravity waves it produced are now too weak to measure directly.

So instead, researchers were looking for the effect of inflation’s gravity waves on light. And not just any light, but the cosmic microwave background, “echoes” of light leftover from the Big Bang’s energy, created when the universe was just 380,000 years old. When this light interacted with the gravity waves, the theories said, it would have produced a distinctive pattern, called the B mode, in the light’s polarization. Such a pattern would be direct evidence that the gravity waves caused by inflation were real, and thus a key proof of inflation. And today, scientists announced they’d found it.

Assuming the finding is confirmed (and that looks likely — the team apparently spent 3 years going over their own data to make sure it was sound before coming forward with it), that’s huge news for cosmology. Direct evidence for inflation has been sought after for decades. Nature quotes Alan Guth, the main “inventor” of inflation, as saying, “This is a totally new, independent piece of cosmological evidence that the inflationary picture fits together,” and adding that the findings are “definitely” Nobel prize-worthy.

But it’s also big news for a couple of other reasons. First, in addition to being the first evidence for inflation, it’s also the first direct evidence for gravitational waves. Even though some observatories have been (and will continue!) looking for these gravitational waves, they’re still incredibly hard to find. The more data we have on these weird, space-time warping ripples, the more we’ll be able to understand the universe itself, and this is a great step in that direction. 

And the other bit of significance to this has to do with understanding gravity in the first place. It’s currently the only one of the four fundamental forces not to play nice with quantum mechanics, which explains how things work on the tiniest scales. At high temperatures (like those found shortly after the Big Bang), the other three even begin to unify into a single super-force. One of the biggest issues in physics today is figuring out how (or if) gravity fits into this picture, and the findings that gravitational waves can result from inflation, a fundamentally quantum phenomenon, suggests that quantum gravity might indeed be possible.

A glimpse into the very first milliseconds of our universe, plus bigger questions ahead — all in all, it’s a pretty good day for science.

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Qatar Airways to launch Saudi services early next year

By Praveen Menon

DUBAI Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:36am EST

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker (3rd R), Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani (4th R), Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Saleh al-Sada (2ndR) and other delegates pose in front of a Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300 aircraft during a ceremony to mark the alliance of Qatar Airways with the oneworld grouping at the Hamad International airport in Doha October 29, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Fadi Al-Assaad

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar Airways will launch domestic operations in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2014, the chief executive of the airline said on Monday.

Akbar Al Baker said the Saudi domestic services carrier will be called Al Maha Airways and will start with the main cities of the kingdom including Riyadh and Jeddah, and then move to the second-tier cities.

"We have chosen the name of the Saudi carrier ... Al Maha Airways. We hope to start operations in the first half of next year," Baker told Reuters at the Dubai Airshow.

Qatar Airways and Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air became the first foreign airlines to obtain carrier licenses in Saudi, following the opening of the country's aviation market last December.

Currently, only national carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines and budget airline National Air Services serve a domestic market of about 27 million people. Foreign carriers can only fly in and out of Saudi Arabia, not within the country.

With Saudi Arabia's price cap on domestic flights, private airlines have struggled with their profit margins.

Saudi Airlines, which is undergoing a slow privatization process, receives fuel at subsidized prices unlike private carriers, allowing it to offset the limits of the ticket cost ceiling.

"There is huge potential but also many challenges in the Saudi market," Baker said.

"We have an undertaking from the Saudi authorities that they will resolve the two contentious issues of price cap and fuel subsidies," Baker said.

NO OVERCAPACITY

Gulf airlines splashed out around $150 billion on the opening day of the airshow, as they ordered hundreds of passenger jets to expand a common ambition to turn the region into a global aviation hub.

Qatar Airways ordered 50 of Boeing's new 777 in an order worth $19 billion.

"We are not overdoing it," said Baker on the spree of plane order announcements. "We are all growing in this region ... and if we are growing, we must be doing something right."

He said the airline would deploy its fleet on new growth markets and would look to expand further. However, he denied media reports that the carrier was close to taking an equity stake in an Indian airline.

"We are talking to Go Air, Indigo, SpiceJet and Air India but we are talking about codeshares," said Baker.

"So we are not getting into bed with somebody. When we want to do it we will say that we are interested."

(Editing by Mark Potter)

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ALSC, PLA receive IMLS grant to measure impact of early literacy programming

CHICAGO – The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA), both divisions of the American Library Association, have received a three-year National Leadership Project Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The $499,741 grant will be used to support “Bringing Home Early Literacy: Determining the Impact of Library Programming on Parent Behavior,” a research project that will examine how early literacy programming offered by public libraries affects parent behavior and engagement during their children’s most formative years.

Objectives of this project are to further establish and advance the valuable role of public libraries as partners in early literacy and community learning and to provide critically needed research on the impact of parent/caregiver intervention in young children’s reading success. PLA President Carolyn Anthony said, “This is such an exciting and important project. Not only will the research help refine the curriculum and practices of early literacy education for parents, it will also offer concrete evidence supporting yet another valuable aspect of libraries to their communities.”

“This project represents a huge opportunity for children's librarians to expand their community outreach," said ALSC President Starr LaTronica.”Our members offer dynamic and responsive programs that are designed to build a nation of readers. Through this project, we can look forward to examining the crucial role these programs play in heightening awareness of early literacy efforts." 

The project will use the Every Child Ready to Read® @ your library® Second Edition (ECRR2) as the parent education model to study. Because ECRR2 promotes a common set of goals and program content for libraries, use of this model will insure consistency in the study. Susan Neuman, EdD, a professor specializing in early literacy development at the University of Michigan and at New York University, will lead the research throughout the three years.

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) a division of the ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC visit www.ala.org/alsc.

The Public Library Association (PLA) is a division of the American Library Association. PLA’s core purpose is to strengthen public libraries and their contribution to the communities they serve, and its mission is to enhance the development and effectiveness of public library staff and public library services. Learn more at www.pla.org.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow IMLS on Facebook and Twitter.

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Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry

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Early exposure to bisphenol A might damage the enamel of teeth

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Proper cell–cell interactions are required for the cells of early embryos to develop normally

Pulling pipettes apart to gently separate early embryonic cells. Credit: 2013 C. Lorthongpanich et al.

Some 50 years have passed since scientists first proposed the so-called 'inside–outside model' of development, which holds that the inner cells of the early embryo eventually form all the definitive structures of the fetus, whereas the outer cells give rise to the placenta. Yet, the determinants of this developmental duality have remained elusive: are lineage decisions predetermined in the egg or is cell–cell contact needed to determine cell fate?

By physically separating cells in young mouse embryos, a team led by Barbara Knowles and Davor Solter from the A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology has definitively shown that extensive cell–cell interactions are required for proper lineage commitment.

After five rounds of cell division, a fertilized egg reaches the 32-cell stage. Chanchao Lorthongpanich, a postdoctoral fellow in the Knowles–Solter laboratory, mechanically separated cells at this and prior stages and then cultured the cells individually (see image). With her colleagues, she then measured the gene expression profiles of the separated cells. They showed that the pattern was out of sync with normal development, owing to the lack of proper cell–cell contact and the associated positional information that it confers.

Each of the cells, known as blastomeres, failed to display gene markers characteristic of either the inner cell mass—the part of the embryo that gives rise to the fetus proper—or the nourishing trophectoderm, the precursor to the placenta. However, the researchers observed a tendency toward 'trophectoderm-like' expression consistent with cells receiving an 'outside' signal. Furthermore, when the researchers reassembled the cells, they could not organize themselves into the multiple tissue layers needed for proper development.

"In the absence of structure and the clues provided by it, haphazard and incoherent gene expression is coupled with loss of lineage determination," says Solter, who is now working to determine the exact cues by which cell–cell interactions lead to proper development. This process is reversible for a short time, but the subsequent loss of proper signals results in permanent damage to the blastomeres, according to Solter.

In addition to providing insights into the basic biology of mammalian development, the results could have important implications for human reproductive medicine. Currently, embryo screening techniques to test for genetic diseases require destroying one or two cells from the embryo at the eight-cell stage. Since the fate of blastomeres is determined by positional cues, rather than any predetermined fate, such diagnostic testing is unlikely to result in fetal malformation, Solter notes.

More information: Lorthongpanich, C. et al. Developmental fate and lineage commitment of singled mouse blastomeres. Development 139, 3722–3731 (2012). dev.biologists.org/content/139/20/3722.abstract

Journal reference: Development

Provided by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore

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