Rare Lunar Hole Photographed
New photos of the moon have revealed the most detailed views yet of a rare hole in the lunar surface — a pit large enough to swallow an entire football field whole.
High-resolution cameras aboard the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft first spotted the irregularly shaped chasm, located in Mare Ingenii on the moon's southern hemisphere. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken a new, up-close photo of the moon pit from lunar orbit.
"Only three have been discovered thus far, so I believe it is safe to state that skylights (pits) are rare at the 100-meter scale," Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) at Arizona State University, told SPACE.com in an e-mail.
Mare Ingenii, also called the "sea of cleverness," is best known for its prominent lunar swirls, which are highly reflective surface features that are associated with magnetic anomalies. The new images of the region from LROC show a giant pit measuring about 427 feet (130 meters) in diameter.
The boulders and debris resting on the floor of the cavity are partially illuminated and likely originated at the surface, falling through the pit opening during its collapse. The hole is thought to be the result of a partially collapsed lava tube.
A similar moon pit, which was believed to be a skylight into a lava tube, was previously discovered by the Kaguya mission in the Marius Hills region of the moon. The new pit in Mare Ingenii, however, lacks the numerous volcanic features that were found in the Marius Hills region.
"The existence of lava tubes and thus skylights had long been postulated," Robinson said. "However it is a surprise to me how large and beautifully preserved are the three that we have seen thus far."
Closer examination of Mare Ingenii could help scientists understand the differences between the two areas of the lunar surface, and such discoveries could also spur on further exploration of the moon, said Robinson.
"Imagine how fantastic it would be to land in one of these skylights and explore underground on the moon!" he said.
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Tree-Dwelling Tribe Discovered in Papua New Guineadiscoveryon - A tribe of hunter gatherers living in trees in the remote forests of Indonesia's easternmost Papua region has been discovered for the first time by the country's census, an official said on Thursday.
The nomadic tribe, called Koroway, numbers about 3,000 people speaking their own language and living off animals and plants in the forest, census officials found during the country's 2010 census survey.
"Their houses are in trees, their life is stone age," said Suntono, head of Indonesia's statistics agency for the Papua region, adding the tribe built ladders to huts in tall trees.
After receiving reports from missionaries, census officials needed to walk for up to two weeks to find the tribe, after travelling by boat from the nearest permanent villages, but still only reached the fringes of their territory.
The nearest city to the swampy southeastern corner of Papua is Merauke, the site of a planned giant food estate attracting interest from investors such as Singapore's Wilmar (WLIL.SI) to grow sugar.
Scientists said last month they had found new species in Papua, including the world's smallest wallaby. The discoveries come as scientists warn of the threat of species loss as the planet warms and forests are destroyed to feed humans.
Suntono said the tribe, naked except for banana leaves to cover their private parts, protected their area from outsiders as they said they depended on it for food, such as deer, wild boar, sago and bananas.
A secessionist movement has smouldered for decades in politically sensitive and resource-rich Papua, with attacks in the past year on workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's (FCX.N) Grasberg mine that has the world's largest gold reserves.
There are more than 2,500 tribes in Papua and all have different languages, Suntono added.
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Man Claims Witch Made a Snake Enter His Body and Eat Privates
newzimbabwe - A BULAWAYO family has made a desperate plea for help after a 16-year-old boy claimed a SNAKE was entering his body through the foot and EATING his privates following sex with a married woman believed to be “locked” – a witchcraft practice common in parts of Zimbabwe.
The teenager from the Paddonhurst suburb told the Bulawayo Chronicle he met the woman – named as Sharon Manjoro -- at Bell Mine in Amaveni, Kwekwe.
The boy claims the woman -- believed to have a spell known as ulunyoka/runyoka cast on her by her husband to stop her from being intimate with other men -- paid him US$10 to have sex with her.
He tearfully told the Chronicle: “After we were intimate, the woman left Kwekwe and I believe she went to her husband in Gweru. Since then, I have not seen her.
“Soon after I was intimate with her, I felt some itching on my private parts and three days later, a strange snake emerged from nowhere and entered my body through my foot.
“When it reaches my private parts, it starts eating me and the pain I experience during that process is terrible.”
A man identified as the boy’s guardian said: “It is very terrible. The snake appears once everyday and can be seen as it moves in his leg until it reaches his private parts.
“When it reaches that area, it appears to be eating him and the boy starts crying out for help for about 30 minutes.”
The boy’s family say they were turned away by a hospital, and consultations with inyangas have failed to solve the mystery.
In a direct plea to the woman’s husband, the boy’s guardian said: “We are prepared to pay anything to Sharon’s husband because the boy’s life is in danger and we cannot afford to lose him.
“I am appealing to anyone who can treat this kind of ailment to come and help us."
“We are desperately confused and asking anyone who can help us in this matter to come forward and help the boy.”
The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association's Benson Kaseke said that although runyoka/ulunyoka is not approved by traditional healers, it is widespread in parts of Mashonaland.
Runyoka/ulunyoka is typically used by people who suspect their spouses of playing away from home, he explained. “No one wants to live with an unfaithful partner, hence the need for runyoka.”
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Dental Breakthrough: Tooth Regeneration Gel Could Replace Fillings
Discovery - Dentists could soon hang up their drills. A new peptide, embedded in a soft gel or a thin, flexible film and placed next to a cavity, encourages cells inside teeth to regenerate in about a month, according to a new study in the journal ACS Nano. This technology is the first of its kind.
The new gel or thin film could eliminate the need to fill painful cavities or drill deep into the root canal of an infected tooth.
"It's not like toothpaste," which prevent cavities, said Nadia Benkirane-Jessel, a scientist at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale and a co-author of a recent paper. "Here we are really trying to control cavities (after they develop)."
Drilling teeth and filling them is safe and effective. Dentists fill millions of cavities each year across the United States. However, though dentists numb the tooth, many patients still rue the sound of that drill.
The new research could make a trip to the dentist's office more pleasant, said Berkirane-Jessel. Instead of a drill, a quick dab of gel or a thin film against an infected tooth could heal teeth from within.
Cavities are bacteria and pus-filled holes on or in teeth which can lead to discomfort, pain and even tooth loss. When people eat acidic foods, consume sugary snacks or simply don't maintain proper oral hygiene, bacteria begin to eat away at the protective enamel and other minerals inside teeth.
The causes of cavities are varied. But for most cavities, the treatment is the same: drilling into a tooth, removing the decay and filling in the hole to prevent further damage.
The gel or thin film contains a peptide known as MSH, or melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Previous experiments, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that MSH encourages bone regeneration.
Bone and teeth are fairly similar, so the French scientists reasoned that if the MSH were applied to teeth, it should help healing as well.
To test their theory, the French scientists applied either a film or gel, both of which contained MSH, to cavity-filled mice teeth. After about one month, the cavities had disappeared, said Benkirane-Jessel.
Benkirane-Jessel cautions that the MSH-containing films or gels only treat cavities; they don't prevent them. People will still need to brush, floss and use mouthwash to help prevent cavities from forming in the first place.
Treating cavities without drilling "would have its advantages," said Hom-Lay Wang, a dentist at the University of Michigan. Cavities and drilling can destroy the nerves and blood vessels inside a tooth, making it more brittle and likely to fracture. Regenerating a tooth could help avoid crowns after a cavity has been filled.
That said, regenerating a tooth from within would only be useful in a relatively small number of cases. Most cavities would still need to be drilled and filled.
In the meantime, patients can't slacken their oral hygiene either. Numerous clinical trials over several years will have to be completed before the MSH-containing gels or films are available to treat cavities in humans.
Fortean / Oddball News - 6/29/2010
