Signs of Hidden Ocean Underneath Titan’s Crust

Slippage in Titan’s rotation suggests water between its surface and core—and a higher likelihood of ancient life on Saturn’s biggest moon

By JR Minkel

TITAN’S HIDDEN OCEAN: A strange shift in the position of mountains and lakes on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan can best be explained, researchers say, by positing a layer of liquid water (blue) some 100 kilometers below the surface.
NASA-JPL

“A strange shift in the position of mountains and lakes on the surface of Saturn\’s moon Titan can best be explained, researchers say, by positing a layer of liquid water (blue) some 100 kilometers below the surface

Astronomers’ mental image of Titan, the solar system’s second-largest moon, used to be that of a vast swimming pool. But maybe they should have imagined a water bed instead.

Last year, researchers reported that radar mapping of Titan by the Cassini spacecraft had found a peculiar shift in landmarks on the moon’s surface of up to 19 miles (30 kilometers) between October 2004 and May 2007.

Now investigators say the best explanation is a moon-wide underground ocean that disconnects Titan’s icy crust from its rocky interior.

“We think the structure is about 100 kilometers of ice sitting atop a global layer of water … maybe hundreds of kilometers thick,” says Cassini scientist Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

If confirmed, Titan would be the fourth moon in the solar system thought to contain such an internal water ocean, joining Jupiter’s satellites Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Researchers believe that heat from radioactivity in a moon’s core or gravitational squeezing may melt a layer of frozen water.

On Titan, Ganymede and Callisto, the liquid would become sandwiched between two different forms of ice, one that floats on water and one that sinks. Astronomers believe that of the four bodies, Europa has a larger and hotter core that directly borders its ocean, which lies beneath a thin layer of ice.

A hidden water layer would add to Titan’s impressive resume: Larger in diameter than both Earth’s moon and the planet Mercury, Titan is the only satellite in the solar system with a true atmosphere—a dense, rotating fog of nitrogen supporting hydrocarbon clouds made of methane and ethane.

For decades researchers suspected that its frosty surface temperature of around –290 degrees Fahrenheit (–180 degrees Celsius) would cause hydrocarbons to pool on its surface in a vast ocean. But during Cassini’s first flyby in October 2004, its radar instruments detected no surface-spanning ocean, only methane lakes near the moon’s north pole.

The shift in Titan’s geologic features is strange because the moon is locked in a synchronous orbit around Saturn, meaning it always presents the same face to the planet. “It’s a little bit improbable that Titan would be rotating asynchronously,” Lorenz says.

Writing in Science, he and his colleagues instead connect the geologic displacement to models in which Titan’s atmosphere pushes against mountains on the surface.

The exact thickness of the crust is an important component of the group’s model of Titan but is not known precisely. Based on the dimensions of the Menrva impact crater, they estimate a thickness of about 60 miles (100 kilometers).

That would make the crust thinner than those of Ganymede or Callisto, where the oceans are thought to lie below as much as 125 miles (200 kilometers) of rock and ice. For Titan’s presumed ocean to remain liquid at such a distance from the hot core, the researchers argue that it must contain ammonia.

There may also be other explanations for the observed shifting. In an editorial accompanying the report, planetary scientists Christophe Sotin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Gabriel Tobie of the University of Nantes in France, observe that a periodic wobble in Titan’s rotation or, less likely, a recent asteroid impact could also explain the finding.

The ocean interpretation is still the most plausible one, according to David Stevenson, professor of planetary science at Caltech. “This is a perfectly natural thing to do in a water–ice dominated world, provided there is enough heat,” he says.

What is less clear, he adds, is the ocean’s depth. The movement of the crust likely depends on additional, poorly understood factors, such as seasonal weather patterns and gravitational attraction between the crust and the core, he says.

Luckily, the group’s model is testable. It predicts a quickening of Titan’s rotation rate in the coming year or two followed by a slowdown—something that can be measured on succeeding Cassini flybys.

As always, the possibility of water leads to talk of potential life. Researchers have speculated that Titan may have long ago harbored life or its building blocks, catalyzed by sunlight reacting with atmospheric carbon and hydrogen.

Experts have considered Europa a better candidate, however, because of the presumed contact between ocean and core, which would provide a steady supply of heat energy.

Lorenz and his colleagues note that Titan’s ocean might be stirred instead by cryovolcanism or warmer (but still cold) water welling up from below. The addition of water, Lorenz says, makes Titan “astrobiologically very appealing.”

Stevenson, for one, says he still sees Europa as a better bet for life. He agrees that Titan is an attractive natural laboratory for the kind of chemistry that would lead to life, but when it comes to energy sources, sizzling rock “is much better than ice.”

Mexico now the 2nd fattest country, after U.S.

 MEXICO CITY — Fueled by the rising popularity of soft drinks and fast-food restaurants, Mexico has become the second fattest nation in the world. Mexican health officials say it could surpass the U.S. as the most obese country within 10 years if trends continue.

More than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys.

With diabetes now Mexico’s leading cause of death, activists and leaders hope to renew efforts to crack down on junk food and other fatty-food consumption and encourage citizens to exercise more. But it will be a tough battle, as industry groups are expected to put up a fight.

No one knows better the country’s affection for fattening foods than Lidia Garcia Garduno , who’s run a fruit stand in central Mexico City for the past 10 years.

“People don’t eat right anymore,” said Garcia Garduno , mixing a drink of strawberries and pineapple. “Instead of coming here and purchasing a fruit drink, they prefer to walk across the street and buy fried pork chips. That’s why so many Mexicans are obese.”

In 1989, fewer than 10 percent of Mexican adults were overweight. No one in the country even talked about obesity back then, said Barry Popkin , a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor who studies global weight gain. Experts were too concerned with poverty and hunger.

“It certainly snuck up on them,” said Popkin, who’s working with the Mexican health ministry to develop strategies to address obesity throughout the country. ” Mexico has probably had the most rapid increase of obesity in the last 15 years.”

Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova , who launched a new health campaign Feb. 25 , agrees: “We have to put the brakes on this obesity problem.”

Some Mexicans say there’s less space on an already crowded Mexico City subway because riders are getting larger. At a flea market in the south of the city, vendors hawk clothes brought from the United States made for overweight individuals.

Francisco Princegali knew he was eating too much junk food when he bent down last week and heard a tear.

“I ripped my pants because of the fat,” said Princegali, who’s 20, crumbling up a wrapper of sweetened bread he’d purchased from a vendor. “I think I’m addicted to junk food.”

Princegali, sucking in his stomach, said that many of his pants were too tight these days. Some people are addicted to alcohol and smoking, he said: “My problem is I love fried chicken— Kentucky Fried Chicken .”

As in the U.S., Mexicans are living more sedentary lives. Studies show that they’re eating more fat and processed foods, and fewer whole grains and vegetables. Foods— healthy and unhealthy— that once were unavailable now can be purchased at new modern supermarkets. In some areas of the country, it’s easier to get a soft drink than a clean glass of water. The vast majority of Mexico City’s public schools, and many private schools, lack drinkable water, Popkin said.

The national study also found that a quarter of Mexican children ages 5 to 11 are too heavy, a 40 percent increase since 2000.

According to the government’s National Institute of Public Health , the consumption of soft drinks increased 60 percent in Mexico over the last 14 years.

Last week, children lined up to purchase soft drinks and potato chips outside their school in the center of Mexico City .

Virginia Soriano , 35, said it was difficult teaching her children good eating habits when they were flooded with advertising for fatty foods. Naomi, her daughter, says her favorite things to eat are McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets and Coca-Cola. The 6-year-old sometimes pushes away her dinner plate if it has too many vegetables, Soriano said.

“She’ll say, ‘This has no taste,’ ” Soriano said. “She wants McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken .”

Legislators have considered putting warning labels on junk food and taxing whole milk to encourage consumption of skim milk. Past efforts, however, have foundered, and some lawmakers have reported difficulty fighting powerful industry groups. In 2006, legislators voted down a proposed tax on soft drinks, arguing that it discriminated against the poor. Leaders hope that the growing concern over diabetes will lead to greater public acceptance of such efforts.

PepsiCo joined the education ministry last year in launching a new health program, “Living Healthily,” that encourages more daily exercise and better eating habits. But consumer group El Poder del Consumidor, “Power of the Consumer,” has accused the company of surreptitiously marketing its products to children.

Monica Bauer , a spokeswoman for PepsiCo International , said that the program, which includes a video game that teaches healthy eating habits, didn’t include any advertising.

“We understand there is an obesity problem,” she said. “We’re trying to be part of the solution.”

The health consequences of obesity include increased rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. The Mexican Diabetes Federation estimates that 6.5 million to 10 million Mexicans have diabetes.

More than 70,000 Mexicans die each year from diabetes-related conditions, Cordova said. He said that the diabetes burden was draining Mexico’s already strained health services and that if trends continued, the country’s health-care system would be bankrupt within a decade.

“If we don’t stop this, we’re going to run out of money to treat the sick,” Cordova said.

History’s 10 Most Terrifying Contraceptives

The three most terrifying things in the world are werewolves, clowns and unplanned pregnancy. Humanity has known this since time began and as such has endeavored to make sure the last one of these would happen as infrequently as possible.

When you combined extreme motivation, human ingenuity and the fact that most people are stupid, you wound up with contraception methods that will blow your mind. Or at least leave you feeling a little weird down there.

#10.

Weasel Testicles

In the Dark Ages in Europe, things were dark for a reason, not the least of which was that, with the lights on, a typical man might wonder why his girlfriend had weasel balls strapped to her leg.

The reason is obvious to anyone with a degree in Magickery or Weasel Ballogy, as any magician at the time would tell you that the weasel balls would prevent pregnancy. Through the power of magick, you see. Yes, being a magician during the Dark Ages pretty much gave you a blank check.

We may not be magicians and our amateur dabbling in gynecology has been less than revealing, but we’re pretty sure this method is aces since we don’t know many men who would be able to perform sexually after seeing a pair of innocent, severed balls hanging from his mate as decoration.

#9.

Diaphragms … Made of Crocodile Poo

Ancient Egyptians were a crafty lot, what with those pyramids and that cool dance and mummies and all. It’s no surprise then that they were some of the first people to cook up a method of birth control that actually worked. They had figured out that you could stop the pregnancy if you had some kind of, uh, blockage there.

Still, these were ancient times and there was an unspoken agreement that everything they did had to be horrible in some way. Thus, they made their sperm barriers out of honey and crocodile shit. Seriously, look it up. We wouldn’t lie to you.

Who exactly was the first to try this, and what their logic was, is lost to history. We know one thing though: When they finally invent a time machine, the first thing we’re doing is going back to find out.

#8.

Beaver Testicles, With Alcohol

In the 16th century, Canadians agreed that the testicles of small furry animals were key to pregnancy prevention. They were far more advanced than those silly, superstitious Europeans, so they got the brilliant idea to use moonshine with beaver testicles in it.

The hooch was incredibly strong and the beaver balls were ground up into a fine powder, all to ensure the rampant Canadian sex would have no unfortunate side effects, other than having to drink grain alcohol with dried balls in it. This was presumably exactly as effective as the aforementioned magic weasel balls, but with the bonus of getting drunk off your ass (it should be noted that most Canadian scientific advancement can be summed up with these same words).

#7.

Mercury

Ah, delicious, hot mercury. From the old days when it was considered a cure for almost everything, to the future when we’ll make terminators out of it, mercury never goes out of style.

Several thousand years ago in China, somebody logically came up with the idea of using mercury as birth control. Why not? After sex, women would do some shots of mercury, and we like to think they called it “Riding the Quicksliver Pony,” then voila, no pregnancy. There may have been some sterility, brain damage and kidney failure, of course, but stopping the baby was the main thing. This was China, after all.

But, hey, at least they were taking it orally.

#6.

Diaphragms of Gold and Silver

Hey! This one doesn’t sound so bad! While today’s cervical caps are the idiot cousin of the diaphragm and not used all that often, a couple thousand years ago they were the shit. The basic idea was to make a little thimble that fit way up inside a woman over her cervix. While the unwashed masses were busy using oiled paper and beeswax to make these caps, the sluterati were having them made out of gold, silver and ivory.

While these substances were no doubt awesome to anyone going spelunking in a woman’s vagina and could give you a cool girl-band name like Ivory Twatter or Silver Coochella, they sometimes lead to things like Toxic Shock Syndrome, unusual odors, discharge and infections, not to mention pregnancy since they only work if properly fitted and have a chance of falling out during sex.

But, hey, if things play out just right, your penis could come out wearing a shiny little top hat! And wouldn’t that make it all worth it?

#5.

Animal Intestines

Condoms are not, as you’d suspect, the result of some drunken man looking at a party balloon and getting an idea. The idea of wrapping one’s wang for delivery has been around for ages, long before latex, Saran Wrap and tube socks were viable options.

Back then, animal intestines were the order of the day, most likely because somebody was making sausage and made the logical connection. One of the oldest known condoms is made from a pig intestine and even has a user manual that suggests soaking it in warm milk before use, probably because just humping with a pig intestine was only half gross, but if you could somehow include sour milk in the mix well, that’d put it right over the top.

Again, you have to remember that ancient civilizations existed mainly to disgust the future.

#4.

Diaphragms of Opium

You know what else will never go out of style? Opium. Long before recorded history, there have been segments of the population who decided that everything could be made a little better with a little bit of opium thrown in.

This includes the people of ancient Sumatra, who figured they might as well use it for birth control. So, they’d take a sticky wad of opium and, you know–wedge it in there. Now, we hesitate to even include this because we have a feeling right now there is some dude at his computer, gel in his hair and three buttons open on his shirt, reading this and suddenly having an awesome idea for Saturday night.

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. We don’t know what the side effects are, let’s just assume they’re unimaginable and move on with our lives.

#3.

Lemons

By the 1700s, most had realized that dried turds and hard metals probably had no rightful place in a woman’s lady parts. That’s when some enterprising man or woman looked at a lemon half, and got an idea. OK, it was probably a man.

“Honey! I’m going to try something here … “

The shape would act as a diaphragm and (though the inventor may not have even known this) the acid in the citrus would kill the sperm. And the scent would be just like a freshly cleaned bathroom each and every time! Considering what they were using before that, the guy who came up with it probably won a Nobel prize.

As a bonus, the various shapes and sizes of citrus meant it was great for every woman, though it probably made for some awkward moments with the fruit seller.

#2.

Blacksmith water

Nothing says “baby-free” or “massive brain damage” quite like drinking filthy, toxic sludge–a theory proved positive by the childless, Listerine-drinking hobo who lives by the dumpster out back.

Dating way back to ancient Greece and spanning a good 1,800 years of human history is the idea that drinking the water a blacksmith used to cool the materials he was working with would stop you from getting pregnant. Though it’s not really known why anyone believed this, the idea that the water contained lead is a strong possibility as even up through the first World War, women were volunteering to work in factories with lead just so it would keep them sterile.

The only real downside was a pantload of neurological problems, nausea, kidney failure, seizures, coma and death. Hell, they’d probably have been better off sticking with the mercury.

#1.

Coca-Cola Douche

The modern age isn’t all enlightenment and ribbed condoms. For a time, not too long ago (and in fact, probably as recent as last Wednesday) people were under the impression a can of Coke was as good as the morning after pill. And they weren’t drinking it.

Yes, they would douche with it after having sex. The belief was that carbonation and sugar would be effective at stopping pregnancy, and also turning a vagina into a syrupy, caffeinated horror show of fizz and sticky spots. We like to think Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb were the carbonated no-baby douches of choice, but study by Harvard in the late ’60s gave the honor to Diet Coke.

We’re sincerely hoping this still doesn’t go on today, because if so it’s just a matter of time until some joker decides to stick some Mentos in there.

Top 5 Reasons It Sucks to Be an Engineering Student

For many students, earning a degree in engineering is less than enjoyable and far from what they expected. Here are our biggest complaints about the educational rite of passage. Of course, they are sweeping generalizations. Feel free to disagree.

5. Awful Textbooks
Thick, dry, black and white manuscripts are rarely a source of inspiration and sometimes can cause loads of confusion. Often, the text is poorly written and interrupted by lengthy equations with symbols that are different from those used by the professor during lectures.

4. Professors are Rarely Encouraging
During each class, a professor that would rather be tending to his research will waltz up to a blackboard or overhead projector and scribble out equations for an hour without uttering a single sentence to create some excitement.

3. Dearth of Quality Counseling
College students may not have a sense for how to build their resume and they might be clueless about the variety of career opportunities that await them. Unfortunately, some academic advisers do little more than post fliers about internships and hand out a checklist of classes to take. They should make some projections about the future job market, learn about the interests of each young scholar, and offer them tailored advice for how to best prepare themselves.

2. Other Disciplines Have Inflated Grades
Brilliant engineering students may earn surprisingly low grades while slackers in other departments score straight As for writing book reports and throwing together papers about their favorite zombie films.

Some professors view undergraduate education as a type of natural selection, but their analogy is flawed. Many of the brightest students may struggle while mediocre scholars can earn top scores because they have a larger group of supportive friends to or more time to dedicate to studying.

1. Every Assignment Feels the Same
Nearly every homework assignment and test question is a math problem. Only a few courses require creativity or offer hands-on experience.

If you want to complain about your education, or our list, this is your chance. Leave a comment!

Author Struggles to Stay Removed from Slave Trade

Benjamin Skinner Courtesy of Benjamin Skinner

Day to Day, March 11, 2008 · With $50 and a plane ticket to Haiti, one can buy a slave. This was just one of the difficult lessons writer Benjamin Skinner learned while researching his book, A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery.

Skinner met with slaves and traffickers in 12 different countries, filling in the substance around a startling fact: there are more slaves on the planet today than at any time in human history. Skinner speaks with Anthony Brooks about his experience researching slavery.

Though now illegal throughout the world, slavery is more or less the same as it was hundreds of years ago, Skinner explains. Slaves are still “those that are forced to work under threat of violence for no pay beyond sustenance.”

Something disturbing has changed however — the price of a human. After adjusting for inflation, Skinner found that, “In 1850, a slave would cost roughly $30,000 to $40,000 — in other words it was like investing in a Mercedes. Today you can go to Haiti and buy a 9-year-old girl to use as a sexual and domestic slave for $50. The devaluation of human life is incredibly pronounced.”

Skinner obtained this specific figure through a very hands-on process. In the fall of 2005, he visited Haiti, which has one of the highest concentrations of slaves anywhere in the world.

“I pulled up in a car and rolled down the window,” he recalls. “Someone said, ‘Do you want to get a person?’”

Though the country was in a time of political chaos, the street where he met the trafficker was clean and relatively quiet. A tape of the conversation reveals a calm, concise transaction. He was initially told he could get a 9-year-old sex partner/house slave for $100, but he bargained it down to $50.

“The thing that struck me more than anything afterwards was how incredibly banal the transaction was. It was as if I was negotiating on the street for a used stereo.”

In the end, he agreed on the price, but told the trader not to make any moves.

“When I was talking to traffickers, I had a principle that I wouldn’t pay for human life,” he says.

This principle enabled him to keep a certain distance from the system, but not giving in to the temptation to free a suffering human being was an emotionally taxing struggle, he says.

“It’s one thing when you are planning an effort like this, this is a work of journalism — I’m not going to interfere with my subjects. It’s another thing when you are in an underground brothel in Bucharest, who has this girl with Down Syndrome, who you know is undergoing rape several times a day. When this girl is offered to me in trade for a used car … I walk away … it’s not an easy thing to do,” he says.

At one point, he did violate his principal — helping a mother free her daughter from slavery. He says he does not regret his decision, however, and continues to track her progress through a local NGO in Haiti. She’s now in school, he says, and wrote him a letter over Christmas.

Slavery consumes Skinner, he says.

“When I come back to a nice loft in Brooklyn and I have to think about writing this thing — that drove me. I knew that I had to write as compelling a book as possible. This is a life-long commitment for me.”

Man crucified for 22nd time

A MAN has been crucified for the 22nd time in a gruesome Easter ritual.

Devout Roman Catholic Ruben Enaje donned a crown of thorns before being nailed to a cross.

The 47-year-old decorator was the first of 19 men in this northern Philippines village of San Pedro Cutud who underwent the bloody Easter crucifixion ritual, an extreme form of penance by devotees wanting to thank God for answering their prayers.

He missed the ritual once - eight years ago - when he was struck down with stomach ulcers and his wife was taken ill.
 
“It is painful and difficult. But I will continue doing this for as long as I can,” the father-of-four said.

“This is my pledge to God.”

Thousands of tourists braved the tropical heat to see the religious rites.

The re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is part of a annual spectacle, and often shocks outsiders in this devoutly Roman Catholic nation.

Neighbours costumed like Roman centurions dragged Enaje and the other penitents through the village streets and toward a barren hill where three wooden crosses and a large crowd of at least 2000 tourists awaited.

He screamed in agony as 18-centimetre metal nails were driven into both palms and feet while lying spread-eagled over the cross.

The wooden contraption was stood for about five minutes before it was hauled down again and the nails pulled out. The process was repeated for the other volunteers.

Hours ahead of the ceremony, scores of other local men whipped themselves bloody with strips of bamboo attached to strings to atone for their sins.

The dominant Roman Catholic Church frowns on extreme practices and the health department has warned the penitents to take anti-tetanus shots first and to sterilise their equipment.
 
“The church does not recommend it because the church is against self-flagellation,” said local parish priest Father Norman Vitug.

“Of course when we express our faith to the Lord the Church does not want us to hurt ourselves for us to experience the Love of God.

“But we cannot question somebody’s faith. It’s just an expression of their faith. We do not lead their lives so we do not know what happens to them while experiencing that, so we might as well respect it.”

The crucifixions are organised by the village council, with help from the national government’s tourism department, said village official Leonard David.

The order of the crucifixions were done “according to seniority”, with Enaje first because he had done it the most in the past.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said that as it was hard to discourage “flagellants from whipping their own flesh, the best penitents can do is ensure that their whips are well-maintained.

Beautiful Interchanges

They should pay you to enter these interchanges

There is a difference between “going mental” and making mental calculations how to get out of this traffic mess… at least we hope there is.

The complexity of modern interchanges can be daunting (for some aerial shots of most convoluted ones head over to our previous article). Here is an exaggerated vision of what the future may look like:

(image credit: Syd Mead)

And this is present day in Japan (does that make your heart beat faster?)

(original unknown)

But here are a few more that definitely ask to be included into the
“Most Complex Junctions” Hall of Fame:

- Shanghai, China
(see that little circle on the side: this is a trap for amateur drivers, in which they swirl around forever)

- Taganskaya Square, Moscow
(shaped like a huge dumb loaf of bread… and just as unpalatable)

- Tokyo, Japan
(this one’s actually quite elegant)

- Arc de Triumph, Paris
(Place Charles de Gaulle - pretty much free-for-all there)

Nice Chicago arrangements:

You also gotta love this one in Minneapolis:
(between 35W and 94)

Golden Glades interchange in N. Miami Beach, FL.

Looking like some strands of yarn: Rt. 440 in New Jersey:

(images courtesy Google Earth)

Magic Roundabout

Something to shock you into disbelief, and leave you utterly shattered: getting in and out of the “magic mushroom circle” in England:

There are three intersections like this in UK: in Swindon, Hemel and in Cardiff. See exactly how it works here and here.

A cheat sheet “how to get out” is more helpful:

China is at the forefront of traffic circles (and spiral bridge approaches), as well:

Some vintage visions of intersections

Little did the urban planners of yesteryear and futurist designers imagined how complex our traffic infra-structure would become. The closest perhaps was the “Futurama” display in the 30s:

Looks actually quite orderly:

There is a highway in my basement

Another solution for the busy intersection: put a “traffic-control” tower smack in the middle (and on top) of it!

This strange concoction comes from “Modern Mechanics” 1932 issue and is called “Safety Tower” - basically a multi-level interchange, with space above it used for businesses and entertainment (including air traffic control beacons!)

(image credit: Modern Mechanix)

Amazingly, same idea came to Russians recently, as they put a huge “flying saucer” mall on top of major intersection: see here

and of course, a humorous solution (that might just work in Russia, who knows)

Railway intersections: “Diamond Crossings”

Quite a few of them can be found in US, but not that many in the rest of the world. US railway companies liked this kind of intersection which does not allow a train switch to a rival company’s tracks.

Here is a couple: in Poland and Russia:

(original unknown)

Traffic Jams from Hell

What a better way to greet Monday than to publish a collection of horrendous traffic congestion pictures, which may cause even most patient driver to shudder and say “Boy, am I glad I’m not in this mess right now”.

First picture is taken from the window of Red Hat’s offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, followed by various location around the world, with Russia featured quite prominently -

(image credit: Glommer’s Mind)

Bucharest, Romania

Unregulated mess somewhere in Russia:

Here is the classic traffic jam that terrorized Moscow Sadovoye Koltzo (ring road) in October 2007:

Continuing well into the night:

(images credit: Anton Nossik)

This particular congestion is not actually a traffic jam. It happened in Italy during the strike, creating bottle-necks for trucks at the border:
(still very hairy situations with long waits involved) -

(original unknown)

Jacek Yerka’s unique solution to urban traffic problems, in surreal light:

(image credit: Jacek Yerka)

Lightway- Revolutionary Lighting System

Lightway is a recently launched window and lighting system which permits sun rays to enter the house in the daytime and after dusk it will fill the house with light. Based on Breezeway, this innovative technology uses the latest OLED’s (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) and transparent Photovoltaic Nanoscale technology which allows the lightway to become special.

Lightway is first of its kind in the world which assimilates the necessary solar energy during the daytime and then using its inner devices it enlightens the area (for instance, house or streets) during the nights. Portability is one of the attractive features attached to this technology followed by cutting the electricity expenses for households and if used in streets and shopping centers by a whooping 22%. Thus, these features make Lightway eco-friendly as well.

Honored by Australian Design Award, Lightway is a concept combining two advanced technologies and using it in the simplest way to make a useful product. On its way to make a revolution, Lightway can be widely used in homes, streets, shopping arcades, museums, art galleries etc. Operating Lightway is very easy you can simply rotate the louver handle for opening and closing the system. The system also meets Australian Standards in terms both of construction and voltage, remaining below the high risk 32v category.

User friendly design interface of Lightway is safe to use and is bright in colors as well. The art and graphics used on the application enlightens it to look attractive. Functional-wise, Lightway is exclusive which is capable enough to produce 60wt of lights by intaking just 50 wt in comparison.

Lightway product is sold in the markets by Breezeway in a display style where users can come and choose the product as per their requirement and then order them as specified.
We can conclude that this proven conceptualized product is sure to make a revolution in the market.

Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera would make a great backyard telescope for viewing Mars, and we can also use it at Mars to view other planets. This is an image of Earth and the moon, acquired on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

At the time the image was taken, Earth was 142 million kilometers (88 million miles) from Mars, giving the HiRISE image a scale of 142 kilometers (88 miles) per pixel, an Earth diameter of about 90 pixels and a moon diameter of 24 pixels. The phase angle is 98 degrees, which means that less than half of the disk of the Earth and the disk of the moon have direct illumination. We could image Earth and moon at full disk illumination only when they are on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, but then the range would be much greater and the image would show less detail.

On the day this image was taken, the Japanese Kayuga (Selene) spacecraft was en route from the Earth to the moon, and has since returned spectacular images and movies (see http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/selene/index_e.html).

On the Earth image we can make out the west coast outline of South America at lower right, although the clouds are the dominant features. These clouds are so bright, compared with the moon, that they are saturated in the HiRISE images. In fact the red-filter image was almost completely saturated, the Blue-Green image had significant saturation, and the brightest clouds were saturated in the infrared image. This color image required a fair amount of processing to make a nice-looking release. The moon image is unsaturated but brightened relative to Earth for this composite. The lunar images are useful for calibration of the camera.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

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