Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity


When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.

Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't need it to flourish. The research team from the University of Florida in Gainesville thinks this ability is related to a plant's inherent ability to orient itself as it grows. Seeds germinated on the International Space Station sprouted roots that behaved like they would on Earth—growing away from the seed to seek nutrients and water in exactly the same pattern observed with gravity. (Related: "Beyond Gravity.")

Since the flowers were orbiting some 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth at the time, the NASA-funded experiment suggests that plants still retain an earthy instinct when they don't have gravity as a guide.

"The role of gravity in plant growth and development in terrestrial environments is well understood," said plant geneticist and study co-author Anna-Lisa Paul, with the University of Florida in Gainesville. "What is less well understood is how plants respond when you remove gravity." (See a video about plant growth.)

The new study revealed that "features of plant growth we thought were a result of gravity acting on plant cells and organs do not actually require gravity," she added.

Paul and her collaborator Robert Ferl, a plant biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, monitored their plants from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using images sent from the space station every six hours.

Root Growth

Grown on a nutrient-rich gel in clear petri plates, the space flowers showed familiar root growth patterns such as "skewing," where roots slant progressively as they branch out.

"When we saw the first pictures come back from orbit and saw that we had most of the skewing phenomenon we were quite surprised," Paul said.

Researchers have always thought that skewing was the result of gravity's effects on how the root tip interacts with the surfaces it encounters as it grows, she added. But Paul and Ferl suspect that in the absence of gravity, other cues take over that enable the plant to direct its roots away from the seed and light-seeking shoot. Those cues could include moisture, nutrients, and light avoidance.

"Bottom line is that although plants 'know' that they are in a novel environment, they ultimately do just fine," Paul said.

The finding further boosts the prospect of cultivating food plants in space and, eventually, on other planets.

"There's really no impediment to growing plants in microgravity, such as on a long-term mission to Mars, or in reduced-gravity environments such as in specialized greenhouses on Mars or the moon," Paul said. (Related: "Alien Trees Would Bloom Black on Worlds With Double Stars.")

The study findings appear in the latest issue of the journal BMC Plant Biology.


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Baby Gabriel's Mother Sentenced to Prison













Elizabeth Johnson -- who at one point admitted to killing her son, the missing infant Gabriel Johnson, before saying she gave him away -- told a judge she "deserved the maximum" sentence, before receiving a prison term of 5.25 years, half of the max.


In October, Johnson, 26, was found guilty of custodial interference and unlawful imprisonment stemming from the disappearance of her 8-month-old son, last seen on Dec. 24, 2009. The baby's whereabouts remain unknown.


"I am brokenhearted over my son still being missing," said Johnson, wearing a striped prison jumpsuit. "I'm at a loss because I do deserve the max. What I have done is unconscionable. I would convict myself.


"I do deserve the maximum, I do," she said through tears. "[But it] wasn't how [the prosecution] made it out to be. It wasn't like that. That's all I have to say."


Judge Paul McMurdie said he wished he could design a sentence that would compel Johnson to disclose Gabriel's whereabouts, but could only "sentence her for the offenses [for which] she's been convicted."


Johnson, 26, will serve 5.25 years in an Arizona state prison, followed by four years of probation.










At today's sentencing hearing, prosecutor Angela Andrews called Johnson' actions "despicable," but said the state would drop its request to see Johnson serve out a maximum sentence if she would tell authorities where her son could be found.


Johnson, who has been in jail for the past three years, faced a maximum of 9.5 years in prison on the two convictions. In October, the jury did not reach a verdict on a third charge of kidnapping.


Before Gabriel's disappearance, Johnson had been embroiled in a custody battle with the baby's biological father, Logan McQueary. The couple differed on putting their infant son up for adoption. Johnson had wanted to, McQueary did not.


"I think Elizabeth should be held accountable for her actions, for making my son disappear," Johnson told the court. "She should stay in jail until Gabriel is found or be given the maximum sentence as possible."


While she was fighting with McQueary over custody of their son, Johnson left Tempe, Ariz., with Gabriel and traveled to San Antonio, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2009. Johnson failed to bring Gabriel back to visit with McQueary two days later, violating a court custody order.


Gabriel was last seen with his mother on Dec. 26, 2009. The following day, Johnson sent text messages to McQueary saying she had killed him. Johnson was recorded telling McQueary that she suffocated their son with a towel until he turned blue. She said she then put his body in a diaper bag and put the bag in the trash.


Later, Johnson told authorities she gave Gabriel to a couple she met in a park in San Antonio, though she has never named who she gave the child to.


ABC News' Alexis Shaw contributed to this report.



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ECB forecast, rate hints send euro lower






NEW YORK: The euro only barely rebounded against the dollar in late trade Thursday, after plunging on the European Central Bank's sharp cut in its eurozone growth forecast for next year.

The euro lost more than one cent after the ECB forecast that the euro area economy will shrink by 0.3 percent in 2013, instead of growing by 0.5 percent as previously estimated.

Also pressing it lower were hints from the ECB that it might be moving toward cutting its benchmark rate, even as it held firm on Thursday.

"The ECB appears to have the door open for an interest rate cut, and we expect it to step through early in 2013," said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.

At 2200 GMT, the euro was at $1.2969, compared to $1.3064 late Wednesday. It hit a low of $1.2951 during the day.

There was nothing otherwise to budge the dollar, with trade mostly on hold for Friday's US jobs data for November, expected to be down due to Hurricane Sandy's impact on the economy of the northeast corridor.

If anything, the data will support expectations that the Federal Reserve will further extend its bond purchase stimulus program when it meets next week.

The yen picked up slightly, 10 days before national elections in Japan. It gained to 106.85 yen to the euro from 107.71, and 82.37 yen to the dollar from 82.42.

The dollar rose to 0.9325 Swiss francs, and the British pound slipped to $1.6050.

-AFP/ac



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Kashmir clashes spike hotel bookings in HP

SHIMLA: Fallout of recent sectarian clashes in Srinagar has spiked year-ender booking at hotels across the state, even as the tourism department has planned out Masroor cultural festival in Kangra to coincide with the festive week.

Talking to newspersons, Sudripta Roy, chief secretary said, "There has been a sudden increase in tourist bookings for the last week of this year and the first week of next year. We are almost booked to near capacity."

"The government was in touch with civil aviation ministry for getting Air India to operate flights to Dharamshala, Kullu and Shimla so that high end tourists who would like to be part of the New Year celebrations at our hill resorts get to avail the service," he said. With grounding of Kingfisher Airlines, the only operator, who was plying flights to these destinations, the three airports have been lying idle for months.

To diversify tourism from crowded destinations like Shimla and Manali, the concept of home stays under the promotional campaign of 'Har Gaon Ki Kahani' has caught the fancy of tourists, said Roy. The scheme intends to adopt another village in each district, besides the 12 already taken up for developing basic infrastructure in the adopted villages. By Feburary 13 next year ,12 rural circuits to these villages would be operational.

Holding of the Masroor cultural and folk festival is part of this campaign and the second such festival would be held in the last of this month, he added.

The chief secretary said that in the absence of any rail network, air connectivity; road transport was facing infrastructural constraints and funds had been marked for developing 75 parking lots and 40 public conveniences.

Of the Rs 86 Cr provided by the central government for improvement of tourism infrastructure, Rs 52 crore had been spent and the remaining would be utilized by March 13.

In addition the central government had provided an additional Rs 34 crore for developing a mega circuit, he said.

Till October, tourism has grown by 10.26 percent over last year, said Arun Sharma, commissioner tourism. Against 14.6 million tourists, 15 million in the corresponding period had already visited the state, he added.

The tourism department is executing works worth Rs 52 crore and has also spent Rs 2.5 crore on eco-tourism.

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Space Pictures This Week: Lunar Gravity, Venusian Volcano









































































































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Bodies Believed to Be Missing Iowa Cousins













Authorities believe two bodies found by hunters in Iowa this week are Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins, two young cousins who vanished in July.


"At this time, law enforcement is confident, based upon evidence at the scene and preliminary investigation, that the bodies are those of Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins," Capt. Rick Abben, chief deputy of the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office, said at a news conference in Evansdale, Iowa.


Asked why authorities were so confident that the bodies were those of the two girls, Abben replied, "We have no one else that's missing in this area. We have two bodies that were found. They were smaller in stature so we have nothing else to think, at this time."


Abben noted that the state's medical examiner's office in Ankeny, Iowa, had yet to complete the positive identification of the girls.








Bodies Found in Hunt for Missing Iowa Cousins Watch Video









Missing Iowa Girls Seen Riding Bikes on Surveillance Video Watch Video









Missing Iowa Girls: One Mother Takes 2nd Polygraph Watch Video





Asked if the kidnapping investigation was now turning into a homicide investigation, Abben replied, "We are looking that way at this time."


Lyric, 11, and Elizabeth, 9, went missing on July 13 on a bike ride in the small town of Evansdale, Iowa, near Waterloo, Iowa. After hunters found two bodies in a wooded area in Seven Bridges Conservation Area on Wednesday afternoon, the families of Lyric and Elizabeth were notified and the bodies were sent to Ankeny for positive identification.


The families expressed "their gratitude to the community for their ongoing support," according to a statement released by authorities. Elizabeth's mother, Heather Collins, later posted a message on her Facebook page.


"We knew when our girls went missing that [there] would be two outcomes," she wrote. "Unfortunately this is not the one that we wanted but we know our girls [are] dancing with our savior. We know that he will continue to be with us giving us strength and comfort always."


On Wednesday night, residents of Evansdale, Iowa, gathered at Meyers Lake -- where the girls' bicycles and a purse were found -- for a candlelight vigil.


"It's hard to believe," said Lorissa Wilson, who attended the vigil. "I didn't want it to happen to the girls. They're too young to pass away, I believe."


Mary Carroll, who knew Elizabeth, said, "You don't expect it for somebody so sweet and innocent."


Another participant at the vigil, Holly Timmerman, noted that this was "not the outcome anybody wanted at all."


The Seven Bridges Conservation Area will remain closed until Monday, Abben said.



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Rubio, Ryan look to the future during award dinner speeches



“Nothing represents how special America is more than our middle class. And our challenge and our opportunity now is to create the conditions that allow it not just to survive, but to grow,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the Leadership Award recipient at a dinner hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization named for the late congressman and Housing and Urban Development secretary.

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Australian station plugs "biggest royal prank ever"






SYDNEY: Sydney radio station 2Day FM Thursday hailed "the biggest royal prank ever" after two of its presenters got through to a nurse treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate at a London hospital.

The embarrassing hoax Tuesday made worldwide headlines and was condemned by the private King Edward VII's Hospital, which said it took "patient confidentiality extremely seriously".

Presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who posed as the Queen and Prince Charles, apologised after an uproar in Britain.

"We were very surprised that our call was put through. We thought we'd be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents," they said in a statement.

"We're very sorry if we've caused any issues and we're glad to hear that Kate is doing well."

But the station was also making the most of the publicity, headlining a story on its website "Biggest Royal Prank Ever."

"With some of the worst English accents in the history of radio, the Summer Hot30's MC and Mel managed to convince the staff at Duchess, Kate Middleton's hospital in London that they were the Queen and Prince Charles," it said.

"In a prank that they never even imagined would work, MC and Mel called the private King Edward VII Hospital where Kate is staying, put on their best (yikes!) Queen and Prince Charles accents and were asked to be put through to Kate's room.

"To MC and Mel's absolute shock they were put straight through to a nurse on Kate's ward."

The pair were connected to a nurse treating Kate and given an update on her condition, including that she had not experienced any recent "retching".

In the background of the call, in which the pair affected upper-crust accents, another member of the radio show can be heard barking in an attempt to impersonate one of the Queen's corgis.

The hoax divided opinion on the broadcaster's website Thursday.

"Good one. We are amused. A bit of harmless fun," said one listener, identified only as Jeff G.

"I reckon HRH Prince Charles would have had a bit of a laugh when he heard it. Pity there's so many sad sacks who can't see the lighter side of a couple of Aussies taking the piss out of the Poms."

But others were less amused, saying a line had been crossed.

"There is nothing funny about duping hard-working healthcare professionals or abusing a pregnant woman's right to privacy. Royal or not," said Emily Quiggin.

Julie Mango said: "Your actions have me feel ashamed as an Australian.

"I feel sorry for the staff you involved in your mindless prank, they will obviously be disciplined and could I guess even lose their jobs over this."

Kate is in hospital suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness that affects about one in 200 pregnant women.

News of her pregnancy has ended the feverish speculation about a new royal heir that began immediately after the couple's lavish wedding in April 2011.

The baby will be third in line to the throne.

- AFP/ck



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Maya, Mulayam see through FDI in LS, tougher game in RS

NEW DELHI: It was again the same sort of numbers mismatch which has the opposition tearing its hair after each trial of strength with the UPA. In the contest in Lok Sabha on Wednesday over the desirability of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, parties accounting for 261 members took strong positions against the government's decision. Yet, when the vote was taken, only 218 votes could be counted in the anti-FDI column.

The UPA's serial rescuers — the SP and the BSP with 43 votes between them — again performed the role to the hilt. The two UP outfits, which had slammed the FDI move on Tuesday, predictably decided not to translate their rhetoric into action.

They walked out of the House just before the members were called to stand up and be counted, allowing the UPA to romp home with 253 seats with a total 471 members voting.

A motion for amending the Foreign Exchange Management Act — an imperative for implementation of the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail — was also passed by 30 votes.

The rescue act attracted the familiar allegation that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati had let their fear of CBI get the better of their aversion for Walmart, but reinforced the reputation of UPA as escape artistes who manage to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat every time. Beginning with its victory in the trust vote over the nuclear deal with the US, the UPA has consistently defied the heavy numerical odds to pip the rivals to the post.

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A 2020 Rover Return to Mars?


NASA is so delighted with Curiosity's Mars mission that the agency wants to do it all again in 2020, with the possibility of identifying and storing some rocks for a future sample return to Earth.

The formal announcement, made at the American Geophysical Union's annual fall meeting, represents a triumph for the NASA Mars program, which had fallen on hard times due to steep budget cuts. But NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld said that the agency has the funds to build and operate a second Curiosity-style rover, largely because it has a lot of spare parts and an engineering and science team that knows how to develop a follow-on expedition.

"The new science rover builds off the tremendous success from Curiosity and will have new instruments," Grunsfeld said. Curiosity II is projected to cost $1.5 billion—compared with the $2.5 billion price tag for the rover now on Mars—and will require congressional approval.

While the 2020 rover will have the same one-ton chassis as Curiosity—and could use the same sky crane technology involved in the "seven minutes of terror"—it will have different instruments and, many hope, the capacity to cache a Mars rock for later pickup and delivery to researchers on Earth. Curiosity and the other Mars rovers, satellites, and probes have garnered substantial knowledge about the Red Planet in recent decades, but planetary scientists say no Mars-based investigations can be nearly as instructive as studying a sample in person here on Earth.

(Video: Mars Rover's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

Return to Sender

That's why "sample return" has topped several comprehensive reviews of what NASA should focus on for the next decade regarding Mars.

"There is absolutely no doubt that this rover has the capability to collect and cache a suite of magnificent samples," said astronomer Steven Squyres, with Cornell University in New York, who led a "decadal survey" of what scientists want to see happen in the field of planetary science in the years ahead. "We have a proven system now for landing a substantial payload on Mars, and that's what we need to enable sample return."

The decision about whether the second rover will be able to collect and "cache" a sample will be up to a "science definition team" that will meet in the years ahead to weigh the pros and cons of focusing the rover's activity on that task.  

As currently imagined, bringing a rock sample back to Earth would require three missions: one to select, pick up, and store the sample; a second to pick it up and fly it into a Mars orbit; and a third to take it from Mars back to Earth.

"A sample return would rely on all the Mars missions before it," said Scott Hubbard, formerly NASA's "Mars Czar," who is now at Stanford University. "Finding the right rocks from the right areas, and then being able to get there, involves science and technology we've learned over the decades."

Renewed Interest

Clearly, Curiosity's success has changed the thinking about Mars exploration, said Hubbard. He was a vocal critic of the Obama Administration's decision earlier this year to cut back on the Mars program as part of agency belt-tightening but now is "delighted" by this renewed initiative.

(Explore an interactive time line of Mars exploration in National Geographic magazine.)

More than 50 million people watched NASA coverage of Curiosity's landing and cheered the rover's success, Hubbard said. If things had turned out differently with Curiosity, "we'd be having a very different conversation about the Mars program now."

(See "Curiosity Landing on Mars Greeted With Whoops and Tears of Jubilation.")

If Congress gives the green light, the 2020 rover would be the only $1 billion-plus "flagship" mission—NASA's largest and most expensive class of projects—in the agency's planetary division in the next decade. There are many other less ambitious projects to other planets, asteroids, moons, and comets in the works, but none are flagships. That has left some planetary scientists not involved with Mars unhappy with NASA's heavy Martian focus.

Future Plans

While the announcement of the 2020 rover mission set the Mars community abuzz, NASA also outlined a series of smaller missions that will precede it. The MAVEN spacecraft, set to launch next year, will study the Martian atmosphere in unprecedented detail; a lander planned for 2018 will study the Red Planet's crust and interior; and NASA will renew its promise to participate in a European life-detection mission in 2018. NASA had signed an agreement in 2009 to partner with the European Space Agency on that mission but had to back out earlier this year because of budget constraints.

NASA said that a request for proposals would go out soon, soliciting ideas about science instruments that might be on the rover. And as for a sample return system, at this stage all that's required is the ability to identify good samples, collect them, and then store them inside the rover.

"They can wait there on Mars for some time as we figure out how to pick them up," Squyres said. "After all, they're rocks."


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