Record Fifth Planet Discovered Around Distant Star

Record Fifth Planet Discovered Around Distant Star

Multiplanet systems like our own may not be so unusual

	THE FIFTH PLANET  discovered around the sunlike star 55 Cancri lies in the projected habitable zone (green), where water would neither boil nor freeze, in between the system's outermost planet (widest blue ring) and its inner members.

Astronomers have spotted a record-setting fifth planet orbiting the sunlike star 55 Cancri, 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer. Researchers say the planet, a "mini-Saturn" of about 46 Earth masses, lies fourth out from the star in a large gap between the third and fifth planets, placing it squarely in the estimated habitable zone around the star where water might remain liquid, according to the group's report, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Although the planet's size implies that it is a ball of hydrogen and helium gas incapable of supporting pools of liquid water, the finding raises the possibility that additional, earthlike planets might be discovered around it. 

"This discovery of the first ever quintuple planetary system has me jumping out of my socks," says group member and veteran planet hunter Geoffrey Marcy, an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley. "We now know that our sun and its family of planets is not unusual."

One of the first stars discovered to harbor an extrasolar planet or exoplanet, the 55 Cancri system has come to resemble a jumbo version of our own solar system. Its five planets all seem to orbit along relatively circular paths, and the farthest planet out, a gaseous behemoth the size of four Jupiters, revolves at roughly the same distance that separates Jupiter from the sun.

55 Cancri's innermost planet, weighing in at more than 10 earth masses—meaning it could have a rocky or icy core—lies closer to its star than Mercury does to our own. The new fifth planet sits at 0.8 earth-sun distances (astronomical units) from the star, or roughly the distance between Venus and the sun. Before this discovery, researchers knew of only one other four-planet system, Mu Arae, and several three-planet systems.

Astronomers have uncovered 55 Cancri's planets one by one during 18 years of painstaking measurements at the Lick and Keck observatories in California and Hawaii, respectively. Researchers were looking at the star's Doppler shift, the change in the wavelength, or color, of its light as it moved toward and away from Earth. A star tugged by an orbiting planet will wobble slightly, which can be detected as a regular shift in the star's color corresponding to the time the planet requires to complete an orbit.

Multiple planets imprint multiple overlapping shifts, which require time—and mathematical modeling of possible planetary arrangements—to tease apart. 55 Cancri's fifth planet, for example, has an orbital period of 14 years, and was therefore only discovered in 2004. The latest planet was even trickier to identify. "For me personally," says astronomer Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University, the study's lead author, "this was one of the more annoying stars. It resisted mathematical modeling because of this extra planet we finally have extracted."

The study authors are scanning several thousand other stars for exoplanets, but most of them haven't been scrutinized for as long as 55 Cancri, suggesting that more systems with five or more planets are lurking in plain sight of telescopes, says David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, who was not involved in the study. "The excitement is, yes, there may be gaggles of planets around other stars in their survey as well."

Fischer says she expects 55 Cancri to harbor additional, smaller planets in the large remaining gaps around the new find, given that our own solar system is so densely packed with planets. However, its large outermost planet could have long ago swept that vicinity clean of planetary material, notes planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona at Tucson.

Future ground- and space-based experiments should have the power to discover Earth-size planets, which may be lurking anywhere, Lunine says, but current technology is still too limited to spot them. 

Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists

Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists

 

Slices of eel are served with puffed yuzu, inspired by airy puffed snacks like Cheez Doodles, left. Framed by a reverse comma of tomato lettuce and powdered onions, beef tongue is accompanied by small pieces of lettuce and a high-tech version of fried mayonaise.

Published: November 6, 2007

In September, talking to an audience of chefs from around the world, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan waxed enthusiastic about a type of ingredient he has been adding to his restaurant’s dishes.

Not organic Waygu beef or newfound exotic spices or eye of newt and toe of frog, but hydrocolloid gums — obscure starches and proteins usually relegated to the lower reaches of ingredient labels on products like Twinkies. These substances are helping Mr. Dufresne make eye-opening (and critically acclaimed) creations like fried mayonnaise and a foie gras that can be tied into a knot.

Chefs are using science not only to better understand their cooking, but also to create new ways of cooking. Elsewhere, chefs have played with lasers and liquid nitrogen. Restaurant kitchens are sometimes outfitted with equipment adapted from scientific laboratories. And then there are hydrocolloids that come in white bottles like chemicals.

Xanthan gum, for instance, a slime fermented by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris and then dried, is used in bottled salad dressing to slow the settling of the spice particles and keep water and oil from separating. Xanthan and other hydrocolloids are now part of the tool kit of high-end chefs.

“These ingredients are finding more and more of a footing in the traditional, free-standing restaurant,” said Mr. Dufresne (pronounced doo-FRAYN) at the Starchefs International Chefs Congress in New York.

He noted that the hydrocolloids he uses came from natural sources and often had a long history in the cooking of other cultures.

“In our ongoing search of working with hydrocolloids, we’re always trying to find interesting and new things and new applications,” said Mr. Dufresne, who at times sounded as if he were talking to chemists rather than chefs.

And rightly so. Cooking is chemistry, after all, and in recent decades scientists have given much closer scrutiny to the transformations that occur when foodstuffs are heated. That has debunked some longstanding myths. Searing meat does not seal in juices, for example, but high heat does induce chemical reactions among the proteins that make it tastier. The experimentation with hydrocolloids represents a rare crossover between the culinary arts and food science, two fields that at first glance would seem to be closely related but which have been almost separate. Food science arose in the 20th century as food companies looked for ways to make their products survive the trek to the supermarket and remain palatable. The long list of ingredients on a frozen dinner represents the work of food scientists in ensuring shelf life and approximating the taste of fresh-cooked food.

“Ten years ago, or maybe a little more than that, no chef in a serious restaurant would be caught dead using these ingredients,” said Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking” (Scribner, 2004) and the “Curious Cook” column, which appears in the Dining section of The New York Times. “Because they were industrial stabilizers for the most part.”

Then a few chefs like Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England started experimenting. “They asked what can you do with these ingredients that you can’t do with other ingredients,” Mr. McGee said.

Despite its imposing name, a hydrocolloid is a simple thing. A colloid is a suspension of particles within some substance. A hydrocolloid is a suspension of particles in water where the particles are molecules that bind to water and to one another. The particles slow the flow of the liquid or stop it entirely, solidifying into a gel.

Cornstarch used as a thickener is a hydrocolloid. So is plain flour. But the properties of hydrocolloids differ widely, depending on their molecular structure and affinity for water.

Today, Grant Achatz, chef of Alinea in Chicago, uses agar-agar, which is a hydrocolloid made from seaweed that is best known for growing bacteria in petri dishes, and gelatin, a more familiar hydrocolloid made from collagen in meat, to make transparent sheets that he drapes over hot foods. For a dish made of a confit of beef short ribs, he wanted to add a taste of beer so he draped a veil flavored with Guinness on top — “a thin, flavorful glaze that ensured the diner would get some beer flavor in every bit of the dish,” Mr. Achatz said. Plain gelatin would simply melt, and ruin the effect. 

Study's Punch Line: Humor at the Office is Serious Business

Study's Punch Line: Humor at the Office is Serious Business

Kidding around at work is commonly thought of as perilous, as the hit sitcom "The Office" often explores to wincing extremes.

Now intense research finds light humor at work is a good thing.

In their study, "The Case for Developing New Research on Humor and Culture in Organizations: Toward a Higher Grade of Manure," researchers analyzed theories on humor, emotion and mood from several hundred studies in the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and communications.

"There's an Ernest Hemingway quote we relied on for our title—'It always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure,'" said researcher Chris Robert, a psychologist at the University of Missouri at Columbia. "The double entendre there is that people who use humor may be, well, full of it, but there's a positive side as well."

The researchers make the case that humor is serious business.

"It's not just clowning around and having fun. It has meaningful impact on cohesiveness in the workplace and communication quality among workers," Robert said. "The ability to appreciate humor, the ability to laugh and make other people laugh actually has physiological effects on the body that cause people to become more bonded."

Job jokes

The researchers noted many studies found that humor—particularly joking around concerning things associated with the job— actually has a positive impact in the workplace. Occasional humor among colleagues enhances creativity, department cohesiveness and overall performance, they said.

The investigators also outlined the current thinking concerning the psychological foundation of humor and developed specific predictions about how humor might affect organizations.

Robert and colleague Wan Yan noted that humor is difficult across cultures, such as between the United States and Asian economic powerhouses China and India.

In such cross-cultural situations, which arise commonly in multinational organizations, "it's hard to know what's going to be funny or when to use humor," Robert said. "Some people have suggested that you just avoid it all together—don't be funny, don't try to make jokes. We basically reject that."

Cross-culture how-to

To carry jokes across cultures, Robert suggested finding common ground.

"The most accepted theory of humor is incongruity theory—that people find things funny when you take two things and you connect them in an unexpected way," he said. "Humor doesn't work when you don't share expectations."

If you do use humor across cultures and in the workplace, "often the very work you're doing provides common expectations you can build on—customers, clients, coworkers, yourself, suppliers, the building you're working in," Robert said. "Or there are general human experiences, like funny things kids say, that almost anyone can share. Where people get into trouble is stepping on expectations, such as with religion, ethnicity or other values."

Of course, attempts at humor can go too far.

"The show 'The Office' regularly explores extreme cases of something that obviously happens in everyday life—you have people who try too hard," Robert said. "You shouldn't blame the messenger there, the humor, though—you should blame the person."

Sexist humor, while perhaps meant in good fun, can also promote discrimination against women, separate research recently showed.

Robert and Yan published their findings as a chapter in the 2007 edition of "Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management" (Elsevier). 

Device created for 'red wine headache'

Device created for 'red wine headache'

The effects are all too familiar: a fancy dinner, some fine wine and then, a few hours later, a racing heart and a pounding headache. But a device developed by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could help avoid the dreaded "red wine headache."

Chemists working with NASA-funded technology designed to find life on Mars have created a device they say can easily detect chemicals that many scientists believe can turn wine and other beloved indulgences into ingredients for agony.

The chemicals, called biogenic amines, occur naturally in a wide variety of aged, pickled and fermented foods prized by gourmet palates, including wine, chocolate, cheese, olives, nuts and cured meats.

"The food you eat is so unbelievably coupled with your body's chemistry," said Richard Mathies, who described his new technology in an article published Thursday in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Scientists have nominated several culprits for "red wine headache," including amines like tyramine and histamine, though no conclusions have been reached. Still, many specialists warn headache sufferers away from foods rich in amines, which can also trigger sudden episodes of high blood pressure, heart palpitations and elevated adrenaline levels.

The detector could prove useful to those with amine sensitivity, said Beverly McCabe, a clinical dietitian and co-author of "Handbook of Food-Drug Interactions," a book cited by the article for its descriptions of the effects of amines on the brain.

The prototype — the size of a small briefcase — uses a drop of wine to determine amine levels in five minutes, Mathies said. A startup company he co-founded is working to create a smaller device the size of a personal digital assistant that people could take to restaurants and test their favorite wines.

The researchers found the highest amine levels in red wine and sake and the lowest in beer. For now, the device only works with liquids.

Mathies suggests the device could be used to put amine levels on wine labels.

"We're aware of the consumer demand for information. But that has to be tempered by the manner in which wine is made," said Wendell Lee, general counsel for the Wine Institute, a California industry trade group.

Professor Richard Mathies holds up a microchip used for wine analysis in a laboratory on... 

Study Ties Time Shift, Pedestrian Deaths

Study Ties Time Shift, Pedestrian Deaths

After clocks are turned back this weekend, pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour are nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, two scientists calculate. Ending daylight saving time translates into about 37 more U.S. pedestrian deaths around 6 p.m. in November compared to October, the researchers report.

Their study of risk to pedestrians is preliminary but confirms previous findings of higher deaths after clocks are set back in fall.

It's not the darkness itself, but the adjustment to earlier nighttime that's the killer, said professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Fischbeck, who regularly walks with his 4-year-old twins around 6 p.m., is worried enough that he'll be more cautious starting Monday.

"A three times increase in the risk is really dramatic, and because of that we're carrying a flashlight,'' he said.

Fischbeck and Gerard conducted a preliminary study of seven years of federal traffic fatalities and calculated risk per mile walked for pedestrians. They found that per-mile risk jumps 186 percent from October to November, but then drops 21 percent in December.

They said the drop-off by December indicates the risk is caused by the trouble both drivers and pedestrians have adjusting when darkness suddenly comes an hour earlier.

The reverse happens in the morning when clocks are set back and daylight comes earlier. Pedestrian risk plummets, but there are fewer walkers then, too. The 13 lives saved at 6 a.m. don't offset the 37 lost at 6 p.m., the researchers found.

The risk for pedestrian deaths at 6 p.m. is by far the highest in November than any other month, the scientists said. The danger declines each month through May.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of Arlington, Va., in earlier studies found the switch from daylight saving time to standard time increased pedestrian deaths. Going to a year-round daylight saving time would save about 200 deaths a year, the institute calculated, said spokesman Russ Rader.

"Benjamin Franklin conceived of daylight savings time as a way of saving candles,'' Rader said Friday. "Today we know it saves lives.''

The risk at 6 p.m. in November, after daylight saving time ends, is 11 times higher than the risk for the same hour in April, when daylight saving begins, according to the Carnegie Mellon researchers.

Fischbeck and Gerard used federal traffic fatality data that they've incorporated into a searchable database for different risk factors. Their analysis was not peer-reviewed or being published in a scientific journal.

But it does jibe with other peer-reviewed studies that looked at raw fatalities.

A 2001 study by John M. Sullivan at the University of Michigan looked at national traffic statistics from 1987 to 1997 and found that there were 65 crashes killing pedestrians in the week before the clocks fell back and 227 in the week after.

Fischbeck and Gerard found the increase in fatality risk after the end of daylight saving time is only for pedestrians. No such jump was seen for drivers or passengers in cars.

Once everyone "springs forward'' to daylight saving time in April, there is a 78 percent drop in risk at 6 p.m., they said.

But overall for the evening rush hour, turning the clock back is a killer. In seven years there have been 250 more deaths in the fall and 139 fewer deaths in the spring.

"This clearly shows that both drivers and pedestrians should think about this daylight savings adjustment,'' Gerard said. "There are lives at stake.''