Wednesday, July 21, 2010

European astronomers have discovered the most massive star yet on record; it is approximately 300 times the mass of our sun, beyond the previously accepted limit of 150 solar masses.

Paul Crowther, professor of astrophysics at the University of Sheffield, led the team of researchers that discovered the star. The team used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, and data archived from the Hubble Space Telescope. The newly discovered star, designated R136a1, was discovered in the R136 star cluster.

The researchers estimate that the current mass of the star is about 265 solar masses, and could have been about 320 solar masses just after its birth.

“Unlike humans,” says Crowther, “these stars are born heavy and lose weight as they age. Being a little over a million years old, the most extreme star R136a1 is already middle-aged, and has undergone an intense weight loss programme, shedding a fifth of its initial mass over that time, or more than 50 solar masses.”

Astronomers not involved in the discovery, while still impressed, warn of the small possibility that the team could have mistaken two relatively close stars for one large one.

“What they’re characterizing as a single massive star,” Mark Krumholz told the Associated Press, “could in fact be a binary system too close to be resolved.” Krumholz is an astronomer at the University of California.

Another astronomer, Phillip Massey from the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, also warns that this may be the case. Massey explained that the star’s weight had been inferred using scientific models that were subject to change.

The R136 star cluster, the star’s location, is in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy about 165,000 light-years away. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located between the constellations Dorado and Mensa, is visible as a faint cloud in the southern hemisphere. Astronomers are still struggling to understand how these stars form.

“Either they were born so big or smaller stars merged together to produce them,” Crowther explained. The researchers believe that the stellar heavyweight record could be held by this star for quite some time. Crowther elaborates: “Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon.”

Friday, May 18, 2012

Bruce, Canberra — In an exclusive interview with Wikinews, Australian Paralympians Evan O’Hanlon and Scott Reardon discussed the increased professionalism of their sport, and the challenges elite athletes now face in securing sponsorship deals.

O’Hanlon, with the support of his Australian teammates, is on a mission to professionalise Paralympic athletics. He is leading a charge to encourage runners to cover the logos on shoes they wear to training and in competition because he believes that many people who see him in pictures when he wins world records think his shoes are paid for by sponsors; they are not.

Paralympic athletic competitors must buy their own shoes; while Australian Paralympic competitors receive support from the government, they still must pay for things their abled-bodied counterparts would not. O’Hanlon and Reardon believe unless competitors organise as a group and act together, they will not change the sponsorship landscape for Paralympic athletes.

Teammate Michelle Errichiello didn’t tape over the logos on her shoes, while O’Hanlon told Wikinews that he had taped over the logos on a pair of practice sprint shoes which he wouldn’t normally cover due to photographers being present at the athletics track. They intentionally choose the flesh colour of the tape to make it more noticed by spectators, highlighting their cause and raising its profile.

O’Hanlon told Wikinews reporters that additional information about these sponsorship issues could be found on his website.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Wikinews extended invitations by e-mail on March 23 to multiple candidates running in the Texas’ 6th congressional district special election of May 1 to fill a vacancy left upon the death of Republican congressman Ron Wright. Of them, the office of Democrat Daryl Eddings, Sr. agreed to answer some questions by phone March 30 about their campaigns and policies. The following is the interview with Ms Chatham on behalf of Mr Eddings, Sr.

Eddings is a federal law enforcement officer and senior non-commissioned officer in the US military. His experience as operations officer of an aviation unit in the California National Guard includes working in Los Angeles to control riots sparked by the O. J. Simpson murder case and the police handling of Rodney King, working with drug interdiction teams in Panama and Central America and fighting in the Middle East. He is the founder of Operation Battle Buddy, which has under his leadership kept in touch with over 20 thousand veterans and their families. He was born in California, but moved to Midlothian, Texas. He endeavours to bring “good government, not no government”. Campaign manager Faith Chatham spoke to Wikinews on matters ranging from healthcare to housing.

An Inside Elections poll published on March 18 shows Republican candidate Susan Wright, the widow of Ron Wright, is ahead by 21% followed by Democrat Jana Sanchez with 17% and Republican Jake Ellzey with 8% with a 4.6% margin of error among 450 likely voters. The district is considered “lean Republican” by Inside Elections and voted 51% in favour of Donald Trump in last year’s US presidential election. This is down from 54% for Trump in 2016’s presidential election, the same poll stated.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

A hacker who has claimed to be loosely associated with internet group Anonymous managed to hack into the email account of Alaskan Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 16.

Partial contents of her email account – including two family photos, email messages and contact lists – were subsequently hosted online at Wikileaks.org, a website that anonymously hosts leaked government and corporate documents. Anonymous, who were responsible for attacks on Scientology in the past, have claimed credit for the intrusion. The email account has been used by Palin for conducting government business and communication, circumventing transparency laws.

The hacker gained access to Palin’s account by answering Yahoo!’s security questions, finding the answers on websites like Wikipedia.org. The hacker was apparently careless and frightened, and posted the new password on 4chan.org as well as a few hasty screenshots. In the screenshots were proxy data, which Ctunnel.com owner Gabriel Ramuglia plans to use to help with FBI investigations.

“White hat” hackers, however, have discovered that the hacker’s online identity was linked to the email address of David Kernell, the son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell. When confronted, Kernell made no confirmation of that. While 4chan has deleted all images of the email account, the screenshots have quickly spread to blogs and news websites online.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Scientists have discovered a new species of venomous dart frog in Colombia.

The new species, dubbed the ‘golden frog of Supatá’, is 2cm (0.8 inch) long and has a range of just 50 acres (20 hectares), which is believed to be the reason why the frog remained undiscovered until now.

The frog was found in February during an expedition arranged by the Conservation Leadership Program (CLP), a nonprofit organization, but the discovery has only just been announced.

However, according to Giovanni Chaves, a biologist from the CLP, the frog is in imminent danger. “This frog exists in a little fragment of cloud forest that is under intense {{w|anthropogenic]] pressure, mainly the destruction of the forest for cattle-raising and agriculture,” he said.

“This discovery allows us to know a little more about the ecology of these beautiful animals, and it will also allow us to use it as a symbol to carry out campaigns of environmental education in this area, to show the need to protect and to conserve the fauna and flora of this region of Colombia.”

Colombia has one of the richest diversities of amphibians in the world, with more than 583 known species.

Saturday, October 8, 2005

The strongest earthquake (7.6) that South Asia experienced in the last century caused widespread damage across Pakistan, North India, and Afghanistan this morning. Strongest hit was apparently Kashmir. Tens of thousands of people are feared dead. The epicenter was close to Muzaffarabad, 138 km to the north of Islamabad, and also caused severe damage from both shaking and from landslides to Balakot, Garhi Habibullah and one village in Rawalakot.

Reports on fatalities are conflicting, but even the most conservative estimates put the toll as high as 20,000. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told the BBC he knew of 20,000 people that were killed but added: “I wouldn’t be able to make an accurate assessment for days.” He also asked for international help and specifically requested large cargo helicopters to supply remote areas. The US has come forward to assist by providing eight military helicopters. The communications minister for the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Tariq Mahmmod, said on Sunday, that “more than 30,000” died in his region alone. Aside from Kashmir most of the deaths occurred in the North-West Province of Pakistan and other northern areas. The estimated death toll has now reached 35,000.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for Musharraf, said the scale of the devastation was the biggest Pakistan has ever seen. As emergency workers searched for trapped people and helped the injured, an international relief and recovery effort geared up.

A U.N. disaster relief team was due in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, on Sunday. Britain, Germany, and the United States were among countries offering aid. India, Pakistan’s neighbour and longtime rival, also offered aid (details). A British team from the International Rescue Corps was assisting in the operation at Marghalla Towers on Sunday, equipped with heat-seeking detectors, portable oxygen bags, and advanced slab and metal cutters. According to Pakistan Television this meant that “rescue efforts are picking up pace, and lot of time is being saved.”

The tremors began at 8:50 am (03:50 GMT), and continued for two minutes, followed by several aftershocks over a period of ten minutes. Initial reports said that they were felt in Delhi, Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Kabul, Punjab, Jammu, Kashmir, and other areas. A magnitude 6.3 aftershock occurred seven hours later just to the northwest.

The earthquake caused several apartment buildings in Islamabad to collapse, trapping hundreds of people.

250 children were killed in Gari Habi Ullaha between Mansehra and Muzaffarabad when their school collapsed.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry reports that several villages were “wiped out.” Pakistan’s army has been directed to extend all out help to the civil population in the quake-hit areas. All civil and military hospitals have been directed to deal with the situation on an emergency basis. The President and the Prime Minister have appealed to the nation to stay calm in the face of the calamity, and asked the authorities concerned to carry out an immediate assessment of the extent of the damage.

The Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz talked by telephone with authorities in four provinces and Azad Kashmir. He directed them to utilize all machinery, and make all possible efforts to help the victims. He said that the whole federal administration, civil and military authorities had been alerted and relief goods had been provided to them for the victims of the quake.

Most of the roads are closed in the Northern Sector near the earthquake, and some have been completely washed out, so the Pakistani army is flying supplies in by helicopter. Telephone and electricity connections have been cut to towns such as Muzaffarabad, making logistical operations much more complex. The heavy rains have also contributed to the suffering of the many thousands who are now homeless.

Across the line of control in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Saturday that more than 465 people, at least 34 of them soldiers, were killed in the quake.

Worst hit in India was the town of Uri, close to the border with Pakistan, where four in five of the town’s buildings were leveled, and at least 120 people lost their lives. Officials in India have been criticised for the slow pace and lack of organisation in the relief effort[1].

• Magnitude: 7.6
• Region: North India, Pakistan, Afghanistan
• Time: (UTC) Sat Oct 8 03:50:38 2005 (08:50:38 local time)
• Epicentre: 80km (50 miles) north-east of Islamabad, Pakistan

Friday, January 26, 2018

Fire broke out on Friday morning and destroyed the bottom two floors of a six-story hospital in Miryang, South Korea, killing at least 37 people, most of them elderly. More than a hundred injuries were reported, with eighteen people in critical condition. This is the highest death toll from fire in South Korea in almost a decade.

The fire is believed to have started at about 7:30 local time, according to fire chief Choi Man-woo. It originated on the ground floor in the emergency room as per various officials. The hospital has 98 beds and a medical staff of about 35, and specializes in long-term care of elderly patients. It adjoins a nursing home, all of whose 94 residents were evacuated. Staff carried some patients out of the hospital on their backs.

One patient, Jang Yeong-jae, who told his story to JoongAng Ilbo, said he escaped by removing a screen from a window to get to a ladder placed by firefighters. He described people “running around in panic, falling over and screaming as smoke filled the rooms”. The majority of the victims died from smoke inhalation and are believed to be elderly, said the head of the city’s public hospital, Chun Jae-kyung. A doctor, a nurse, and a nursing assistant have died, according to the fire service; it took three hours to put out the fire.

In a press briefing, Seok Gyeong-sik, the director of the hospital, apologized to patients and their families. Son Kyung-chul, its chairman, stated that there were no sprinklers because the facility was small. Sprinklers are being installed in the nursing home, where a new law requires them by June 30.

Last month, 29 people died in a fire in a gym in Jecheon; the owner and the manager were arrested for safety violations. In 2014, a blaze in a nursing home in Jangseong left 21 dead. The President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, responded to the Friday fire by calling an emergency meeting of his staff, and promised that the cause would be found rapidly “to prevent the recurrence of the fire in the future”.