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Monday, March 25, 2013

Iran denies link to group arrested in Saudi Arabia

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's foreign ministry said the country was not linked to a group of alleged spies arrested in Saudi Arabia, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it had detained an Iranian, a Lebanese, and 16 Saudis for spying. Political analysts and media in Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia have accused Shi'ite Iran of being behind the alleged espionage.

The two countries are locked in a struggle for influence across the region, backing opposing sides in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Gulf Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Riyadh last month, condemned what they said was Iranian "meddling" in their countries - an accusation Tehran rejects.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denied that an Iranian national was involved in the alleged spy ring and called the allegations a "repetitive scenario", according to Iran's English-language Press TV on Sunday.

"Raising such baseless issues at the media level is merely for domestic consumption," he said, according to Press TV.

A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said on Sunday the alleged spies were "collecting information, vital information about a number of installations" but did not specify what these were or whether they were connected to oil output.

Leaders of Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority have also criticized the arrests of 16 members of their community, which they said sought to exploit sectarian tension.

The Saudi government has previously blamed unrest among Shi'ites in the Qatif district of oil-producing Eastern Province on an unnamed foreign power, which officials privately acknowledge means Iran - a charge local Shi'ite activists have denied. Sixteen people have been killed in Qatif in clashes with police in the past two years.

Riyadh also accuses Tehran of having masterminded an alleged plot to assassinate its ambassador in Washington that was announced by U.S. police in late 2011. Iran denies this.

Kuwait said in 2010 it had uncovered an Iranian spy ring, Yemen said last year it had arrested Iranian spies and that Tehran was backing rebels in the north, and Bahrain has accused Iran of plotting attacks on its territory. Tehran has denied all these charges.

(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-not-linked-group-arrested-saudi-arabia-074225533.html

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Syracuse Holds Off Cal 66-60, Advances To Sweet 16 In NCAA Tournament

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Carl Hall #22 of the Wichita State Shockers dunks the ball in the first half while taking on the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Carl Hall #22 of the Wichita State Shockers steals the ball from Gary Bell, Jr. #5 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs alongside Demetric Williams #5 of the Shockers in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Demetric Williams #5 of the Wichita State Shockers and Kevin Pangos #4 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs go after a loose ball in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Kevin Pangos #4 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs reacts in the first half while taking on the Wichita State Shockers during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Kelly Olynyk #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs drives to the basket against Ehimen Orukpe #21 and Carl Hall #22 of the Wichita State Shockers in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Ron Baker #31 of the Wichita State Shockers and Elias Harris #20 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs go after a loose ball in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Carl Hall #22 of the Wichita State Shockers and Kelly Olynyk #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs go after a loose ball in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Cleanthony Early #11 of the Wichita State Shockers blocks Sam Dower #35 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Cleanthony Early #11 of the Wichita State Shockers reacts after making a three-pointer in the first half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Carl Hall #22 and Cleanthony Early #11 of the Wichita State Shockers react after Early makes a three-pointer in the first half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Wichita State vs. Gonzaga

Mike Hart #30 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Carl Hall #22 of the Wichita State Shockers go after a loose ball in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at EnergySolutions Arena on March 23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Trent Lockett #22 of the Marquette Golden Eagles dives for the ball against Kellen Dunham #24 of the Butler Bulldogs in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Trent Lockett #22 of the Marquette Golden Eagles grabs a loose ball against Roosevelt Jones #21 of the Butler Bulldogs in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Head coach Buzz Williams of the Marquette Golden Eagles looks on from the sideline in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Andrew Smith #44 of the Butler Bulldogs drives to the basket and draws a foul against Davante Gardner #54 of the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Junior Cadougan #5 of the Marquette Golden Eagles shoots against Kellen Dunham #24 of the Butler Bulldogs in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Andrew Smith #44 of the Butler Bulldogs reacts after a play against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Derrick Wilson #12 and Trent Lockett #22 of the Marquette Golden Eagles celebrate after a defensive play in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Rotnei Clarke #15 of the Butler Bulldogs reacts after making a basket against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Jamil Wilson #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts after having a foul called on him in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Head coach Brad Stevens of the Butler Bulldogs talks to his players after a double flagrant foul in the first half against the Marquette Golden Eagles during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Butler vs. Marquette

Jamil Wilson #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles handles the ball against Roosevelt Jones #21 of the Butler Bulldogs in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Cody Ellis #24 is called for a foul as he and Jordair Jett #5 of the Saint Louis Billikens defend against Johnathan Loyd #10 of the Oregon Ducks in the second half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Cody Ellis #24 of the Saint Louis Billikens drives past Carlos Emory #33 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Cody Ellis #24 of the Saint Louis Billikens and Arsalan Kazemi #14 of the Oregon Ducks vie for posession in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

The Oregon Ducks bench reacts in the first half against the Saint Louis Billikens during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Arsalan Kazemi #14 passes the ball to Damyean Dotson #21 of the Oregon Ducks on a fast break in the first half against the Saint Louis Billikens during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Rob Loe #51 of the Saint Louis Billikens goes up against the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon Henderson/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Arsalan Kazemi #14 of the Oregon Ducks drives against Cody Ellis #24 of the Saint Louis Billikens in the fist half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Head coach Jim Crews talks to Kwamain Mitchell #3 and Grandy Glaze #1 of the Saint Louis Billikens in the first half against the Oregon Ducks during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Kwamain Mitchell #3 of the Saint Louis Billikens drives against Arsalan Kazemi #14 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

E.J. Singler #25 of the Oregon Ducks falls on Dwayne Evans #21 of the Saint Louis Billikens as Jordair Jett #5 of the Saint Louis Billikens recovers the loose ball in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Grandy Glaze #1 of the Saint Louis Billikens drives against Tony Woods #55 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon Henderson/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Arsalan Kazemi #14 of the Oregon Ducks rebounds over Grandy Glaze #1 of the Saint Louis Billikens in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Tony Woods #55 of the Oregon Ducks goes up for a shot over Rob Loe #51 of the Saint Louis Billikens in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Head coach Dana Altman (L) and assistant coach Tony Stubblefield of the Oregon Ducks react in the first half against the Saint Louis Billikens during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Damyean Dotson #21 of the Oregon Ducks goes up against the Saint Louis Billikens in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Mike McCall Jr. #11 of the Saint Louis Billikens guards Johnathan Loyd #10 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 23, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon Henderson/Getty Images)

Oregon vs. Saint Louis

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Kevin Ware #5 of the Louisville Cardinals defends Wes Eikmeier #10 of the Colorado State Rams in the second half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams looks on in the first half agaisnt the Louisville Cardinals during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Peyton Siva #3 of the Louisville Cardinals falls trying to dribble around Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Montrezl Harrell #24 of the Louisville Cardinals takes a charge as Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams goes up for a dunk in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams handles the ball against Stephan Van Treese #44 of the Louisville Cardinals in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Montrezl Harrell #24 of the Louisville Cardinals reacts after a play against the Colorado State Rams in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Dorian Green #22 of the Colorado State Rams celebrates after making a three point basket against the Louisville Cardinals in the first half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams looks up after being poked in the eye in the first half against the Louisville Cardinals during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Peyton Siva #3 of the Louisville Cardinals steals the ball from Greg Smith #44 of the Colorado State Rams in the second half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Colorado State vs. Louisville

Colton Iverson #45 of the Colorado State Rams handles the ball and is fouled by Gorgui Dieng #10 of the Louisville Cardinals in the second half during the third round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena on March 23, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/syracuse-cal-ncaa-scores-2013_n_2942025.html

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Physical activity during youth may help reduce fracture risk in old age

Mar. 23, 2013 ? Get out there and regularly kick that soccer ball around with your kids, you may be helping them prevent a broken hip when they are older, say researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Specialty Day in Chicago, IL.

"According to our study, exercise interventions in childhood may be associated with lower fracture risks as people age, due to the increases in peak bone mass that occurs in growing children who perform regular physical activity," said lead author, Bjorn Rosengren, MD, PhD of Skane University Hospital, Malmo, Sweden.

Rosengren and his colleagues conducted a population-based controlled exercise intervention for six years in children age 7-9 years in Malmo, Sweden. In the intervention group 362 girls and 446 boys received 40 minutes of daily physical education at school. The control group of 780 girls and 807 boys received 60 minutes of physical education per week. Researchers registered incident fractures in all participants and followed skeletal development annually. During the time of the study there were 72 fractures in the intervention group and 143 in the control group resulting in similar fracture risks. The increase in spine bone mineral density was higher in both the boys and girls in the intervention group.

During this same time, researchers performed a retrospective cross-sectional study of 709 former male athletes with a mean age of 69 years and 1,368 matched controls with a mean age of 70 years to determine how many had suffered fractures and rates of bone density loss. Within the former athletes group, bone mass density dropped only minimally from +1.0 to +0.7 standard deviations compared to the control group.

"Increased activity in the younger ages helped induce higher bone mass and improve skeletal size in girls without increasing the fracture risk. Our study highlights yet another reason why kids need to get regular daily exercise to improve their health both now and in the future," said Rosengren.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), via Newswise.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Gkad6HDjMcs/130323152440.htm

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

'Sideline quasars' helped to stifle early galaxy formation

Friday, March 22, 2013

University of Colorado Boulder astronomers targeting one of the brightest quasars glowing in the universe some 11 billion years ago say "sideline quasars" likely teamed up with it to heat abundant helium gas billions of years ago, preventing small galaxy formation.

CU-Boulder Professor Michael Shull and Research Associate David Syphers used the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the quasar -- the brilliant core of an active galaxy that acted as a "lighthouse" for the observations -- to better understand the conditions of the early universe. The scientists studied gaseous material between the telescope and the quasar with a $70 million ultraviolet spectrograph on Hubble designed by a team from CU-Boulder's Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy.

During a time known as the "helium reionization era" some 11 billion years ago, blasts of ionizing radiation from black holes believed to be seated in the cores of quasars stripped electrons from primeval helium atoms, said Shull. The initial ionization that charged up the helium gas in the universe is thought to have occurred sometime shortly after the Big Bang.

"We think 'sideline quasars' located out of the telescope's view reionized intergalactic helium gas from different directions, preventing it from gravitationally collapsing and forming new generations of stars," he said. Shull likened the early universe to a hunk of Swiss cheese, where quasars cleared out zones of neutral helium gas in the intergalactic medium that were then "pierced" by UV observations from the space telescope.

The results of the new study also indicate the helium reionization era of the universe appears to have occurred later than thought, said Shull, a professor in CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department. "We initially thought the helium reionization era took place about 12 billion years ago," said Shull. "But now we think it more likely occurred in the 11 to 10 billion-year range, which was a surprise."

A paper on the subject by Shull and Syphers was published online this week in the Astrophysical Journal.

The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph used for the quasar observations aboard Hubble was designed to probe the evolution of galaxies, stars and intergalactic matter. The COS team is led by CU Professor James Green of CASA and was installed on Hubble by astronauts during its final servicing mission in 2009. COS was built in an industrial partnership between CU and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder.

"While there are likely hundreds of millions of quasars in the universe, there are only a handful you can use for a study like this," said Shull. Quasars are nuclei in the center of active galaxies that have "gone haywire" because of supermassive black holes that gorged themselves in the cores, he said. "For our purposes, they are just a really bright background light that allows us to see to the edge of the universe, like a headlight shining through fog."

The universe is thought to have begun with the Big Bang that triggered a fireball of searing plasma that expanded and then become cool neutral gas at about 380,000 years, bringing on the "dark ages" when there was no light from stars or galaxies, said Shull. The dark ages were followed by a period of hydrogen reionization, then the formation of the first galaxies beginning about 13.5 billion years ago. The first galaxies era was followed by the rise of quasars some 2 billion years later, which led to the helium reionization era, he said.

The radiation from the huge quasars heated the gas to 20,000 to 40,000 degrees Fahrenheit in intergalactic realms of the early universe, said Shull. "It is important to understand that if the helium gas is heated during the epoch of galaxy formation, it makes it harder for proto-galaxies to hang on to the bulk of their gas. In a sense, it's like intergalactic global warming."

The team is using COS to probe the "fossil record" of gases in the universe, including a structure known as the "cosmic web" believed to be made of long, narrow filaments of galaxies and intergalactic gas separated by enormous voids. Scientists theorize that a single cosmic web filament may stretch for hundreds of millions of light years, an eye-popping number considering that a single light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles.

COS breaks light into its individual components -- similar to the way raindrops break sunlight into the colors of the rainbow -- and reveals information about the temperature, density, velocity, distance and chemical composition of galaxies, stars and gas clouds.

For the study, Shull and Syphers used 4.5 hours of data from Hubble observations of the quasar, which has a catalog name of HS1700+6416. While some astronomers define quasars as feeding black holes, "We don't know if these objects feed once, or feed several times," Shull said. They are thought to survive only a few million years or perhaps a few hundred million years, a brief blink in time compared to the age of the universe, he said.

"Our own Milky Way has a dormant black hole in its center," said Shull. "Who knows? Maybe our Milky Way used to be a quasar."

The first quasar, short for "quasi-stellar radio source," was discovered 50 years ago this month by Caltech astronomer Maarten Schmidt. The quasar he observed, 3C-273, is located roughly 2 billion years from Earth and is 40 times more luminous than an entire galaxy of 100 billion stars. That quasar is receding from Earth at 15 percent of the speed of light, with related winds blowing millions of miles per hour, said Shull.

###

University of Colorado at Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/news

Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127409/_Sideline_quasars__helped_to_stifle_early_galaxy_formation

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Pepsi's Plastic Bottle Design Gets Its First Redesign Since 1997

Pepsi has redesigned the shape of its 16-ounce and 20-ounce plastic bottles for the first time in 16 years. Move the arrows on the slider above back and forth to see the a before and after comparison. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ipj5vLoJvUE/pepsis-plastic-bottle-design-gets-a-swirliie

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Cyprus passes bills for EU bailout; Greece to take over bank branches

Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP - Getty Images

Greek leftists demonstrate on Mar. 22, 2013 in Athens in support of Cypriots with a banner, reading: "common struggle of the people of Greece and Cyprus against the governments, memorandum, euro and EU

By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News

Lawmakers in Cyprus approved three bills late Friday aimed at securing a bailout for its troubled banks from the European Union and averting a financial meltdown.

The legislation includes one bill that allows the government to divide the wobbling lenders into good and bad banks -- a law that would likely to be applied first to Cyprus Popular Bank. The goal is to restructure without hurting small depositors.

A second law puts in place restrictions on financial transactions in times of crisis and a third sets up a "solidarity fund."

The country?is expected to adopt more legislation in an effort to raise the 5.8 billion euros Cyprus needs to get an EU bailout.

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

A man uses an ATM of Piraeus Bank in central Athens, Friday, March 22, 2013. Greece's Piraeus Bank said it has been chosen to buy two Cypriot banks' operations in Greece.

Among the other bills being brought forward is one that imposes a tax of less than 1 percent on all bank deposits, Averof Neophytou, deputy head of the governing DISY party told The Associated Press.

Earlier Friday a Greek Bank was chosen to take over the local branches of Cyprus's troubled banks in a bid to shelter Greek customers of those institutions and help Cyprus shrink its bloated banking sector.

Piraeus Bank of Greece was to take over the operations in a deal that a source close to the matter said involved the transfer of 17 billion euros of loans and 14 billion euros of deposits, Reuters reported.

The?terms of the deal were not expected to emerge until Sunday, and would need to be approved by European competition authorities, according to?Greece's bank bailout fund.

Worried the crisis could trigger panic among Greek depositors, Greek officials had been working to agree on a deal since early this week. They were forced to put the plans on hold after Cyprus voted down a proposed bank levy included in its bailout agreement.

"We have responded to the necessity of utterly safeguarding the depositors of the Cypriot banks in Greece," Piraeus Chairman Michalis Sallas said.

There was no immediate announcement about the fate of the Greek operations of Cyprus's third-biggest bank, Hellenic Bank, which are much smaller than those of the top two.

"It's unclear if the deal will include Hellenic Bank. Either way, it won't move the needle much," a Greek bank bailout fund official told Reuters.

Cypriot banks hold 8 percent of Greek banking deposits and 10 percent of loans. They have about 300 branches in Greece.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/29e3c122/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C220C174189140Ecyprus0Epasses0Ebills0Efor0Eeu0Ebailout0Egreece0Eto0Etake0Eover0Ebank0Ebranches0Dlite/story01.htm

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