Week 4 : New Horizons

NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth

July 23, 2015

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.” 
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.

"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.

“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. "It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”

To help confirm the finding and better determine the properties of the Kepler-452 system, the team conducted ground-based observations at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory, the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, and the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. These measurements were key for the researchers to confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-452b, to refine the size and brightness of its host star and to better pin down the size of the planet and its orbit.
The Kepler-452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

In addition to confirming Kepler-452b, the Kepler team has increased the number of new exoplanet candidates by 521 from their analysis of observations conducted from May 2009 to May 2013, raising the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler mission to 4,696. Candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.

Twelve of the new planet candidates have diameters between one to two times that of Earth, and orbit in their star's habitable zone. Of these, nine orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature.

“We've been able to fully automate our process of identifying planet candidates, which means we can finally assess every transit signal in the entire Kepler dataset quickly and uniformly,” said Jeff Coughlin, Kepler scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. “This gives astronomers a statistically sound population of planet candidates to accurately determine the number of small, possibly rocky planets like Earth in our Milky Way galaxy.”
These findings, presented in the seventh Kepler Candidate Catalog, will be submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. These findings are derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Scientists now are producing the last catalog based on the original Kepler mission’s four-year data set. The final analysis will be conducted using sophisticated software that is increasingly sensitive to the tiny telltale signatures of Earth-size planets.

Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Not given 

WHEN- July 23, 2015

WHAT- NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star.

WHY- It is a amazing discovery to NASA.

WHERE- Not given

HOW- These findings are derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Key words:

1. habitable: 可居住的

2. sophisticated: 複雜的

3. orbiting: 軌道

4. automate: 自動化

5. resemble: 類似的

6. property: 屬性

資料來源:https://www.nasa.gov/…/nasa-kepler-mission-discovers-bigger…

Week 3. MERS

South Korea grapples to contain MERS as 1,369 in quarantine

By Madison Park
June 4, 2015

The World Health Organization warned that the MERS outbreak in South Korea is likely to grow, as the number of people under quarantine crept up to 1,369 on Wednesday.

The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed five new cases -- increasing the number of people with the disease to 35. These new cases were contracted within hospitals.

So far, three people have died after contracting the respiratory virus in South Korea, the country's Health Ministry said Thursday, in the largest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.

The first case, concerning a man who returned to South Korea after traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain, was reported on May 20. The person had not been ill during his travels, according to the World Health Organization.

More than 900 schools have shut to prevent the spread of the virus, according to South Korea's education ministry.

The extent of the outbreak in South Korea has taken many by surprise -- mainly because the virus has not been shown to spread easily between humans and the health care system in the country is considered to be sophisticated and modern.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye acknowledged problems in the country's early response earlier this week.

"Initial reaction for new infectious diseases like MERS is very important, but there were some insufficiency in the initial response, including the judgment on its contagiousness," she said.

More than 900 schools have shut to prevent the spread of the virus, according to South Korea's education ministry.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Not given 

WHEN- 2015 / 6 / 4

WHAT- The MERS outbreak in South Korea is likely to grow, as the number of people under quarantine crept up to 1,369.

WHY- The MERS is out of  control.

WHERE- South Korea   

HOW- South Korea has to resolve the problem.

Key words:

1. quarantine: 檢疫

2. crept: 躡手躡腳

3. respiratory: 呼吸系統

4. sophisticate: 深沉的

5. contagiousness: 傳染性

資料來源: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/03/world/south-korea-mers/

Week 2: Fifa corruption

Fifa corruption: Jeffrey Webb pleads not guilty in US

19 July 2015

Former Fifa Vice-President Jeffrey Webb has pleaded not guilty in connection with a massive corruption scandal in the world football governing body.

He was placed under house arrest on $10m (£6.4m) bail by a New York judge.

Mr Webb, from the Cayman Islands, is accused of accepting bribes worth millions of dollars in connection with the sale of marketing rights.

He was detained in Switzerland in May, along with six football officials, and was this week extradited to the US.

He was the only one not to contest his extradition from Switzerland and the first to appear in an American court.

He must remain at home within a 20-mile (32km) radius of the court, his movements will be monitored via an electronic tag and he has already relinquished his three passports, two of which are UK passports.

His lawyer has declined to comment.

Appearing in court wearing a dark blue business suit, a crisp white shirt and a silk tie, Mr Webb smiled at his wife, Kendra, as he walked in, accompanied by US marshals.

A giant of a man often referred to as "Mr President" in the Cayman Islands, he projected a confident air as he stood before the judge, flanked by his defence team and the US prosecutors who have mounted the case against him, and secured his extradition from Switzerland.

Mr Webb entered a plea of not guilty to charges of money-laundering, wire fraud and racketeering.

But most of the arraignment hearing at the Brooklyn courthouse was taken up with the details of his bail arrangements.

Ironically, as he was listening to the charges he faces, there was a football match being played on the grass outside the courthouse, our correspondent says.

Mr Webb, 50, has been provisionally banned as Fifa vice-president. He is also the former president of the Central and North American football federation (Concacaf).

The other six people arrested are fighting their extradition to the US, where the charges were laid.

The men were held at the request of the US Department of Justice, which has indicted a total of 14 current and former Fifa officials and associates on charges of"rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted" corruption following a major inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The investigation was initially sparked by the bidding process for the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups, but was widened to look back at the dealings of world football's governing body over the past 20 years.

The Department of Justice's indictment says that the corruption was planned in the US, and that American banks were used to transfer money.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-  Jeffrey Webb 

WHEN- 2015/9/19

WHAT-  Accepting bribes worth millions of dollars in connection with the sale of marketing rights. 

WHY- Not given

WHERE- New York   

HOW- Former Fifa Vice-President has pleaded not guilty in connection with a massive corruption scandal in the world football governing body.

Key words:

1. plead: 辯護

2. scandal:  醜聞

3. extradition: 引渡

4. radius: 半徑

5. monitored: 監控

6. relinquish: 放棄

7. prosecutor: 起訴人

8. fraud: 騙局

9. racketeer: 勒索

10. rampant: 橫行

資料來源:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33582473

Week 1 : Malala

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Collect Nobel Peace Prizes

DEC. 10, 2014

By Alan Cowell

 They came from lands that had fought wars against each other, and that still skirmish — an older man and a high school student divided by faith and generations; he a Hindu, she a Muslim; he age 60, she 17.

But when Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012, and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian campaigner for the rights of children, were named joint winners of the $1.1 million Nobel Peace Prize in October, the choice seemed to speak to a desire to transcend differences and forge a common campaign in support of dispossessed children across the globe.

On Wednesday, Ms. Yousafzai and Mr. Satyarthi received their awards from the Norwegian Nobel Committee in a vast and ornate chamber at the Oslo City Hall before an audience of royals, dignitaries, family members and others.

Ms. Yousafzai said the Nobel Prize “is not just for me.” “It is for those forgotten children who want education,” she continued. “It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.”

Ms. Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the prize since it was first awarded in 1901, adding to an extraordinary tally of accolades including visits with President Obama and with Queen Elizabeth II and an address to the United Nations.

“Her courage is almost indescribable,” Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Nobel Committee, told those at the ceremony on Wednesday.

If their shared award “can contribute to bringing Indians and Pakistanis, two people so near to one another and yet so distant, closer to one another, this would add an extra dimension to the prize,” Mr. Jagland said.

Standing side by side to receive medals and diplomas, the two winners drew a standing ovation from the audience before them.

In his speech to the ceremony, Mr. Satyarthi, speaking alternately in Hindi and in English, declared that he represented “the sound of silence, the cry of innocence, and the face of invisibility.”

“I have come here to share the voices and dreams of our children, because they are all our children,” he said.

“There is no greater violence than to deny the dreams of our children,” he said.

“I refuse to accept that the shackles of slavery can ever be more stronger than the quest for freedom,” he added. “The single aim of my life is that every child is free to be a child.”

“We live in an age of rapid globalization,” he continued. “We are connected through high-speed Internet. We exchange goods and services in one single global market. Thousands of flights every day connect us to every corner of the globe.

“But there is one serious disconnect. It is the lack of compassion,” he said, adding: “Let us globalize compassion.”

Ms. Yousafzai, who studies at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, England, said she had brought with her five other teenage girls from Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. “Though I appear as one girl, one person who is 5 foot 2 inches tall — if you include my high heels — I am not a lone voice. I am many,” she said.

“This is where I will begin, but it is not where I will stop,” she said. “I will continue this fight until I see every child in school.”

She added: “Why is it that countries which we call so strong are so powerful in creating wars but so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?”

Even before the ceremony, Ms. Yousafzai and Mr. Satyarthi seemed intent on using the occasion not simply as a platform for acknowledgment of their achievements, but also as a podium from which to renew their campaigns.

“We are not here just to accept our award, get this medal and go back home,” Ms. Yousafzai told a news conference on the eve of the ceremony, according to Agence France-Presse. “We are here to tell children, especially, that you need to stand up. You need to speak up for your rights. It is you who can change the world.”

“In this world, if we are thinking we are modern and have achieved so much development,” she said on Tuesday, “then why is it that there are so many countries where children are not asking for any iPad or computer or anything? What they are asking for is just a book, just a pen, so why can’t we do that?”

Mr. Satyarthi, who has struggled to free child laborers, said, “This prize is important for the millions and millions who are denied a childhood.”

“There are children who are sold and bought like animals,” he said.

“There are children who are born and live in situations of conflict and terror,” he added, referring to Ms. Yousafzai as “the bravest child we can think of.”

Structure of the Lead：
WHO- Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi
WHEN- December, 10, 2014

WHAT- Awarded awards

WHY- To speak to a desire to transcend differences and forge a common campaign in support of dispossessed children across the globe.

WHERE- Norwegian Nobel Committee  

HOW- To promote the right of human

Key words:
1. skirmish : 前哨戰
2. campaigner : 活動家 , 出征者
3. joint : 聯合
4.  ornate : 華麗的
5. chamber : 房間
6. dignitaries : 政要
7. ovation : 喝采
8. indescribable : 難以形容的
9. globalization : 全球化
10. struggle : 鬥爭

資料來源: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/world/europe/malala-yousafzai-kailash-satyarthi-nobel-peace-prize.html?_r=0