Milky Way bigger, denser than thought
LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Milky Way galaxy is 15 percent larger and 50 percent denser than scientists previously thought, findings presented in California Monday found.
The findings, presented at the American Astronomical Society's convention in Long Beach, suggest the Earth's home galaxy is about the same size and mass as the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, some 2.5 million light-years away, said study author Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.
"No longer will we think of the Milky Way as the little sister of the Andromeda Galaxy in our Local Group family," Reid said.
They are now more like fraternal twins, he said.
A larger, denser Milky Way means the gravity between the galaxies is stronger than thought, suggesting they could crash into each other sooner than scientists predicted -- but a collision would still be 2 to 3 billion years from now, Reid said.
The Milky Way is also spinning around its center at about 568,000 mph, rather than the 492,000 mph scientists believed, Reid said.
The earth's solar system, about 28,000 light-years from the galaxy's center, is moving at about 600,000 mph, up from the previously estimated 500,000 mph, Reid said.
His mapping presentation coincided with the release of a separate report showing the Milky Way's inner galaxy has two weaker arms, not just one, in addition to its two primary spiral arms.
This map -- developed by Martin Pohl of Iowa State University, Peter Englmaier of the Switzerland's University of Zurich and Nicolai Bissantz of Germany's Ruhr University Bochum -- indicates the inner galaxy is symmetrical, Englmaier said.
China-Russia Mars mission set for takeoff
HONG KONG, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The first joint Chinese-Russian mission to Mars is set to take off in October and reach the red planet in August 2010, an exploration project designer said.
A Russian Zenit rocket will launch a Chinese Yinghuo-1 satellite and a Russian Phobos-Grunt unmanned lander, Chen Changya, chief designer of the China-Russia Mars exploration project, told Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper.
Phobos-Grunt is expected to study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation, before landing on Phobos, one of Mars' two small moons.
Yinghuo-1, which means Firefly-1, will explore the Martian environment and carry out research into how surface water on the planet disappeared, Chen said.
A challenge for Yinghuo-1 during the yearlong mission will be seven periods of 8.8 hours in darkness, when the sun will be obscured by the red planet and the satellite will not receive solar energy, Chen said.
During those times, Yinghuo-1 will go into "sleeping" status and restart itself after getting through each shadow.
Researchers are still looking at ways to help the satellite sustain extremely low temperatures, plunging to minus 200 degrees Celsius, or about minus 328 degree Fahrenheit, in the shadows, Chen said.
Meanwhile, China's second unmanned moon probe, Chang'e-2, is likely to be launched this year, a year ahead of schedule, the newspaper said.
Chang'e-2 will collect more detailed images and statistics of the moon's surface, the newspaper said.
EPA sued to clean up Chesapeake Bay
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An environmental group filed a lawsuit Monday to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the 64,299-square-mile Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and several Maryland and Virginia fishing groups accuse the federal agency of shirking its legal responsibilities to clean up the troubled bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends the EPA has failed to comply with the U.S. Clean Water Act and with a host of interstate agreements the agency has signed over 25 years to restore the bay.
The lawsuit contends the agency's inaction has led to a continued decline in the bay's water quality and harmed its crabs, oysters and fish -- as well as the people who make a living from the bay.
The bay's water quality has worsened over the past two decades, University of Maryland research indicates.
"People are outraged that technologies that can clean up the Chesapeake Bay and are required by law are not being implemented, and that the law is not being enforced," foundation President William Baker told The (Baltimore) Sun.
"We want to see the science followed and the rule of law enforced," he said. "That's the least we can ask of our government."
EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin Grumbles said the agency "is committed to holding polluters accountable."
"That means using innovative and sustainable tools and focusing on environmental cooperation, not just legal confrontation," he said in a statement.
Diabetes tied to early cognitive slowdown
EDMONTON, Alberta, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Talking, planning, organizing and paying attention to details are worse in people with type 2 diabetes than in healthy adults, a Canadian study indicated.
The University of Alberta study, published in the journal Neuropsychology, also found that mental deterioration was no less in younger diabetics than in an older group, suggesting the damage is done early in the disease and remains stable thereafter.
"The good news is that, at this point, the cognitive slowing would not be notable in most older diabetes patients' everyday life activities," said Roger Dixon, a cognition and aging researcher and the report's co-author.
"It may be noticed, however, if the patient is involved in technical psychomotor tasks (such as video games) requiring quick and accurate responses or monitoring," he said in a Times of London report.
"The bad news is that this slowing may indicate the 'leading edge' of progressive cognitive decline occurring with diabetes, and it will likely get worse without careful disease management," he said.
Dixon urged people with serious cases of type 2 diabetes to be screened for cognitive changes to make sure they get the right medication and advice on diet or mental training.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, lifelong disease marked by high blood sugar. It begins when the body does not respond correctly to insulin, a hormone released by the pancreas.
Ninety percent of the estimated 23.6 million people in the United States diagnosed with diabetes have type 2.
