Mexico celebrates 200 years with huge fiesta,Viva Mexico!

MEXICO CITY  Mexico looked beyond its drug war to throw a 200th birthday bash celebrating a proud history, whimsical culture and resilience embodied in the traditional independence cry: “Viva Mexico!”Across the capital, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets despite their fears, blowing horns and dancing alongside a parade of serpent floats, marching cacti and 13-foot-tall warrior marionettes and staying late into the night at open-air concerts.President Felipe Calderon capped the evening by ringing the original independence bell from a balcony in the Zocalo square and delivering “El Grito,” patterned on founding father Miguel Hidalgo’s 1810 call to arms against Spain: “Long live independence. Love live the bicentennial … Long live Mexico!”Roaring thousands echoed his cry as fireworks exploded in the square and at the iconic Angel of Independence about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) down the city’s crowded main promenade.

“I love being Mexican!” said Michel Dosal, wearing a green, white and red Mohawk wig. “The 15th of September is better than Christmas. It’s better than my birthday!”In cities where drug violence is heaviest, festivities were more subdued. The grito was canceled in Ciudad Juarez for the first time in its history. People still showed their patriotism in the border city – Mexico’s most violent – by hanging Mexican flags from their roofs and hosting family dinners.

In the western city of Morelia, the scene of a cartel-related grenade attack that killed eight during the 2008 independence celebration, barely 2,000 showed up at the main plaza for a “grito” that once drew tens of thousands.”My son asked me to take him to see the grito, so I brought him despite my fears,” said Silvia Godinez Perez, a secretary. “We can’t easily forget what happened two years ago.”

But in Mexico City, a $40 million fiesta, two years in the making, drew people from across the country to the main Reforma Avenue and Zocalo. Moments before Calderon emerged on the balcony of the National Palace, a voice boomed from loudspeakers: “Let’s show the world that Mexico is strong and standing.””This one is special,” said Iris Mari Rodriguez Montiel, a small business owner who had traveled from the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz and waited since morning for the festivities to start. “It gives me chills just to think about it.”

Little girls wearing ribbons of the Mexican flag watched the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) parade down Reforma from the shoulders of their fathers. Other children blew trumpets as the air filled with confetti.”It’s like a Carnival of Rio, plus an Olympic ceremony, plus Woodstock all put together in the same day,” said artistic director Marco Balich, who produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. “For the cost of a warplane, you can celebrate the birthday of a country.”

Several neighboring heads of state and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis attended.Still, anxiety hovered over the festivities in a country that most recently has seen car bombs, the assassination of a gubernatorial candidate, and the massacre of 72 migrants who refused to smuggle drugs for a brutal gang.Military helicopters buzzed overhead in the capital, heavily armed federal agents and metal detectors greeted revelers.

The Interior Department said there were no attacks against the celebrations. Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun said they were investigating whether six men detained with assault rifles and hand grenades had planned an assault on bicentennial festivities. In northern Nuevo Leon state, eight gunmen were killed in a shootout with soldiers, authorities said.”In Mexico, we all live in fear. And the worst part is that we are starting to get used to it,” said Eric Limon, 33, a professional dancer who volunteered to wear a jaguar mask and swing a colorful Aztec club and spear for the parade.

“I want to be part of something important,” he said. “I know this won’t solve our problems, but this is my grain of sand to create a sense of unity. This is what Mexico needs.”Those who stayed away from the city center celebrated from their rooftops and staged their own neighborhood fireworks displays. All night long, rockets whistled and boomed skyward, blanketing the yards and streets with smoke.(AP)

to those who love music , try reading this

You including teenagers who like to play music out loud using iPods or other MP3 player?If so, you should immediately stop the habit because a study in the United States (U.S.), which is published by the Journal Of The American Medical Association reveals that the number of teenagers who have a hearing loss has increased by almost a third in the last 15 years.

The report quoted Reuters Life! It departed from a study comparing national surveys since the early 1990s until the mid-2000s and involved several thousand teenagers from ages 12 to 19 year.In the first survey as many as 15 percent of teenagers known to decrease as much as some level of hearing ability by a few trained staff. But about 15 years later that number increased by almost a third, approaching the value of 20 percent or in other words afflicts one in five adolescents in the U.S..

“That equals the number of adolescents in each class will have a hearing problem,” said Dr. Josef Shargorodsky of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA.”The teenagers underestimate no matter how hard the sounds they hear. Often an individual does not realize it but even the slightest hearing loss will make a difference in language development and learning process,” continued Shargorodsky.

The study found that most cases of hearing loss that afflicts one ear but the disruption it will get worse.For while the disturbance was indeed seem trivial, but one of 20 teenagers turned out to have trouble pronouncing words, increased by 50 percent since the first survey was held.

Shargorodsky admitted surprise with the discovery. According to an appropriate medical treatment for ear infections, as one of the main causes of hearing damage, theoretically should be able to reduce the number of people with it.But the researchers were not able to determine only one devices such as iPods as the cause of the problem.

They assess the reasons for the increasing number of teenagers who suffer from hearing loss is unclear, because when asked about the sources of noise, such as from a firearm, in the workplace, or place of recreation, there is no answer to indicate a significant change.But for some people Shargorodsky not necessarily assess the music they listen to the music player such as ‘MP3 player’ for example, as noise.

“We already know that it is very difficult to ask the people of that age group as they received about the noise. They despised him,” said Shargorodsky.”Some risk factors, such as loud noise received when listening to music, probably an important factor for adolescents,” the sound of one statement in the report.

Alison Grimes, who runs clinics at the Audiology Ronal Reagan-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, USA said that while the devices were not necessarily the music cause hearing damage, but the idea to turn down the music volume and reduce the use of devices like the iPhone is very good.

In Brazil, Many Women Compared to Men Achieves Doctorate

Brasilia  In Brazil, more women than men holds a doctorate in 2008 according to a study issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Wednesday.Women constitute the majority of those who complete the thesis, namely as much as 51.5 percent in 2008, according to the study, as cited by Xinhua, Oana.

“This is a big improvement, considering that in Japan the percentage of disabled women doctorates only 25 percent and 33 percent in Belgium,” said Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende, in conveying the results of these studies.The study, titled “Doctors in 2010: Demographic Studies of the Brazilian Technical Scientific Base” indicates the number of people with doctorates in Brazil increased from 2830 in 2006 to 10 705 in 2008, an increase of 278 percent over 12 years. Since 2004, women have become the majority of residents who holds a doctorate.

Based on the research, most citizens of Brazil who holds a doctorate work in the field of education (76.77 percent), followed in the public sector (11.06 percent), professional activities related to science and technology (3.78 percent) and health sector (3 percent).”Most of the doctor who graduated in the last fifteen years working in universities, but an increase in labor (with a doctorate) in the manufacturing industry,” said Rezende.(AFP)

Secret Behind Jupiter's Giant Size

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. 120 times the size of Earth. However, recent measurements by the spacecraft reveal the planet’s core at most 10 times the size of the planet we inhabit.Recent studies found that about Jupiter, the giant planet has a core of very small compared with the size. Scientists believe, so the planet Jupiter, the largest in the Milky Way Galaxy because he swallowed the other small planets, before the swell.

As disclosed in the site of science, New Scientist, the core of Jupiter thought to have greater evaporation in a collision with a planet the size 10 times the size of Earth. This study provides new insight into a process that is fierce in the early formation of our solar system.Researchers from Peking University, China has to imitate what might happen in the event that the collision. The simulation results show, rocky planets closer to Jupiter will be demolished as it hit the giant planet’s atmosphere.

Half an hour later, the planet would fall into the core of Jupiter. Heavy elements in the core as the metal will evaporate and then mixed with hydrogen and helium in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Scientists believe this may explain why the core of Jupiter is very small but extremely dense atmosphere.Douglas Lin of the University of California, said that while the smaller planet does not bump into him, Jupiter will continue to grow into a giant planet itself.

The research team said, elements in the planet Saturn may also be caused by something similar, a collision with a smaller planet.The planets in our solar system created by collisions between dwarf planets that orbit the Sun, who was also born. In the process the impact, small planets to melt and form planets is greater.

Earth and Moon are the result of a collision between two giant planets about the size of Mars and Venus.Collision process occurs in less than 24 hours, and the temperature of the earth at that time was very high, around 7000 degrees Celsius, where rock and metal can be melted.

Israel finds rare 2,200-year-old gold coin weighs an ounce (28 grams)

JERUSALEM  Archaeologists say they have uncovered the heaviest and most valuable gold coin ever found in Israel. The 2,200-year-old coin weighs an ounce (28 grams) and was found at the Tel Kedesh site near the Lebanon border on June 22, according to Wednesday’s statement from the antiquities authority.It said this coin is six times the weight of most others from that era.Donald Ariel, head of the antiquities authority coin department, said the coin dates back to the rule of the Iraq-based Seleucid Empire, though it was minted by the rival Egyptian Ptolemies.Ariel said the coin’s image may represent Cleopatra I, wife of Ptolemy V. It is only the second gold Ptolemaic coin ever found in Israel. The first weighed just two grams (0.07 ounces).(AP)

Sun Tsunami Heading into Earth Day

Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.

Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mvdRMgmUR7c&rel=0&fs=1

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.”Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.

He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the effects, both main effects and prolonged impact.” However, there has been no explanation from a spokesman for NASA.
———

As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.

Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.

Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.

“Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the

——-

As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.

President Barack Obama welcomed China's announcement Saturday that it will allow a more flexible exchange rate for its currency

BEIJING  President Barack Obama welcomed China’s announcement Saturday that it will allow a more flexible exchange rate for its currency, saying it would help protect the economic recovery.The announcement by China’s central bank suggested a possible break from the yuan’s two-year peg to the U.S. dollar – a source of friction between the two countries – but ruled out any large-scale appreciation.The People’s Bank of China mentioned no specific policy changes, though markets will be watched closely Monday for the announcement’s effects. Chinese officials have said all along that reforms of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, or “people’s money,” will be gradual.”It is desirable to proceed further with reform of the RMB exchange rate regime and increase the RMB exchange rate flexibility,” the central bank said in a statement posted on its website.

The announcement, timed just before President Hu Jintao’s trip to the G-20 summit in Toronto, Canada, follows warnings from Beijing earlier this week against making its currency policies a main focus of the meeting.Beijing kept the yuan frozen against the dollar to help Chinese manufacturers compete amid weak global demand. It faces pressure from the United States and other trading partners who contend the yuan is undervalued.

“China’s decision to increase the flexibility of its exchange rate is a constructive step that can help safeguard the recovery and contribute to a more balanced global economy,” Obama said in a statement.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called the move an “important step.””But the test will be how far and how fast they let the currency appreciate,” he said.The European Commission also welcomed the decision, saying it would help achieve more sustainable global economic growth, reduce trade imbalances and strengthen the stability of the international financial system.

But the announcement is unlikely to satisfy critics in the U.S. Congress, who argue that an undervalued Chinese currency gives China’s exporters an unfair advantage, costing millions of American jobs.”This vague and limited statement of intentions is China’s typical response to pressure,” Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “Until there is more specific information about how quickly it will let its currency appreciate and by how much, we can have no good feeling that the Chinese will start playing by the rules.”

Signs that a global economic recovery has taken hold have prompted speculation that China would begin letting the yuan resume a gradual appreciation against the U.S. dollar that began in 2005 but was halted abruptly in 2008 as the global financial crisis took effect.Since then, the yuan’s value has remained at roughly 6.83 to $1, although it is formally pegged to a basket of currencies that includes the U.S. dollar.

“It definitely sounds significant. They’re saying they’re going to press forward,” Stephen Green, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, said of Saturday’s statement.”We didn’t ever think they were going to do a big one-off, so it looks like that’s not going to happen,” he said. “We’re going to see more movement around a basically stable exchange rate until the global economy is basically healthier. The proof will be in the pudding on Monday.”

Chinese officials have warned that any adjustment to the exchange rate is not other countries’ concern.The director of the international department of the People’s Bank of China, Zhang Tao, told a news conference Friday that Chinese leaders will not discuss the yuan at the G-20 summit.

Saturday’s statement pointed to economic growth both inside and outside China as a reason for the increase in exchange rate flexibility.”The global economy is gradually recovering. The recovery and upturn of the Chinese economy has become more solid with the enhanced economic stability,” the central bank said.However, it indicated no major policy changes, adding: “The exchange rate floating bands will remain the same as previously announced in the interbank foreign exchange market.”(AP)

The threat of Hurricane Sun, 20 times larger than the effects of Hurricane Katrina

Solar activity would become more active and will result in negative effects for the Earth. To prepare for the worst, a leading solar scientists gathered in Washington DC, USA Tuesday, June 8, 2010, to discuss the best ways to protect satellites and Earth’s vital systems of the solar storm.

Solar storm occurs when some point the sun burst and spew splashing of particles that can be damaging. This activity took place in a cycle of 11 years. “The sun has got up from bed length. And in the next few years we will see solar activity in the higher level,” said the head of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, Richard Fisher, like the Christian Science Monitor published pages.

‘At the same time, technological society is developing a new sense of the storm the sun. Society in the 21st century rely heavily on high-tech systems in everyday life are susceptible to storm the sun. GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could all die suddenly by solar activity. Economic damage caused by solar storms are expected twenty times larger than Hurricane Katrina – as a warning, issued the National Academy of Sciences in a report in 2008.

Fortunately, a lot of damage can be overcome if it knows when a storm is coming. That is why understanding of solar weather and a better ability to provide early warning, it is very important. Placing the satellite in ‘safe mode’ and release the transformer in order to protect the electronics from damaging power surge.

“Space weather forecast is still under development, but we’re making rapid progress,” said Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA and NOAA are working together to manage the fleet of satellites that monitor the sun and help to predict changes in solar.

A pair of spacecraft called Stereo (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is located on the opposite side of the sun, which can display a mix of 90 percent of the solar surface. In addition, the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory which), which has just launched in February 2010, can produce new photo active part in the solar surface.

Also, an old satellite, called the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which was launched in 1997, still monitoring the sun. “I believe we are on the verge of new era where space weather can affect our lives everyday like usual weather of the earth.” Fisher said. “For us, this is very serious.”

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program

PHOENIX Arizona Gov. has signed a bill targeting a school district’s ethnic studies program, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district’s Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.

Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.”It’s just like the old South, and it’s long past time that we prohibited it,” Horne said.Brewer’s signature on the bill Tuesday comes less than a month after she signed the nation’s toughest crackdown on illegal immigration – a move that ignited international backlash amid charges the measure would encourage racial profiling of Hispanics. The governor has said profiling will not be tolerated.The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.

The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors.

Horne, a Republican running for attorney general, said the program promotes “ethnic chauvinism” and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race. He’s been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that “Republicans hate Latinos.”

District officials said the program doesn’t promote resentment, and they believe it would comply with the new law.The measure doesn’t prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn’t promote ethnic solidarity or resentment.

About 1,500 students at six high schools are enrolled in the Tucson district’s program. Elementary and middle school students also are exposed to the ethnic studies curriculum. The district is 56 percent Hispanic, with nearly 31,000 Latino students.Sean Arce, director of the district’s Mexican-American Studies program, said last month that students perform better in school if they see in the curriculum people who look like them.

“It’s a highly engaging program that we have, and it’s unfortunate that the state Legislature would go so far as to censor these classes,” he said.Six UN human rights experts released a statement earlier Tuesday saying all people have the right to learn about their own cultural and linguistic heritage, they said.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman didn’t directly address the UN criticism, but said Brewer supports the bill’s goal.”The governor believes … public school students should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people,” Senseman said.Arce could not immediately be reached after Brewer signed the bill late Tuesday.(AP)

Astronomers find loads of water-ice on big asteroid

A slushy cocktail of water-ice and organic materials has been directly detected on the surface of an asteroid for the first time. The finding strengthens the theory that asteroids delivered the ingredients for Earth’s oceans and life, and could make astronomers rethink conventional models for how the Solar System evolved.

It has long been thought that asteroids, which lie in a belt between Mars and Jupiter, are rocky bodies that sit too close to the Sun to retain ice. By contrast, comets, which form further out beyond Neptune, are ice-rich bodies that develop distinctive tails of vaporized gas and dust when they approach the Sun. However, this distinction was blurred in 2006 by the discovery of small objects with comet-like tails in the asteroid belt1, says astronomer Andrew Rivkin of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.To investigate the composition of these ‘main-belt comets’, Rivkin and his colleague Joshua Emery, of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, turned the infra-red telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, onto the asteroid 24 Themis — the parent body from which two of the smaller comet-like asteroids observed in 2006 were chipped. Emery and Rivkin took seven measurements of 24 Themis over a period of six years, each time looking at a different face of the asteroid as it travelled around its orbit. They consistently found a band in the absorption spectrum of light reflected from its surface that indicated the presence of grains coated in water ice, as well as the signature of carbon-to-hydrogen chemical bonds — as found in organic materials. Rivkin and Emery’s work is published in this week’s Nature2.

“Astronomers have looked at dozens of asteroids with this technique, but this is the first time we’ve seen ice on the surface and organics,” says Rivkin. The result was independently confirmed by a team led by Humberto Campins at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He and his colleagues observed 24 Themis for 7 hours one night, as it almost fully rotated on its axis. “Between us, we have seen the asteroid from almost every angle and we see global coverage,” says Campins. He and his team also publish their findings in this week’s Nature3.

Julie Castillo-Rogez, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, describes the findings as “huge”. “This answers the long-term question of whether there is free water in the asteroid belt,” she says.
Icy interloper

Because 24 Themis lies only about 479 million kilometres from the Sun (roughly three times the mean distance from Earth to the Sun), it is surprising that the surface ice has not all been vaporized. Both teams speculate that more ice may be held in a reservoir beneath the asteroid’s surface, shielded from the Sun, and that this ice is slowly churned up as the asteroid is struck by small bodies in the belt, thus replenishing the surface ice.The findings lend weight to the idea that asteroids and comets are the source of Earth’s water and organic material. Geochemists think that the early Earth went through a molten phase when any organic molecules would have dissociated, so new organic material would have had to be delivered to the planet at a later time, says Campins. “I believe our findings are linked to the origin of life on Earth,” he says.To assess the plausibility of this scenario, astronomers must determine whether the make-up of 24 Themis is typical of other asteroids and, if so, what exactly they hold, says Castillo-Rogez. A priority should be to search for water ice on near-Earth asteroids that could be targeted by NASA’s planned robotic and manned missions. “If we find ice samples that contain the same ratio of deuterium [‘heavy hydrogen’ made up of one neutron and one proton] to hydrogen as seen on Earth, that would be a strong pointer,” she says.

However, 24 Themis may not be a typical member of the belt it could be an interloper that formed beyond Neptune, along with the comets, which was later knocked inwards, says Rivkin. If so, this would fit well with the controversial ‘Nice model’ of the evolution of the Solar System. Proposed in 2005, this model suggests that the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and asteroids migrated to their present orbits after formation4. Either way, says Rivkin, “The old-fashioned picture of the Solar System in which asteroids are asteroids and comets are comets is getting harder to sustain.”(nature)