From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051121102345.htm

Researchers Uncover How A Nanoscale ‘Compass’ Inside Bacteria Orients Them To The Earth’s Magnetic Field

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2005) — It is not only migratory birds that orient themselves to the magnetic field of the Earth. Also bacteria — supposedly “simple” organisms — have evolved to be able to take advantage of the magnetic field in their search for optimal living conditions.

Such “magnetotactic” microorganisms use a miniature, cellular compass made of a chain of single nanomagnets, called magnetosomes. The entire bacterium is oriented like a compass needle inside the magnetic field. Until now, it was not clear how the cells organise magnetosomes into a stable chain, against their physical tendency to collapse by magnetic attraction…

Cryoelectron tomography of a magnetotactic bacterium: a three-dimensional reconstruction of the interior of a Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense cell. The cell membrane is blue, the magnetosome crystal red, and the surrounding vesicle yellow. The image makes it clear that both the membrane vesicle and the “mature” magnetosomes are strung like pearls on a chain along a filamentous structure (green), which is similar to a cytoskeleton. (Image: Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry)

from http://www.nanotech-now.com/Art_Gallery/Cambridge.htm

The image shows the magnetic field lines in a single bacterial cell. The fine white lines are the magnetic field lines in the cell, which were measured using off-axis electron holography. Such bacteria live in sediments and bodies of water, and move parallel to geomagnetic field lines as a result of the torque exerted on their magnetosome chains by the earth’s magnetic field.

Acknowledgments: Richard Frankel, Mihaly Posfai, Peter Buseck

Our first intriguing glimse of Saturn’s North pole was from Voyager in 1980.  Last year, images from Cassini was the first time we got to view the entire North pole at one time.  Surprisingly there was 15,000 mile diameter hexagon made of clouds.

Scientist are again baffled because recent images show an aurora.  From Mysterious glowing aurora over Saturn confounds scientists.

A stunning light display over Saturn has stumped scientists who say it behaves unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system.

The blueish-green glow was found over the ringed planet’s north polar region just like Earth’s northern lights.

It was discovered by the infrared instruments on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

‘We’ve never seen an aurora like this elsewhere,’ said Tom Stallard, a scientist working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester.

‘This aurora covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn’s aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise.’

Auroras are caused by charged particles streaming along the magnetic field lines of a planet into its atmosphere.

Particles from the sun cause Earth’s auroras. Many, but not all, of the auroras at Jupiter and Saturn are caused by particles trapped within the magnetic environments of those planets.

Jupiter’s main auroral ring is caused by interactions in Jupiter’s magnetic environment and remains constant in size. Saturn’s main aurora is caused by the solar wind, and changes size dramatically as the wind varies. However, the newly observed aurora at Saturn doesn’t fit into either category.

The new infrared aurora appears in a region hidden from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Cassini observed it when the spacecraft flew near Saturn’s polar region.

In infrared light, the aurora sometimes fills the region from around 82 degrees north all the way over the pole. This new aurora is also constantly changing, even disappearing within a 45 minute-period.

‘There is something special and unforeseen about this planet’s magnetosphere and the way it interacts with the solar wind and the planet’s atmosphere,’ Cassini scientist Nick Achilleos from the University College London said.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn
March 27, 2007
(Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Pasadena, Calif. — An odd, six-sided, honeycomb-shaped feature circling the entire north pole of Saturn has captured the interest of scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission.

NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged the feature over two decades ago. The fact that it has appeared in Cassini images indicates that it is a long-lived feature. A second hexagon, significantly darker than the brighter historical feature, is also visible in the Cassini pictures. The spacecraft’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is the first instrument to capture the entire hexagon feature in one image.

“This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides,” said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “We’ve never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn’s thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you’d expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is.”

The hexagon is similar to Earth’s polar vortex, which has winds blowing in a circular pattern around the polar region. On Saturn, the vortex has a hexagonal rather than circular shape. The hexagon is nearly 25,000 kilometers (15,000 miles) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it.

The new images taken in thermal-infrared light show the hexagon extends much deeper down into the atmosphere than previously expected, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) below the cloud tops. A system of clouds lies within the hexagon. The clouds appear to be whipping around the hexagon like cars on a racetrack.

“It’s amazing to see such striking differences on opposite ends of Saturn’s poles,” said Bob Brown, team leader of the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, University of Arizona, Tucson. “At the south pole we have what appears to be a hurricane with a giant eye, and at the north pole of Saturn we have this geometric feature, which is completely different.”

The Saturn north pole hexagon has not been visible to Cassini’s visual cameras, because it’s winter in that area, so the hexagon is under the cover of the long polar night, which lasts about 15 years. The infrared mapping spectrometer can image Saturn in both daytime and nighttime conditions and see deep inside. It imaged the feature with thermal wavelengths near 5 microns (seven times the wavelength visible to the human eye) during a 12-day period beginning on Oct. 30, 2006. As winter wanes over the next two years, the feature may become visible to the visual cameras.

Based on the new images and more information on the depth of the feature, scientists think it is not linked to Saturn’s radio emissions or to auroral activity, as once contemplated, even though Saturn’s northern aurora lies nearly overhead.

The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn’s rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain.

“Once we understand its dynamical nature, this long-lived, deep-seated polar hexagon may give us a clue to the true rotation rate of the deep atmosphere and perhaps the interior,” added Baines.

The hexagon images and movie, including the north polar auroras are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu .

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona.

Contacts:
Carolina Martinez/Jane Platt 818-354-9382/818-354-0880
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

NEWS RELEASE: 2007-034

Yes.

I take Magneurol and I have taken it continuously for about a year now.

Does it Help?

Yes.

When I first started taking it just less than 2 years ago there were two effects that I noticed immediately. I couldn’t talk on a cell phone for more than 2 or 3 minutes without getting nauseous. I was tuning into the energy field of the phone transmission, feeling it in my body, and my body didn’t know how to interpret it, so it felt like nausea. Fortunately that effect is long since gone.

Also my vision became sharper. Especially when looking at living things in direct sunlight. It was like shifting from watching the World Series in regular TV vs. in High Def. That effect is still around, but of course, it feels like the norm now, instead of something special.

How much does it help?

Hard to say. I guess you can judge my overall results based on what I have written. I would call them amazing.

I took it for 4 months. Then I stopped for 4 months. Now I have been taking it about a year. I looked back through my journals and counted the number of what I call “peak” experiences for a year surrounding the start/stop/start cycle. I couldn’t find a statistical difference in the number of experiences.

But I also meditate 2 times per day. Have been in the Higher Balance Star Reach Academy for 2 and half years. Changed coaches to prevent becoming “stale”. I have all the modules. Attended Higher Balance retreats in Portland and Hawaii. And I diligently practice the techniques. I also eat and live organically. .. Have removed chemicals from my environment as much as possible… Take a super high quality multi-vitamin… And get 8 hours of sleep per day.

It is worth the cost?

Yes.

But it depends. I would probably put it on the list as the fifth or sixth thing you should do, if you have the resources. If you are already doing the other five more important things and can afford to, then stack one more thing in your favor and do this too!