Climate change is not just earth bound

By measuring the temperature of the gas present between galaxies, using quasar light that was more than ten billion years old by the time it reached Earth, astronomers have found evidence of a climate change  in our Universe. In the beginning the Universe went through a warming trend which was  caused by the huge amount of energy output from young, active galaxies. The vast majority of matter was not in stars or galaxies University of Cambridge astronomer George Becker explains but was spread out in a very thin gas that filled up all of space. Just as Earth's climate can be studied from ice cores and tree rings, the quasar light contains a record of the climate history of the cosmos. There is a connection between temperature, time and expansion of the Universe. As the cosmos expands, the gas should get colder and the Universe is expected to cool down over time. "The likely culprits in this intergalactic warming are the quasars themselves", explains fellow team member Martin Haehnelt, who is also at Cambridge University's newly-established Kavli Institute for Cosmology.  "Over the period of cosmic history studied by the team, quasars were becoming much more common.  These objects, which are thought to be giant black holes swallowing up material in the centres of galaxies, emit huge amounts of energetic ultraviolet light.  These UV rays would have interacted with the intergalactic gas, creating the rise in temperature we observed." "One of the lightest and most abundant elements in these intergalactic clouds, helium, played a vital role in the heating process.  Ultraviolet light stripped the electrons from a helium atom, freeing the electrons to collide with other atoms and heat up the gas.  Once the supply of fresh helium was exhausted, the universe started to cool down again. Astronomers believe this probably occurred after the cosmos was one quarter of its present age."

Did you know?

A molecule called fulvalene diruthenium can store and release heat on demand, in effect making it possible to produce a "rechargeable heat battery" that can repeatedly store and release heat gathered from sunlight or other sources.
I want one!

Way to go Jetman

Yves Rossy, the Swiss adventurer who has flown across the English Channel using a winged jet-pack, pulled off another exploit on Friday, flying two aerial loops in a new version of his invention. Rossy, who was testing a new, more aerodynamic model of the jet-pack, jumped from a hot-air balloon at 2400 metres and performed the stunt during an 18-minute flight before making a parachute landing."He flew a few minutes to stabilise his wing and find the optimal angle to begin two loopings," said a statement on his website, www.jetman.com.Rossy, 51, said his new model of the jet-pack, which has a two-metre wingspan instead of the 2.5-metre model and no unfoldable parts, was both more aerodynamic and stable.He designed it along with Swiss collaborators, the RUAG Company."It was fantastic," Rossy said in comments posted on the website after the test flight, which was carried out in the skies above the Swiss canton of Vaud."The flight went well, despite a little problem when starting my engines. I was able to do my two loopings and I am very happy."The Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes reported that Rossy had not, however, gone through with an initial plan to fly a complete circuit of the hot-air balloon for "technical and security reasons".In September 2008 Rossy, whose jet-pack can reach speeds of about 200km/h, gained international attention when he became the first winged person to make a successful crossing of the Channel.He took about 10 minutes to cover the 35 kilometres.