Latest news with #SaraRussell
CBS News
21-05-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Sirens didn't go off for St. Louis tornado — what are the activation rules in Chicago, suburbs?
The head of the City Emergency Management Agency in St. Louis has now been placed on paid leave, as an investigation has been launched into why the city's tornado warning system was not activated before a deadly tornado ripped through the area this past Friday. Five people were killed and dozens of others were injured by the EF-3 twister, which hit parts of Central West End and North City in St. Louis. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said CEMA Commissioner Sara Russell was not in the office when the storms hit, so she was unable to push the button that triggers the sirens. That got CBS News Chicago wondering about the siren protocol in Chicago and the suburbs, and who is in charge of activating the air-raid sirens in those places. The answer is that it depends on where one is — the policy and plan are different in Chicago than they are in Naperville, for example. Sometimes, the sirens are automatically triggered by the National Weather Service. Other times, they are manually turned on, and a person is relied upon to press the button. In St. Louis — where someone also has to push an alert button — Mayor Cara Spencer explained a "failure in protocol," because it was not clear whose role it was to do so. She took the responsibility away from CEMA Commissioner Russell. "And we now have somebody form the fire department located at CEMA 24 hours a day to push that button, should we need it, while we ensure that the fire department can activate that system flawlessly moving forward. We will be conducting additional tests today at noon to ensure that the system is working." The National Weather Service issues the tornado warnings that warrant siren activation. "Ideally, goal-wise, these warnings are going to give 10 minutes-plus of lead time," said Ricky Castro, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Castro explained that while the NWS issues tornado warnings, it is up to local governments whether or not they need the alerts, and how they distribute the information. In other words, the National Weather Service does not set off warning sirens, though not everyone understands that. "We're not the ones in charge of that," Castro said. "We get social media comments. We'll get sometimes emails, phone calls, 'Why did this siren go off?'" In places like Naperville, where an EF3 tornado touched down in 2021, the 26 outdoor warning sirens are activated automatically when the National Weather Service issues a warning. In Chicago, the air-raid sirens only go off when the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications turns them on. There are 112 sirens standing one to two miles apart, and they can be activated one-by-one, by siren zone — of which there are 12 — or citywide. "It requires a fast decision-making process, and ideally as well, people will kind of know their safety plan in advance," Castro said. Other Chicago suburbs' siren activation protocols are as follows: Plainfield has 12 outdoor warning sirens activated manually by digital radio system. They can be activated through the village dispatch center upon direction of authorized village personnel, or though the Plainfield Emergency Management Agency. Arlington Heights also has 12 outdoor warning sirens. They are activated by Northwest Central Dispatch, using a controller that can activate individual communities or the whole village. While the sirens are activated manually now, the village is working with its vendor to have the sirens activated automatically when a warning is issued. Aurora has 20 sirens, with two more being installed. They are activated manually by the emergency department team, or by a 24-hour warning point at the 911 Public Safety Answering Plant. Oak Brook has five sirens, the fifth of which waws added recently. The sirens are activated automatically using the Commander One alerting system from Federal Signal, which also manufactures many sirens. With Commander One, if the NWS issues a tornado warning, and the warning area touches or falls within the village border, all five sirens are activated right away.
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It blew us away': how an asteroid may have delivered the vital ingredients for life on Earth
Several billion years ago, at the dawn of the solar system, a wet, salty world circled our sun. Then it collided, catastrophically, with another object and shattered into pieces. One of these lumps became the asteroid Bennu whose minerals, recently returned to Earth by the US robot space probe OSIRIS-REx, have now been found to contain rich levels of complex chemicals that are critical for the existence of life. 'There were things in the Bennu samples that completely blew us away,' said Prof Sara Russell, cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History Museum in London, and a lead author of a major study in Nature of the Bennu minerals. 'The diversity of the molecules and minerals preserved are unlike any extraterrestrial samples studied before.' Results from this and other missions will form a central display at a Natural History Museum's exhibition, Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, which opens on 16 May. It will be a key chance for the public to learn about recent developments in the hunt for life on other worlds, said Russell. As the exhibition will reveal, the basic chemical building blocks for life can be found in other objects in the solar system such as meteorites. However, the material from Bennu, which is named after an ancient Egyptian mythological bird, have been found to be particularly rich in these deposits. 'Its parent world clearly had underground lakes of brine, and when these evaporated they left behind salts that resemble those found in dry lake beds on Earth,' said Russell. In addition, phosphates, ammonia and more than a dozen protein-building amino acids that are present in life forms on Earth – as well as the five nucleobase building blocks that make up RNA and DNA – were found in the samples brought back by OSIRIS-REx. 'These strongly suggest that asteroids similar to Bennu crashed on to Earth, bringing crucial ingredients that led to the appearance of life here,' she added. Scientists do not believe life evolved on Bennu itself but do think other asteroids like it might have supplied other worlds with the basic ingredients for life. On Earth, with its warm, stable environment, this led to the first appearance of reproducing organisms more than 3.7 billion years ago. It remains to be seen if they appeared on other promising worlds such as Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, that include Europa, Ganymede, Titan and Enceladus. These are now the subject of a number of missions that will feature in the exhibition and include two probes now heading for Jupiter's ice-covered moons Europa and Ganymede, which are known to possess liquid water oceans. In addition, the UK-built Rosalind Franklin robot rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2029 and will drill deep into its soil, seeking evidence of life. In the past, samples of extraterrestrial rocks made available for study have been limited mainly to meteorites, pieces of the moon brought back by astronauts and robot probes, and lumps of Mars that were blasted towards Earth when large objects struck the red planet and blew debris into space – with some eventually falling on to our world as Martian meteorites. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to touch samples of lunar and Martian material as well as a meteorite that landed on our planet after breaking off from an asteroid. Intriguingly, this rock is older than the Earth itself. 'This is going to be a blockbuster,' said Sinead Marron, the museum's senior exhibitions manager. OSIRIS-REx brought back 120gm of Bennu dust to Earth, and the museum has been given around 200mg to study, said Russell. 'When we first opened the capsule, we saw this black dust everywhere, with white particles in it. We thought it might be contaminated. But it turned out to be a compound of phosphorus we have not seen in meteorites but which is absolutely crucial to the development of life. I was astonished.' The prospects that life might exist elsewhere in the universe made headlines last week when it was announced that observations of the exoplanet K2-18b by the James Webb space telescope had revealed the chemical fingerprints of two compounds that, on Earth, are only known to be produced by life. On their own, the chemicals, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), do not amount to proof of alien biological activity but they have boosted hopes that we are not alone in the universe. Conclusively proving that life exists on distant worlds outside our solar system will be extremely hard, scientists acknowledge – short of a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence announcing its existence. By contrast, alien lifeforms within our solar system will be easier to collect and study and may prove, one day, that life on other worlds does indeed exist. 'What we would do about such a discovery is a different matter,' Marron said. 'One of the things we will be asking exhibition visitors to think about is how we would treat life if we found it on Mars or another world. Would we stay away from it or try to interact with it? 'Or would we try to eat it, like we eat lifeforms with whom we share this planet? Such questions about alien life help us reflect on the ways we engage with other forms of life in our own world.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
DNA building blocks found in asteroids for first time
The building blocks of DNA have been found in samples returned to Earth from an asteroid, suggesting life rained down from space and could have formed elsewhere. In 2016, Nasa sent its Osiris-Rex mission to drill down into the asteroid Bennu, with the cargo returning to Earth in 2023. The first analysis shows that the four nucleotide bases of DNA – adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine – which form the rungs of the double helix, were all present. Every living thing on Earth contains DNA, which stores the genetic information needed to build and maintain an organism. It is the first time that all four nucleotide bases have been discovered together on an asteroid, and the samples were also found to contain 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to make proteins. Nasa said the findings not only suggest that space rocks sparked life on Earth, but that the conditions for life were widespread across the early solar system. Nicky Fox, the associate administrator for the Nasa Science Mission Directorate, said: 'Bennu contains many precursor building blocks of life along with the evidence it comes from an ancient wet world. 'The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do show that the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were likely widespread across the early solar system. This of course increases the odds that life could have formed on other planets. 'This all supports the theory that Bennu [was] among the sources that delivered water and chemical building blocks for life to Earth.' Scientists also discovered 11 important minerals, including sodium, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus, which were left behind when saltwater streams evaporated. Researchers believe these extraterrestrial sub-surface ponds may have provided a cauldron where the elemental ingredients for life could intermingle and create more complex molecules. Similar conditions are thought to exist on Ceres – a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – which suggests it would be a good place to look for the existence of life. Sara Russell, a cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History Museum in London, who studied the material, said: 'There were things in the samples that completely blew us away. The richness of the molecules and minerals preserved are unlike any extraterrestrial samples studied before. 'It's interesting that although Bennu had everything needed for life – it did not form. 'The complex and delicate conditions needed to catalyse life really bring into focus the abundance of biodiversity here on Earth.' She added: 'Together we have made huge progress in understanding how asteroids like Bennu evolved, and how they may have helped make the Earth habitable.' Bennu is more than four-and-a-half billion years old and is a relic from the formation of the solar system which has been perfectly preserved in the vacuum of space. It is about 1,640ft (500m) across and once belonged to a much larger asteroid which broke apart billions of years ago. Scientists have long suspected that the ingredients for life on Earth were delivered to our planet by asteroids, but they are tricky to study once on the ground because they are easily contaminated. The Osiris-Rex mission collected around four ounces (113g) of rock and dust from Bennu – about the weight of a bar of soap – and the samples were divided up and sent to laboratories around the world for study. Among the new findings were some more familiar minerals such as halite, which is made of sodium chloride and is more commonly called rock salt. Tim McCoy, the curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, in Washington DC, added: 'We now know from Bennu that the raw ingredients of life were combining in really interesting and complex ways. 'We have discovered the next step on a pathway to life. We now know we have the basic building blocks to move along this pathway towards life, but we don't know how far along that pathway this environment could allow things to progress.' The research was published in the journal Nature Astronomy. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
BBC News
29-01-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Asteroid Bennu: Could dust sample hold the key to life on Earth?
Scientists think tiny specks of dust collected from an asteroid from deep space could hold the clue to one of the biggest questions ever asked - how life started on Earth. Bennu is a relatively small asteroid that passes close to Earth around every six September 2023 a Nasa spacecraft collected a sample from Bennu, and brought it back to scientists have carried out a detailed analysis of the space rock specimen, and it's proved to be a treasure trove. What happened when the Bennu sample was brought back to Earth? Grabbing a bit of Bennu has been one of the trickiest missions Nasa has ever attempted.A spacecraft called Osiris Rex used a robotic arm to collect some of the space rock, before packing it into a capsule and returning it to Earth in bits of Bennu were sent around the world, with a teaspoon-sized portion sent to the UK. The latest results of a detailed analysis have stunned scientists. They say the grains are tiny, and each one is telling us something new. Bennu contains thousands of carbon rich compounds, including amino acids and nucleobases, which are the building blocks of DNA. "It's just incredible how rich it is. It's full of these minerals that we haven't seen before in meteorites, and in a combination of them that we haven't seen before. It's been such an exciting thing to study," said Professor Sara Russell from the Natural History Museum in London. How can Bennu help scientists understand life on Earth? Around 4.5 billion years ago, a swirling cloud of gas and dust came together to form the solar there was a lot of material left over, after the planets formed, and asteroids like Bennu were everywhere. This latest studies - published in the journal Nature - adds to growing evidence that they brought water and organic material to Earth to make life possible. But asteroids were also colliding with other planets elsewhere. "Earth is unique, in that it's the only place where we have found life so far, but we know asteroids were delivering those ingredients, the carbon and the water, throughout the Solar System," explained Dr Ashley King, from the Natural History Museum."And one of the big things that we're trying to understand now is, if you have the right conditions, why do we have life here on Earth - and could we potentially find it elsewhere in our Solar System?"
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Asteroid contains building blocks of life, say scientists
The chemical building blocks of life have been found in the grainy dust of an asteroid called Bennu, an analysis reveals. Samples of the space rock, which were scooped up by a Nasa spacecraft and brought to Earth, contain a rich array of minerals and thousands of organic compounds. These include amino acids, which are the molecules that make up proteins, as well as nucleobases - the fundamental components of DNA. This doesn't mean there was ever life on Bennu, but it supports the theory that asteroids delivered these vital ingredients to Earth when they crashed into our planet billions of years ago. Scientists think those same compounds could also have been brought to other worlds in our Solar System. "What we've learned from it is amazing," said Prof Sara Russell, a cosmic mineralogist from the Natural History Museum in London. "It's telling us about our own origins, and it enables us to answer these really, really big questions about where life began. And who doesn't want to know about how life started?" The findings are published in two papers in the journal Nature. Grabbing a bit of Bennu has been one of the most audacious missions Nasa has ever attempted. A spacecraft called Osiris Rex unfurled a robotic arm to collect some of the 500m-wide space rock, before packing it into a capsule and returning it to Earth in 2023. About 120g of black dust was collected and shared with scientists around the world. This might not sound like much material, but it's proved to be a treasure trove. "Every grain is telling us something new about Bennu," said Prof Russell, who's been studying the tiny specks. About a teaspoonful of the asteroid was sent to scientists in the UK. The new research has shown that the space rock is packed full of nitrogen and carbon-rich compounds. These include 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to build proteins and all four of the ring-shaped molecules that make up DNA - adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. The study has also found an array of minerals and salts, suggesting water was once present on the asteroid. Ammonia, which is important for biochemical reactions, was discovered in the sample too. Some of these compounds have been seen in space rocks that have fallen to Earth, but others haven't been detected until now. "It's just incredible how rich it is. It's full of these minerals that we haven't seen before in meteorites and the combination of them that we haven't seen before. It's been such an exciting thing to study," said Prof Russell. 'Most dangerous asteroid' sample arrives in UK Nasa's first look at 'beautiful' asteroid sample This latest study adds to growing evidence that asteroids brought water and organic material to Earth. "The early Solar System was really turbulent and there were millions of asteroids like Bennu flying about," explained Dr Ashley King, from the Natural History Museum. The idea is that these bombarded the young Earth, seeding our planet with ingredients that gave us the oceans and made life possible. But Earth wasn't the only world getting hit by space rocks. Asteroids would have been colliding with other planets too. "Earth is unique, in that it's the only place where we have found life so far, but we know asteroids were delivering those ingredients, the carbon and the water, throughout the Solar System," said Dr King. "And one of the big things that we're trying to understand now is, if you have the right conditions, why do we have life here on Earth - and could we potentially find it elsewhere in our Solar System?" It's a key question that scientists will continue to try and answer. They have decades of research ahead on the dust brought back from Bennu, and parts of our cosmic neighbourhood still to explore. Nature: Abundant ammonia and nitrogen-rich soluble organic matter in samples from asteroid Nature: An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples
