Is a mini ice age on the way? Scientists warn the Sun has 'gone to sleep' and say it could cause temperatures to plunge

2013 was due to be year of the 'solar
maximum'
Researchers say solar activity is at a
fraction of what they expect
Conditions 'very similar' a time in 1645
when a mini ice age hit
The Sun's activity is at its lowest for 100 years, scientists have warned.
They say the conditions are eerily similar to those before the Maunder Minimum, a time in 1645 when a mini ice age hit, Freezing London's River Thames.
Researcher believe the solar lull could cause major changes, and say there is a 20% chance it could lead to 'major changes' in temperatures.

THE SOLAR CYCLE
Conventional wisdom holds that solar activity swings back and forth like a simple pendulum. At one end of the cycle, there is a quiet time with few
sunspots and flares. At the other end, solar max brings high sunspot numbers and frequent solar storms. It's a regular rhythm that repeats every 11 years.
Reality is more complicated. Astronomers have been counting sunspots for centuries, and they have seen that the solar cycle is not perfectly regular.
'Whatever measure you use, solar peaks are coming down,'
Richard Harrison of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire told the BBC.
'I've been a solar physicist for 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this.'
He says the phenomenon could lead to colder winters similar to those during the Maunder Minimum.
'There were cold winters, almost a mini ice age.
'You had a period when the River Thames froze.'
Lucie Green of UCL believes that things could be different this time due to human activity.
'We have 400 years of observations, and it is in a very similar to phase as it was in the runup to the Maunder Minimum.
'The world we live in today is very different, human activity may counteract this - it is difficult to say what the consequences are.'
Mike Lockwood University of Reading says that the lower temperatures could affect the global jetstream, causing weather systems to collapse.
'We estimate within 40 years there a 10-20% probability we will be back in Maunder Minimum territory,'
he said. Last year Nasa warned
'something unexpected' is happening on the Sun'
This year was supposed to be the year of
'solar maximum,' the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. But as this image reveals, solar activity is relatively low.

The Maunder Minimum (also known as the prolonged sunspot minimum) is the name used for the period starting in about 1645 and continuing to about 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time. It caused London's River Thames to freeze over, and
'frost fairs' became popular.
This period of solar inactivity also corresponds to a climatic period called the "Little Ice Age" when rivers that are normally ice-free froze and snow fields
remained year-round at lower altitudes.
There is evidence that the Sun has had similar periods of inactivity in the more distant past, Nasa says.
The connection between solar activity and terrestrial climate is an area of on-going research.
'Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent,' the space agency says.
The image above shows the Earth-facing surface of the Sun on February 28, 2013, as observed by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
It observed just a few small sunspots on an otherwise clean face, which is usually riddled with many spots during peak solar activity. Experts have been baffled by the apparent lack of activity - with many wondering if NASA simply got it
wrong.
However, Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center believes he has a different explanation.
'This is solar maximum,' he says. 'But it looks different from what we expected
because it is double-peaked.' 'The last two solar maxima, around 1989 and 2001, had not one but two peaks.'
Solar activity went up, dipped, then rose again, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years, he said.
The same thing could be happening now, as sunspot counts jumped in 2011 and dipped in 2012, he believes.
Pesnell expects them to rebound in 2013: 'I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in 2013 and possibly last into 2014.' He spotted a similarity between Solar Cycle 24 and
Solar Cycle 14, which had a double-peak during the first decade of the 20th century. If the two cycles are twins, 'it would mean one peak in late 2013 and another in 2015'.

University of Gothenburg Student Doctors successfuly transplants Womb

Doctors at the University of Gothenburg Sweden have successfully carried out womb transplant for 9  women who were born without a womb and are waiting for them to get pregnant. This amazing new kind of surgery is geared towards helping women who are born without wombs, a medical condition called MKRH or had there uterus removed due to severe medical conditions such as cervical cancer.

The wombs received were from mothers or female relatives of the recipients. All nine women are currently ovulating which is a good sign that the wombs are doing fine inside the women. Continue..


Saudi Arabia is the first country in the world to have carried out womb transplant in the year 2000 but the recipient recorded blood clot and so the womb was removed. Turkey was the 2nd country to try the womb transplant were they took womb from dead people and transplanted into this women but the process also failed as the women lost their babies after 2 months of conception. England is preparing to also carry out the process.

Head surgeon for this process Dr Mats Brannstrom said

"This is a research study. It could lead to the women having children, but there are no guarantees …what is certain is that they are making a contribution to science.".

Indonesian man with tumour all over his body after doctors remove one from his waist

An Indonesian man whose body is covered by hundreds of tumours has made a final plea for help as the rare condition robs him of his sight. 

Slamet, from East Java, is believed to be suffering from neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition which causes uncontrollable growths along the nerves. According to his brother Suwadi, the 59-year-old had a tumour removed from his waist in 1991. But six months later tumours began to form all over his face and body. 

Years later the condition has become intolerable and Slamet suffers constant pain throughout his body. Recently the tumours have started blocking his nostrils, making it difficult for him to breath

Slamet is now unable to work and relies on handouts. 

Neurofibromatosis is the name for a number of genetic conditions that cause swellings or lumps.
Although many people who have the condition inherit it from one of their parents, up to 50 per cent develop it randomly from a gene mutation before they are born.

Despite their alarming appearance, the growths and swellings - called neurofibromas and caused by a growth of cells - are not cancerous or contagious.