In loving memory to my father, the late Prof. M.J. Toerien, who did ground breaking work in the field of Embryology before he passed away in 1977. His research was aimed at establishing what defects in the embryo lead to what birth defects. Despite the more than three decades since he passed away, a very long period in terms of advances in medical research, researchers still often quote from his work when presenting papers. When preparing this paper it was an ideal to also be able to quote something from my father’s research, despite our study fields being light years removed. We did have something in common, though, as my father was first trained as geologist, before specializing in Palaeontology, acquiring a doctorate, before focussing on Embryology, and I also majored in Physical Geography, thus sharing some geomorphology. My quotes from his work are in the field of embryology, however. I also acknowledge the support of my wife, Joan, who apart from running a full time home business to look after our autistic son, Jandré, and also handles his home schooling. We also thank the Lord that Jandré has a supporting brother, Nic. We also thank the Lord that Jandré is so good natured and has so much art talent, and for the progress made with his development.

Electromagnetic fields: Friend or foe for autism and genetic related

conditions Autism, a cosmic alien visitor?

Summary The occurrence of autism saw a dramatic increase in the past few decades, with more and more evidence that there is often a link between gene mutations or defects. Simultaneously the earth’s electromagnetic field is becoming weaker at an increasing pace. The electromagnetic field shields us from harmful cosmic rays.

Electromagnetic fields: Friend or foe for autism and genetic related

conditions Autism, a cosmic alien visitor?

Note: This is an updated preliminary report, and it is aimed to focus the article on one of my study fields, geomorphology. This draft is still in the early stages and the listing of data as it is not intended to be plagiary, and will be properly woven in and sourced. As this draft paper touches on fields outside my field of expertise and training, I plan to submit it for input to experts. In the mean time I will be most grateful for any input at hermantoerien@iburst.co.za and all contributions included will be acknowledged in the final paper. Herman Toerien

Introduction The Autism Knowledge Revolution, writes Newsday.com, is picking up the pace and seems at times to be adding to our knowledge of autism on a daily basis. A new study offers a genetic mutation model of autism acquisition which the scientists involved suggest may help unify some of the current disparate theories of autism. That some conditions may be traced back to the gene defects had been known for decades. Prof. M.J. Toerien, my late father who was then professor in Anatomy at the Free State University, after studying the characteristic defects of the human Cyclops produced by a direct or indirect lesion of the anterior cranial neural crests, came to the following conclusion in a 1974 paper: “The real cause for Cyclopia is unknown, although genetic (chromosome) defects can be pointed out in a number of Cyclops. If the cause of Cyclops development is genetic in nature, the genetic effect must be sought in insufficient amnion developments.”1 Newsweek proceeds: “The theory involves mothers acquiring and passing on autism related genetic mutations to their children. The mutations are spontaneous, arising from assaults to chromosomes. The assaults can arise from a wide range of unspecified environmental facts including naturally occurring cosmic rays and environmental toxins and contaminants. In addition to maternal transmission of the autism related genetic mutation older moms are indicated as being more likely to have an autistic child according to this study by geneticists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Scientists from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx collaborated in the study. The data network developed by iancommunity.org also assisted the researchers in the study. This purported Unified Theory of Autism seems to fit with the autism research paradigm shift mentioned in an earlier post. Environment versus genetics as competing and conflicting theories of autism causation seems to be giving way to environment and genetics as a unified theory of autism develops.” Geneticists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have been on a genome-wide hunt to pinpoint the genes that cause autism. Electromagnetic fields When reading on electromagnetic fields, two major different types of fields crystallise – the earth’s electromagnetic field, and the electromagnetic fields generated by electric appliances.

1 SA Medical Journal, 7 December 1974, 2443

Over four billion years ago, Mars had an atmosphere. It was a living planet with water and possibly even some manner of life. However, four billion years ago Mars lost its magnetosphere, the electromagnetic field that protects the planet from solar wind and other cosmic radiations. Without that electromagnetic field the planet slowly died. Now four billion years later the lush and thriving planet Earth is witnessing a drastic decrease in the strength of its own magnetosphere. According to some scientists it has dropped as much as 10% over the last 300 years. With both versions, autism frequently pop up – in the case of the earth’s electromagnetic field in a positive sense, and in the case of electric appliances – even those designed as electromagnetic therapeutical appliances, in an alarmist sense. It is common knowledge that the earth’s electromagnetic field, together with the ozone layer, plays a crucial role in protecting terra based life as we know it from harmful cosmic rays. Just an interesting sideline remark, Alpha waves are the home-of the window frequency known as the Schuman Resonance, which is the-resonant frequency of the earth’s electromagnetic field. Alpha waves range between 7-12 HZ. The irony is that the electromagnetic fields of electric appliances are alleged to create similar effects as the harmful effects the earth’s electromagnetic field protect us from. In short, the earth’s electro magnetic field and the ozone layer and the ozone layer protect us from harmful cosmic rays that may, amongst others, stimulate gene mutations, some of which may be associated with autism and other genetic conditions such as cancer. Electromagnetic fields of electric appliances Allegations are made that the electromagnetic fields of electric appliances cause similar conditions. On this, however, the debate is open with the manufacturers of electric appliances such as cell phones, radios and computers insisting that this is not true. Those sounding the alarm bells argue that even if the evidence is still inconclusive, they can not be dismissed either. The example of industry’s insistence that cigarette smoking was not harmful until eventually science eventually proved otherwise, and the damage already done, is often used. An argument thus of: “What if?” There is no arguing that electric appliances do generate electromagnetic fields. The following graph indicates the wave lengths of some appliances, as taken from a paper in 2000 of Dr. Nabeel Kouka:

The National Council of Radiation Protection Measurements (NCRP) draft report published in the July/August 1995 issue of Microwave News states the following 10 mG (1 micro Tesla) human exposure limit by Section 8.4.1.3 Option 3. An exposure guideline of 10 mG and 100V/m: A considerable body of observations has documented bioeffects of fields of fields at these strengths across the gamut from isolated cells to animals, and in man. Although the majority of these reported effects do not fall directly in the category of hazards, many may be regarded as potentially hazardous. Since epidemiological studies point to increased cancer risks at even lower levels, a case can be made for recommending 10 mG and 100V/m as levels not to be exceeded in prolonged human exposures. Most homes and occupational environments are within these values, but it would be prudent to assume that higher levels may constitute a health risk. In the short term, a safety guideline set at this level would have significant consequences, particularly in occupational settings and close to high voltage transmission and distribution systems, but it is unlikely to disrupt the present pattern of electricity usage. These levels may be exceeded in homes close to transmission lines, distribution lines and transformer substations, in some occupational environments, and for users of devices that operate close to the body, such as hair dryers and electric blankets. From a different perspective, adoption of such a guideline would serve a dual purpose: first, as a vehicle for public instruction on potential health hazards of existing systems that generate fields above these levels, as a basis for “prudent avoidance”, and second, as a point of departure in planning for acceptable field levels in future developments in housing, schooling, and the workplace, and in transportation systems, both public and private, that will be increasingly dependent on electric propulsion.

Appliance 6” 1’ 2’ 4’

Hairdryer Lowest Highest

1 700

- 70

- 10

- 1

Microwave Oven Lowest Highest

100 300

1 200

1 30

- 20

Refrigerator Lowest Highest

- 40

- 20

- 10

- 10

Toaster Lowest Highest

5 10

- 7

- -

- -

Color TV Lowest Highest

- -

- 20

- 8

- 4

Washing Machine Lowest Highest

4 100

1 30

- 6

- -

Vacuum Cleaner Lowest Highest

100 700

20 200

4 50

- 10

Analog Clock Lowest Highest

- -

1 30

- 5

- 3

Window Air Conditioner Lowest Highest

- -

20 -

6 -

4 -

Drill Lowest Highest

100 200

20 40

3 6

- -

Power Saw Lowest Highest

50 1000

9 300

1 40

- 4

Electric Blanket (Conventional) Avg. Peak

2” 21.8 39.4

- -

- -

- -

Electric Blanket (Low Mag Fld) Avg. Peak

0.9 2.7

- -

- -

- -

We thus ask again: “What if?”

In the case of cigarette smoke people, in general, can protect or shield them form coming in contact with smoke. Countries, in general, are instituting stricter and stricter laws, assisting people to avert being exposed to smoke. But electromagnetic fields are more difficult to avert. They go through almost any material except iron plates. To shield one from the electromagnetic radiation of one’s computer offer a few problems. In fact, very often, one may find that you serve as antenna for electromagnetic radiation as the body is an excellent conductor. Earth’s Electromagnetic field But the problems offered by electric appliance originated electromagnetic fields are insignificant to what happens to us when the earth’s electromagnetic field diminishes or disappears, especially with the ozone layer stretched and punctured. The electromagnetic field of the earth is created by convection streams in the molten, metallic core of the earth, and it is related to the fact that the earth is revolving around its axel. This is demonstrated by the magnetic poles wandering around not to far from the geographic poles. This is what makes compasses to point in a northerly direction. Jeremy Hsu, staff writer of Science Line, writes something beneath the surface is changing Earth's protective magnetic field, which may leave satellites and other space assets vulnerable to high-energy radiation. The gradual weakening of the overall magnetic field can take hundreds and even thousands of years. But smaller, more rapid fluctuations within months may leave satellites unprotected and catch scientists off guard, new research finds. A new model uses satellite data from the past nine years to show how sudden fluid motions within the Earth's core can alter the magnetic envelope around our planet. This represents the first time that researchers have been able to detect such rapid magnetic field changes taking place over just a few months. "There are these changes in the South Atlantic, an area where the magnetic field has the smallest envelope at one third [of what is] normal," said Mioara Mandea, a geophysicist at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. Even before the newly detected changes, the South Atlantic Anomaly represented a weak spot in the magnetic field — a dent in Earth's protective bubble.

Bubble bobble The Earth's magnetic field extends about 58,000 km into space, generated from the spinning effect of the electrically-conductive core that acts something like a giant electromagnet. The field creates a tear-drop shaped bubble that has constantly shielded life on Earth against much of the high-energy radiation flowing from the sun. and the universe. The last major change in the field took place some 780,000 years ago during a magnetic reversal, although such reversals seem to occur more often on average. A flip in the north and south poles typically involves a weakening in the magnetic field, followed by a period of rapid recovery and reorganization of opposite polarity. Some studies in recent years have suggested the next reversal might be imminent, but the jury is out on that question. Measuring interactions between the magnetic field and the molten iron core 3 000 km down has proven difficult in the past, but the constant observations of satellites such as CHAMP and Orsted have begun to bring the picture into focus. Electric storm Mandea worked with Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, to create a model of the fluid core that fits with the magnetic field changes detected by the satellites. However, the rapid weakening of the magnetic field in the South Atlantic Anomaly region could signal future troubles for such satellites. Radiation storms from the sun could fry electronic equipment on satellites that suddenly lacked the protective cover of a rapidly changing magnetic field. "For satellites, this could be a problem," Mandea told SPACE.com. "If there are magnetic storms and high-energy particles coming from the sun, the satellites could be affected and their connections could be lost." The constant radiation bombardment from the sun blows with the solar wind to Earth, where it flows against and around the magnetic field. The effect creates the tear-drop shaped magnetosphere bubble, but even the powerful field cannot keep out all the high-energy particles. Topsy-turvy history A large sunspot set off a major radiation storm in 2006 that temporarily blinded some sun-watching satellites. Astronauts on the International Space Station retreated to a protected area as a precaution to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure. The Earth's overall magnetic field has weakened at least 10 percent over the past 150 years, which could also point to an upcoming field reversal.

Mandea and Olsen hope to continue refining their model with updated observations, and perhaps to eventually help predict future changes in the Earth's magnetic field.2 There is ample evidence however, that over millions of years the earth’s electromagnetic field has switched of, and when starting up again, the electromagnetic poles are reversed. A compass would then point in a southerly direction. As the electromagnetic field fields orientate metal particles in newly formed rock, analysing the age of the rock and the orientation at that stage, one can make several useful deductions such as tracing the routes of continents during continental drifting. Other sciences also make use of this data, such as the relatively new science of cosmoclimatology. Comparative studies between climatic changes and sun flares have revealed consistent interaction, to the extent that climatologists believe that the interaction between more, or less, sun activity with the earth’s electromagnetic field at least contributed to periods of climatic change such as ice ages or hotter periods. What is the current position with the earth’s electromagnetic field? Earth's magnetic field: 4 000 years ago = 2.5 Gauss Today it is . . . . = 0.5 Gauss (Varies by location and time) That is a decrease of 80% According to NASA, at the present time, Earth's field is declining in strength by 5% every century and other put it at 10 % over the past 150 years. Scientists say the Earth's magnetic field shows signs that it is about to flip upside-down. It is continuing to drop at an increasing rate. So the evidence would suggest that as our Electromagnetic field continually decreases, that the Earth is preparing to make just such a reversal. At the current rate of decline it would take 1500 to 2000 years to disappear. Others point out that this switch around is long overdue. Carissa Starr writes that scientists found that the electromagnetic switching has happened throughout the Earth's history approximately every 250 000 years (as opposed to the last 780 000 years ago).

2 Sloshing Inside Earth Changes Protective Magnetic Field, Jeremy Hsu Staff Writer, Science Line, posted: 18 August 2008

How do they know this? According to the NOVA Special "Magnetic Storm", scientists have been using Hawaii for decades to study the Earth's core and it's Electromagnetic Field. Hawaii's perpetual volcanic flow is a 5.5million year record of the Earth's Electromagnetic field. The lava from the core contains particles called Magnetite which, as the lava cools, align themselves with 'Magnetic North.' By examining layers of lava, which date back hundreds of years, they have learned just how dramatically "Magnetic North" has changed over time. It was learned that the weakest records of the electromagnetic field always preceded one of the Magnetic Pole Reversals, a decline of as much as

80-90%. But what happens when the earth loses its electromagnetic field?

The more responsible scientist shy away from an apocalyptic approach, indicating that the real concern will be when the polar switch over occurs, and by then, it is argued, science will know haw to handle it. For all practical purposes our concern is not the switching of occurrence,

but the declining level, coupled with unpredictable very strong bursts of cosmic rays. Cosmic ray, by the way, is a misnomer as they are individual particles, not a ray or beam. (Graphic from a paper by Carissa Starr) Some play the horn of what they call Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome, but our interest lies with a possible link to autism. Sources of cosmic rays Just as a side line note. Not all cosmic radiation effecting earth originates from the sun. A significant amount originates extra terrestrial from major events such as quasars. Nearly 100 years ago, scientists detected the first signs of cosmic rays -- subatomic particles (mostly protons) that zip through space at nearly the speed

of light. The most energetic cosmic rays hit with the punch of a 98-mph fastball, even though they are smaller than an atom. Astronomers questioned what natural force could accelerate particles to such a speed. New evidence from the VERITAS telescope array shows that cosmic rays likely are powered by exploding stars and stellar "winds." The rarest cosmic rays carry over 100 billion times as much energy as generated by any particle accelerator on Earth. ("Cosmic ray" is a historical misnomer, since they are individual particles, not a ray or beam.) Astronomers have devised ingenious methods for detecting cosmic rays that hit Earth's atmosphere. Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History - NASA Scientists have detected a flash of light from across the Galaxy so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's upper atmosphere. The flash was brighter than anything ever detected from beyond our Solar System and lasted over a tenth of a second. NASA and European satellites and many radio telescopes detected the flash and its aftermath on December 27, 2004. Two science teams report about this event at a special press event today at NASA headquarters. A multitude of papers are planned for publication.

Image/animation: Image 1: Artist conception of the December 27, 2004 gamma ray flare expanding from SGR 1806-20 and impacting Earth’s atmosphere.

The scientists said the light came from a "giant flare" on the surface of an exotic neutron star, called a magnetar. The apparent magnitude was brighter than a full moon and all historical star

explosions. The light was brightest in the gamma-ray energy range, far more energetic than visible light or X-rays and invisible to our eyes. Such a close and powerful eruption raises the question of whether an even larger influx of gamma rays, disturbing the atmosphere, was responsible for one of the mass extinctions known to have occurred on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Also, if giant flares can be this powerful, then some gamma-ray bursts (thought to be very distant black-hole-forming star explosions) could actually be from neutron star eruptions in nearby galaxies.

Image/animation: Image 2: An artist conception of the SGR 1806-20 magnetar including magnetic field lines. After the initial flash, smaller pulsations in the data

suggest hot spots on the rotating magnetar’s surface. The data also shows no change in the magentar’s rotation after the initial flash.

NASA's newly launched Swift satellite and the NSF-funded Very Large Array (VLA) were two of many observatories that observed the event, arising from neutron star SGR 1806-20, about 50,000 light years from Earth in the

constellation Sagittarius. "This might be a once-in-a-lifetime event for astronomers, as well as for the neutron star," said Dr. David Palmer of Los Alamos National Laboratory, lead author on a paper describing the Swift observation. "We know of only two other giant flares in the past 35 years, and this December event was one hundred times more powerful."

Image/animation: Image 3: Radio data shows a very active area around SGR1806-20. The Very Large Array radio telescope observed ejected material from this Magnetar as it flew out into interstellar space. These observations in the radio wavelength start about 7 days after the flare and continue for 20 days. They show SGR1806-20 dimming in the radio spectrum.

Dr. Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., is lead author on a report describing the VLA observation, which tracked the ejected material as it flew out into interstellar space. Other key scientific teams are associated with radio telescopes in Australia, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, India and the United States, as well as with NASA's High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). A neutron star is the core remains of a star once several times more massive than our Sun. When such stars deplete their nuclear fuel, they explode -- an event called a supernova. The remaining core is dense, fast-spinning, highly

magnetic, and only about 15 miles in diameter. Millions of neutron stars fill our Milky Way galaxy.

Image/animation: Image 4: SGR-1806 is an ultra-magnetic neutron star, called a magnetar, located about 50,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.

Scientists have discovered about a dozen ultrahigh-magnetic neutron stars, called magnetars. The magnetic field around a

magnetar is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the moon. (Ordinary neutron stars measure a mere trillion gauss; the Earth's magnetic field is about 0.5 gauss.) Four of these magnetars are also called soft gamma repeaters, or SGRs, because they flare up randomly and release gamma rays. Such episodes release about 10^30 to 10^35 watts for about a second, or up to millions of times more energy than our Sun. For a tenth of a second, the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashed energy at a rate of about 10^40 watts. The total energy produced was more than the Sun emits in 150,000 years.

Image/animation above: Image 5: Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands. Swift is designed to solve the 35-year-old mystery of the origin of gamma-ray bursts. Scientists believe GRB are the birth cries of black holes.

"The next biggest flare ever seen from any soft gamma repeater was peanuts compared to this incredible December 27 event," said Gaensler. "Had this happened within 10 light years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere. Fortunately, all the magnetars we know of are much farther away than this."

A scientific debate raged in the 1980s over whether gamma-ray bursts were star explosions from beyond our Galaxy or eruptions on nearby neutron stars. By the late 1990s it became clear that gamma-ray bursts did indeed originate very far away and that SGRs were a different phenomenon. But the extraordinary giant flare on SGR 1806-20 reopens the debate, according to Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, who coordinated the multiwavelength observations.

Image/animation: Image 6: NASA's Swift satellite was successfully launched Saturday, November 20, 2004 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. A sizeable percentage of "short" gamma-ray bursts, less than two seconds, could be SGR flares, she said. These would come from galaxies within about a 100 million light years from Earth. (Long gamma-ray bursts appear to be

black-hole-forming star explosions billions of light years away.) "An answer to the 'short' gamma-ray burst mystery could come any day now that Swift is in orbit", said Swift lead scientist Neil Gehrels. "Swift saw this event after only about a month on the job."

Image left: High resolution, wide-field image of the area around SGR1806-20 as seen in radio wavelength, without a location arrow. Credit: University of Hawaii. Image right: A high resolution, wide-field image of the area around SGR1806-20 as seen in radio wavelength. SGR1806-20 can not be seen in this image generated from earlier radio data taken when SGR1806-20 was “radio quiet.” The arrow locates the position of SGR1806-20 within the image. Credit: University of Hawaii. Scientists around the world have been following the December 27 event.

RHESSI detected gamma rays and X-rays from the flare. Drs. Kevin Hurley and Steven Boggs of the University of California, Berkeley, are leading the effort to analyze these data. Dr. Robert Duncan of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Christopher Thompson at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (University of Toronto) are the leading experts on magnetars, and they are investigating the "short duration" gamma-ray burst relationship. Brian Cameron, a graduate student at Caltech under the tutorage of Prof. Shri Kulkarni, leads a second scientific paper based on VLA data. Amateur astronomers detected the disturbance in the Earth's ionosphere and relayed this information through the American Association of Variable Star Observers (http://www.aavso.org).

Image: SGR 1806-20 is a "magnetar": a rapidly spinning neutron star that not only has an incredible density, trillions of times greater than than ordinary matter, but an incredibly strong magnetic field. Tens of thousands of years ago, a "starquake" fractured the magnetar's surface. The result was an explosive release of energy, which sent a pulse of gamma rays racing across the

cosmos at the speed of light. Behind them came the explosion's fireball, expanding in a lopsided fashion at roughly one-third the speed of light. The gamma rays swept past the Earth on December 27, 2004, when they were detected by NASA's Swift satellite. That initial signal faded away within minutes. But then came a steady stream of radio waves from the fireball. Astronomers rushed to ground-based radio telescopes such as NSF's Very Large Array outside Socorro, New Mexico, where they have been studying the information-rich signal ever since. -3 A few years later an even more powerful explosion, 12 billion light years away, was reported Most Powerful Cosmic Explosion – Space Daily

3 Nasa

by Staff Writers Huntsville AL (SPX) Feb 24, 2009 Adam Goldstein's first day on the job tending the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) instrument on NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was a doozy. A graduate physics student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Goldstein was still learning the ropes the evening of Sept. 16, 2008, nearing the end of his 12-hour on-call shift when the GBM called his cell phone to signal that a burst had been detected. That in itself wasn't remarkable: GBM detects about one burst a day and it keeps Goldstein's cell phone number handy, along with those of the other GBM team members. This burst, however, lasted 23 minutes - almost 700 times as long as the two-second average for high-energy gamma-ray bursts. And that was just for starters. "I was in class the next morning when Alexander (van der Horst, a NASA post-doctoral fellow) called me up and told me the LAT (Fermi's Large Area Telescope) had found photons from that same burst," Goldstein recalls. "At the time, when you get a burst you oooh and aaah but it's not until you can sit down and do the spectral analysis that you know what you've found. And if another instrument looked at it, then you've got the chance to do some real science." The first significant gamma-ray burst detected by the LAT (Fermi was lifted into orbit in June), this burst bursts with superlatives. When the analysis of spectral data collected by a telescope on the ground was finished in November, the burst's "red shift" put its point of origin about 12 billion light years from Earth. (Seen from Earth it came from just below the star Chi Carinae in the southern sky.) When that distance is factored with the burst's brightness at the Fermi sensors, it becomes the most powerful gamma-ray event ever detected - four times as powerful at the source as the second strongest burst ever detected, said Dr. Valerie Connaughton, a scientist in UAHuntsville's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) and a member of the GBM team. "This is the most spectacular burst ever seen at high energy," she said. "If the event that caused this blew out in every direction instead of being a focused beam, it would be equivalent to 4.9 times the mass of the sun being converted to gamma rays in a matter of minutes."

The first significant gamma-ray burst detected by the LAT (Fermi was lifted into orbit in June), this burst bursts with superlatives. When the analysis of spectral data collected by a telescope on the ground was finished in November, the burst's "red shift" put its point of origin about 12 billion light years from Earth.

This theory-bruising burst is the subject of research published in "Science Express," the on-line scientific journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A collaborative effort by more than 250 scientists around the world, it is the first gamma-ray burst findings to be reported from the Fermi telescope. The day after the burst, when Goldstein learned that his first burst was noteworthy, he called his parents in Pineville, Missouri, to share the news that his dreams were coming to fruition. "The next day I talked to them when I found out what a big deal it was," said Goldstein, who is completing a catalogue of gamma-ray burst data from an earlier orbiting detector as part of his thesis research. "I have always wanted to work with NASA, so for me this is an ideal place to be." Goldstein's enthusiasm has spread to his family. One of the "honors" accorded a scientist when a burst is seen on his or her shift is the responsibility of writing a circular describing the burst's coordinates and characteristics for the Gamma-ray burst Coordinates Network (GCN). Since posting his description of the Sept. 16 burst, Goldstein said, his father Scott has taken to routinely checking the GCN to see if his son has posted anything new. The Sept. 16 burst is a theory bender because theories developed to explain gamma-ray bursts - believed to be the most powerful explosions since the Big Bang - don't "allow" some of the behaviors seen by the Fermi instruments. This includes the 23-minute duration. Roaring through space for 12 billion years tends to s-t-r-e-t-c-h waves of electromagnetic energy. Accounting for that stretching means the burst was a solid four minutes in duration when it was created. "It is difficult to imagine keeping a central gamma-ray 'engine' active for that period of time," said Dr. Michael Briggs, a CSPAR scientist and GBM team member. Another problem is in the energy itself. Most gamma-ray bursts start hot with high-energy gamma rays, then fade to progressively weaker rays. The Sept. 16 burst started "cool," with the high-energy gamma rays showing up almost five seconds later. That wasn't expected. And the burst had both high and low energy photons at the same time for about 200 seconds (also not expected), said Briggs. "It means everything that created both sets of rays happened in the same space at the same time, which is very difficult to explain."

After not quite three and a half minutes the cooler gamma rays became too weak to detect, but the high-energy rays continued for at least 20 more minutes. (It was still going when the burst moved out of the LAT's field of view.) If the cataclysmic cosmic event that caused the burst was fading away, why would the weaker gamma rays disappear while the strong ones stick around? Gamma rays are at the highest end of the energy spectrum, with as much as one million times as much energy per photon as X-rays. Gamma-ray bursts are believed to come from dying stars that explode or collapse, potentially releasing as much energy in a few seconds (or minutes) as our sun will generate in billions of years. Goldstein was the first (and is still the only) UAHuntsville graduate student to join the GBM team but several post-doctoral students have joined since the success of his first night, swelling the team to about ten. While the GBM instrument notifies team members and other scientists around the world when it detects a burst, someone has to be on-duty tending the instrument at all times. This responsibility is rotated in 12-hour shifts between the team in UAHuntsville's Cramer Hall and scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. – 4 Palaeontologists studying life forms before and after switch off’s and on’s claim that life almost disappeared, and when becoming abundant again, look quite different. Naturally, subterranean and sea life, especially deep sea life, are less effected than surface life. For now, the question is whether the sharp increase of the past few decades in cases of autism, and also cancer, can be provably linked to the dwindling electromagnetic field? No one doubts that exposure to cosmic rays are harmful. In fact, to find more suitable yeasts that can do more comprehensive fermentation of sugars yeasts were exposed to fluorescent light to cause indiscriminate mutations. The more beneficial are then selected, and so on until a suitable yeast is developed to be economically viable to the ethanol industry. Whether the link can be drawn beyond a trace of doubt between a seven hundred percent increase in new cases of autism, of which apparently some 17 % can be attributed to better diagnostic methods and an expanded definition for conditions included on the autism spectrum, and the decreasing electromagnetic field falls outside the field of the geomorphologist.

4 Space Daily, 24 Feb 2009.

There are some questions that need to asked though. For instance, in Belgium the line to the south of which skin cancer occurs more frequently, had been gradually moving further north. The impact is that budgets, such as the budgets of hospitals, have to be constantly adjusted further north to accommodate the more cases of skin cancer requiring treatment. In the Netherlands skin cancer is also on the increase, and each summer it seems as though the number of days on which ultraviolet warnings are issued, are on the increase. Generally, the increased number of warning days are linked to global heating, but as we saw earlier cosmoclimatologists believe global heating is at least partially affected by the interaction of the electromagnetic field and sun activity. Available literature, if combined, indicate a wide range of gene defects and mutations, as well as chromosome problems such as deletions, to be associated with conditions on the autistic spectrum. Some pop up in older literature, and others in later literature. In the year 2000 it was reported that a mutation of the HOXA1 gene in the 7th chromosome was detected in 40 percent of those on the autistic spectrum who were tested. This gene plays an important role in the early phase of brain development. Researchers believe however that this mutation, on its own, does not cause autism. It is interesting that Chromosome 7 is also the home for Williams Syndrome, and that both autism and Williams have cases of Savantism reported. Cases, however, where the same person has Williams end autism seem to be extremely rare. In contrast to Rett’s Syndrome, more boys than girls are effected by autism than girls. In 2005 a genetic mutation was detected in the 17Q21 area of the 17th chromosome, causing autism with boys, but apparently not effecting girls. Two years later a group of scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles announced the identification of a group of genes associated with autism. The variations noted were slight genome variations and deletion. Neurexin 1 on the 11th chromosome was amongst others implicated. Neurexin 1 is associated with the communication taking place between brain cells. In announcing the findings the hope was expressed that this may contribute to being addressed by gene therapy, noting successes with gene therapy on mousse with Rett’s Syndrome. In the report of 2000, the possibility of gene therapy for addressing the mutations of the HOXA1 was rules out, unless some other conditions were met concerning the understanding of how this effects the functioning of the brain. The latest available research indicates that most genetic variations associated with autism are to be found in the 15th chromosome, but they are also found in the 5th, 11th and 16th. Earlier findings, such as those of the 17th and 22 q deletion 13.3 on the 22nd are not mentioned in this report.

A gene associated with speech – as compared between humans, Neanderthal (not a direct ancestor of modern man but with a common origin) and chimpanzees, FOXP2, is also under investigation as a non autistic related cause for speech problems, but research is still in early stages. This may indicate that humans had the ability to speak s far back as 300 000 years, and not 50 000 years as previously thought. The following conditions are said to be associated with gene variations or mutations:

• Angelman syndrome • Fragile X syndrome • Isodicentric • Neurofibromatosis type 1 • Prader/Willi/Angelman syndrome • Rett-syndrome • Smith-Lemli-Optiz syndrome • Sotos syndrome • Subtelomere While we, as parents of autistic children are seeking answers, there are a host of parents who are looking for answers along similar lines. At this stage the news, as far as gene therapy as treatment for autism is not encouraging. There may be host of other factors which influence gene mutations as well, and one should not blindly stare to the sun and cosmos to seek answers. At this stage not al answers are found in the genes as well, and one should not rule out that some other trauma, socio-economic factor or diet may combine with the gene defects to cause autism related conditions. Another possible source for genetic deviations may be traced back to pollution. Some time ago, a paper by Dr, Anthony Turton, then of the CSSIR in South Africa was banned. As he read this same paper at some occasions previously, it was already on the internet and widely circulated. Among his references was the occurrence of deformities of animals born in areas of severe water pollution. More recently, it was reported that people with gender dualism were to be found in areas where malaria was combated by using DDT. The athlete around whose head a gender storm broke out after she won the World Championships 800 meter title for women also comes from such an area. For now, it seems, as though a cure for autism is some distance away, and nothing can be done to stop the earth’s electro magnetic field from stopping. We may compensate by doing our bit to keep the ozone layer intact, and we, as humankind, may stop pollution.

With autism already having increased by 700 percent, and this increased generation now heading for adult care centers, most certainly. Which country can afford 1 in 150 or even, as in the case of Britain, 1 in less than a hundred, in adult care centers – only counting those on the autistic spectrum? But do we have leverage to somehow force the governments of the world to invest in cleaner air and water, to assist in developing early diagnostic measures and the funding of early intervention programs? On average the cost to a government of a person who had no early intervention is around $10 million, but one third with early intervention. But very few parents can afford the required $50 000 for early intervention. Conclusion If autism can not significantly be prevented and it can not be cured in the foreseeable future, surely the daunting costs justify massive state assistance for early diagnosis (if not at birth through genetic tests at least before the age of two) and affordable access to early intervention programs. Many governments will not be able to even remotely cover these costs, and a special UN fund should be considered.