Stellar Blast Is Record-Breaker

The redness of the afterglow is indicative of the event's distance

From The BBC:

Astronomers have confirmed that an exploding star spotted by Nasa's Swift satellite is the most distant cosmic object to be detected by telescopes.

In the journal Nature, two teams of astronomers report their observations of a gamma-ray burst from a star that died 13.1 billion light-years away.

The massive star died about 630 million years after the Big Bang.

UK astronomer Nial Tanvir described the observation as "a step back in cosmic time".

Professor Tanvir led an international team studying the afterglow of the explosion, using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii.

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The Root of Thought: What Do Glial Cells Do?

Glial Cells

From Scientific American:

Nearly 90 percent of the brain is composed of glial cells, not neurons. Andrew Koob argues that these overlooked cells just might be the source of the imagination.

Andrew Koob received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Purdue University in 2005, and has held research positions at Dartmouth College, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Munich, Germany. He's also the author of The Root of Thought, which explores the purpose and function of glial cells, the most abundant cell type in the brain. Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Koob about why glia have been overlooked for centuries, and how new experiments with glial cells shed light on some of the most mysterious aspects of the mind.

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Muscle-Bound Computer Interface

Photo: Air guitar: Software interprets signals sent from electromyography sensors attached to a forearm, enabling the user to control computer games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Credit: Microsoft

From Technology Review:

Forearm electrodes could enable new forms of hands-free computer interaction.

It's a good time to be communicating with computers. No longer are we constrained by the mouse and keyboard--touch screens and gesture-based controllers are becoming increasingly common. A startup called Emotiv Systems even sells a cap that reads brain activity, allowing the wearer to control a computer game with her thoughts.

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Universe's Quantum 'Speed Bumps' No Obstacle For Light

Different wavelengths of light from a distant gamma-ray burst travel at the same speed, down to quantum scales (Illustration: NASA/SkyWorks Digital)

From New Scientist:

A hint that quantum fluctuations in the fabric of the universe slow the speed of light has not been borne out in observations by NASA's Fermi telescope. The measurements contradict a 2005 result that supported the idea that space and time are not smooth.

Einstein's theory of special relativity says that all electromagnetic radiation travels through a vacuum at the speed of light. This speed is predicted to be constant, regardless of the energy of the radiation.

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Robot Army Could Explore Space, Researchers Say

From Discover Magazine:

Instead of spending time and money planning a manned mission to Mars, why not send an army of robots into space to do all the work? A fleet of robots could be deployed to explore far-away planets, according to researchers at Caltech’s Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory.

From the Telegraph:

Robotic airships and satellites will fly above the surface of the distant world, commanding squadrons of wheeled rovers and floating robot boats…The systems will transform planetary exploration, says [Wolfgang] Fink, who envisages the cybernetic adventurers mapping the land and seascapes of Saturn’s moon, Titan—believed to have lakes of standing liquid—as well as closer planetary neighbors like Mars.

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How California's New Water Laws Inform the Coming National Crisis

An old tire lies on a dry stretch of the San Joaquin River below Gravelly Ford, near Mendota in Fresno County. (Photograph by Michael Macor/The Chronicle)

From Popular Mechanics:

California has its share of problems these days; the state carries billions of dollars in debt, drug cartels have made their way in from Mexico and the wild fire season came and went with great force. As if the governor didn't have enough on his plate, California is also in the midst of one of the biggest water crises this nation has ever seen. Farmers and fishing communities, businesses and a growing population are locked in a battle over water rights—scrambling for what has become a dwindling resource. To stop the problem, a task force has studied the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta for two years and came up with dozens of proposals to alleviate the water crisis. Here are six of the most prescient proposed items—problems and solutions that may be coming to a local assembly (or a courthouse) near you.

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Globalization: Diseases Spreading From Humans To Animals, Study Finds

Staphylococcus aureus.
(Credit: Agricultural Research Service / United States Department of Agriculture)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 28, 2009) — Globalisation and industrialisation are causing diseases to spread from humans to animals, a study has shown.

Researchers from The Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh have shown that a strain of bacteria has jumped from humans to chickens.

It is believed to be the first clear evidence of bacterial pathogens crossing over from humans to animals and then spreading since animals were first domesticated some 10,000 years ago.

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Why Halloween Terrifies Some Kids

About one out of every 100 kids suffers from phobia of costumed characters. Typically, the fear is rooted in a sense that some harm or danger is going to come from this thing they do not understand. Image credit: stockxpert

From Live Science:

The pitter-patter of little feet running from door to door this Halloween, dressed to the nines in their creepiest costumes sounds, like good old-fashioned fun.

But for some kids, the ghosts, goblins and witches are more terrifying than many adults realize. While mild fear of some costumed character, say Santa Claus, is normal for kids, extreme fears that keep children from going trick-or-treating or to a party at Chuck E. Cheese's, where the man-size mouse could give them a fright, are called phobias.

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Fastest Supercomputer in the World Models Dark Matter, HIV Family Tree Simultaneously

Los Alamos' Road Runner Super Computer Meep meep. courtesy of the Department of Energy

From Popular Science:

Petaflop power in action.

In November of last year, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory switched on Roadrunner, the world's fastest computer. IBM and the Department of Energy built the machine to model nuclear explosions, but two new studies, both released today, are proof that the computer's massive power has been at least as devoted to peaceful science as to simulating thermonuclear weapons.

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Detecting Life-Friendly Moons

The astronaut Buzz Aldrin inhabiting the moon on July 20, 1969,
during the Apollo 11 mission. Credit: NASA

From Astrobiology Magazine:

Forty years ago, the Apollo astronauts traipsed across our Moon, making it "inhabited" for the first time – albeit for only two and half hours. A bona-fide habitable moon has never been found, but astronomers are considering how we might find one around distant stars.

"I think exomoons are just as interesting as exoplanets," says David Kipping of University College London.

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Astronomical Artifact: Most Distant Object Yet Detected Carries Clues From Early Universe

A false-color image from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii shows the afterglow of GRB 090423 [circled], the most distant astronomical event yet observed. Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA, D. Fox and A. Cucchiara (Penn State University) and E. Berger (Harvard University)

From Scientific American:

A stellar explosion spotted in April took place 13 billion years ago.

A violent explosion picked up by a NASA satellite earlier this year is the oldest object ever seen by astronomers, its light having been emitted some 13 billion years ago. At that time the universe was roughly 5 percent of its present age and the big bang was a fairly recent occurrence, having taken place just 600 million years earlier.

NASA's Swift Gamma-Ray Burst spacecraft spotted the flash signaling a massive stellar explosion on April 23. The explosion was officially designated GRB 090423, after its type (a gamma-ray burst) and date of detection; the space agency quickly announced it as the new record holder for cosmic distance. Now, two papers in the October 29 Nature present detailed analyses of the burst and afterglow, confirming the initial distance assessments and providing a few clues as to conditions in the early universe.

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High-Energy Batteries Coming To Market

Photo: Battery unpacked: This graphic illustrates the multilayered structure of a ReVolt rechargeable zinc-air battery. From top to bottom: the battery cover, which lets in air; a porous air electrode; the interface between electrodes; the zinc electrode; the casing. Credit: ReVolt

From Technology Review:

Rechargeable zinc-air batteries can store three times the energy of a lithium-ion battery.

A Swiss company says it has developed rechargeable zinc-air batteries that can store three times the energy of lithium ion batteries, by volume, while costing only half as much. ReVolt, of Staefa, Switzerland, plans to sell small "button cell" batteries for hearing aids starting next year and to incorporate its technology into ever larger batteries, introducing cell-phone and electric bicycle batteries in the next few years. It is also starting to develop large-format batteries for electric vehicles.

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Swine Flu: Eight Myths That Could Endanger Your Life

(Image: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty)

From New Scientist:

The second wave of the swine flu pandemic is now under way in the northern hemisphere. Case numbers are climbing fast and in some places vaccination has begun.

So what's the big deal? The virus hasn't evolved into the monster that some feared and most cases are mild. Were all those pandemic warnings just scare-mongering?

Perhaps, but the Butcher family of Southampton, UK, wouldn't say so. In August, their daughter Madelynne, 18, became sick and short of breath after returning from a holiday. Two weeks later, she died in hospital.

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Cosmic Rays Speed Up Tree Growth

The researchers studied the growth of Sitka spruce forests in Scotland.
Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: Cosmic rays, which constantly strike the Earth and are regulated by the solar wind, may influence how fast trees grow, according to British research.

The study, published in the journal New Phytologist looked at the factors that influence the growth of Sitka spruce trees (Picea sitchensis) felled in the Forest of Ae in Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

Trees grow faster during summer when there is increased solar radiation. But other factors, such as cloud cover and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, can also influence tree growth.

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Daylight Savings Time 2009: When And Why We Fall Back

From National Geographic:

When is the big daylight saving time (often called daylight savings time) switchover in autumn 2009?

Why do we fall back in the first place? (Hint: A lot of 18th-century train passengers, among others, suffered for your extra hour of sleep this weekend.)

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Rooting for NASA's Ares I Rockets: Analysis

From Popular Mechanics:

A week of spaceflight tests, large and small, reminds us why NASA’s much maligned launch vehicle is important. If it fails, we lose the moon.

This week, all eyes were on NASA as it conducted the first flight of the Ares I, the first launch vehicle the agency designed since the Space Shuttle. October also witnessed progress in other space launches, some of which are seen as possible replacements for the towering NASA rocket. But a comparison of the milestones met in the last two weeks shows why NASA’s Constellation program remains important, and is exceedingly difficult to replace.

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The Ares Lift-Off: Learning From Space Shuttle Mistakes

From Time Magazine:

With the future of the space agency up in the air, NASA can certainly use the good P.R. that will flow from Wednesday's picture perfect test launch of its Ares I-X prototype rocket which is being designed to replace the aging Space Shuttle and ignite a new era in human space exploration. Mission managers took quick advantage of changing weather conditions to blast the rocket through a small hole in upper level clouds passing briefly over Launch Pad 39B.

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Junk DNA Mechanism That Prevents Two Species From Reproducing Discovered

When two populations of a species become geographically isolated from each other, their genes diverge from one another over time. Eventually, when a male from one group mates with a female from the other group, the offspring will die or be born sterile, as a cross between a horse (left) and a donkey (right) produce a sterile mule. At this point, they have become two distinct species. (Credit: iStockphoto)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 27, 2009) — Cornell researchers have discovered a genetic mechanism in fruit flies that prevents two closely related species from reproducing, a finding that offers clues to how species evolve.

When two populations of a species become geographically isolated from each other, their genes diverge from one another over time.

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Volcanic Eruptions Caused Ancient Warming And Cooling

Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey; Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, August 10, 2002

From Live Science:

Volcanic eruptions were responsible for a deadly ice age 450 million years ago, as well as — in an ironic twist — a period of global warming that preceded it, a new study finds.

The finding underscores the importance of carbon in Earth's climate today, said study researcher Matthew Saltzman of Ohio State University.

The ancient ice age featured glaciers that covered the South Pole on top of the supercontinent of Gondwana (which would eventually break apart to form the present-day continents of the southern hemisphere). Two-thirds of all species perished in the frigid climate.

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In Germany, A Better Vaccine For Politicians?

Andreas Rentz / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Critics are calling it a two-tier health system — one for the politically well connected, another for the hoi polloi. As Germany launched its mass-vaccination program against the H1N1 flu virus on Monday, the government found itself fending off accusations of favoritism because it was offering one vaccine believed to have fewer side effects to civil servants, politicians and soldiers, and another, potentially riskier vaccine to everyone else. The government had hoped that Germans would rush to health clinics to receive vaccinations against the rapidly spreading disease, but now rising anger over the different drugs may cause many people to shy away.

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