Escaping Ions Explain The Mystery Of Venus

The 2004 Venus in situ exploration mission aimed to collect information about the extreme atmospheric conditions that render the planet very different from Earth. Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

ASHLAND, OREGON: The difference in the escape velocities of ions may help to explain why Venus isn’t more like Earth, scientists say, and it may come down to a planet’s core.

Oxygen and hydrogen ions in Venus’s atmosphere do not behave the same when exposed to the solar wind, according to scientists at the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki.

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Are You Ready For A World Without Antibiotics?

Streptococcus pyrogens bacteria. Photograph: S Lowry/University of Ulster/Getty Images.

From The Guardian:

Antibiotics are a bedrock of modern medicine. But in the very near future, we're going to have to learn to live without them once again. And it's going to get nasty.

Just 65 years ago, David Livermore's paternal grandmother died following an operation to remove her appendix. It didn't go well, but it was not the surgery that killed her. She succumbed to a series of infections that the pre-penicillin world had no drugs to treat. Welcome to the future.

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Hubble Harvests Distant Solar System Objects

This is an artist's concept of a craggy piece of Solar System debris that belongs to a class of bodies called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Astronomers culling the data archives of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have added 14 new TNOs to the catalog. The newfound TNOs range from 25 to 60 miles (40-100 km) across. Their method promises to turn up hundreds more. In this illustration, the distant Sun is reduced to a bright star at a distance of over 3 billion miles. (Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI))

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2010) — Beyond the orbit of Neptune reside countless icy rocks known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). One of the biggest, Pluto, is classified as a dwarf planet. The region also supplies us with comets such as famous Comet Halley. Most TNOs are small and receive little sunlight, making them faint and difficult to spot.

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How Mosquitoes Find A Tasty Host

From Live Science:

Prepare to be bugged out of your minds, citizens of Earth, because I've got a new scheme that I’m just itching to unleash: I'm going to attract a swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitoes to the next Nobel Prize ceremony, and watch as the dignitaries scratch themselves crazy. Aren't I repellent?

"But how," you’ll bravely ask, "how do you intend to attract so many mosquitoes to the icy-cold nation of Sweden?" An intelligent question, but the answer is elementary: I shall make use of the newest in olfactory research from Vanderbilt University, where scientists are unraveling the secrets behind mosquitoes' sense of smell. They may soon be able to explain how mosquitoes are able to track down their blood-feasts.

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Meet The Men Whose Job Was To Photograph Nuclear Explosions

ZERO HOUR Milliseconds after the image at left, the vehicles beneath the fireball were obliterated. "How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb"

The Bomb Chroniclers -- New York Times

They risked their lives to capture on film hundreds of blinding flashes, rising fireballs and mushroom clouds.

The blast from one detonation hurled a man and his camera into a ditch. When he got up, a second wave knocked him down again.

Then there was radiation.

While many of the scientists who made atom bombs during the cold war became famous, the men who filmed what happened when those bombs were detonated made up a secret corps.

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My Comment: I always wondered about the men who photographed nuclear explosions .... the risks and dangers that they took each time that they were at an above nuclear test. Well .... now I know.

As to how many photographers are left ....

..... As for the atomic cameramen, there aren’t that many left. “Quite a few have died from cancer,” George Yoshitake, 82, one of the survivors, said of his peers in an interview. “No doubt it was related to the testing.”

Gadgets Give A Taste Of Home For The Soldiers In Afghanistam

Lance Cpl. Oscar Cedeno, of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, watches episodes of the television show Heroes on a broken HP laptop during downtime at his patrol base. Downrange can be a tough environment for laptops that get bumped, dropped, and filled with dust and dirt. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com

Gadgets Give Soldiers In Afghanistan A Slice Of Home -- The Danger Room

The heat and the dust and the diesel fumes. The constant drone of the generators, of vehicles, of radio static. The same food everyday, the same meal in the same brown plastic bag. The constant danger and uncertainty. The confusion, wonder and consequences waiting for you outside the wire.

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My Comment: I own a small and isolated chalet that is in the bush and north of Montreal. On weekdays, everyone leaves and the closest person is a few kilometers away. I never feel alone .... my gadgets, internet, and satellite TV gives me an environment that tells me that I am in civilization, and everyone that I know is only a short distance away.

Nothing can be further from the truth .... but it is an illusion that you only become sensitive to when you think about it. For the soldiers in Afghanistan they are probably in the same type of environment .... but when they go outside the wire .... a very different reality sets in.

Military Robots Converted For Civilian use

(Photo by Synexxus, Inc.)

7 Military Robots, Now Modified for Your Living Room -- Popular Science

Dozens of robotics companies are customizing military robots with gear like interchangeable tools, 3D radar vision and voice controls. The resulting bots, tested and refined in the field, may soon find their way into homes, gardens and places of work near you. Here's how.

Give the world a new electronic device and, before you know it, modified products will pop up. Such is the way with gadgets, electronics and, yes, robots. Some manufacturers try to lock down such mods, either physically or through legal channels, but the robotmakers at iRobot have embraced crowd sourcing. Their Robot Developers Kit provides the hardware and software to help developers make their own upgrades and add-ons for the military PackBots that they produce. More than 80 companies are now involved, creating an avalanche of new concepts that could find their way into the domestic robot market. Here's a look.

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The Future Of Air Travel?

You Can Flex Your Quads In Flight! This new airplane seat is designed to mimic the incredibly comfortable experience of riding a horse. via USA Today

Please, Don't Let This Be the Future of Air Travel: Slouching toward JFK -- Popular Science -- Popular Science

On your last flight, did you stare with envy at the people sitting in the exit row? Did you get a charley horse from trying to cross your legs under your tray table? Consider yourself lucky, pal. Your next budget flight might ask you to fly horseback style, squeezed onto a saddle in just 23 inches of space.

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Stephen Fry Autobiography Is ‘Publishing First’

The enhanced ebook version of Stephen Fry's autobiography, The Fry Chronicles, features additional videos and photos

From The Telegraph:

'The Fry Chronicles', Stephen Fry’s new autobiography, has been launched simultaneously as an ebook, hardback novel and iPhone app

Fry, who is well known for his love of technology, has embraced multiplatform publishing for his new book, The Fry Chronicles, which documents his life from his time at university to his first experiences of acting.

The autobiography is available in traditional hardback format for £20, while the ebook costs £12.99. An app, designed for Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad costs £7.99.

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A Motorised Skateboard That Looks Like A Tank

Coming To A Battlefield Soon: The Incredible Motorised Skateboard That Looks Like A Tank -- The Daily Mail

It looks like the cross between a small tank, a Segway and a skateboard.

But this odd-looking contraption is being touted as the next must-have vehicle for U.S. soldiers in warzones.

The DTV Shredder can handle any kind of terrain at high speed and its low centre of gravity ‘makes it ideal for reconnaissance, rescue/recovery, mobile surveillance, and medical evacuation operations’, it is claimed.

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My Comment: OK .... I am impressed. My nephew now wants to get his hands on one of them.

CrackBerries And Games Addicts: Beware An Internet Hit

Just 10 more minutes (Image: Bay Ismoyo/Getty)

From New Scientist:

WHEN does our predilection for internet technology cross over into harmful, addictive behaviour? It's a question that is taxing law-makers and health professionals.

For some, the idea that technology can be addictive is simply wrong-headed (see "User or abuser?"). That notion may soon be tested in the American courts. Last month, 51-year-old Craig Smallwood, an online gamer, was given leave by a court in Hawaii to proceed with a lawsuit against NC Interactive, complaining that he received insufficient warnings regarding the alleged "addictiveness" of its online game Lineage II, which he claims to have spent 20,000 hours playing since 2004.

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Triangular Blue Diamond Expected to Draw $15 Million

Photo credit: Christie's Images LTD.

From Discovery News:

The auction house, Christie's will soon be offering a two-stone ring featuring an extremely rare triangular-shaped blue diamond paired with a white diamond on a gold band. The auction for the BVLGARI diamonds could bring a cool $15 million.

The 10.95-carat blue diamond is the largest of its kind ever to come to auction, according to Christie's.

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Ancient Viral Invasion Shaped Human Genome

Scientists have discovered that viruses that "invaded" the human genome millions of years ago have changed the way genes get turned on and off in human embryonic stem cells. (Credit: iStockphoto/Martin McCarthy)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2010) — Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and their colleagues from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Princeton University have recently discovered that viruses that 'invaded' the human genome millions of years ago have changed the way genes get turned on and off in human embryonic stem (ES) cells.

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Vampire Books Like 'Twilight' May Be Altering Teen Minds

The cover of "Twilight," a young-adult vampire novel by Stephenie Meyer. Credit: Little, Brown

From Live Science:

It's a potentially sucky situation. The vampire craze in teen literature – exemplified by the "Twilight" book series – could be affecting the dynamic workings of the teenage brain in ways scientists don't yet understand.

"We don't know exactly how literature affects the brain, but we know that it does," said Maria Nikolajeva, a Cambridge University professor of literature. "Some new findings have identified spots in the brain that respond to literature and art."

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Researcher: Narcissism's Alive And Well On Facebook

From The CBS:

How many times have you logged onto Facebook only to find that (fill in the name here) has updated their page for the upteenth time with yet another entirely forgettable, wonder of me moment?

It would be easy to assume from the anecdotal evidence that a legion of insufferable narcissists has found the perfect sounding board. But maybe it's not just your impression.

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Huge Growth At UKs Largest Wind Farm

Image: Generating capacity at Whitelee will increase by more than two thirds

From The BBC:

A massive expansion is to take place at Europe's largest onshore wind farm, which is situated in East Renfrewshire.

ScottishPower Renewables is to add another 75 turbines to Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor by 2012.

This will bring the number of turbines on site to 215 - raising electricity generating capacity by two thirds.

The 140 turbines currently at the wind farm, to the south of Glasgow, can produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes.

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With China Clamping Down On Rare-Earth Metals, Japanese Manufacturers Devise Clever Alternatives

Rare-Earths China produces the vast majority of the world's rare-earth oxides. Wikimedia Commons

From Popular Science:

If necessity is the mother of invention, maybe China is the wicked stepmother. In an effort to thwart Chinese restrictions on rare-earth metal exports, Japanese manufacturers have developed technology that can make motors without them.

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Finding A Bargain Feels As Good As Sex

Photo: Eddie Mulholland

From The Telegraph:

Retail therapy is often said to make up for a poor love life – and now new research has shown why.

A study has discovered that shoppers get the same level of emotional excitement from special offers as they do from sexual arousal.

Researchers have found that bargains make us so deliriously happy that the brain is turned on to the same level excitement that it gets from sex.

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Age Of Terminators Comes A Step Closer As Scientists Invent 'E-Skin' That Could Give Robots A Sense Of Touch

Photo: An artist's illustration of an artificial e-skin covering a hand. The finished product would give incredible touch and sensitivity

From The Daily Mail:

Scientists have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic skin which could one day be used to restore touch to patients who have prosthetic limbs.

The material, dubbed e-skin, is made from semiconductor nanowires made from silicon.

More sinister, however, is the prospect of the invention lending robots the ability to adapt the amount of roce needed to hold and manipulate objects.

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Nobel Physicist: Building Hubble's Heir In Deep Space

(Image: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham/Emmett Given)

From New Scientist:

When the James Webb Space Telescope unfurls its mirror a million and a half kilometres out in space four years from now, it will be the culmination of nearly two decades of planning by John Mather. He tells Anil Ananthaswamy about the challenges of building an heir to the stunningly successful Hubble Space Telescope

Why do we need the James Webb Space Telescope, when Hubble is still up there?

The short answer is that Hubble has tantalised us by showing us signs of things that would be really exciting to know about, but are just beyond its reach.

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