Barnes & Noble May Not Deliver Nooks Ordered Early in Time for Christmas

From Daily Tech:

B&N is trying "everything" it can to get Nook to buyers who ordered before Nov 20 on time

The eReader market is hot right now and the gadgets have become some of the most popular gifts to give this holiday season. That means some freshman offerings that are new to the market are very hard to find.

One of these new offerings is the Nook from Barnes & Noble. The Nook is an eReader that sells for $259 and sports the typical e-ink display for reading along with a color screen that is touch sensitive on the bottom for browsing the B&N digital bookstore.

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Space Station Crew Lands In Kazakhstan

From Space.com:

A Canadian, a Russian and a Belgian astronaut left the International Space Station and landed on the icy steppes of Kazakhstan Tuesday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Belgian astronaut Frank DeWinne, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk touched down in their Soyuz TMA-15 crew capsule at 2:15 a.m. EST (0715 GMT) after heavy parachutes slowed the craft's descent.

The landing went smoothly, though the subzero temperatures in Kazakhstan prevented helicopters from flying to retrieve the crew as usual. Instead, the Russian Federal Space Agency sent teams in all-terrain vehicles to recover the spaceflyers.

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'Global Surge' In Rhino Poaching

From BBC:

Rhino poaching around the world is on the rise despite efforts to protect the animals, a report warns.

The global surge in the illegal trade has been driven by demands from Asian medicinal markets, the study by conservationists concluded.

It suggests that a decline in law enforcement is the main reason for the rise in poaching in Africa.

The report found that 95% of rhino poaching in Africa since 2006 had occurred in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

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Copenhagen: The Era Of Climate Stability Is Coming To An End

A man rides his bicycle through the flood on River Street, Ballinasloe in County Galway which is under 3ft of water after the river Suck burst its banks. Photograph: PA

From The Guardian:

After 400 generations of stable weather, the world is on the brink of violent climate change. But there is good news too.

For about 10,000 years, our climate on Earth has been stable. Remarkably stable, in fact. Since the end of the last ice age, we humans have spent 400 generations taking advantage of this stability to build our civilisation.

We have had warm periods and little ice ages; but the changes have been small. We have always known pretty much when it will rain, what the temperature will be each summer and winter, and how high the rivers will flow.

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New Brain Connections Form Rapidly During Motor Learning

New connections begin to form between brain cells almost immediately as animals learn a new task, according to a new study. (Credit: iStockphoto)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 30, 2009) — New connections begin to form between brain cells almost immediately as animals learn a new task, according to a study published recently in Nature. Led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study involved detailed observations of the rewiring processes that take place in the brain during motor learning.

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Exercise Prevents Aging of Cells

From Live Science:

Exercise is known to have a bounty of health benefits that can ward off age-related diseases, but a new study shows that regular physical activity has an anti-aging effect at the cellular level.

The research found that intensive exercise prevents the shortening of telomeres — the DNA that bookends chromosomes and protects the ends from damage — much like the cap on the end of a shoelace.

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Antarctica Protected From Global Warming By Hole In Ozone Layer

From The Scotsman:

A HUGE hole in the ozone layer has protected Antarctica from the impacts of global warming, according to scientists.
The temperature across Antarctica has not risen over the past 30 years and there has been a 10 per cent increase in the amount of sea ice appearing during winter.

Climate change sceptics regularly cite the lack of warming in Antarctica as evidence
global warming is not happening.

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Buried Treasure

Face from a Coffin. Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, 1075-656 B.C. Coffin sculptures such as this were first covered with gesso as a primer before being painted. The gesso and most of the paint have worn off, revealing the wood underneath. Three thousand years later, you can still see the sculptor's hand in the carving marks.

From Archaeology News/Forbes:

The Brooklyn Museum scours its archives for a show on ancient Egypt.

Besides ensuring tourism and providing storylines for scores of feature films, the mystique of ancient Egypt also launched a specific sort of museum show that has become de rigueur for large institutions: the blockbuster. When the traveling exhibition Treasures of Tutankhamun came to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1979, it broke all the museum's previous attendance records and became famous enough to merit a spoof on Saturday Night Live.

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Is The Once-Stable Part Of Antarctica Starting To Melt?

From Discover Magazine:

Climate change doesn’t affect all places equally, and while Greenland and West Antarctica’s glaciers have started slipping into the sea at an alarming rate, East Antarctica was actually gaining ice. But now that could be changing, as a Nature Geoscience study done with data from NASA’s gravity-measuring satellites called GRACE suggests that the area could now be losing mass.

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Why Do NASA Launch Times Depend On Lighting Conditions?

The International Space Station photographed from Space Shuttle Discovery in March 2009. (NASA)

From The Air & Space Smithsonian:

It's all about the solar beta angle.

While it was a hydrogen leak on the pad that forced NASA to scrub the launch of space shuttle mission STS-127 on June 17, one main reason the agency had to wait several weeks to try again was something called a “solar beta angle cut-out.”

Solar what?

Before sending a shuttle aloft, mission planners carefully calculate the angle defined by its orbital plane around Earth and a line drawn from the center of Earth to the center of the sun. This “solar beta angle” changes constantly as Earth moves around the sun and the shuttle’s orbital plane precesses, or slowly shifts, due to the gravitational tug from Earth’s equatorial bulge.

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Astronauts Want A Next-Gen Ride 10 Times Safer Than The Shuttle

A Safer Space Ride NASA's next-gen Ares I-X test rocket launches
within sight of the aging space shuttle. NASA

From Popular Science:

Astronauts say the next crew launch vehicle should have disaster odds of just 1 in 1,000.

Spaceflight continues to represent one of the more extreme and hazardous undertakings for humans, even if it's just about getting off the ground. But the men and women of NASA's astronaut corps say that the U.S. space agency can improve on the odds that faced the doomed shuttle crews of Challenger and Columbia. Florida Today has obtained the documents that show just where NASA's astronauts stand regarding their next-gen vehicle's safety.

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Drowned Cities: Myths And Secrets Of The Deep

From New Scientist:

The idea that great cities, rich in forgotten knowledge and treasure, lie hidden beneath the sea holds immense appeal. Scarcely a year goes by without someone claiming to have found Atlantis. But what's really out there under the waves?

Jo Marchant looks at some of the sunken towns and cities discovered worldwide, and separates the facts from the myths.

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Solar Panel Costs 'Set To Fall'

The fall in cost is due to the increased lifetime, the institute says

From the BBC:

The cost of installing and owning solar panels will fall even faster than expected according to new research.

Tests show that 90% of existing solar panels last for 30 years, instead of the predicted 20 years.

According to the independent EU Energy Institute, this brings down the lifetime cost.

The institute says the panels are such a good long-term investment that banks should offer mortgages on them like they do on homes.

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Pictured: Amazing Images Of Polar Bear Called 'Coldilocks' Taking A Dip

How do you do? Coldilocks waves at the camera during a rare swim
at her enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo

From The Daily Mail:

Waving at the camera and kicking off a poolside in Olympic swimmer fashion - these captivating pictures give a revealing insight into the playful nature of majestic polar bears.

The award-winning images were taken by photographer Michael S. Confer after months of trying to get the perfect shot of Coldilocks the bear.

Intent on getting photographs of the 29-year-old beast underwater, patient Michael regularly visited the Philadelphia Zoo near his Armore home. But he returned home disappointed every time after months of visits.

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Big Freeze Plunged Europe Into Ice Age in Months

New research shows that switching off the North Atlantic circulation can force the Northern hemisphere into a mini 'ice age' in a matter of months. Previous work has indicated that this process would take tens of years. (Credit: iStockphoto/Trevor Hunt)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 30, 2009) — In the film The Day After Tomorrow, the world enters the icy grip of a new glacial period within the space of just a few weeks. Now new research shows that this scenario may not be so far from the truth after all.

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The Real Science And History Of Vampires

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart star in "New Moon," the latest production to take advantage of the eternal fascination with vampires. Credit: Summit Entertainment

From Live Science:

Vampires are everywhere these days. Last weekend, the new vampire film "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" broke box office records, taking in over $70 million and may end up being one of the largest openings in history. The film is based on the best-selling "Twilight" series, which of course joins a long list of other vampire-themed best-sellers dating back decades.

The public's thirst for vampires seems as endless as vampires' thirst for blood.

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Tiny Magnetic Discs Could Kill Cancer Cells

Tiny discs attach to the membranes of cancer cells and are then spun with an alternating magnetic field to disrupt the membrane. Credit: Nature

From Cosmos/AFP:

PARIS: Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.

The method uses a magnetic field a tenth as strong as used in previous efforts, and should have few side effects, the authors said.

Laboratory tests found the so-called ‘nanodiscs’, around 60 billionths of a metre thick, could be used to disrupt the membranes of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct.

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Do Hot, Dry Conditions Cause More African Civil Wars?

From Discover Magazine:

We’ve covered industries and species that climate change will affect, but is more war the next side effect of a warming world? A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ties warmer temperatures to higher incidence of civil wars in Africa. The scientists warn that the continent could see 54 percent more armed conflict—and almost 400,000 more war deaths—by 2030 if climate projections prove true.

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The U.S. Air Force's Space Shuttle

The Air Force hopes its unmanned X-37 (in taxi tests in 2007)
will take on some of the functions of the shuttle. (USAF)

Space Shuttle Jr. -- The Air & Space Smithsonian

After 2010, the only spaceplane in the U.S. inventory will be the Air Force's mysterious X-37.

It's been a long wait—in some ways, more than 50 years—but in April 2010, the U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the newest U.S. spacecraft, the unmanned X-37, to orbit. The X-37 embodies the Air Force's desire for an operational spaceplane, a wish that dates to the 1950s, the era of the rocket-powered X-15 and X-20. In other ways, though, the X-37 will be picking up where another U.S. spaceplane, NASA's space shuttle, leaves off.

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Danish Island Becomes One Of The First Energy-Self-Sufficient Places On Earth

A Self-Sufficient Energy Mix Wind turbines deployed in conjunction with solar energy and a series of furnaces burning straw and wood chips manage to heat and power the entire island of Samso with energy to spare. Harvey McDaniel

From Popular Science:

For centuries now, civilization has been working toward an unsustainable future, burning fossil fuels for heat and electricity and creating a way of life that is a model of inefficiency. The tiny Danish island of Samso is leading the way back to sustainability, becoming the one of the first industrialized places in the world to qualify as completely energy self-sufficient.

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