What's Inside A Cup Of Coffee?

Photo: Tim Morris

From Wired Science:

Caffeine
This is why the world produces more than 16 billion pounds of coffee beans per year. It's actually an alkaloid plant toxin (like nicotine and cocaine), a bug killer that stimulates us by blocking neuroreceptors for the sleep chemical adenosine. The result: you, awake.

Water
Hot H2O is a super solvent, leaching flavors and oils out of the coffee bean. A good cup of joe is 98.75 percent water and 1.25 percent soluble plant matter. Caffeine is a diuretic, so coffee newbies pee out the water quickly; java junkies build up resistance.

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Vital Embryo Research Driven Out Of Britain

Professor Justin St John, who has left the UK for Australia (left); Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, of the MRC, which turned down one licence-holder (right). REX

From The Independent:

Scientists abandon plan to develop stem cells after funding dries up.

All research involving the controversial creation of animal-human "hybrid" embryos has been refused funding in Britain and one of the three scientists licensed to carry out the work has left the UK for a job in Australia.

Every one of the three projects to develop embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos created by fusing human cells with animal eggs has now been abandoned, after publicly-funded research councils refused to back the studies aimed at developing new treatments for incurable illnesses ranging from heart disease to Parkinson's.

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Private Space Technology Powers Up

Photo: Rocket science: Franklin Chang Diaz (top) is a former NASA astronaut and founder of Ad Astra Rocket Company. The company has developed a prototype plasma rocket, the VX-200 (bottom), that recently achieved 201 kilowatts of power.
Credit: José Díaz, La Nación (top); Ad Astra Rocket Company (bottom)

From Technology Review:

Former astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz says the private sector can help NASA, and reckons he has the rocket to prove it.

In the coming weeks the Obama administration will decide the future of U.S. human spaceflight. A summary report by the committee tasked with reviewing NASA's current plans and providing recommendations suggests utilizing the commercial sector for unmanned, and perhaps manned, missions as a way to reduce government costs. Franklin Chang Diaz, a former NASA astronaut and founder and president of Ad Astra Rocket Company, agrees.

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Our Changing View Of The Moon

The first drawing of the Moon through a telescope, dated July 26, 1609, by Thomas Harriot. This crude but historic sketch roughly delineates the terminator, the line that marks the boundary between day and night on the lunar surface. The original image is a little more than 15 cm across. The dark patches correspond to Mare Crisium (at the top), Mare Tranquilitatis and Mare Foecunditatis. © Lord Egremont

From MSNBC:

The moon, so bright and large in the sky compared to other celestial objects, has captured the attention of humans at least since the dawn of consciousness. Over these eras, mankind's view of the moon has evolved, from the more mystical image of it as a god, to the thought it was covered in seas and vegetation. Most recently, it's been viewed as a dry and dusty wasteland.

Recent findings of water on the lunar surface could spur yet another shift in the way we see our orbiting companion.

The moon appears in early art thousands of years ago, showing that early man was as enthralled by its eerie glow as later philosophers and scientists.

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Gene Controlling Number Of Brain Cells Pinpointed

A new study suggests that a single gene, called GSK-3, controls the signals that determine how many neurons actually end up composing the brain. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of North Carolina School of Medicine)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 5, 2009) — In populating the growing brain, neural stem cells must strike a delicate balance between two key processes – proliferation, in which the cells multiply to provide plenty of starting materials – and differentiation, in which those materials evolve into functioning neurons.

If the stem cells proliferate too much, they could grow out of control and produce a tumor. If they proliferate too little, there may not be enough cells to become the billions of neurons of the brain. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have now found that this critical balance rests in large part on a single gene, called GSK-3.

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For Women, Sex And Happiness Go Hand-In-Hand

From Live Science:

Women who are sexually satisfied are also happier, no matter their age, a new study suggests. It's not clear which causes the other, however.

You might be thinking, "Duh, better sex makes for a better mood." But in science, thinking something is true doesn't make it so. "A lot of the things we make assumptions about have never been documented," said study researcher Susan Davis of the Women's Health Program at Monash University, Australia.

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Water Lust: Why All The Excitement When H2O Is Found In Space?

ELIXIR OF LIFE: Finding evidence of water in the solar system and beyond is an important signpost for the presence of life. Liquid water is a solvent, a medium and a catalyst for certain types of proteins, and essential to biological processes. © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

From Scientific American:

Mars, Europa, interstellar nebulae, and now even the moon all seem to be getting wetter with every observation. But what is it about this simple hydrogen-oxygen combo that makes it the sine qua non of finding extraterrestrial life?

When NASA announced last month the finding of water ice in several impact craters on Mars, and either water or hydroxyl widely dispersed on the moon's surface, the solar system became a little more familiar because it seemed a tad more hospitable to life as we know it on Earth.

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Mammoth Black Holes Push Universe To Its Doom

Speaking of black holes, what could be stranger?
Beyond a black hole's gravitational border -- or event horizon -- neither matter nor light can escape. Astrophysicists think dying stars about three to 20 times the mass of the sun can form these strange objects. At the center of galaxies, black holes about 10,000 to 18 billion times heavier than the sun are thought to exist, enlarged by gobbling up gas, dust, stars and small black holes.
What about mid-sized types? Perhaps surprisingly, evidence is both scarce and questionable for their existence.
Caption: Conception of a black hole pulling gas off of a nearby star. Credit: ESA/NASA

From New Scientist:

THE mammoth black holes at the centre of most galaxies may be pushing the universe closer to its final fade-out. And it is all down to the raging disorder within those dark powerhouses.

Disorder is measured by a quantity called entropy, something which has been on the rise ever since the big bang. Chas Egan and Charles Lineweaver of the Australian National University in Canberra used the latest astrophysical data to calculate the total entropy of everything in the universe, from gas to gravitons. It turns out that supermassive black holes are by far the biggest contributors to the universe's entropy. Entropy reflects the number of possible arrangements of matter and energy in an object. The number of different configurations of matter a black hole could contain is staggering because its internal state is completely mysterious.

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Unexpectedly, Cosmic Ray Intensity In Space Reaches Highest Level In 50 Years

Heliosphere Bubble The sun's weakening magnetic bubbles lets more cosmic rays
in to threaten space missions NASA

From Popular Science:

High cosmic ray levels may threaten future human missions to Mars.

Grab those tin foil hats, because NASA says that galactic cosmic rays have reached a record high for the space age.

A NASA probe found that cosmic ray intensities in 2009 had increased by almost 20 percent beyond anything seen in the past 50 years. Such cosmic rays arise from distant supernova explosions and consist mostly of protons and heavier subatomic particles -- just one cosmic ray could disable unlucky satellites or threaten astronauts in space.

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U.S. Trio Wins Medicine Nobel For Ageing Research

The statue of Alfred Nobel at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Photo AFP

From Reuters:

STOCKHOLM, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Three Americans were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine on Monday for the discovery of a built-in protection device in chromosomes, a finding that sheds light on ageing and may help in the fight against cancer.

Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn, British-born Jack Szostak and Carol Greider won the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.42 million), Sweden's Karolinska Institute said.

The institute said the three had "solved a major problem in biology", namely how chromosomes were copied completely during cell division and protected against degradation.

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More News On This Years Nobel Prize For Medicine

Excerpts from 2009 Nobel medicine prize -- AP
US trio win Nobel Medicine Prize for research on ageing -- AFP
Sharon Begley Predicts The Nobel Prize Laureates: Blackburn, Greider and Szostak Win For Telomeres Research -- Newsweek
Nobel Prize: Why Immortality Is a Bad Thing -- Wall Street Journal
Americans Win Nobel Medicine Prize For Insights Into Aging, Cancer -- NPR
U.S. trio wins medicine Nobel for ageing research -- Reuters
‘Immortality Enzyme’ Wins Three Americans Nobel Prize -- Bloomberg
Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to U.S. trio -- CBC
FACTBOX: Winners of the Nobel prize for Medicine -- Reuters
Recent winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine -- AP

Why Women Dominate Social Networking

From CNET:

Should you be one of those who believe that men are neanderthal, socially awkward hairy animals while women are socially aware, smoothly sensitive beings, then I have some statistics that might increase your estimation of your own superior judgment.

According to research by Brian Solis, sourcing his data from Google's Ad Planner, the majority of functioning beings on almost all social networking sites are women.

Published on Information Is Beautiful, the numbers might create an encouraging belief that if social networking is the future, then the future is female.

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Making Tsunamis

The terrible Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 was just the latest and greatest mega-wave to wash over the planet. It taught us a lot, however, though we have lots more to learn. Photo credit: NASA

From Discovery:

There are several ways to make the Earth's most deadly waves. We count the ways, explore the history and the science of tsunami making.

• Timeline: History's Worst Tsunamis
  The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 was one of the worst in history, but not the first time monster waves attacked. Humanity has a long and sad history of losing to tsunamis.
• Video: Evidence Links Asteroid to New York Tsunami
  Did an asteroid once roar through what's today one of the most densely populated place in the United States? Discovery's Jorge Ribas reports on the latest evidence and modeling.
• Slide Show: Top Six Ways to Make a Tsunami
  Larry O'Hanlon counts them off. Be happy if you are only exposed to one or two of these tsunami makers. Keep in mind: Almost no one is entirely free of the tsunami threat.

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Robot Fish Could Prevent Crashes

From The BBC:

Robots that mimic the behaviour of fish have been developed by Japanese car firm Nissan, who believe the technique can be used in crash avoidance systems.

The tiny robots, called Eporo, can move in a fleet without bumping into their travelling companions.

It is the second time the firm has looked to the animal kingdom for inspiration for its designs.

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Mitochondrial Death Channels

Figure 1. A 53-year-old patient experiencing sporadic discomfort undergoes a coronary angiogram. The results are ominous. Severe stenosis (narrowing) is visible in the pinched regions (top middle), indicating the buildup of fatty deposits within the artery. If a wandering clot blocks the pinhole opening of a nearly clogged vessel, a heart attack ensues. With bloodflow blocked, cardiac cells downstream are starved for oxygen, leading to drastic metabolic changes as the cells struggle to survive. The most important changes affect mitochondria, the powerhouses of cell metabolism. The inset shows mitochondria (orange) arrayed among cardiac muscle fibrils (blue), where they are positioned to supply a steady stream of ATP to contracting muscle. Under oxidative stress, the mitochondria can also release potent effectors that lead directly to apoptosis—cell suicide. The trigger for the opening of the so-called mitochondrial death channels is, ironically, the return of oxygen to starved tissue during reperfusion. Learning to control the activities of the death channels could vastly improve the outlook for heart attack victims.

Top image by Zephyr/Photo Researchers, Inc.; bottom image by Steve Gschmeissner/Photo Researchers, Inc.

From American Scientist:

In heart attacks, cells die if they aren’t perfused with fresh oxygen—and kill themselves if they are. Understanding cell suicide may greatly improve outcomes.

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in North America and Europe. More than 12 million people in the United States have coronary artery disease, and more than 7 million have had a myocardial infarction (heart attack). Chronic stable angina (chest pain) is the initial manifestation of coronary artery disease in approximately half of all presenting patients, and about 16.5 million Americans (more than 5 percent) currently have stable angina.

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Ancient Earth's Magnetic Field Was Structured Like Today's Two-pole Model

The well-exposed layering of basalt flows in formations near Lake Superior is aiding scientific understanding of the geomagnetic field in ancient times. Nicholas Swanson-Hysell, a Princeton graduate student, examines the details of the top of a lava flow. (Credit: Photo by Catherine Rose)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 3, 2009) — Princeton University scientists have shown that, in ancient times, the Earth's magnetic field was structured like the two-pole model of today, suggesting that the methods geoscientists use to reconstruct the geography of early land masses on the globe are accurate. The findings may lead to a better understanding of historical continental movement, which relates to changes in climate.

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Exercisers Drink More Alcohol

Live Science:

Here’s a question for your buddies at the next golf outing or bowling league night: Are we more active because we drink more or do we drink more because we’re more active? Recent research showed that there is a correlation between the two, but could not offer a solid reason.

Either way, another study claims the combination of moderate alcohol use and exercise will help our hearts more than just choosing one over the other.

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The Fashion Of The Future

If you want to know what the hot looks will be a decade further on,
don't ask a designer: talk to a scientist.

From The Telegraph:

As the dust settles after London Fashion Week, scientists and designers are working on the fashion of the future, says Raymond Oliver.

As London recovers from the glamour and glitz of its 25th annual Fashion Week, the haute couture caravan moves on from Milan to Paris. By the end of the trip, we should have some idea of the trends that will be making their way from catwalk to high street in the early months of 2010. But if you want to know what the hot looks will be a decade further on, don't ask a designer – talk to a scientist.

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A Whole New World: The Amazing Map Based On Population That Shows Britain Is Still A Big Player

(Click Image to Enlarge)
New world view: China and India are the big players in this population
based map as opposed to land mass

From The Daily Mail:

It is a world away from the world we know. But this is how the countries of the world look if maps are based on population size rather than land mass.

Academics came up with the startling images after throwing away 500 years of conventional cartography. The result was this very different global landscape.

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India's Thirst Is Making Us All Wet

From New Scientist:

ONE nation's thirst for groundwater is having an impact on global sea levels. Satellite measurements show that northern India is sucking some 54 trillion litres of water out of the ground every year. This is threatening a major water crisis and adding to global sea level rise.

Virendra Tiwari from the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, India, and colleagues used gravity data from the GRACE satellite to monitor the loss of continental mass around the world since 2002. Regions where water is being removed from the ground have less mass and therefore exert a smaller gravitational pull on the satellite.

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Windows 7 To Usher In Crush Of Cheap Laptops

Image: HP ProBook 5310m starts at $699: this class of business laptop used to start at well over $1,000. (Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

From CNET:

Call it the Netbook halo effect: small and cheap is infectious. A quick peek at the lineups of new laptops slated for an October 22 roll-out from Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba make it clear that the prices of mainstream and higher-end laptops are diving, even as the technology gets better.

"There's a new reality in laptop pricing," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at market-researcher IDC. "It's getting harder and harder to sell anything over $800." O'Donnell cited a data point that showed the average selling price of notebooks falling below desktops briefly in retail. "That may have been an anomaly, but the fact that's it's even close is indicative of this phenomenon."

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'Mini-Colosseum' Excavated in Rome

Ulysses: A statue of Ulysses, also known as the famous Greek epic hero Odysseus. A 'mini-Colosseum' that lies beneath an airport may have hosted Roman emperors. With the help of ground penetrating radar, the archaeologists have uncovered luxuriously decorated rooms, a colonnaded garden, and this finely carved marble head, among other artifacts. University of Southampton

From Discovery News:

Beneath Rome's Fiumicino airport lies a "mini-Colosseum" that may have played host to Roman emperors, according to British archaeologists.

The foundations of the amphitheater, which are oval-shaped like the much larger arena in the heart of Rome, have been unearthed at the site of Portus, a 2nd century A.D. harbor near Ostia's port on the Tiber River.

A monumental seaport that saved imperial Rome from starvation, Portus is now reduced to a large hexagonal pond on a marshy land owned by a noble family, the Duke Sforza Cesarinis.

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US 'Red Tape' Dogged India Moon Mission

From The BBC:

The recent discovery of water on the Moon by India's inaugural lunar mission almost never happened because of a twin helping of good old-fashioned red tape and lingering Cold War suspicions, reports science writer Pallava Bagla.

Hidden behind the euphoria of the find is a less publicised tale of complex back room dealings between Indian and American space science teams.

Back in 2004, scientists from the two countries were eager to collaborate, but the Bureau of Export Control in the US did not share this enthusiasm. In fact it was seen by some on the Indian side as being singularly obstinate.

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10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets

Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

From Slashfood:

There's a reason most restaurants keep the kitchen doors closed -- and it's not just because it's so hot back there.

It can be tough for restaurateurs to turn a profit and Slashfood has uncovered some of the ultra-dirty deeds even the best restaurants commit in order to pinch pennies.

Read on for 10 true stories about the subtle, sneaky and sometimes downright disgusting ways restaurants cheat to save a buck -- and how you might be paying the price.

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Hat Tip: Geek Press

How A Biofuel 'Miracle' Ruined Kenyan Farmers

Kenyan market vendors selling maize in Kagemi
Simon Maina / AFP / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Everyone in Kibwezi, a village in southeastern Kenya parched by four years of drought, remembers the promises. It all started in 2000, when the government started preaching the word about a plant called jatropha curcas. That surprised people in Kibwezi because everyone already knew about Jatropha — it's a weed. Sometimes people planted it to fence off their farms, but usually they just ignored it.

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Fantastic Photos Of Our Solar System

The robotic Cassini spacecraft which is now orbiting Saturn looked back toward the eclipsed Sun and saw a view unlike any other. CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

From The Smithsonian:

In the past decade, extraordinary space missions have discovered new features of the Sun, the planets and their moons.

We've been looking at other planets through telescopes for four centuries. But if you really want to get to know a place, there's no substitute for being there. And in the past decade, more than 20 spacecraft have ventured into the deepest reaches of our solar system. These probes, unlike the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories that merely orbit Earth, have actually traveled to other planets and approached the Sun, sending back pictures that humble or awe, even as they advance astronomers' understanding of our corner of the universe.

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Using Synthetic Evolution To Study The Brain: Key Part Of Neurons Modeled On Computer

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 3, 2009) — The human brain has evolved over millions of years to become a vast network of billions of neurons and synaptic connections. Understanding it is one of humankind’s greatest pursuits.

But to understand how the brain processes information, researchers must first understand the very basics of neurons — even down to how proteins inside the neurons act to change the neuron’s voltage.

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Drink From The Fountain Of Youth With A Grain Of Salt

From Live Science:

Two studies announced today could make you downright giddy with youthful optimism, but you'd be wise to take them with a grain of salt.

One says half of babies born in rich nations today could live to be 100, Reuters reports. The speculation is based on the idea that the recent historic rise in life expectancy could continue. Don't bank on it.

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How Can a Pregnant Woman Get Pregnant Again?

Ian Hooton / Corbis

From Time Magazine:

An Indonesian woman gave birth to a 19-lb. 2-oz. baby behemoth on Sept. 24, but that was only the second weirdest pregnancy tale of the month. The strangest belongs to Julia Grovenburg, a 31-year-old Arkansas woman who has a double pregnancy. No, not twins — Grovenburg became pregnant twice, two weeks apart. Isn't that supposed to be impossible?

Almost. There have been only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation. In Grovenburg's case, she became pregnant first with a girl (whom she has decided to name Jillian) and then two weeks later with a boy (Hudson). The babies have separate due dates — Jillian on Dec. 24, Hudson on Jan. 10.

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Fine Line Between Genius And Madness, Scientists Find

Vincent Van Gogh Photo: AP

From The Telegraph:

There is a fine line between genius and madness because they share the same genes, scientists have found.

Psychologists have discovered that creative people have a gene in common which is also linked to psychosis and depression.

They believe that the findings could explain why "geniuses" like Vincent van Gogh and Sylvia Plath displayed such destructive behaviour.

The gene, which is called neuregulin 1, plays a role in brain development but a variant of it is also associated with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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Bluehenge Unearthed: Prehistoric Site That Could Be Famous Stone Circle's Little Sister

The prehistoric circle has been named Bluehenge after the
colour of the 27 giant stones it once incorporated

From The Daily Mail:

Archaeologists have discovered Stonehenge's little sister - just a mile from the famous monument.

The prehistoric circle, unearthed in secret over the summer, is one of the most important prehistoric finds in decades.

Researchers have called it 'Bluehenge' after the colour of the 27 giant Welsh stones it once incorporated - but are now missing.

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Experts Call For Nobel Prizes To Be Revamped

Where's the prize for fighting climate change?
(Image: Science and Society Picture Library/Getty)

From New Scientist:

THE Nobel prize system needs an overhaul. That's the conclusion of a group of scientists brought together by New Scientist to debate the future of the prizes.

In a letter to the Nobel Foundation, published on newscientist.com on 30 September, the group suggests that the foundation should introduce prizes for the environment and public health, and reform the existing medicine prize. "These suggestions will enable the prizes to remain influential for another hundred years," the group says.

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Weird, Rare Clouds And The Physics Behind Them

From Wired Science:

In August, we posted a photograph of some odd, rare clouds known as Morning Glory clouds without providing an explanation for how they form. In response to reader interest, we followed up with meteorologist Roger Smith of the University of Munich, who has studied their formation.

“Over the years we’ve developed a good understanding of them,” Smith said. “It’s no longer a mystery, but still very spectacular.”

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'Hidden' Milky Way Caught On Camera

Herschel trains two eyes, Pacs and Spire, on our Galaxy's centre. European Space Agency

From The Independent:

New images of our galaxy today showed a small part of the milky way in a new light.

A British scientist involved in obtaining the pictures said they showed the galaxy in "a very turbulent process", constantly forging new generations of stars.

The images were produced by the Herschel Space Observatory using, for the first time, the UK-led Spire camera in tandem with the satellite's other camera, Pacs.

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The World's Growing Population Poses a Malthusian Dilemma

MALTHUSIAN DILEMMA: How to feed a human population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 while also grappling with poverty as well as climate change, dead zones, biodiversity loss and other environmental ills? © iStockphoto.com / Tobias Helbig

From Scientific American:

Solving climate change, the Sixth Extinction and population growth... at the same time.

By 2050, the world will host nine billion people—and that's if population growth slows in much of the developing world. Today, at least one billion people are chronically malnourished or starving. Simply to maintain that sad state of affairs would require the clearing (read: deforestation) of 900 million additional hectares of land, according to Pedro Sanchez, director of the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program at The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

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Russia Extends Human Cloning Ban

From RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has decided to extend a moratorium on human cloning that expired two years ago by five years, the health and social development minister said on Friday.

Tatyana Golikova said the moratorium, which ended on June 23, 2007, "only applies to human cloning."

It was not entirely clear why it was not prolonged at the time or whether any human cloning experiments had been carried out in Russia during the past two years.

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Quick Rebound From Marine Mass Extinction Event, New Findings Show

An artist's rendering of the asteroid impact that took place 65 million years ago and likely killed off nearly every large vertebrate species on the planet, including, many think, the dinosaurs. (Credit: Don Davis/NASA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2009) — In 1980, Luis Alvarez and his collaborators stunned the world with their discovery that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago probably killed off the dinosaurs and much of the the world's living organisms. But ever since, there has been an ongoing debate about how long it took for life to return to the devastated planet and for ecosystems to bounce back.

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Lamp Runs On Human Blood

A lamp that uses blood to create light is meant to make people rethink how they use energy. The lamp contains luminol, a chemical that reacts with the iron in blood and creates a bright blue glow. Credit: Mike Thompson, http://www.miket.co.uk/

From Live Science:

What if, every time you wanted to switch on a light, you had to bleed? Would you think twice before illuminating the room, and in turn, using up energy?

That's the idea behind the blood lamp, invented by Mike Thomspon, an English designer based in The Netherlands. The lamp contains luminol – the same chemical forensic scientists use to check for traces of blood at a crime scence. Luminol reacts with the iron in red blood cells and creates a bright blue glow.
To use the lamp, you first need to mix in an activating powder. Then, you break the glass, cut yourself, and drip blood into the opening.

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Viking 2 Came Close To Finding H2O

Photo: Just a little bit more: New evidence suggests Viking 2 just missed digging into Martian ice (Source: NASA)

From ABC News (Australia):

The NASA Viking 2 probe, which landed on Mars in 1976, may have come within centimetres of finding water three decades before it was eventually found.

The finding could result in scientists re-evaluating data collected by the spacecraft, which was sent to look for signs of life on the red planet.

"Oh my, oh my," says retired Viking scientist Dr Patricia Straat.

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World's Largest Wind Farm Churns in Texas

Photo: Wind turbines collectively offering a 781.5-megawatt capacity now dot the landscape around Roscoe, Texas. (E.ON Climate & Renewables)

From CBS News:

100,000-Acre Complex Holds 627 Turbines Capable of Generating Enough Juice To Power 230,000 Homes

(CBS/AP) The world's largest wind farm officially got up and running Thursday, with all 627 towering wind turbines churning out electricity across 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland.

The Roscoe Wind Complex, which began construction in 2007 and sprawls across four counties near Roscoe, is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes, the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America said.

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Report: Rocky Month For Upstart Bing

From Christian Science Monitor:

A new report shows Microsoft Bing lost some of its momentum in September, while Google expanded its dominance over the US search market – a rare ding for the scrappy young Bing.

According to the Web analytics firm StatCounter, Bing slipped from 9.6 percent of the market in August to 8.5 percent in September. Meanwhile, Google inched from 77.8 percent in August to 80 percent of the domestic market in September.

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Polar Bear Cub Hitches A Ride

From The BBC:

Arctic waters are at best chilly and at worst close to freezing.

Which may explain why a polar bear cub has recently been seen riding on the back of its mother as the bears swim across parts of the Arctic Ocean.

The cub then briefly rode her back as she clambered out of the icy water, a unique event photographed by a tourist.

Experts have rarely seen the behaviour, and they say the latest find suggests it may be a more common practice than previously thought.

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What Does A Star Sound Like?

The Big Bang A supernova like this would sound like 10 octillion two-megaton nuclear bombs exploding. Nasa/CXC/M. Weiss

From Popular Science:

Observing a star up close (putting aside for a moment how you’d get there or withstand its heat) is probably like sitting beside an enormous silent fire. Sounds—which are simply pressure variations in a medium such as air or water—can’t propagate in the vacuum of space, so the roiling surface of a star would make an impression on the eyes, but not the ears.

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How The Spaceship Got Its Shape

“Little Joe” capsules were the precursors of Alan Shepard’s Mercury spacecraft.
(NASA Langley Research Center)

From Air & Space Smithsonian:

In the 1950s Harvey Allen solved the problem of atmospheric entry. But first he had to convince his colleagues.

The cover of the March 22, 1952 issue of Collier’s magazine made an audacious promise. “Man Will Conquer Space Soon,” blared the headline, above a painting of a multi-stage rocket with engines blazing, bound for orbit. Designed by German rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, whose name was still unknown to most Americans, the Collier’s spaceship was a sleek, needle-nosed beauty; its winged third stage would be piloted to a runway landing. But it was all wrong.

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Today's Babies Could Live To 22nd Century

Babies born today have a good chance of making to 100 years of age, says a new study. Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

PARIS: More than half of the babies born today in rich countries will live to 100 years if current trends of life expectancy continue, says a study in the medical journal The Lancet.

In the 20th century, most developed countries saw an increase of around 30 years in life expectancy, according to the paper led by Kaare Christensen, a professor at the Danish Ageing Research Centre at the University of Southern Denmark.

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Protein That Enhances Long-term Memory By Controlling Rest Intervals Identified

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2009) — As most good students realize, repeated studying produces good memory. Those who study a lot realize, further, that what they learn tends to be preserved longer in memory if they space out learning sessions between rest intervals. Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have now discovered how this so-called "spacing effect" is controlled in the brain at the level of individual molecules.

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Only 3 Countries In The World Have More People Than Facebook

From Pingdom:

The Facebook phenomenon continues. Yesterday Facebook announced that it has a whopping 300 million active users.

Three. Hundred. Million. Users.

For some perspective on how huge that is:

* There are only THREE countries in the entire world that have a population of more than 300 million. Those are China (1.33 billion), India (1.17 billion) and USA (307 million).
* Russia has a population of 142 million. That’s not even half of Facebook’s user base.
* Facebook has almost five times as many users as the entire population of the UK (62 million).

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Scientists Discover What Makes The Same Type Of Cells Different

Cell-to-cell variability in clathrin-mediated endocytosis (green signal) is determined by local cell density. (Credit: Image courtesy of ETH Zurich)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2009) — A research team led by Lucas Pelkmans at ETH Zürich has managed to decipher a well-known phenomenon that had, until now, remained unexplained: why cells of the same type can react differently, and what the reason for this is.

The properties of a cell population determine the different cell activities observed in cells of the same type. This is the conclusion drawn by a research team lead by Lucas Pelkmans, professor at the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zürich.

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Paleo-Case Solved: Ancient Sharks Fed on Giant Reptile

This artist's rendering reveals what an ancient marine reptile called a plesiosaur discovered in Antarctica may have looked like. The plesiosaur described in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, though not the same species, also sported four fins and a long neck. Analyses of shark teeth embedded in the reptile's bones suggest a feeding frenzy of sorts once the reptile died. Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation.

From Live Science:

This artist's rendering reveals what an ancient marine reptile called a plesiosaur discovered in Antarctica may have looked like. The plesiosaur described in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, though not the same species, also sported four fins and a long neck. Analyses of shark teeth embedded in the reptile's bones suggest a feeding frenzy of sorts once the reptile died. Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation.

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Twitter CEO On The Future Of Twitter

Photo: Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (Twitter)

From CBS:

Co-Founder Evan Williams on New Innovations For Popular Networking Site.

(CBS) The co-founder of Twitter unveiled new innovations on the horizon for the popular social networking site, including user-generated lists to follow tweets from many originators on a particular subject, and geographical location datelines to show where tweets are coming from.

Evan Williams, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who co-founded Twitter, also said Twitter is working on a reputation validating system to address isues of credibility for the site. Twitter became a major newsmaker this year when Iranians sent tweets about the brutal Iranian government crackdown on protesters.

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Amazon Agrees To Kindle Suit Settlement

Photo: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

From San Francisco Chronicle:

Amazon.com has agreed that it won't remove e-books from U.S. users' Kindle electronic readers without their permission, as part of a proposed settlement of a lawsuit over the online retailer's deletion of a George Orwell novel from a high school student's e-reader.

Justin D. Gawronski, a 17-year-old student in Shelby Township, Michigan, sued Amazon after it erased copies of the Orwell works "1984" and "Animal Farm" from customers' Kindles in July. Gawronski's suit claimed removing "1984" from his Kindle made electronic notes he had taken on the e-reader useless. He was reading the book for an advanced placement course in which he had to turn in "reflections" on each 100 pages of text.

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