Asia Will Witness 21st Century's Longest Eclipse

The Sun’s corona, pictured from Siberia during a 2008 eclipse. Jay M. Pasachoff, William G. Wagner, and Hana Druckmülerová

From AP:

BANGKOK — Millions of people across Asia will witness the longest total solar eclipse that will happen this century, as vast swaths of India and China, the entire city of Shanghai and southern Japanese islands are plunged into darkness Wednesday for about five minutes.

Streams of amateur stargazers and scientists are traveling long distances to witness the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Astronomers hope the eclipse will unlock clues about the sun, while an astrologer in Myanmar predicts it could usher in chaos. Some in India are advising pregnant relatives to stay indoors to follow a centuries-old tradition of avoiding the sun's invisible rays.

Read more ....

Update: Solar Eclipse on July 22 May Be Most Viewed Ever -- National Geographic

Buzz Aldrin, First Man (To Pee) On The Moon

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin deploys a foil sheet for collecting solar particles near the Eagle lunar lander in July 1969. July 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Today Aldrin advocates a return to space targeted at Mars and other long-distance exploration missions. Apollo 11 photograph courtesy NASA

From National Geographic:

Buzz Aldrin may not have been the first man on the moon, but he's got another historic first under his belt, so to speak: first person to pee on the moon.

Marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing this month, the U.S. astronaut reflects on his moonwalk, his embrace of Twitter, his hopes for the future—and that hallowed lunar leak, accomplished on the lander's ladder, into a special bag in his space suit.

Read more ....

Update: Apollo 11 Facts: 40 Years Later -- National Geographic

Apollo Astronauts Bemoan State Of U.S. Space Program

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin (C) speaks at the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and his walk on the moon while at the NASA Headquarters in Washington July 20, 2009. From (L-R) David Scott (Apollo 15), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Charles Duke (Apollo 16). REUTERS/Larry Downing

From Reuters:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. investment in the Apollo space program, which landed men on the moon, paid off handsomely, unlike the $100 billion plowed into the International Space Station, Apollo's pioneering astronauts said on Monday.

""We opened the door to future of exploration by touching down on another body," Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, said at a press conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

The United States staged six successful missions to the moon between 1969 and 1972, then developed the space shuttles and later, the space station.

Read more ....

How Did Moon Travel Change Astronauts?

Photo: For some lunar astronauts, traveling to the moon led them to new spiritual and philosophical sensibilities and even new career paths. (Getty Images)

From ABC News:

For Some, Going to the Moon Became a Spiritual, Philosophical Event.

In the history of humanity, only 24 men have shared the experience.

Forty years ago today, the first of the two dozen astronauts to fly to or around the moon rocketed away from Earth to make history. Twelve had the chance to walk on the moon's surface, though only nine of those are still alive today.

When they returned to Earth, they were scientists and explorers with no peers, at the pinnacles of their careers.

But for some the adventure was so epic it changed the course of their lives. Inspired and transformed by seeing Earth shrink to the size of their thumbs, many let new philosophical and spiritual sensibilities guide them. Others chose entirely new career paths.

Read more ....

New Geothermal Heat Extraction Process To Deliver Clean Power Generation

PNNL's introduction of a metal-organic heat carrier, or MOHC, in the biphasic fluid may help improve thermodynamic efficiency of the heat recovery process. This image represents the molecular makeup of one of several MOHCs. (Credit: Image courtesy of DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — A new method for capturing significantly more heat from low-temperature geothermal resources holds promise for generating virtually pollution-free electrical energy. Scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will determine if their innovative approach can safely and economically extract and convert heat from vast untapped geothermal resources.

The goal is to enable power generation from low-temperature geothermal resources at an economical cost. In addition to being a clean energy source without any greenhouse gas emissions, geothermal is also a steady and dependable source of power.

Read more ....

Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Top Quotes From The Mission That Put Man On The Moon

Buzz Aldrin faces the camera as he walks on the Moon Photo: REUTERS

From The Telegraph:

Apollo 11 reached the moon's surface 40 years ago today with Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on board. Here are some key quotes from the mission that put the first men on the moon.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." President John F. Kennedy announces his intention to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of Congress on May 25 1961

"No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." John F. Kennedy explains his lunar ambitions in a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962

Read more ....

Laser Technology Creates New Forms Of Metal And Enhances Aircraft Performance

Photo: Dr. Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester stands in front of his femtosecond laser. (Credit: Walter Colley Studio)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — AFOSR-funded researchers at the University of Rochester are using laser light technology that will help the military create new forms of metal that may guide, attract and repel liquids and cool small electronic devices.

Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team of researchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shiny piece of metal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incredibly intense bursts of laser light. The black metal created, absorbs all radiation that shines upon it.

Read more ....

How Penguins & Seals Survive Deep Dives

Emperor penguins diving beneath the dive holes at the Penguin Ranch. Credit: Kathi Ponganis, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD

From Live Science:

My main research interest is physiology in extreme environments, particularly those with low levels of oxygen.

Animals that thrive in such "hypoxic" environments are ideal species to investigate for how their physiology responds. In addition, studying adaptations to hypoxia in animals at high altitude, during hibernation, or in diving environments may provide insight for understanding and treating human medical issues, such as heart attack and stroke.

Read more ....

2010: A New Space Odyssey Beckons

From The Independent:

The world is on the verge of new manned exploration of the solar system – and, this time, environmentalists are backing it.

This weekend, 40 years after man first landed on the Moon, more human beings than ever before are orbiting on a single spacecraft. In 1969, three men squeezed into Apollo 11's command module, a craft little bigger than a Mini.

Yesterday, the International Space Station, now as large as a four-storey house, yet speeding at 17,239mph, took on board the crew of the shuttle Endeavour: 12 men, one woman – seven Americans, two Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese and a Belgian. During a two-man space-walk, the crew added a four-ton porch – an outdoor shelf for experiments – to the station.

Read more ....

40 Years Later, Moon Still Giant Leap For Mankind

In this July 1969 file photo, Astronaut Edwin Aldrin walks by the footpad of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module. (AP/Photo, NASA, file)

From Yahoo News/AP:

WASHINGTON – The measure of what humanity can accomplish is a size 9 1/2 bootprint. It belongs to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. It will stay on the moon for millions of years with nothing to wipe it away, serving as an almost eternal testament to a can-do mankind.

Apollo 11 is the glimmering success that failures of society are contrasted against: "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we ..."

What put man on the moon 40 years ago was an audacious and public effort that the world hasn't seen before or since. It required rocketry that hadn't been built, or even designed, in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy declared the challenge. It needed an advance in computerization that had not happened yet. NASA would have to learn how to dock separate spaceships, how to teach astronauts to walk in space, even how to keep them alive in space — all tasks so difficult experts weren't sure they were possible.

Read more ....

July Eclipse Is Best Chance To Look For Gravity Anomaly

From New Scientist:

From remote observatories on the Tibetan plateau to a cave in a Shanghai suburb, Chinese researchers are poised to conduct an audacious once-in-a-century experiment. The plan is to test a controversial theory: the possibility that gravity drops slightly during a total eclipse.

Geophysicists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences are preparing an unprecedented array of highly sensitive instruments at six sites across the country to take gravity readings during the total eclipse due to pass over southern China on 22 July. The results, which will be analysed in the coming months, could confirm once and for all that anomalous fluctuations observed during past eclipses are real.

Read more ....

Man Who Went To The Moon And Came Back An Artist

A Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum handout photo shows former astronaut Alan Bean in front of his easel at his art studio in Houston, Texas

From Yahoo News/AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Forty years after Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the moon, the now 77-year-old former astronaut still likes to share his memories of space flight with a broad audience -- by painting them.

Bean decided to make the switch from astronaut to artist a dozen years after the Apollo 12 mission that took him to the moon in November 1969 and after spending two months in space in 1973 on board Skylab, and his souvenirs from both missions dominate his artwork.

When, at age 49, he dropped a bombshell on his bosses and colleagues at NASA, telling them that he was leaving to become a full-time painter, they wondered if he wasn't in the throes of lunacy.

Read more ....

Ecologist Brings Century-old Eggs To Life To Study Evolution

Daphnia neonate emerge from a dormant egg (Daphnia birth). Approximate size is 300 micrometers. (Credit: Photomicrograph by P. Spaak)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2009) — Suspending a life in time is a theme that normally finds itself in the pages of science fiction, but now such ideas have become a reality in the annals of science.

Cornell ecologist Nelson Hairston Jr. is a pioneer in a field known loosely as "resurrection ecology," in which researchers study the eggs of such creatures as zooplankton -- tiny, free-floating water animals -- that get buried in lake sediments and can remain viable for decades or even centuries. By hatching these eggs, Hairston and others can compare time-suspended hatchlings with their more contemporary counterparts to better understand how a species may have evolved in the meantime.

Read more ....

Arctic Mystery: Identifying The Great Blob of Alaska

An unknown blob floats in the Arctic Ocean off of
Alaska's North Slope. Ccourtesy North Slope Borough

From Time Magazine:

A group of hunters aboard a small boat out of the tiny Alaska village of Wainwright were the first to spot what would eventually be called "the blob." It was a dark, floating mass stretching for miles through the Chukchi Sea, a frigid and relatively shallow expanse of Arctic Ocean water between Alaska's northwest coast and the Russian Far East. The goo was fibrous, hairy. When it touched floating ice, it looked almost black.

But what was it? An oil slick? Some sort of immense, amorphous organism adrift in some of the planet's most remote waters? Maybe a worrisome sign of global climate change? Or, as folks wondered who followed from faraway via the internet, was it something insidious and, perhaps, even carnivorous like the man-eating jello from the old Steve McQueen movie that inspired the Alaska phenomenon's nickname?

Read more ....

'One Small Step For Man,' One Massive Rocket Project For Engineers

The historic flight lifts off July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center. Engines for the massive Saturn V rocket were developed and built in Southern California. AFP / Getty Images

From L.A. Times:

The young scientists who created the Saturn V rocket that powered Aldrin and Armstrong to the moon on Apollo 11 in July 1969 were the unsung heroes in the space race with the Soviet Union.

It wasn't a young president's brash promise that enabled Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to take those first halting steps on the lunar surface 40 years ago Monday. Nor was it the courage of the astronauts themselves.

The success of America's big bet in space depended on the ability of young, unheralded engineers to build rocket engines that were both powerful enough and reliable enough to wrench the spacecraft from Earth's jealous grasp and send it winging to the lunar surface.

Read more ....

Space Station Toilet Breaks Down

From The BBC:

The main toilet has broken down on the International Space Station (ISS), currently home to a record 13 astronauts, Nasa said.

Mission Control told the crew to hang an "out of service" sign until the toilet can be fixed.

The crew of the shuttle Endeavour is confined to using the craft's loo. ISS residents are using a back-up toilet in the Russian part of the station.

If repairs fails, Apollo-era urine collection bags are on hand, Nasa said.

"We don't yet know the extent of the problem," flight director Brian Smith told reporters, adding that the toilet troubles were "not going to be an issue" for now.

Read more ....

Update: Space Station Toilet Troubled -- Space.com

Why Winning Athletes Are Getting Bigger

Pictured are Jordan Charles, left, and Adrian Bejan. (Credit: Duke University Photography)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2009) — While watching swimmers line up during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, former Olympic swimmer and NBC Sports commentator Rowdy Gaines quipped that swimmers keep getting bigger, with the shortest one in the current race towering over the average spectator.

What may have been seen as an off-hand remark turns out to illustrate a trend in human development -- elite athletes are getting bigger and bigger.

Read more ....

Tough Microbe Has The Right Stuff for Mars

A micrograph of Methanosarcina barkeri cells embedded in an extracellular structure that resembles connective tissue found in bone cartilage. Credit: Kevin Sowers

From Live Science:

Biologists have found microbes that live in the hottest, coldest, driest and most unpleasant places on Earth. Many of these bugs don't adapt well to new surroundings, but one microbe is remarkable for withstanding a wide range of conditions. This quality might make this unique organism suitable for adapting to life on Mars.

This ultimate survivor is called Methanosarcina barkeri. It is found in freshwater and marine sediments, and other places where oxygen is scarce. Because it breathes out methane, researchers are interested to see if it — or some other "methanogen" — could be responsible for the methane that was detected in the martian atmosphere in 2003.

Read more ....

Expiration Dates

From Organize Your Life:

Certain items in your house practically scream “toss me” when their prime has passed. That mysterious extra white layer on the Cheddar? A sure sign it needs to be put out of its misery. Chunky milk? Down the drain it goes.

But what about that jar of olives or Maraschino cherries that has resided in your refrigerator since before the birth of your kindergartner? Or the innumerable nonedibles lurking deep within your cabinets and closets: stockpiled shampoo and toothpaste, seldom-used silver polish? How do you know when their primes have passed?

With help from experts and product manufacturers, Real Simple (http://www.realsimple.com/) has compiled a guide to expiration dates. These dates are offered as a rough guideline. The shelf lives of most products depend upon how you treat them. Edibles, unless otherwise indicated, should be stored in a cool, dry place. (With any food, of course, use common sense.) Household cleaners also do best in a dry place with a stable temperature. After the dates shown, beauty and cleaning products are probably still safe but may be less effective.

Read more ....

Hat Tip: Geek Press

19 Of The Top 20 Supercomputers In The World Are Running Some Form Of Linux

From Pingdom:

Operating systems on supercomputers used to be custom-made affairs, but this has changed. These days, Linux has become a popular choice for supercomputers. But how popular? You may be surprised.

Top500.org maintains a list of the fastest supercomputers in the world. A new list was published yesterday (it happens twice a year), so we took the opportunity to go through the list and find out what OS the top 20 supercomputers are using.

It took some work, but the results are interesting.

Read more ....