How To Use Your iMac As A Second Screen

The 17in iMac on display at Macworld 2002 in New York.
(Photograph by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

From Popular Mechanics:

Can you use your iMac's built-in monitor as a second screen for another computer? The answer is yes. Here's how.

Q:
My iMac has a built-in monitor. Is there a way of using this as a second screen for another computer?

A:
When it comes to screen space, you can never go overboard. Large monitor and multiscreen set-ups make it easy to multitask, and have been shown by a number of studies to boost productivity. It’s a shame, then, that Apple doesn’t build video input jacks into its iMacs—these all-in-one computers have a built-in monitor, and it’d be nice to be able to use it with other systems. This would be particularly useful for laptop users looking for a way to expand screen space when they aren’t on the road.

But even without an input jack, you can still put an iMac to work as an external monitor for another com­puter. You’ll need a program called ScreenRecycler, which employs what is called the VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, protocol. VNC is usually used as a way to allow one computer to remotely access and control ­another, but ScreenRecycler uses it to turn the second computer into an adjunct monitor. Note, though, that while the second screen can come from any type of computer (even a laptop), the com­puter you’re working on has to be a Mac.

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A Reprogrammable Space Probe Design For Mission Multitasking in Orbit

The Juno Space Probe: Honest to blog courtesy of NASA

From Popsci.com:

Multi-purpose hardware lets Japanese satellite change its mission on the fly.

Right now, thousands of satellites are circling the Earth. They're a diverse bunch. Some relay telephone calls, some spy on North Korea, some monitor the weather. But they all have one thing in common: each can only do one thing. A spy satellite can't suddenly start forecasting storms, and a communications satellite can't study asteroids.

Well, that's all about to change.

Researchers at the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, have designed a variable-function satellite that can alter its mission on the fly.

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Thinkers Meet To Plot The Future

From BBC:

Leading thinkers in technology, design and science are gathering in Oxford to share their ideas about the future.

TED Global (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is the European cousin of an already established top US event.

The invitation-only conferences are dedicated to "ideas worth spreading" and have seen talks by former US presidents and Nobel Laureates.

This year's event will explore questions in neuroscience, astrophysics and economics.

"It is about all the hidden, invisible, not yet discovered or fully explored parts of our lives, society and the world," said Bruno Giussani, European director of TED.

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How Do You Sneeze In A Spacesuit? Very Carefully

In this 19 July 2009 photo provided by NASA shows Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette float onto the mid deck of the space shuttle Endeavour, where she joins astronaut Dave Wolf, who makes an entry on a laptop computer. The two STS-127 mission specialists are part of a seven member shuttle crew currently visiting the International Space Station, which is now docked with the shuttle. (AP Photo/NASA)

From Yahoo News/AP:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – When it comes to sneezing in a spacesuit while in the void of space, it is best to aim well.

That's the advice lead spacewalker David Wolf offered Tuesday while answering one of the questions posted on YouTube for the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor.

"I've done it quite a few times, most recently yesterday," said Wolf, who led the mission's second spacewalk Monday and was set to go on a third spacewalk Wednesday. "You learn in training, and I don't know how to say this, aim well. It can mess up your view and there is no way to clear it."

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Everest Revealed From Above In British Balloonist's Breathtaking Panoramic Shot Of World's Highest Peaks

(Click Image to Enlarge)
'Best snap on Earth': Everest dominates the picture, shot from 36,000ft and in -56C temperatures by Leo Dickinson on the world's first-ever balloon flight over the highest mountain. The curvature of the planet is exaggerated by the wide-angle lens

From The Daily Mail:

This awe-inspiring photograph captures the majesty of Mount Everest as you've never seen it before - from more than a mile above.

The spectacular panorama shows the breathtaking landscape of the Himalayas from six miles above sea level.

It was shot by an intrepid British photographer wearing breathing apparatus in -56C temperatures 36,000 feet up.

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10 Reasons Why Apollo 11 Moon Landing Was Awesome

From Wired News/Geek Dad:

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Forty years ago mission commander Neil A. Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. walked on the moon while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. Today however, marks the 40th anniversary of the day people really reacted to what just happened. As with all major events in time, there is always a day of reflection. I’d like to honor that day of reflection with my top 10 thoughts about the Apollo 11 moon landing.

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Eclipse Of The Century Live Online Tonight

From Wired Science:

The century’s most dramatic solar eclipse will be visible along a narrow swath of Asia and the Pacific Ocean later today. And, thanks to some University of North Dakota researchers, it’ll be visible on the internet, too. The live webcast begins at 5:15 p.m. Pacific time.

The eclipse will last six minutes and 39 seconds, which is near the theoretical maximum duration for a solar eclipse of seven minutes and 31 seconds. For everyone except Ray Kurzweil and the other singulatarians, this will be the longest eclipse of our lifetimes. The Earth won’t see an eclipse this long until June 13, 2132.

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Evolutionary Origins of Your Right and Left Brain

In the human brain the left hemisphere controls language, the dexterity of the right hand, the ability to classify, and routine behavior in general. The right hemisphere specializes in reacting to emergencies, organizing items spatially, recognizing faces and processing emotions.
Photoillustration by TWIST CREATIVE; MedicalRF.com Corbis (brain); Medioimages Getty Images (calculator); Joerg Steffens Corbis (faces); Westend61 Corbis (woman smiling); Dougal Waters Getty Images (ballerina); Mike Kemp Getty Images (rattlesnake); C Squared Studios Getty Images (palette); Vladimir Godnik Getty Images (paintbrushes); Carrie Boretz Corbis (girls whispering); Robert Llewellyn Corbis (calipers)

From Scientific American:

The division of labor by the two cerebral hemispheres—once thought to be uniquely human—predates us by half a billion years. Speech, right-handedness, facial recognition and the processing of spatial relations can be traced to brain asymmetries in early vertebrates

The left hemisphere of the human brain controls language, arguably our greatest mental attribute. It also controls the remarkable dexterity of the human right hand. The right hemisphere is dominant in the control of, among other things, our sense of how objects interrelate in space. Forty years ago the broad scientific consensus held that, in addition to language, right-handedness and the specialization of just one side of the brain for processing spatial relations occur in humans alone. Other animals, it was thought, have no hemispheric specializations of any kind.

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China Dust Cloud Circled Globe In 13 days

People ride amid sandstorms in Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region May 26, 2009.
REUTERS/China Daily

From Reuters:

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Dust clouds generated by a huge dust storm in China's Taklimakan desert in 2007 made more than one full circle around the globe in just 13 days, a Japanese study using a NASA satellite has found.

When the cloud reached the Pacific Ocean the second time, it descended and deposited some of its dust into the sea, showing how a natural phenomenon can impact the environment far away.

"Asian dust is usually deposited near the Yellow Sea, around the Japan area, while Sahara dust ends up around the Atlantic Ocean and coast of Africa," said Itsushi Uno of Kyushu University's Research Institute for Applied Mechanics.

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Risk Of Huge Pacific Ocean Tsunami On West Coast Of America Greater Than Previously Thought

The city of Sitka, Alaska. The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast. (Credit: iStockphoto/Brandon Laufenberg)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast.

The new research suggests that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond that suffered in the tsunami generated by the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake. Official figures put the number of deaths caused by the earthquake at around 130: 114 in Alaska and 16 in Oregon and California. The tsunami killed 35 people directly and caused extensive damage in Alaska, British Columbia, and the US Pacific region*.

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Comet Killed Ice Age Beasts

The nanodiamonds were found on the island of Santa Rosa, which was linked to three of the Northern Channel Islands off the southern California coast in a landmass known as Santarosae (encircled at top). Credit: Courtesy NOAA and UC Santa Barbara.

From Live Science:

Space rocks that slammed into the glaciers of eastern Canada some 12,900 years ago likely helped wiped out mega-animals like woolly mammoths and possibly the continent's first human inhabitants called the Clovis people, according to a new study that adds to evidence that a trio of factors were involved.

The new evidence comes from recently discovered nano-sized diamonds, which researchers say are the strongest clues to date for an argument that could explain the region's die-off during the late Pleistocene epoch.

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Five Human Achievements That Could Top Walking on the Moon

Free Fusion Energy?: The National Ignition Facility Target Room

From Popsci.com:

Forty years after Apollo 11, a look forward at the world-changing discoveries that could match--or even top--humankind's first steps on the moon.

Possibly the single most influential event in the public's interest in science and technology (not to mention one of humankind’s greatest adventures), the Apollo 11 mission touched the collective dreams of millions, while pushing science and technology swiftly forward at an unprecedented pace.

But in the decades since man first walked on the moon, science has advanced so rapidly that technology which even a few years ago might have been considered magic has become commonplace. Even so, it would be naïve to assume that Apollo 11 ever represented science and technology’s pinnacle, and that nothing forthcoming will similarly explode the world’s collective dreams and perceptions of what it means to be human.

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Google Earth Launches Interactive 3D Moon Atlas To Celebrate Apollo Landings

A view of the moon in the new feature of Google Earth 5.0

From The Daily Mail:

It’s exactly forty years ago today that Neil Armstrong took man’s first step on the moon.

And to mark the historic occasion Google Earth has taken the same leap in cyberspace.

The search engine leader today launched Moon in Google Earth, an interactive 3D atlas of the moon which allows space fans to take their very own virtual steps on the surface of our closest satellite.

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Jupiter Sports New 'Bruise' From Impact

Infrared observations taken at the Keck II telescope in Hawaii reveal a bright spot where the impact occurred. The spot looks black at visible wavelengths (Image: Paul Kalas/Michael Fitzgerald/Franck Marchis/UC Berkeley/SETI Institute)

From New Scientist:

Something has smashed into Jupiter, leaving behind a black spot in the planet's atmosphere, scientists confirmed on Monday.

This is only the second time such an impact has been observed. The first was almost exactly 15 years ago, when more than 20 fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the gas giant.

"This has all the hallmarks of an impact event, very similar to Shoemaker-Levy 9," said Leigh Fletcher, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. "We're all extremely excited."

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Photo Of Space Shuttle's Belly Shows Dings

From Scientific American:

Before docking with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, space shuttle Endeavour performed a backflip maneuver so that crew members on the station could check the shuttle's heat shield for damage. Earlier in the week, as the shuttle lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, pieces of foam insulation fell off the orbiter's external fuel tank, striking the shuttle and carving small nicks [white specks on right edge] into several of the tiles that make up the thermal shield.

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Update: Flooded $19 Million Space Toilet Repaired -- FOX News

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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