Wednesday, July 29, 2009
World's First Computer May Be Even Older Than Thought
From New Scientist:
From Swiss Army knives to iPhones, it seems we just love fancy gadgets with as many different functions as possible. And judging from the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism, the desire to impress with the latest multipurpose must-have item goes back at least 2000 years.
This mysterious box of tricks was a portable clockwork computer, dating from the first or second century BC. Operated by turning a handle on the side, it modelled the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets through the sky, sported a local calendar, star calendar and Moon-phase display, and could even predict eclipses and track the timing of the Olympic games.
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First Photos Inside Virgin Galactic's Mothership Cockpit
WhiteKnight Two Left Seat copyright Flightglobal/Reed Business Information From Popsci.com:
We previously showed you construction of Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnight Two, the mothership that will help launch SpaceShipTwo into sub-orbit. However, Flight Global was able to sneak in some exclusive photos and video from inside the cockpit.
WhiteKnightTwo flew for the public on Tuesday at Wisconsin's massive Oshkosh AirVenture show, complete with head honcho Sir Richard Branson strapped into the jump seat. Without knowing it's a custom-fabbed Rutan space tourism mothership, it may look like any other new airliner's all-glass cockpit. But if you're thinking of dropping millions on one of Virgin Galactic's first seats, it's good to know everything about what will carry you into the heavens.
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World Temperatures Set For Record Highs
From The Telegraph:
World temperatures are set to rise much faster than expected as a result of climate change over the next ten years, according to meteorologists.
In the last few years the world has experienced a "cooler period" since record high temperatures in summer 1998.
This has been used by global warming sceptics as proof that greenhouse gases are not causing a rise in temperatures.
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My Comment: Temperatures go up .... temperatures go down .... golly gee, this has been going on for billions of years. But the idea that "experts" can figure out the weather a few years from now when they have trouble predicting the weather for next week .... sighhhh .... you get the picture.
'Brain-Reading' Methods Developed
Scientists have developed a highly accurate way to peer into the brain to uncover a person's mental state and what sort of information is being processed before it reaches awareness. (Credit: iStockphoto)From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (July 28, 2009) — It is widely known that the brain perceives information before it reaches a person’s awareness. But until now, there was little way to determine what specific mental tasks were taking place prior to the point of conscious awareness.
That has changed with the findings of scientists at Rutgers University in Newark and the University of California, Los Angeles who have developed a highly accurate way to peer into the brain to uncover a person’s mental state and what sort of information is being processed before it reaches awareness. With this new window into the brain, scientists now also are provided with the means of developing a more accurate model of the inner functions of the brain.
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Why We Get Lost in Books
From Live Science:
Any avid reader knows the power of a book to transport you into another world, be it the wizard realm of "Harry Potter" or the legal intrigue of the latest John Grisham.
Part of the reason we get lost in these imaginary worlds might be because our brains effectively simulate the events of the book in the same way they process events in the real world, a new study suggests.
The new study, detailed in the July 21 issue of the journal Psychological Science, builds on previous work that links the way our brains process images and written words to the way they process actions we perform ourselves.
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Abu Dhabi Firm Takes Stake In Virgin Galactic, Plans Spaceport
SpaceShip Two and Mothership Virgin Galactic From Popsci.com:
Space tourism is coming to the Middle East, as Abu Dhabi-based Aabar investments announced today it has taken a $280 million, 32 percent stake in Virgin Galactic. As part of the deal, which is still pending regulatory approval, Aabar plans to build a spaceport in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and will have rights to all Virgin Galactic traffic in that region. Aabar is also setting aside $100 million to build a small satellite launching facility, suggesting that the team plans to use the spaceport as a base for scientific research as well as space tourism.
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Space Shuttle Endeavour Readies Return To Earth
This image provided by NASA, shows a partial view of Space Shuttle EndeavourFrom AFP:
WASHINGTON — The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday to take photographs of the orbiting research facility before final maneuvers to prepare its return home.
Endeavour separated from the ISS 1:26 pm (1726 GMT), NASA said.
"After completing a fly-around of the space station, shuttle Endeavour will perform a maneuver to separate from the station," it added.
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Panel Backs NASA Bid For Bigger Shuttle Budget
From Yahoo News/Reuters:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The United States needs to boost NASA's budget by $1.5 billion to fly the last seven shuttle missions and should extend International Space Station operations through 2020, members of a presidential panel reviewing the U.S. human space program said on Tuesday.
A subcommittee of the 10-member board also proposed adding an extra, eighth shuttle flight to help keep the station supplied and narrow an expected five- to seven-year gap between the time the shuttle fleet is retired and a new U.S. spaceship is ready to fly.
A third option would keep the shuttle flying through 2014 as part of a plan to develop a new launch system based on existing shuttle rockets and components.
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Longer Life For The Space Station Is Advised
From The New York Times:
Members of the government panel reviewing NASA’s human spaceflight program said Tuesday that the life of the International Space Station should be extended past its planned demise in 2016.
After the shuttle Endeavour, which undocked from the space station Tuesday afternoon, returns to Earth, NASA has seven flights left on its schedule before the shuttle fleet is to be retired in September 2010. At that point the space station, under construction since 1998, would finally be complete, but current plans call for operating it only through 2015 before it is deliberately disposed of in the ocean the following year.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Pictured: The Soap Bubble Nebula Causing Astronomical Excitement Among Star-Gazers
This startling image of the newly discovered Soap Bubble Nebula has generated enormous excitement among astronomersFrom The Daily Mail:
It may look as if a child's soap bubble has strayed in front of a camera lens, but this extraordinary image from the heavens shows a newly discovered planetary nebula.
The phenomenon, which is caused when stars die and blast out a glowing shell of gas and plasma, was spotted by an amateur astronomer earlier this month.
Most planetary nebulae are elliptical or cigar-shaped, but in this case, its unusual shape was caused after a vast spherical cloud of gas was ejected from each pole of an ageing star.
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The Futility Of Emissions Controls
A cyclist rides past a China Huaneng Group power plant in BeijingPhotograph: China Newsphoto/Reuters
China's Three Biggest Power Firms Emit More Carbon Than Britain, Says Report -- The Guardian
Greenpeace report names top three polluters and calls for tax on coal to improve efficiency and encourage switch to renewables
China's three biggest power firms produced more greenhouse gas emissions last year than the whole of Britain, according to a Greenpeace report published today.
The group warned that inefficient plants and the country's heavy reliance on coal are hindering efforts to tackle climate change. While China's emissions per capita remain far below those of developed countries, the country as a whole has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest emitter.
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Cheaper Solar Thermal Power
Sun catchers: This is the latest design of a system for focusing sunlight on a Stirling engine to generate electricity. Credit: Sandia National Laboratories/Randy Montoya From Technology Review:
A simpler design could reduce the cost of solar power generated by concentrating sunlight on Stirling engines.
Stirling Energy Systems (SES), based in Phoenix, has decreased the complexity and cost of its technology for converting the heat in sunlight into electricity, allowing for high-volume production. It will begin building very large solar-power plants using its equipment as soon as next year.
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Kenya To Build Africa's Biggest Windfarm
A wind farm in the Ngong hills on the outskirts of Nairobi, KenyaPhotograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA
From The Guardian:
With surging demand for power and blackouts common across the continent, Africa is looking to solar, wind and geothermal technologies to meet its energy needs.
One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa's most ambitious venture in the battle against global warming.
Some 365 giant wind turbines are to be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya – used as a backdrop for the film The Constant Gardener – creating the biggest windfarm on the continent. When complete in 2012, the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya's current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world.
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Imaginary Friends: Television Programs Can Fend Off Loneliness
Photo: By yourself, but not alone Flickering friends count for something. Lukasz Laska/iStockFrom Scientific American:
Stomach growling, but have no time for a meal? A snack will do. Drowsy and unable to concentrate? A short nap can be reviving when a good night’s rest is unavailable. But what should you do when you are alone and feeling lonely?
New psychological research suggests that loneliness can be alleviated by simply turning on your favorite TV show. In the same way that a snack can satiate hunger in lieu of a meal, it seems that watching favorite TV shows can provide the experience of belonging without a true interpersonal interaction.
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Finding King Herod's Tomb
Herod built an elaborate palace fortress on the 300-foot mountain, Herodium, to commemorate his victory in a crucial battle. Duby Tal / Albatross / IsraelImagesFrom Smithsonian:
After a 35-year search, an Israeli archaeologist is certain he has solved the mystery of the biblical figure’s final resting place.
Shielding my eyes from the glare of the morning sun, I look toward the horizon and the small mountain that is my destination: Herodium, site of the fortified palace of King Herod the Great. I'm about seven miles south of Jerusalem, not far from the birthplace of the biblical prophet Amos, who declared: "Let justice stream forth like water." Herod's reign over Judea from 37 to 4 B.C. is not remembered for justice but for its indiscriminate cruelty. His most notorious act was the murder of all male infants in Bethlehem to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy heralding the birth of the Messiah. There is no record of the decree other than the Gospel of Matthew, and biblical scholars debate whether it actually took place, but the story is in keeping with a man who arranged the murders of, among others, three of his own sons and a beloved wife.
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Hydrocarbons In The Deep Earth?
This artistic view of the Earth's interior shows hydrocarbons forming in the upper mantle and transported through deep faults to shallower depths in the Earth's crust. The inset shows a snapshot of the methane dissociation reaction studied in this work. (Credit: Image courtesy A. Kolesnikov and V. Kutcherov)From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (July 27, 2009) — The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter. Now for the first time, scientists have found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle —the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core.
The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and is published in the July 26, advanced online issue of Nature Geoscience.
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Brain's Potential Explained by Big New Idea
From Live Magazine:
Different species and individuals have limits as to what they can learn. For instance, you can't teach your dog to read. But what sets these boundaries?
According to a new hypothesis, components of an organism's brain cortex may help determine how well that organism — be it dog, monkey or human — learns and improves its cognitive skills.
The cortex is your brain's outer layer — the exterior part you can see if you look at a picture of the whole organ.
The new idea posits that small sets of neuronal cells in the cortex, called cortical modules, determine our "cognitive plasticity," that is, our capacity to learn new ways of thinking, or improve upon old ones.
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Food Dye 'May Ease Spinal Injury'
From The BBC:A dye similar to that used in sweets may potentially minimise the severity of spinal cord injuries.
A cascade of molecular changes triggered in the hours following an initial injury can cause further severe damage to the spinal cord.
But US researchers found this can be halted by using a dye known as Brilliant Blue G (BBG).
However, rats given the treatment in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study turned blue.
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Like Tarzan, Orangutans Glide Through Trees
DLILLC / CorbisFrom Time Magazine:
Husky and hairy, with the flaming orange coloring of a bad dye job, the orangutan doesn't look like the most agile of primates. But in fact these great apes, native to the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia, climb and swing nimbly through the canopy more than 100 feet in the air, their fleet-footed acrobatics allowing them to make their home in the treetops and access remote food sources, like the fruit at the very ends of branches.
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One Quarter Of Giant Panda Habitat Lost In Sichuan Quake
From CNN:
(CNN) -- The earthquake in Sichuan, southwestern China, last May left around 69,000 people dead and 15 million people displaced. Now ecologists have assessed the earthquake's impact on biodiversity and the habitat for some of the last existing wild giant pandas.
According to the report published in "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment", 23 percent of the pandas' habitat in the study area was destroyed, and fragmentation of the remaining habitat could hinder panda reproduction.
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