How UAVs Will Replace The Air Force's Current Fleet

When unmanned aircraft can refuel one another, their time on a mission will be dramatically extended. The Air Force Research Laboratory is spending $49 million over the next four years to create a system that will allow UAVs to autonomously refuel in the air, as seen in this 2007 RQ-4 Global Hawk test.

From Popular Mechanics:

In its latest plans for the future, the Air Force envisions swapping its pilots for a fleet of versatile—and affordable—unmanned airplanes. A single UAV with interchangeable payloads could replace several legacy airplanes. Here's a look at some possible trades.

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Russia Will End Space Tourism Flights When Shuttle Retires

Charles Simonyi Prepares for Space Courtesy of Space Adventures and Charles Simonyi

From Popular Science:

Well, it looks like Charles Simonyi might have to wait a while for a third trip, because space tourism is going on hiatus. With the shuttle's cancellation leaving Russia as the only country able to service the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian government has announced it will no longer let civilians hitch a ride on Soyuz flights.

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Dark, Dangerous Asteroids Found Lurking Near Earth

Now you see it: a near-Earth object becomes visible in infrared
(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA)

From New Scientist:

An infrared space telescope has spotted several very dark asteroids that have been lurking unseen near Earth's orbit. Their obscurity and tilted orbits have kept them hidden from surveys designed to detect things that might hit our planet.

Called the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the new NASA telescope launched on 14 December on a mission to map the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. It began its survey in mid-January.

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NASA Chief Bolden Seeks 'Plan B' For The Space Agency

Astronaut Nicholas Patrick holds onto the International Space Station's cupola during a February spacewalk. Reuters

From Wall Street Journal:

NASA chief Charles Bolden has asked senior managers to draw up an alternate plan for the space agency after members of Congress indicated they wanted to reject a White House proposal to hire private companies to ferry U.S. astronauts into orbit and beyond.

In an internal National Aeronautics and Space Administration memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bolden ordered officials to map out "what a potential compromise might look like" to satisfy critics on Capitol Hill. By calling for an alternative plan, Mr. Bolden threatened to undercut White House efforts to get its proposed NASA budget through Congress.

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Industry Challenges: Drowning In Data

Digital sequencing systems can capture vast amounts of genetic data, but interpretation has been difficult. Credit: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

From Technology Review:

The personalized-medicine industry aims to convert information about an individual's genome into useful diagnostic tests and targeted drug treatments. Companies that deal with gathering the information--sequencing genomes and identifying genetic variations--have made impressive technical advances that have dramatically reduced the cost of analyzing DNA (see "Faster Tools to Scrutinize the Genome"). Now the biggest challenge lies in interpreting the huge volume of genetic data being generated. Studies have identified thousands of candidates for genes underlying common diseases, for example, but it's not clear how to make that information medically useful.

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Apple Sues Google Phone Manufacturer As Jobs Warns: Create Your Own Technology, Don't Steal Ours

An HTC smartphone (right) alongside an Apple iPhone. Apple are suing HTC Corp for infringing on hardware and software patents

From The Daily Mail:

Apple is suing the company which makes touchscreen smartphones using Google software.

Apple has accused Taiwan’s HTC Corp of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone.

Although the lawsuit does not name Google Inc as a defendant, Apple’s move is viewed by many as an indirect attack on the company, whose Nexus One smartphone is manufactured by HTC.

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IPad Goes On Sale April 3; Pre-Orders Begin In A Week

From Gadget Lab:

Apple announced Friday that the first iPads will be available on April 3 and that the long-awaited device will be available for pre-order on March 12. The launch is for the Wi-Fi-only version, with the 3G-enabled device on sale later in the month.

The late-April release of the 3G version will also coincide with rollout of both models in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K., Apple said.

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Update: IPad to hit US stores April 3, then 9 more markets -- Reuters

First of Missing Primitive Stars Found

The newly discovered red giant star S1020549 dominates this artist's conception. The primitive star contains 6,000 times less heavy elements than our Sun, indicating that it formed very early in the Universe's history. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 290,000 light-years away, the star's presence supports the theory that our galaxy underwent a "cannibal" phase, growing to its current size by swallowing dwarf galaxies and other galactic building blocks. (Credit: David A. Aguilar / CfA)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 4, 2010) — Astronomers have discovered a relic from the early universe -- a star that may have been among the second generation of stars to form after the Big Bang. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 290,000 light-years away, the star has a remarkably similar chemical make-up to the Milky Way's oldest stars. Its presence supports the theory that our galaxy underwent a "cannibal" phase, growing to its current size by swallowing dwarf galaxies and other galactic building blocks.

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Violent Planet: The Forces That Shape Earth

From Live Science:

Earth is a violent planet, and always has been. In fact it is much calmer today than in the past. As the planet continues to cool – 4.5 billion years after it formed – what was once likely a lava world has become a temperate planet that's two-thirds covered by water and hospitable to life.

But recent events and new research show that the geologic havoc is far from over.

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Apple iPad's Store Debut Pushed Back

Watch CBS News Videos Online

From CBS News/AP:

(AP) The much-anticipated iPad tablet computer from Apple Inc. will start hitting U.S. store shelves on April 3, slightly later than originally planned.

When Apple unveiled the touch-screen device Jan. 27, the company said the first iPads would reach the market in "late March" worldwide, not just in the U.S.

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YouTube Adds Video Captions For Deaf

From The BBC:

YouTube is making the tens of millions of videos it hosts more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing by putting automatic captions on them.

The Google-owned company said this use of speech recognition technology is probably the biggest experiment of its kind online.

Previously captions were only on a small amount of content.

"A core part of YouTube's DNA is access to content," said the firm's product manager Hunter Walk.

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Earth Raised Up Its Magnetic Shield Early, Protecting Water And Emerging Life

From Discover Magazine:

Here we are drinking coffee and tweeting and otherwise going about our lives, generally not giving much thought to the protection that the Earth’s magnetic field affords us from the solar wind. But that magnetic field is crucial for our existence. Now, new findings in Science say that this protective shield originated even 200 million years earlier than scientists had previously thought, perhaps protecting the planet’s water from evaporating away and aiding the rise of life on the early Earth.

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Shields Down! Earth's Mag Field May Drop In A Flash

There'll be little warning if Earth's magnetic field flips (Image: NASA/SPL)

From New Scientist:

EVEN if we knew precise details of Earth's core, we would not be able to predict a catastrophic flip in the polarity of its magnetic field more than a decade or two ahead.

Our planet's magnetic field has reversed polarity from time to time throughout its history. Some models suggest that a flip would be completed in a year or two, but if, as others predict, it lasted decades or longer we would be left exposed to space radiation. This could short-circuit satellites, pose a risk to aircraft passengers and play havoc with electrical equipment on the ground.

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Artificial Intelligence Brings Musicians Back From The Dead, Allowing All-Stars Of All Time To Jam

Rachmaninoff, Back at the Piano Where He Belongs Zenph

From Popular Science:

Want to know what a jam session between Jack White and Stevie Ray Vaughan might have sounded like, or how Billie Holliday would interpret the latest dreck from Avril Lavigne? Advances in artificial intelligence are resurrecting musical legends of the past, tapping into old recordings to establish a musician's style and personality, then applying those attributes to newer recordings of old songs, or even to songs the musician never played before.

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Money Sharing Comes To Facebook

Photo: 16,000 online traders accept payments via Buxter's parent company.

From The BBC:

Friends on social networking site Facebook can now send small payments directly to each other via an application called Buxter.

Buxter handles transactions in Euros or US dollars, with plans to launch in Sterling in the next four weeks.

Other currencies are subject to a 5% conversion fee at the point of upload to a Buxter account.

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Early Cannabis Use Linked To Psychosis

From Cosmos/AFP:

WASHINGTON: The longer people use cannabis or marijuana, the more likely they are to experience hallucinations or delusions or to suffer psychosis, according to a study released Saturday.

The study found that people who first used cannabis when they were aged 15 or younger were twice as likely to develop a "non-affective psychosis" - which can include schizophrenia - than those who had never used the drug.

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Why Beer Needs Watering Down

From Times Online:

Brewers are teaming up with environmentalists to help to conserve water supplies — and ensure the pints keep flowing.

It’s enough to make beer drinkers cry into their pints. A combination of factors, including rapid population growth, expanding food needs and unpredictable weather patterns, is heralding a global water crisis. Chronic water shortages are already hitting many regions, particularly in developing countries. Industry, which accounts for about 22 per cent of global fresh water consumption, is increasingly concerned about what will happen when the taps run dry. Brewers are among the most vulnerable: a pint of beer is up to 95 per cent water. Drinkers have been warned that, as water supplies dry up, prices could rise and supplies could be threatened. The battle is on to keep the pumps open.

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Canine Morphology: Hunting For Genes And Tracking Mutations

Researchers studying the dog genome have a new understanding of why domestic dogs vary so much in size, shape, coat texture, color and patterning. (Credit: iStockphoto/Nataliya Kuznetsova)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 3, 2010) — Why do domestic dogs vary so much in size, shape, coat texture, color and patterning? Study of the dog genome has reached a point where the molecular mechanisms governing such variation across mammalian species are becoming understood.

In an essay published in the March 2, 2010 issue of PLoS Biology, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) researchers discuss advances in understanding the genomic mechanisms controlling canine morphology.

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Dog-Sized Creature Was Almost A Dinosaur

The newly identified dinosaur relative, called Asilisaurus kongwe, was about the size of a large dog. Here a skeletal reconstruction of the animal is compared with a 5'6" human for scale. Credit: Sterling Nesbitt.

From Live Science:

A four-legged animal about the size of a large dog with a long tail is now the oldest known relative of dinosaurs, dating back some 240 million years. Paleontologists recently examined the bones from at least 14 individuals of this proto-dinosaur that were discovered in southern Tanzania.

The dino-like animal was small, weighing about that of a young child, and likely munched on plants.

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Tracing King Tut's Family Tree In London

A colossal statue of Amenhotep III - King Tut's only grandfather - can
be found at the British Museum, Room 4.

From The Independent:

Tutankhamun has always captured popular imagination, and been a major draw for museums.

The British Museum's 1972 exhibition of artefacts from his tomb smashed all expectations in the box office, drawing over 1.6 million visitors over its nine month duration. The pharaoh nicknamed 'King Tut' has been the source of more speculation, satire and popular culture references than any other male king of Egypt. Last week pathologists announced the results from their studies into the genetic relationship of eleven mummies from the Egyptian New Kingdom (mid 16th to early 11th centuries BC), including those of the legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun.

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