Biggest Comet Measured to Date: Comet McNaught

Comet McNaught viewed over the Pacific in 2007. (Credit: Sebastian Deiries/ESO)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — British scientists have identified a new candidate for the biggest comet measured to date. Dr Geraint Jones of UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory presented the results at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Glasgow on April 13. Instead of using the length of the tail to measure the scale of the comet, the group used data from the ESA/NASA Ulysses spacecraft to gauge the size of the region of space disturbed by the comet's presence.

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Why We Can't Do 3 Things At Once

When humans pursue two goals A and B concurrently, the two frontal lobes divide for representing the two goals and related actions simultaneously. The anterior most part of the frontal lobes enables to switch back and forth between the two goals, i.e. executing one goal while maintaining the other one on hold. This inter-hemispheric division of labor explains why humans appear unable to accurately carry out more than two tasks at one time. Credit: Etienne Koechlin, INSERM-ENS, Paris, France, 2010.

From Live Science:

For those who find it tough to juggle more than a couple things at once, don't despair. The brain is set up to manage two tasks, but not more, a new study suggests.

That's because, when faced with two tasks, a part of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex (MFC) divides so that half of the region focuses on one task and the other half on the other task. This division of labor allows a person to keep track of two tasks pretty readily, but if you throw in a third, things get a bit muddled.

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Apollo 13: Australia's Untold Story

This view of the severely damaged Apollo 13 Service Module (SM) was photographed from the Lunar Module/Command Module (LM/CM) following SM jettisoning. An entire panel on the SM was blown away by the explosion of oxygen tank. Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

MELBOURNE: Forty years ago, on 13 April 1970, NASA's worst nightmare became reality when there was an explosion aboard Apollo 13.

And in Australia, scientists and engineers at the Parkes radiotelescope - celebrated in the 2000 movie The Dish - had to find a way to stay in contact with the stranded astronauts.

"The expertise and skills of Australian scientists proved vital in the tracking of the spacecraft - without which the rescue would not have succeeded," said John Sarkissian, the operations scientist at Parkes.

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April 16, 1943: Setting The Stage for World’s First Acid Trip

1943: Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the psychedelic properties of LSD.

From Wired:

Hofmann, a Swiss chemist, was researching the synthesis of a lysergic acid compound, LSD-25, when he inadvertently absorbed a bit through his fingertips. Intrigued by the stimulating effects on his perception, Hofmann decided further exploration was warranted. Three days later he ingested 250 micrograms of LSD, embarking on the first full-fledged acid trip.

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Google's Q1 Earnings Show Continued Ad Growth

From CNET:

Google continues to demonstrate that an online advertising recovery is well under way, at least when it comes to search advertising.

For its fiscal first quarter, which ended March 31, Google on Thursday reported revenue of $6.77 billion, up 23 percent from the same period last year. Financial analysts evaluate Google's revenue performance by excluding traffic-acquisition costs paid to Google's partners, which totaled $1.71 billion. That puts net revenue at $5.06 billion, slightly ahead of analyst estimates of $4.95 billion for the quarter.

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DARPA Spills Details On Its Plans For The Transformer TX Flying Car

Transformer Car Oh hi DARPA, you called?

From Popular Science:

DARPA didn't reveal much at first about its "Transformer TX" program aimed at developing a flying car for the military. But now the full proposal has been published, and shows that the Pentagon agency hopes to get a prototype airborne by 2015, The Register reports.

The mad scientists want a vertical-takeoff vehicle that handles like an off-road-capable SUV on the ground, and can cruise like a light single-engine aircraft at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet.

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My Comment: Someone has been watching wayyyy too many movies.

Facebook Attacked Over Refusal To Install Panic Button

From Times Online:

Britain's online child protection agency attacked Facebook yesterday for its continued refusal to install a panic button on its site.

Richard Allan, head of policy for the social networking site in Europe, said it had agreed a series of measures allowing users in the UK to report concerns about child safety directly to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop).

The new system flags up Ceop after users have already gone through Facebook's own reporting procedure.

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Google 'Suicide' Search Feature Offers Lifeline

From ABC News:

Suicide-Related Searches Trigger Information for Suicide Prevention Hotline.

Google may be in the business of search, but one of its newest features could save lives.

Starting last week, Google searches related to suicide started appearing with a message guiding users to the toll-free number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The number is 1-800-273-8255.

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For Prom, Teens Let YouTube Do The Asking

From ABC News:

High School Students Woo Would-Be Prom Dates With Online Creativity.

Sweaty-palmed, tongue-tied teens take note: If you want to score a date to the prom, asking the simple question just might not cut it anymore.

Hallway conversations and handwritten notes might have worked for previous generations, but with prom season under way, high school students across the country are turning to YouTube to give an age-old rite of passage a new media moment of fame.

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New Material Is A Breakthrough In Magnetism; Step Closer to 'Magnetic Monopole'

Physicists have created a structure that acts like a single pole of a magnet -- a step closer to isolating a 'magnetic monopole.' (Credit: Image courtesy of Imperial College London)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — Researchers from Imperial College London have created a structure that acts like a single pole of a magnet, a feat that has evaded scientists for decades.

The researchers say their new Nature Physics study takes them a step closer to isolating a 'magnetic monopole.'

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Navy SEALs Recognize Anger More Quickly

From Live Science:

The brains of elite soldiers can respond faster to signs of anger than normal, which could help them detect threats and make the difference between life and death when under fire.

The differences in the brains of those who excel in extreme circumstances are poorly understood. Such research might help improve military performance, explained neuroscientist Alan Simmons at the University of California at San Diego.

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Body Heat: Sweden's New Green Energy Source

Commuters at Stockholm's Central station. Jim Stenman

From Time Magazine:

It's 7:30 a.m. on a wintry morning in downtown Stockholm and a sea of Swedes are flooding Central Station to catch a train to work. The station is toasty thanks to the busy shops and restaurants and the body heat being generated by the 250,000 commuters who crowd Scandinavia's busiest travel hub each day. This heat used to be lost by the end of the morning rush hour. Now, however, engineers have figured out a way to harness it and transfer it to a newly refurbished office building down the block. Unbeknownst to them, these sweaty Swedes have become a green energy source: "They're cheap and renewable," says Karl Sundholm, a project manager at Jernhusen, a Stockholm real estate company, and one of the creators of the system.

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On Its Way To Britain: The Killer Asian Hornet Which Threatens Our Native Honeybees

An Asian hornet is seen in a beehive in south western France. The pest has decimated hives in Europe and is on its way to Britain

From The Daily Mail:

Giant hornets with a searing sting and a hearty appetite for honeybees are making a beeline for Britain.

The Asian hornet is four times the size of our native honeybees and is armed with a sting that has been compared to a hot nail being hammered into the body.

Aggressive and belligerent, it preys on honeybees, 'picking them off' as they leave their hive, until the colony is so exhausted that the hornets can move in and ransack it.

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Yahoo, Feds Battle Over E-Mail Privacy

From Threat Level:

Yahoo and federal prosecutors in Colorado are embroiled in a privacy battle that’s testing whether the Constitution’s warrant requirements apply to Americans’ e-mail.

The legal dust-up, unsealed late Tuesday, concerns a 1986 law that already allows the government to obtain a suspect’s e-mail from an ISP or webmail provider without a probable-cause warrant, once it’s been stored for 180 days or more. The government now contends it can get e-mail under 180-days old if that e-mail has been read by the owner, and the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections don’t apply.

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Congress To Archive Every Tweet Ever Posted Publicly

From The BBC:

The Library of Congress is to archive every single public tweet ever made.

Twitter says since they started in 2006, billions of tweets have been created and 55m are sent every day.

The digital archive will include tweets from President Barack Obama on the day he was elected as well as the first tweet from co-founder Jack Dorsey.

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Quiet Sun Puts Europe On Ice

Harsh but fair in the UK (Image: Peter Henry/Flickr/Getty)

From New Scientist:

BRACE yourself for more winters like the last one, northern Europe. Freezing conditions could become more likely: winter temperatures may even plummet to depths last seen at the end of the 17th century, a time known as the Little Ice Age. That's the message from a new study that identifies a compelling link between solar activity and winter temperatures in northern Europe.

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NASA's Orion Capsule To Be Reborn As Escape Pod For Space Station

Orion Reborn A mock-up of Orion lies on the ground after a test set-up chute failed on July 31, 2008 NASA

From Popular Science:

President Obama also promised to commit to a new supersized rocket by 2015.

NASA's Orion crew capsule, which was part of the cancelled Constellation program, has been revived as an escape pod for the International Space Station. A smaller version of the capsule could launch on an Atlas or Delta rocket and eliminate the need to buy a multimillion-dollar Russian Soyuz spacecraft for emergency crew escape, Florida Today reports.

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Small, Ground-Based Telescope Images Three Exoplanets

This image shows the light from three planets orbiting a star 120 light-years away. The planets' star, called HR8799, is located at the spot marked with an 'X.' (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Palomar Observatory)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — Astronomers have snapped a picture of three planets orbiting a star beyond our own using a modest-sized telescope on the ground. The surprising feat was accomplished by a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using a small portion of the Palomar Observatory's Hale Telescope, north of San Diego.

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Supervolcano: How Humanity Survived Its Darkest Hour

From New Scientist:

THE first sign that something had gone terribly wrong was a deep rumbling roar. Hours later the choking ash arrived, falling like snow in a relentless storm that raged for over two weeks. Despite being more than 2000 kilometres from the eruption, hominins living as far away as eastern India would have felt Toba's fury.

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Giant Natural Particle Accelerator Above Thunderclouds

A lightning researcher at the University of Bath has discovered that during thunderstorms, giant natural particle accelerators can form 40 km above the surface of the Earth. On Wednesday 14th April Dr. Martin Fullekrug will present his new work at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2010) in Glasgow. The image shows a transient airglow or 'sprite' above a thunderstorm in France in September 2009. (Credit: Serge Soula / Oscar van der Velde)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — A lightning researcher at the University of Bath has discovered that during thunderstorms, giant natural particle accelerators can form 40 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

On April 14, Dr. Martin Fullekrug presented his new work at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2010) in Glasgow.

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