Large Hadron Collider Signal 'May Show Big Bang Conditions'

The "high multiplicity collision" signal picked up by the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Photo: CERN

From The Telegraph:

A never-before-seen signal in a collision at the Large Hadron Collider has raised hopes that the giant particle accelerator is on the verge of serious breakthroughs.

A series of high-energy proton-proton collisions observed at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector led to 100 or more charged particles being produced. These so-called "high multiplicity" collisions were unusual in that the resulting particles are "correlated" - associated with each other at the moment of their creation. One interpretation of the results is that the protons are being forced together at such high energies that the quarks that form them are released, becoming a free-flowing fluid of quarks and gluons like that which existed immediately after the big bang.

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Revealed: Wind Farm Power Twice As Costly As Gas Or Coal

Full of hot air: The EU has targeted 10,000 new wind farms, but a study has revealed that it costs nearly twice as much to produce wind power as it does from traditional gas or coal power stations

From The Daily Mail:

The true cost of Britain’s massive expansion of wind farms has been revealed.

It costs nearly twice as much to generate electricity from an offshore wind farm as it does from a conventional power station, a scientific report has concluded.

And while the price of wind power is expected to fall in the coming decade, the researchers admit there is a slight chance it could rise even further.

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Are We About To Fight Wars Over Strategic Metals?

Is This The Start Of The Element Wars? -- New Scientist

Warnings have already surfaced about water wars. Now the prospect of "element wars" is raising its ugly head.

Chinese customs officials are blocking shipments to Japan of rare earth elements (REEs) and companies have been informally told not to export them, says The New York Times.

The move puts more pressure on relations already tested by the capture of a Chinese fishing boat captain in disputed waters earlier this month. The captain was finally released on friday, says the Financial Times, but the ban on exports appears to remain in place.

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My Comment: Japan certainly buckled down very quickly when China started to use its monopoly position on rare earths against Japan. It may not have been the main reason why Japan acquiesced to Chinese demands, but I am sure that they thought about it .... they and everyone else in the world.

Did Volcanoes Wipe Out Neanderthals?

Advances in stone toolmaking and other cultural innovations achieved by modern humans shortly after 40,000 years ago supported survival in harsh, postvolcanic habitats. iStockphoto

From Discovery News:

Neanderthals may have gone out with a bang.

Neandertals didn't get dumped on prehistory's ash heap -- it got dumped on them. At least three volcanic eruptions about 40,000 years ago devastated Neandertals' western Asian and European homelands, spurring a rapid demise of these humanlike hominids, says a team led by archaeologist Liubov Golovanova of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Who Launched A Cyber Attack Against Iran?

Graph shows concentration of Stuxnet-infected computers in Iran as of August.
Photograph: Symantec

Web Virus Aimed At Nuclear Work, Says Tehran -- Financial Times

An internet virus that has damaged computer systems in Iran was designed by foreign governments to undermine the country’s nuclear ambitions, according to Tehran.

As western governments continued to analyse the origins and impact of the Stuxnet malware, which has affected at least 30,000 IP addresses in Iran, an official stressed the sophisticated nature of the virus.

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More News On The Stuxnet Malware Attack Against Iran

Worm affects Iran nuclear plant -- BBC
Stuxnet worm rampaging through Iran: IT official -- AFP
Stuxnet Compromise at Iranian Nuclear Plant May Be By Design -- PC World
Report: Stuxnet Worm Attacks Iran, Who is Behind It? -- PC Magazine
Iran admits Stuxnet worm infected PCs at nuclear reactor -- Computer World
Pentagon Silent on Iranian Nuke Virus -- FOX News
Stuxnet worm mystery: What's the cyber weapon after? -- Christian Science Monitor
Could Iran Retaliate for Apparent Cyber Attack? -- FOX News/Reuters
Implications of Iran cyber attack affect all -- Globe And Mail/Reuters

Painless Laser Device Could Spot Early Signs Of Disease

Photo: Fibre-optic probes could use lasers to distinguish between cancerous, pre-cancerous and healthy cells

From The BBC:

Portable devices with painless laser beams could soon replace X-rays as a non-invasive way to diagnose disease.

Researchers say that the technique could become widely available in about five years.

The method, called Raman spectroscopy, could help spot the early signs of breast cancer, tooth decay and osteoporosis.

Scientists believe that the technology would make the diagnosis of illnesses faster, cheaper and more accurate.

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When Exercise Just Isn't Enough

Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos:

BIRMINGHAM: Lack of exercise is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, said biologist John Speakman, who has found that we do not exercise less nowadays.

Speakman, from the University of Aberdeen, has collected data showing that too much food, not too little exercise has caused us to pile on the pounds.

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Mars Orbiter Back Up And Running Again Following Computer Glitch

This artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from 2006 features the spacecraft's main bus facing down, toward the red planet. The large silver circular feature above the spacecraft bus is the high-gain antenna, the spacecraft's main means of communicating with both Earth and other spacecraft. NASA/JPL

From Christian Science Monitor:

Mars orbiter spontaneously rebooted itself and stopped gathering information last week. However, last Saturday, the Mars orbiter began collecting data again and appears to be back on track, high above the Red Planet.

A powerful NASA spacecraft around Mars has bounced back yet again Saturday, resuming its study of the Red Planet three days after a recurring computer glitch temporarily waylaid its mission.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter started gathering science data again on Sept. 18, NASA officials announced. On Sept. 15, the orbiter put itself into precautionary "safe mode" — a sort of spacecraft hibernation — after spontaneously rebooting for unknown reasons.

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Mankind's First Genocide?

An archaeologist uncovers a skeleton from the Uruk colony's remains. Was this person killed by his/her own people? Photo courtesy Professor Clemens Reichel

New Discoveries Hint At 5,500 Year Old Fratricide At Hamoukar, Syria -- The Independent

Five years ago, archaeologists found the “earliest evidence for large scale organized warfare in the Mesopotamian world.” Using slings and clay bullets a – likely Uruk – army took over the city of Hamoukar, burning it down in the process. Now, new discoveries at a nearby settlement shed more light on the 3500 BC battle – and raise more questions. If the invading army was from Uruk, did they kill their own people? If so, why?

Hamoukar is a city that flourished in northern Syria since at least 4000 BC. They traded in obsidian and in later times copper working became increasingly important to the city’s economy. Thousands of clay sealings – once used to lock doors or containers and impressed with stamp seals – were found at the ancient site. They tell of a bureaucratic system that was almost as complex as our own.

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NASA Budget Likely to Remain In Limbo Until After Election Day, Lawmakers Say

To the Launch Pad Space Shuttle Discovery crawled toward Launch Pad A this week, preparing for its final flight in November. via Flickr/ forthebirds (CC licensed)

From Popular Science:

Apparently, space doesn’t sell in an election year. Lawmakers are saying Congress is unlikely to make any spending decisions about NASA until after November 2, according to several reports.

Congress has been debating the space agency’s future in fits and starts since the beginning of the year, when President Obama first proposed shifting its priorities. Lawmakers balked at his plans and offered their own budget suggestions, which have been bandied about through the summer. Still, competing House and Senate bills remain in play, and they’re unlikely to get resolved in the next two weeks, when Congress goes on fall break to concentrate on the midterm elections.

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Scientists Develop New 'Photonic' Chip That Could Make Quantum Computers A Reality

Image: Quantum computers will be able to conduct far more complex calculations than current computers

From The Daily Mail:

Scientists have developed a computer chip that could pave the way for a new generation of powerful 'quantum' computers.

The photonic chip, built by scientists from Bristol’s Centre for Quantum Photonics, uses light rather than electricity to pass information.

The breakthrough could lead to 'quantum' computers capable of performing complex calculations and simulations that are impossible for today's computers.

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Aurora Saturnalis: Halos At The Poles Of The Ringed Planet

From New Scientist:

Saturn was already the solar system's undisputed lord of the rings. Now newly processed images from the Cassini spacecraft are revealing previously unseen halos of infrared auroral light above the planet's poles.

Auroras on Saturn form like those on Earth, when charged particles in the solar wind stream down the planet's magnetic field towards its poles, where they excite gas in the upper atmosphere to glow. Some auroras on the ringed planet are also triggered when some of its moons, which are electrically conducting, move through the charged gas surrounding Saturn.

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Malaria Passed From Gorillas To Humans

The parasite passes from one human to another via a female Anopheles mosquito which hands it on when the insect takes a blood meal. Hemera

From Discovery News:

The parasite that causes the most lethal strain of malaria among humans crossed the species barrier from gorillas, scientists reported on Wednesday.

Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest of the five known strains of malaria parasites, causing several hundred million cases each year, of which around a million are fatal.

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LHC Finds 'Interesting Effects'

From The BBC:

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider say they are getting some fascinating early results as they get set to probe new areas of physics.

The giant machine on the Franco-Swiss border is studying the fundamental nature of matter by smashing together proton particles at near light-speed.

Its CMS detector is reported to have seen "new and interesting effects".

These effects concern the particular paths taken by the debris particles as they move away from the impacts.

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Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating Worldwide

Global map of groundwater depletion, measured in cubic meters of water per year. (Credit: Image courtesy of American Geophysical Union)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2010) — In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use.

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Hard-Hitting Sports Hold Dangers For Teen Athletes

More teen football players are going to the emergency room for concussions. Credit: M. Pappas.

From Live Science:

West Orange, Texas, high school football player Reggie Garrett had just thrown his second touchdown pass of the game Friday night when he jogged to the sidelines, gave a coach a low-five and collapsed.

Just over an hour later, doctors at Memorial Hermann Baptist Orange Hospital declared the 17-year-old senior dead.

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How To Do (Almost) Everything With A Kindle 3

Photo of third-generation Kindle. Courtesy Amazon.com

From Gadget Lab:

Amazon’s Kindle can do a lot more than just buy and read Amazon-sold e-books. This is often a surprise. I usually wind up in conversations where someone says “I’d like to try a Kindle, but it can’t _______.” Usually, it can.

I was actually surprised when I bought my Kindle not just by how much it could do, but by how well it did it. The Kindle suffers from two things: 1) it’s never going to do everything that a full-fledged computer or even a color touchscreen tablet can do; and 2) the Kindle 3 has improved on a whole slew of features that were either poorly implemented in or entirely absent from earlier iterations of the Kindle.

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Neandertals Blasted Out Of Existence, Archaeologists Propose

TRINKETS OF SURVIVAL Human-made items, such as these pendants fashioned from animals' teeth, appeared in a Russian cave shortly after volcanic eruptions around 40,000 years ago wiped out Neandertal populations in the area, researchers say.Golovanova et al.

From Science News:

Modern humans may have thrived thanks to geographic luck, not wits.

Neandertals didn’t get dumped on prehistory’s ash heap — it got dumped on them. At least three volcanic eruptions about 40,000 years ago devastated Neandertals’ western Asian and European homelands, spurring a rapid demise of these humanlike hominids, says a team led by archaeologist Liubov Golovanova of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Air Force's Space-Based Surveillance Satellite Launches Tomorrow, To Scan For Space Junk

Space Debris NASA

From Popular Science:

A massive collection of spacecraft parts, dead satellites, and spent rocket stages circle high above the Earth in a sort of “floating landfill.” According to recent estimates, about 4 million pounds of space junk currently orbit the Earth, including some 20,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters.

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BlackBerry Maker 'To Unveil 'BlackPad' Tablet To Take On iPad Next Week'

The Blackpad has not been officially released yet but some technology bloggers say these pictures are what it is likely to look like

From The Daily Mail:

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) is set to unveil its version of a tablet computer to take on the iPad next week, it was claimed today.

The BlackPad, as it has been nicknamed, will be launched before the end of the year and will have a seven-inch touch screen and at least one built-in camera, a source told the Wall Street Journal.

And it is claimed that RIM will unveil the device at a developers' conference in San Francisco next week.

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