Pursuit Of The Universe's First Galaxy

In Pursuit Of The Universe's First Galaxy -- CBS News

If all goes according to plan, the James Webb space telescope will take to the stars in 2014. And scientists are counting down the days. The Webb is expected to offer them unprecedented views of the cosmos. The heir to the Hubble space telescope, the upcoming telescope has been taxed with a big job during its planned five-year space mission: no less than the job of photographing some of the universe's first-ever galaxies. With a 21-foot mirror, the Webb telescope will be powerful enough to take aim at the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe.

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My Comment: I suspect that the discoveries that it will find will rewrite the book on the origins of the universe.

A Suicide Warning System On Facebook

Facebook Adds Samaritans Suicide Risk Alert System -- BBC

Facebook is launching a system that allows users to report friends who they think may be contemplating suicide.

The feature is being run in conjunction with Samaritans, which said several people had used it during a test phase.

Anyone worried about a friend can fill out a form, detailing their concerns, which is passed to the site's moderators.

It follows reports of several cases where Facebook users announced their intention to commit suicide online.

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My Comment: This is smart.

Looking At Mars Impact Craters

This elongated depression is about 78 km in length, opens from just under 10 km wide at one end to 25 km wide at the other, and reaches a depth of 2 km. It is located at about 21°S / 55°E, and was probably caused by the impact of a train of projectiles. The data were acquired during orbit 8433 on 4 August 2010 using the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express. (Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))

The Scars Of Impacts On Mars -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) — ESA's Mars Express has returned new images of an elongated impact crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. Located just south of the Huygens basin, it could have been carved out by a train of projectiles striking the planet at a shallow angle.

The large Huygens basin (not visible in the main image but seen in the wider contextual image) is about 450 km in diameter and lies in the heavily cratered southern highlands. In this area there are many impact scars but none perhaps are more intriguing than the 'elongated craters'.

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My Comment: That is one hell of an impact.

Has NASA Discovered Evidence Of Alien Life?

NASA Scientist Finds Evidence Of Alien Life -- Yahoo News/Digital Trends

Aliens exist, and we have proof.

That astonishingly awesome claim comes from Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who says he has found conclusive evidence of alien life — fossils of bacteria found in an extremely rare class of meteorite called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. (There are only nine such meteorites on planet Earth.) Hoover’s findings were published late Friday night in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

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My Comment: I am skeptical.

Are Criminal Minds Different From Yours?

CT scans of a human brain. CREDIT: Dreamstime

Criminal Minds Are Different From Yours, Brain Scans Reveal -- Live Science

The latest neuroscience research is presenting intriguing evidence that the brains of certain kinds of criminals are different from those of the rest of the population.

While these findings could improve our understanding of criminal behavior, they also raise moral quandaries about whether and how society should use this knowledge to combat crime.

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My Comment: Hmmm .... this is going to open a Pandora's box.

Is India An Emerging Scientific Superpower

(Image: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty)

India: The Story Of An Emerging Scientific Superpower -- New Scientist

Why are Indians such a bunch of geeks? In Geek Nation, Angela Saini goes in search of the truth behind the stereotype.

At first, the truth seems hard to find. Dispiritingly, the first few chapters are filled not with the playful, passionate geeks Saini seeks, but with obsessive, socially inept nerds. Yes, they're different beasts.

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My Comment: It seems that it is a dog eat dog world out there.

All The Digital Data In The World Is Equivalent To One Human Brain

Supercomputer An IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer rack. Wikimedia Commons

From Popular Science:

If you could put all the data in the world onto CDs and stack them up, the pile would stretch from the Earth to beyond the moon, according to a new study. The world’s technological infrastructure has a staggering capacity to store and process information, reaching 295 exabytes in 2007, a reflection of the world’s almost complete transition into the digital realm. That's a number with 20 zeroes behind it, in case you're wondering.

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A Glimpse Into World's Biggest Wind Tunnel

The massive propellers, weighing a tonne each, are 24 metres in diameter and can get up to speeds of 230 rotations a minute

Rare Glimpse Into World's Biggest Wind Tunnel That Blows Gusts Twelve Times The Speed Of Sound -- The Daily Mail

Shrouded in total secrecy, massive wind tunnels that test the resistance of European aircraft have been opened up and photographed.

Journalists were offered the rare glimpse of the 24 metre diametre steel tubes at the National Centre for Aeropsace Research (Onera), where propellers, weighing over a tonne each, power the huge gusts of wind.

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My Comment: That's one big wind tunnel.

Swimming With Polar Bears

Within touching distance: Children swim incredibly close to two enormous polar bears at a rescue centre with a difference in Ontario, Canada

Polar Scare! Children Swim Inches From Monster Bears (Which Would Be A Worry If You Don't Notice The Glass Barrier) -- The Daily Mail

It's a heart-in-the-mouth moment that would have most parents running for help.

The massive carnivores loom menacingly over their bite-size pool companions in these remarkable pictures.

But there's more to the scenario than meets the eye, in fact the children are separated from certain death by 10-inch thick plexiglas.

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My Comment: I can only imagine what the polar bears are thinking.

Facebook Moving To Menlo Park From Palo Alto

Facebook to Find New Home in Menlo Park City -- TMCnet

Facebook on the move: Company relocating to former Sun Microsystems headquarters

Mark Zuckerberg’s $50-billion empire may be getting a whole host of new neighbors as word is spreading that the company is saying “goodbye” to its leased space on S. California Avenue and 1050 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto (News - Alert), Calif, and “hello” to Sun Microsystems old headquarters. The new location boasts 11 buildings, 57 acres and one million square feet of property, according to a TechCrunch article.

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Winter Scuttles Effort to Reach Ancient Arctic Lake

(Credit: Getty Images)

From CBS News:

In a race against the clock, Mother Nature won. A Russian team that has been toiling around the clock to pierce through to a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica is calling it quits - for now - because of harsh winter weather that's freezing their hydraulic tools.

The sub-glacial Lake Vostok is located at the bottom of a 12,000 foot-thick ice sheet in Antarctica but the project leaders reported the evacuation of its team 29.53 meters short of the final destination. They plan to resume their work next spring, when temperatures allow them to again use their drills. Lake Vostok has some of the lowest recorded temperatures found anywhere, with the thermometer going as low as -129 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Solar Physicists Will Soon have Their First 360-Degree View Of Our Star

Image: The Stereo satellites are already feeding data into space weather forecasts

Stereo Satellites Move either Side Of Sun -- BBC

Two US spacecraft have moved either side of the Sun to establish observing positions that should return remarkable new information about our star.

Launched in 2006, the Stereo satellites have gradually been drifting apart - one in front of the Earth in its orbit, the other lagging behind.

On Sunday, Nasa said the spacecraft had arrived at points that put the Sun directly between them.

It will give solar physicists the first 360-degree view of our star.

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My Comment: The data from this satellite alignment is probably going to be astounding.

View the World's Art Without Leaving Home

From ABC News:

Google Partners With 17 International Museums for Art Project.

Next time you want to get yourself some culture, you won't need to battle the crowds at a museum. You won't even need to leave the house.

Google today announced its Art Project, which lets users tour 17 of the world's top art museums -- virtually.

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My Comment: Sorry .... but it is not the same experience.

The Secret Life Of Bees

Many plants produce toxic chemicals to protect themselves against plant-eating animals, and many flowering plants have evolved flower structures that prevent pollinators such as bees from taking too much pollen. Now ecologists have produced experimental evidence that flowering plants might also use chemical defences to protect their pollen from some bees. (Credit: iStockphoto/James Knighten)

Secret Life Of Bees Now A Little Less Secret -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2011) — Many plants produce toxic chemicals to protect themselves against plant-eating animals, and many flowering plants have evolved flower structures that prevent pollinators such as bees from taking too much pollen. Now ecologists have produced experimental evidence that flowering plants might also use chemical defences to protect their pollen from some bees.

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My Comment: Nothing can remain secret forever.

Human Genome Turns 10

Human Genome Turns 10: 5 Lessons Learned -- Live Science

Ten years ago this month, in what was heralded as the opening to a new era in human biology and medicine, two rival teams of scientists published their first official reports of the sequencing of the human genome.

"Humanity has been given a great gift," announced one of the two journals, Science, to publish the drafts.

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My Comment: Ten years already .... how the time flies.

Computer Pioneer Ken Olsen Dead At 84

Ken Olsen (Credit: Computer History Museum)

From The CBS News:

Ken Olsen, co-founder of the defining technology company of a bygone era, Digital Equipment Corporation, has died. He was 84.

A spokeswoman for Gordon College in Massachusetts, where Olsen was a trustee and prominent donor, confirmed Monday evening Twitter reports of his death on Sunday. Olsen's company dominated the minicomputer era of the tech industry from the 1960s through the 1980s with the PDP and VAX series computers, and was a key part of the famed Route 128 technology corridor just outside Boston, along with companies like Data General and Wang.

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Say Hello To The Bloodhound Supercar

Construction Begins On Bloodhound Supercar -- BBC

Construction work formally begins this week on what is expected to be the world's fastest car.

Called Bloodhound, the vehicle has been designed to reach 1,000mph (1,600km/h).

The British car will attempt to set the mark as it breaks the land speed record on a dried out lake bed in South Africa's Northern Cape late next year.

Bloodhound has been in design for the past three years. It will be powered by a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine bolted above a hybrid rocket.

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My Comment: 1,600 kilometers an hour .... now you are talking.

Space Shuttles To Be Used By The Private Sector?

Endeavour Rolls Out Space Shuttle Endeavour rolls to the launch pad at dawn a year ago for STS-130, which delivered the Tranquility node to the International Space Station. NASA is considering keeping Endeavour flight-ready after its last flight this April. NASA

After Retiring from Government Service, Space Shuttles May Be Sold For Flights In Private Sector -- Popular Science

NASA contractor suggests private spaceflights starting in 2013.

A NASA contractor wants to go all Brett Favre on America’s space shuttles, pulling them out of retirement past their prime to keep them going, even if it’s to play for the other side.

United Space Alliance, which manages the shuttle program for NASA, wants to spend $1.5 billion annually to fly two missions a year from 2013 to 2017, using Endeavour and Atlantis. It would bridge the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the start of privately run space taxis, and help prevent American reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

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My Comment: I do not know about this. The shuttles are fast approaching their lifetime .... flying them will probably not be safe.

Roaches Inspire Robotics

Locusts like these in Eilat, Israel, are inspiring future robotic advances.
(Credit: Photo by Prof. Amir Ayali)

Roaches Inspire Robotics: Researchers Use Common Cockroach To Fine-Tune Robots Of The Future -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2011) — Ask anyone who has ever tried to squash a skittering cockroach -- they're masters of quick and precise movement. Now Tel Aviv University is using their maddening locomotive skills to improve robotic technology too.

Prof. Amir Ayali of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology says the study of cockroaches has already inspired advanced robotics. Robots have long been based on these six-legged houseguests, whose nervous system is relatively straightforward and easy to study.

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My Comment: Cockroaches?

A Satellite Network Is One Way To Bypass An Internet Shutdown

Could Satellites Bypass an Internet Shutdown? -- Live Science

Online censorship and Internet kill-switches could meet their match if satellite-enabled services and ground peer-to-peer networks become more widespread in the future. That's the view of Kosta Grammatis, CEO and founder of ahumanright.org, who sees Internet access as a basic necessity.

An independent satellite operator could have kept Egyptian protesters online and connected to the outside world despite the Egyptian government's shutdown of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) this past week. Governments would find it difficult to jam an independent satellite signal across an entire country, Grammatis said in a TIME interview.

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My Comment: I support anything that gets us away from the clutches of the government.