Tasting Scotch Whisky

Dave Arnold and his Rotary Evaporator. Courtesy The Glenlivet

Tasting Scotch Whisky, Note By Vacuum-Distilled Note -- Popular Science

Laboratory separation techniques pull out the various flavors in a single glass of whisky for individual study and/or enjoyment.

As I write this, I'm sipping three aged Scotches that have been fractionated into some nine glasses. It's mid-afternoon. Yes, I am at the Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans again -- one part learning and one part drinking, served straight up. Some people prefer to vary the proportions slightly.

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My Comment: Hmmm ... I feel thirsty.

Sitting Is Deadly

Sititng. CREDIT: Dreamstime

Sitting Is Deadly, Mounting Research Reveals -- Live Science

Did you hit the gym today? If so, you probably feel like you deserve a pat on the back. But your efforts may be in vain if you spend the rest of the day sitting down.

A growing body of research suggests sitting down for most of the day can be lethal. It has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and death from any cause. And a daily jog may do little to negate the deleterious effects of too much time in a chair.

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'Brain Cap' Technology Turns Thought Into Motion

University of Maryland associate professor of kinesiology Jose "Pepe" Contreras-Vidal wears his Brain Cap, a noninvasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars. (Credit: John Consoli, University of Maryland)

'Brain Cap' Technology Turns Thought Into Motion; Mind-Machine Interface Could Lead to New Life-Changing Technologies for Millions of People

"Brain cap" technology being developed at the University of Maryland allows users to turn their thoughts into motion. Associate Professor of Kinesiology José 'Pepe' L. Contreras-Vidal and his team have created a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars.

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Fall Of The Neanderthals

Map of the migration of modern man out of Africa. Triangles represent Aurignacian (considered the first modern humans) split-base points. (Credit: Dora Kemp, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research)

Fall of the Neanderthals: Volume of Modern Humans Infiltrating Europe Cited as Critical Factor -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2011) — New research sheds light on why, after 300,000 years of domination, European Neanderthals abruptly disappeared. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered that modern humans coming from Africa swarmed the region, arriving with over ten times the population as the Neanderthal inhabitants.

The reasons for the relatively sudden disappearance of the European Neanderthal populations across the continent around 40,000 years ago has for long remained one of the great mysteries of human evolution.

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Rate Of Species Disappearance Is Accelerating

History's Normal Rate Of Species Disappearance Is Accelerating, Scientists Say -- McClatchy News

PHILADELPHIA — Biologist E.O. Wilson once pondered whether many of our fellow living things were doomed once evolution gave rise to an intelligent, technological creature that also happened to be a rapacious carnivore, fiercely territorial and prone to short-term thinking.

We humans can be so destructive that some scientists believe we've now triggered a mass extinction - one that in several hundred years will rival the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs.

In some places, a mass extinction is already under way. Haiti, a "hotspot" for plant and animal diversity, may be closest to ecological collapse.

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Chimps Are Not Human

The Chimp They Tried To Turn Into A Human: An Extraordinary Experiment In Which Scientists Raised A Chimpanzee As Their Child... With Chilling Results -- Daily Mail

The woman volunteer thought Nim was coming to hug her, but instead the young chimp lunged, biting so deep into her cheek that his fangs pierced her mouth.

As she clutched her bleeding face, the little ape was beside himself, using the same piece of sign language again and again to attract her attention. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ he repeated.

This haunting recollection is one of many contained in a riveting new film, Project Nim, by the director of the Oscar-winning Man On Wire, about one of the most bizarre scientific experiments of recent times.

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My Comment: In today's world, these individuals would have been cited for animal abuse.

Job Cuts At The US Space Shuttle Program

NASA Reducing Space Shuttle Workforce From 6,700 to 1,000 -- PC World

The landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the official ending of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program marked a bittersweet moment for the 6,700-some shuttle workers tasked with maintaining the space-faring fleet.

NASA began issuing the first of its layoff notices for approximately 3,200 contract workers Friday, the first in a series of cuts scheduled to occur between now and August. NASA plans to drop down to a shuttle de-servicing staff of around 1,000 workers, which will be tasked with prepping the three main shuttles for their new homes in museums around the country.

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My Comment: Remembering the US shuttle program.

150 Human Animal Hybrids Grown In UK Labs

Research centre: Warwick University has been growing animal human hybrids over the last three years

150 Human Animal Hybrids Grown In UK Labs: Embryos Have Been Produced Secretively For The Past Three Years -- The Daily Mail

Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.

The hybrids have been produced secretively over the past three years by researchers looking into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.

The revelation comes just a day after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.

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Mass Extinction Caused by Deadly 'Earth Burp'

The Northern Calcareous Alps, where scientists found evidence of a giant, killing "burp" of methane emitted hundreds of millions of years ago.

From FOX News:

A massive, long-ago extinction was once thought to have been caused by a destructive wave of volcanic activity. Scientists now point their fingers at another culprit.

A giant, deadly “Earth burp.”

Micha Ruhl and researchers from the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have found that the mass extinction of half of Earth’s marine life over 200 million years ago was likely the result of a giant release of carbon methane in the atmosphere.

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Will Budget Woes Kill NASA's Next Great Telescope?

The James Webb Space Telescope is the heir apparent to the Hubble Space Telescope
NASA

After Hubble: Will Budget Woes Kill NASA's Next Great Telescope? -- Time

Over the past hundred years or so, the science of astronomy has been utterly predictable, in an utterly unpredictable sort of way. Decade after decade, telescopes got steadily bigger and more powerful, and expanded their range beyond ordinary visible light into the hidden realms of ultraviolet, infrared, radio waves and more. And with every one of those leaps, astronomers discovered something unexpected and astonishing — massive black holes spewing blasts of energy into space, tiny neutron stars spinning a thousand times a second, dark matter pushing galaxies around like toys, and even the afterglow of the Big Bang at the dawn of time.

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Breath-Taking Snaps Of Galaxy Seen With The Naked Eye

Stunning: Photographer Alex Cherney has dedicated his life's work to capturing the night sky as it is rarely seen by humans by using just an ordinary digital camera

The Milky Way So Close You Can Almost Taste It: Breath-Taking Snaps Of Galaxy Seen With The Naked Eye -- The Daily Mail

A star-gazer has come a little bit closer to the final frontier - after spending 18 months photographing the night sky.

With just an ordinary digital camera, Alex Cherney turned thousands of snaps into an incredible time-lapse video of the cosmos.

Using long exposures to allow more light in, these breath-taking pictures from the southern tip of Australia demonstrate how he captured the dramatic way the sky changes at night.

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American Soccer Robots Dominate World RoboCup 2011

CHARLI-L2 Contemplates the Ball RoMeLa

American Soccer Robots Dominate at the World RoboCup 2011 -- Popular Science

Soccer fans, rejoice: America has won the World Cup. Well, the robot World Cup.

In the finale of RoboCup 2011, two Virginia Tech robots took top honors in the adult-size and child-size categories. The full-size humanoid CHARLI-2, making its public debut at RoboCup, won the adult-size robot soccer match with a penalty kick, beating Robo Erectus of Singapore 1-0.

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Personal Life Of American Astronauts In Space

The Personal Life Of American Astronauts In Space: What's It really Like? -- L.A. Times

America's last space shuttle, Atlantis, docked Sunday at the International Space Station where the crew has a full 10-day schedule of work to accomplish on the final visit of the U.S. craft.

We witnessed the Atlantis launch Friday in the bright Florida sunshine, brightened even further by the 200-foot-long flaming flare of its five muscular rockets lifting the nearly five million pounds of craft and fuel into orbit.

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Atlantis Mission Threatened By "Russian Debris"

Mission control is monitoring space junk to make sure it doesn't get too close during a space walk

'Russian' Debris Threatens Atlantis Mission As Ground Control Fears It Will Hurtle 'Dangerously Close' To ISS During Space Walk -- Daily Mail

* Nasa is trying to work out if the junk comes from a defunct Russian satellite
* It is scheduled to pass the space station at around 5pm GMT on Tuesday

Nasa is monitoring a piece of 'Russian' space junk that looks likely to come dangerously close to the International Space Station during a planned space walk tomorrow.

The debris is heading towards the station, where Atlantis yesterday docked on its final mission.

Scientists are still trying to work out how big the object is and how close it will come to Atlantis. Some believe it originated from a defunct Russian satellite that is orbiting Earth.

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Is Cyberwar Unlikely?

Photo: USAF

Why Cyberwar Is Unlikely -- Live Science

In this last of a three-part series, LiveScience's sister site SecurityNewsDaily explores truths, distortions, confusions and likelihood of cyberwar. Click for Part 1: Cyberwar: Definition, Hype and Reality and Part 2: What Cyberwar Would Look Like.

Even as more and more countries invest in the idea of cyberwarfare, cyberspace remains largely peaceful insofar as actual war is concerned.

In the two decades since cyberwar first became possible, there hasn't been a single event that politicians, generals and security experts agree on as having passed the threshold for strategic cyberwar.

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10 Ways Shuttle Tech Can Now Be Found Right Here On Earth

The Space Shuttle Cockpit NASA, via Wikimedia Commons

Ten Tech Innovations From NASA's Space Shuttle That Trickled Down to Non-Astronauts -- Popular Science

Tech designed for the space shuttle program have permeated just about every aspect of our lives. Here are ten you may not know about.

Your life is full of what NASA calls "spinoffs": ideas or products initially designed for NASA's particular (and particularly challenging) uses, but which trickled down to become commercial products. Of course, you may not recognize these items--there's no "made for NASA" sticker, and many of the iconic NASA products (Tang, Teflon, Velcro) weren't actually designed for or by NASA at all. But NASA-developed stuff is everywhere, from insulation to infant formula, from prostheses to fishing nets. Here are ten of our favorites that originated in the Shuttle program--the very program that just saw its last launch ever.

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My Comment: Only 10?

NASA Tracking Space Debris In Space Station's Path

This handout illustration image created by Australia's Electro Optic Systems (EOS) aerospace company shows a view of the Earth with low-orbiting space debris. The US space agency is tracking a piece of space junk that could be on a path toward the International Space Station, where the shuttle Atlantis has just docked on its final mission, NASA said.

From Yahoo News/AFP:

The US space agency is tracking a piece of space junk that could be on a path toward the International Space Station, where the shuttle Atlantis has just docked on its final mission, NASA said Sunday.

However, NASA is not ready to say for sure whether the object is projected to collide with the shuttle and station, though the paths were likely to cross on Tuesday, said deputy manager of the space shuttle program LeRoy Cain.

"What we were told today is very preliminary," Cain said. "It is a potential right now."

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Better Eyes For The Next Generation of UAVs

Hyperspectral Sensors: The Flying Eyes That See The Invisible -- Popular Mechanics

Hyperspectral imagers seen in bands of light that humans cannot. They are changing the way satellites scan the world, and now they're about to go aboard unmanned aircraft.

Bees see what we don't. Their eyes are adept at seeing in ultraviolet, so much so that flowers have evolved colorful patterns visible only in UV to attract bees' attention.

The vision of these buzzing insects is just one example of what lies beyond the limits of our naked eyes. In the bands beyond what we can see, there's lots of data that can be used to identify objects. But a new breed of man-made sensors is, like the eye of a bee, plucking information from a wider part of the spectrum than a camera or eye can see.

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My Comment: In short .... you can run but you cannot hide .... the reaper uav in the sky will still be able to see you.

A Separate Internet Could Curb Cyber Threats

The U.S. Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command The U.S. military and intelligence arms are already defending the nation from cyber attacks. DARPA hopes to give them another tool.

Former CIA Chief: A Separate Internet Could Curb Cyber Threats -- Popular Science

To combat cyber attacks, the U.S. may need more than new cyber defenses. It might need a whole new piece of Internet infrastructure. So says former CIA director Michael Hayden, who served under President G.W. Bush, and he’s not the only one. Several lawmakers and the current Cyber Command chief Gen. Keith Alexander are toying with the notion of creating a “.secure” domain where Fourth Amendment rights to privacy are voluntarily foregone in order to keep that corner of the Internet free of cyber criminals.

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My Comment: We are going down this pathway, and while setting up the infrastructure for a separate but secure will be expensive .... the alternative of letting everything continue as is may end up being even more pricey.

New Clues To Galaxy Evolution

The region around Supernova 1987A as viewed by Herschel and Hubble. (Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/NASA-JPL/Caltech/UCL/STScI and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)

Stardust in Our Backyard Provides New Clues to Galaxy Evolution -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (July 7, 2011) — New data from the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory have revealed surprisingly large amounts of cold dust in the remnant of the famous supernova SN1987A, which exploded 24 years ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. With this discovery, astronomers confirm that supernovae are able to produce significant quantities of dust over very short time scales. This may help explain previous observations, by Herschel and other observatories, of abundant dust in the early Universe as seen in high-redshift galaxies.

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