A Billion Stars In One Picture

Earth sits just in the galactic plane which appears as a very dense but very long strip of stars arcing across the sky. The galactic centre and the surrounding bulge of stars is here pulled out to show more detail

Picture Captures A Billion Stars -- BBC

Scientists have produced a colossal picture of our Milky Way Galaxy, to reveal the detail of a billion stars.

It is built from thousands of individual images acquired by two UK-developed telescopes operating in Hawaii and in Chile.

Archived data from the project, known as the Vista Data Flow System, will be mined by astronomers to make new discoveries about the local cosmos.

But more simply, it represents a fabulous portrait of the night sky.

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Update #1: Milky Way as Never Seen Before -- Sci-News
Update #2: New Milky Way Photo Captures 1 Billion Stars -- Space.com

My Comment: Just a billion stars within our little part of the universe.

Giant Solar Tornado Caught In NASA Video

Monster Solar Tornadoes Discovered -- MSNBC/Discovery News

Tempests measure width of several Earths and swirl at speeds of up to 190,000 miles

For the first time, huge solar tornadoes have been filmed swirling deep inside the solar corona — the sun's superheated atmosphere. But if you're imagining the pedestrian tornadoes that we experience on Earth, think again.

These solar monsters, measuring the width of several Earths and swirling at speeds of up to 190,000 miles per hour, aren't only fascinating structures; they may also trigger violent magnetic eruptions that can have drastic effects on our planet.

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Half Of All U.S. Households Own At Least One Apple Product

The overall ownership rate is 1.6 Apple products per American household, according to a new survey.

Half Of U.S. Households Own At Least One Apple Product -- CNN

(Mashable) -- Apple has taken firm root in America. Just over half of all households in the country own at least one Apple product, a new survey says, showing just how far the reach of the company has come in the last decade.

At the turn of the 21st century, Apple was in rough shape. It had narrowly avoided bankruptcy, and Steve Jobs' return as CEO a few years earlier was turning the company around, but the market share of its products -- then almost exclusively Mac computers -- was dismal, at about 2% worldwide.

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My Comment: Impressive. In my own home I have a Mac and an iPod.

Fossilised Marks Of Raindrops Reveal Ancient Atmosphere

Fossilised imprints left by raindrops in South Africa 2.7 billion years ago. Credit: Wlady Altermann/University of Pretoria

Fossil Raindrops Reveal Ancient Atmosphere -- Cosmos

BRISBANE: The fossilised marks of raindrops that fell 2.7 billion years ago in South Africa have revealed the composition of the Earth's early atmosphere.

According to a new study published in Nature today, the early Earth had an atmosphere with similar air pressure to the present day, but much higher levels of greenhouse gases. The findings, from a time when the Earth already had abundant microbial life, should improve our knowledge of what kinds of extrasolar planets might support life.

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My Comment: In short .... greenhouse gases were abundant during the time.

New Layer of Genetic Information Found

The structure of a ribosome (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - San Francisco)

New Layer of Genetic Information Helps Determine How Fast Proteins Are Produced -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2012) — A hidden and never before recognized layer of information in the genetic code has been uncovered by a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) thanks to a technique developed at UCSF called ribosome profiling, which enables the measurement of gene activity inside living cells -- including the speed with which proteins are made.

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Energy Bursts May Be Key to Martial Arts Skills

A new method of studying the energy uses of martial artists could improve training. CREDIT: Sergey Lukyanov, Shutterstock

Ninja Science: Energy Bursts May Be Key to Martial Arts Skills -- Live Science

The energy spent by martial artists can now be analyzed with the help of devices resembling gas masks combined with mini-jetpacks, researchers say.

These findings could help martial artists train to become better fighters, scientists added.

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My Comment: Hmmmm .... many military applications are possible with this science.

Transparent Memory Chips

Video streaming by Ustream

Transparent Memory Chips – The Next Step in Memory Storage -- Sci-Tech Daily

As technology moves forward, things get smaller, faster and now possibly transparent. A team of scientists have developed transparent, flexible memory chips that may one day replace flash drives and other personal data storage devices.

New memory chips that are transparent, flexible enough to be folded like a sheet of paper, shrug off 1,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures — twice as hot as the max in a kitchen oven — and survive other hostile conditions could usher in the development of next-generation flash-competitive memory for tomorrow’s keychain drives, cell phones and computers, a scientist reported today.

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Do Dolphins 'Resort To Rape'?

Two bottlenose dolphins breaching in evening light, Moray Firth, Inverness-shire, Scotland. The study found dolphins lived in an "open society". Photo: John MacPherson/2020VISION / Rex Features

Dolphins 'Resort To Rape' -- The Telegraph

Dolphins appear to have a darker side, according to scientists who suggest they can resort to 'rape' to assert authority.

Researchers found the marine mammals lead complex social lives, living in an "open society" where regular homosexual and bisexual relationships are found.

The conclusions from the international team of scientists came after they spent the past six years studying the behaviour of 120 bluenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia.

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My Comment: Hmmm .... they are acting like humans.

Future Wars Will Be Fought By Hackers

Clarke has seen the future of war and says it will be fought by hackers. Khue Bui

Richard Clarke On Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack -- Smithsonian

America's longtime counterterrorism czar warns that the cyberwars have already begun—and that we might be losing.

The story Richard Clarke spins has all the suspense of a postmodern geopolitical thriller. The tale involves a ghostly cyberworm created to attack the nuclear centrifuges of a rogue nation—which then escapes from the target country, replicating itself in thousands of computers throughout the world. It may be lurking in yours right now. Harmlessly inactive...or awaiting further orders.

A great story, right? In fact, the world-changing “weaponized malware” computer worm called Stuxnet is very real. It seems to have been launched in mid-2009, done terrific damage to Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 and then spread to computers all over the world.

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My Comment: This is a long read .... but it is comprehensive and thoughtful. As to what is my take on the future of war .... in a way I do agree with Mr. Clark's assessment. Future wars will be fought (in some capacity) by hackers who will also have their own "army of ninjas" to use when needed.

Dolphin's Social Lives More Complicated Than First Thought

Dolphins Lead ‘Complicated’ Social Lives -- ABC News

In what can only be described as “West Side Story” meets “Flipper,” scientists say they’ve discovered that male bottlenose dolphins break out into gangs to protect their females.

The researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, studied more than 120 adult dolphins, with a focus on the males, during a five-year period in Shark Bay, western Australia.

Their findings were published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

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My Comment: It sounds like they are in conflict almost all of the time.

Amazon CEO Finds Apollo 11 Engines In The Atlantic

Photo: The Apollo 11 mission, the first lunar landing mission, launched from the Kennedy Space Center via the Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969, and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. (Credit: NASA)

Amazon CEO Finds Apollo 11 Engines In Ocean -- CBS

LOS ANGELES - For more than four decades, the powerful engines that helped boost the Apollo 11 mission to the moon have rested in the Atlantic. Now Internet billionaire and space enthusiast Jeff Bezos wants to raise at least one of them to the surface.

An undersea expedition spearheaded by Bezos used sonar to find what he said were the F-1 engines located 14,000 feet deep. In an online announcement Wednesday, the Amazon.com CEO and founder said he is drawing up plans to recover the sunken engines, part of the mighty Saturn V rocket that launched Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on their moon mission.

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What Caused This Mysterious Geologic Structure

Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers snapped this photo from the International Space Station. (ESA/NASA)

Mysterious Geologic Structure Seen From Space -- FOX News/Live Science

A huge, copper-toned formation in West Africa dominates a mesmerizing photo taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.

Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers snapped this hypnotic image of the so-called Richat structure in Mauritania, as the space station flew over the Sahara Desert on the Atlantic Coast of West Africa. Erosion of the various rock layers created the ring-like features that make up the sprawling structure, but the origin of the Richat structure remains somewhat mysterious, geologists have said.

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My Comment: Hmmm .... talk about interesting mysteries.

Telepresence Robots Will Soon Join Doctors On Their Rounds

CtrlWorks' Telepresence Puppet CtrlWorks

Telepresence Robots Will Join Doctors on Their Rounds in Singapore Next Month -- Popular Science

Deploying telepresence robots in a medical setting isn’t exactly a new notion, but a Singapore-based startup is easing the technology into the clinical setting in a clever way. While other telepresence platforms have largely focused on allowing doctors to examine patients and oversee care remotely, CtrlWorks envisions its Puppet as more of a remotely piloted assistant that will reduce doctor workloads, dutifully taking down case notes and filing them in the proper places as a doctor makes his rounds. And next month at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore it will get a chance to prove its value.

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Former DARPA Chief Talks At TED

Former DARPA Chief Regina Dugan Talks Hypersonic Gilders and Hummingbirds at TED -- Popular Science

PopSci’s favorite DARPA head turned Google exec has done her turn at TED, and the video has just hit the wires. Titled “From Mach-20 Glider to Hummingbird Drone,” Dugan’s theme of discouraging the fear of failure is a retrospective on DARPA’s technological milestones and how the nerds at DARPA reached them by believing in impossible things.

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Who Screens The Pilots?

Fly For Fun

Are Airline Pilots Screened For Mental Health? -- Air & Space Smithsonian

The case of the ranting JetBlue captain—who went berserk when his co-pilot locked him out of the cockpit after noticing erratic behavior—got us wondering: how are airline pilots tested for soundness of mind?

Although the Federal Aviation Administration requires physicals every year for commercial pilots under 40 and every six months for those older, the FAA does not require psychological checks. The FAA-approved doctors order testing only if they think a pilot needs it.

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My Comment: After what happened with a JetBlue captain this week .... psychological screenings will probably soon become the norm.

Did Comets Bring Life To Earth?

Photo: The combination of water, energy and amino acids – which bind together to form proteins – could have caused the first chemical reactions which are believed to be the origin of life Photo: ALAMY

Life Brought To Earth By Comets -- The Telegraph

Life on Earth may have been sparked by comets carrying with them the key ingredients for our existence, scientists claim.

NASA scientists have replicated the impact of a comet and demonstrated that amino acids, a building block of life, could have survived the intense heat and shock waves given off in the collision.

The combination of water, energy and amino acids – which bind together to form proteins – could have caused the first chemical reactions and created proteins, the researchers said.

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Google 'To Launch' New GDrive Storage

Google is rumoured to be on the brink of launching 'GDrive', a service that would offer online storage for digital files - a direct rival to startup Dropbox

Google 'To Launch' New GDrive Storage Service In April To Take On Rivals Such As Dropbox -- Daily Mail

* Service 'to launch' in first week of April
* Rival to $4 billion storage start-up Dropbox
* Will allow users to store files such as music and video

Google will launch 'GDrive', an online storage service that will store large files online instead of in PC hard drives, early in April, according to leaks from sources near the company.

The service will be a rival to services such as Dropbox, a 'cloud' storage start-up recently valued at $4 billion.

'I am told the big day is sometime during the first week of April 2012,' said blogger Om Malik, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the company's plans.

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Billions Of Habitable Alien Planets Should Exist

This artist’s impression shows a sunset seen from the super-Earth Gliese 667 Cc. The brightest star in the sky is the red dwarf Gliese 667 C, which is part of a triple star system. The other two more distant stars, Gliese 667 A and B appear in the sky also to the right. Astronomers have estimated that there are tens of billions of such rocky worlds orbiting faint red dwarf stars in the Milky Way alone. CREDIT: ESO/L. Calçada

Billions Of Habitable Alien Planets Should Exist In Our Galaxy -- Space.com

here should be billions of habitable, rocky planets around the faint red stars of our Milky Way galaxy, a new study suggests.

Though these alien planets are difficult to detect, and only a few have been discovered so far, they should be ubiquitous, scientists say. And some of them could be good candidates to host extraterrestrial life.

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My Comment: Only billions?

Two Well Known Species Of Sharks Could Be Endangered

Hammerheads are aggressive hunters, feeding on smaller fish, octopuses, squid, and crustaceans. They do not actively seek out human prey, but are very defensive and will attack when provoked. Photograph by Brian J. Skerry

A Case Of Misidentification: Two Sharks Could Be Endangered -- Red Orbit

Confusion of identity between two shark species may threaten the survival of both. A new and unnamed shark species originally discovered off the Eastern United States seaboard discovered by Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center (NSU-OC) has a cousin that shares a striking resemblance: The endangered scalloped hammerhead shark.

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My Comment: I guess if present trends continue .... shark fin soup will be a thing of the past.

Drone Aircraft Are No Longer Restricted To Military Use

Unblinking Eyes In The Sky -- The Economist

Technology and society: Drone aircraft are no longer restricted to military use. They are being built and used by hobbyists, activists and estate agents, among others. What are the implications for safety and privacy?

WHEN environmental activists start using drones to track down Japanese whaling vessels, as they did in December, it is a sure sign that UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are no longer the sole prerogative of the armed forces. Police around the world are keen to use small pilotless aircraft to help them nab fleeing criminals and monitor crime scenes from above. With price tags of a little more (and, in some cases, a good deal less) than the $40,000 of a patrol car, a new generation of micro-UAVs is being recruited to replace police helicopters costing $1.7m and up.

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My Comment: And this is a trend that will continue to grow.