No Moon Trips: Obama's Space Vision A 'Paradigm Shift'

From Space.com:

President Obama's plan for America's space program, according to early reports, represents a fundamental shift for human spaceflight, some experts say.

The reports suggest the Obama administration intends to move toward relying on commercially-built spacecraft, rather than NASA's own vehicles, to carry humans to low-Earth orbit. The plan would also involve extending the International Space Station's lifetime and abandoning current plans to send astronauts on moon missions in the 2020s.

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What Happens If NASA's Constellation Program Dies?

From Popular Mechanics:

It has been reported that the president's budget may not include any funds for the Constellation program, NASA's primary source of hardware for future space missions. Here's a breakdown of some questions to ask in the aftermath of the apparent collapse of the United State's human space flight program.

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Last Neanderthals In Europe Died Out 37,000 Years Ago

Teeth from Pego do Diabo, Portugal (Credit: Photo by courtesy of PLoS ONE)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 27, 2010) — The paper, by Professor João Zilhão and colleagues, builds on his earlier research which proposed that, south of the Cantabro-Pyrenean mountain chain, Neanderthals survived for several millennia after being replaced or assimilated by anatomically modern humans everywhere else in Europe.

Although the reality of this 'Ebro Frontier' pattern has gained wide acceptance since it was first proposed by Professor Zilhão some twenty years ago, two important aspects of the model have remained the object of unresolved controversy: the exact duration of the frontier; and the causes underlying the eventual disappearance of those refugial Neanderthal populations (ecology and climate, or competition with modern human immigrants).

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Levitating Magnet Brings Nuclear Fusion Closer To Reality

The Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX) reactor is housed inside a 16-foot-diameter steel structure in a building on the MIT campus that also houses MIT’s other fusion reactor, a tokamak called Alcator C-mod. Credit: LDX team

From Live Science:

Physicists may be one step closer to achieving a form of clean energy known as nuclear fusion, which is what happens deep inside the cores of stars.

A recent experiment with a giant levitating magnet was able to coax matter in the lab to extremely high densities — a necessary step for nuclear fusion.

When the density is high enough, atomic nuclei — the protons and neutrons of atoms — literally fuse together, creating a heavier element. And if the conditions are right that fusion can release loads of energy.

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Setting Up A Tent City

People gather in a makeshift tent city across from the ruined presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. (Angela Naus/CBC)

From The CBC:

On Oct. 8, 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, killing more than 75,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Most of the damage occurred in the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir.

Almost a million tents were delivered and erected in the various emergency camps set up after the earthquake. A year later, there were still about 35,000 people living in temporary tent cities, the United Nations said.

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Apple iPad Hands On

Apple iPad Hands On from PopSci.com on Vimeo.

From Popular Science:

Our complete impressions and analysis of Apple's new tablet are here, with photos and video.

The iPad, one of the most anticipated gadgets in history, is here. And the stakes, clearly, are high: to my knowledge, this is the first time Apple has referred to one of their products as "magical." Here's what it's like to play with one.

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New Animations Take You Flying Over Mars

From Wired Science:

A space-loving animator has created stunning flyovers of Mars from data captured by NASA’s HiRISE imager, which is mounted on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite.

HiRISE creates detailed digital-elevation models. Crunch that data, add perspective and some cinematic effects, and you have the movies that Doug Ellison, founder of UnmannedSpaceflight.com, posted to YouTube this morning.

The video at the top shows the Mojave Crater. The one below takes you flying through Athabasca Valles. Ellison said that both animations are rendered accurately from the data with no exaggerated scaling.

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Has Twitter Peaked? New Web Figures Show Decline In Number Of Users Since The Summer

From The Daily Times:

It has revolutionalised social networking and brought the thoughts of our favourite celebrities - no matter how trivial - into our homes.

But, just a year after its peak, it seems that Twitter has already fallen out of favour.

Figures show that the number of visitors to the micro-blogging website has plunged since its height last summer.

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Neuron Breakthrough Offers Hope On Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s

From Times Online:

Neurons have been created directly from skin cells for the first time, in a remarkable study that suggests that our biological makeup is far more versatile than previously thought.

If confirmed, the discovery that one tissue type can be genetically reprogrammed to become another, could revolutionise treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, opening up the possibility of turning a patient’s own skin cells into the neurons that they need.

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NASA Sets Feb. Launch Date For Shuttle Endeavour

From ABC News:

NASA sets Feb. 7 launch date for shuttle Endeavour, delivering new space station room.

NASA has set an early February launch date for space shuttle Endeavour.

Senior managers met Wednesday and decided unanimously to proceed toward a Feb. 7 launch date for Endeavour. It will be a pre-dawn liftoff at 4:39 a.m. — in all probability the last shuttle launch in darkness.

Endeavour will carry up a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station, the last of the major U.S. components. The six-person crew will hook up the chamber, named Tranquility, during a series of spacewalks.

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Shoes May Have Changed How We Run

From The BBC:

Wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run, new research suggests.

Using slow-motion footage, scientists have discovered that experienced barefoot runners land very differently from runners who wear shoes.

The researchers showed that runners who have trained barefoot tend to strike the ground with their forefoot or mid-foot, rather than their heel.

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3-D Glasses Get A Makeover

The Bocko family of Bernardston, Mass., tried watching "The Polar Express" on Christmas Day with paper 3-D glasses but gave up partway through because the glasses weren’t fitting well enough for them to enjoy the full effect. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff

From Christian Science Monitor:

New home entertainment technology aims to transform a 3-D viewer’s experience.

It seems every year is heralded as “the year 3-D home entertainment will take off.” Yet the moment never really arrives.

Last year saw huge strides for 3-D movies in theaters. Each of the seven top-grossing 3-D movies of all time came out in 2009. Atop the list sits “Avatar,” which raked in more than $1.6 billion worldwide and became history’s second biggest box-office hit in only a few weeks. And animation powerhouse Pixar, hungry for similar successes, stuck to its pledge to only make 3-D movies from now on.

This is great news for theatergoers, but there are very few ways to bring the extra dimension home with you.

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Single Photons Observed At Seemingly Faster-Than-Light Speeds

At the boundaries between layers, the photon creates waves interfering with each other, affecting its transit time. (Credit: JQI)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 27, 2010) — Researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland at College Park, can speed up photons (particles of light) to seemingly faster-than-light speeds through a stack of materials by adding a single, strategically placed layer.

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New Theory of Primate Origins Sparks Controversy

From Live Science:

The evolution of the distant ancestors of humans and other primates may have been driven by dramatic volcanic eruptions and the parting of continents, according to a controversial new theory.

Scientists remain skeptical about the idea, however.

According to prevailing theories, primates originated in a small area. From this center of origin, they dispersed to other regions and continents.

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Video: Boeing's Truck-Mounted Laser Neatly Picks Off 50 IEDs In A Row

From Popular Science:

Boeing's laser weapons have already shown the power to blast aerial drones from the sky, but may find even more immediate use in detonating roadside bombs, which are a top killer of soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. A newly unveiled video shows the company's truck-mounted Laser Avenger destroying two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during a series of 50 test firings that took place at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama last September, according to OptoIQ.

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India Plans Manned Space Mission In 2016

From Breitbart/AFP:

India will launch its first manned space mission in 2016 in a bid to match space pioneers such as Russia and the United States, a top official said Wednesday.

The government had already approved plans for a human space flight project by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and last year gave the go-ahead for funding of around 2.8 billion dollars.

ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said the agency would develop the space module for the programme within four years.

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Blonde Women Born To Be Warrior Princesses

Photo: Blondes, such as the actress Emilia Fox, are used to having their own way, the study says

From Times Online:

IT really is a case of blonde ambition. Women with fair hair are more aggressive and determined to get their own way than brunettes or redheads, according to a study by the University of California.

Researchers claim that blondes are more likely to display a “warlike” streak because they attract more attention than other women and are used to getting their own way — the so-called “princess effect”.

Even those who dye their hair blonde quickly take on these attributes, experts found.

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Scientists In Stolen E-Mail Scandal Hid Climate Data

Photo: Professor Phil Jones, the unit's director, stood down while the inquiry took place. (University of East Anglia)

From Times Online:

The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails broke the law by refusing to hand over its raw data for public scrutiny.

The University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to comply with requests for data concerning claims by its scientists that man-made emissions were causing global warming.

The Information Commissioner’s Office decided that UEA failed in its duties under the Act but said that it could not prosecute those involved because the complaint was made too late, The Times has learnt. The ICO is now seeking to change the law to allow prosecutions if a complaint is made more than six months after a breach.

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No Facebook IPO In 2010

From CBS News:

Two Major Investors in Facebook Nix Possibility of Public Offering in 2010.

After years of Facebook executives and investors saying "not yet" to an initial public offering, 2010 finally looked like the year when it could happen.

Nope. Or at least that's what two major Facebook investors, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies, said during an onstage talk at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich on Tuesday.

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'Farthest' Star-Mass Black Hole

An artist's impression of the black hole pulling gas off its companion

From The BBC:

Astronomers have spied a star-sized black hole much further away than any such object previously known.

It has a mass 20 times that of our Sun and is sited six million light-years away in the galaxy NGC 300.

The discovery was made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility on Mount Paranal in Chile.

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