Outside science academies to review warming panel
(AP)
AP - The beleaguered global warming panel has found an outside group to review how it writes its reports.
NASA: Money key to more space shuttle flights
(AP)
AP - With space shuttle retirement just months away, a senior NASA manager said Tuesday it wouldn't be hard to add more flights, provided the nation is willing to keep paying $200 million a month.
God Helps with Personal Decisions, Most Americans Say
(LiveScience.com)
LiveScience.com - Most Americans believe God is involved in their everyday
lives and concerned with their personal well-being, though the well-educated
and higher earners are less likely than their counterparts to believe in such
divine intervention, a new study suggests.
Police probe Toyota Prius crash in NYC suburb
(AP)
AP - The driver of a Toyota Prius told police in suburban New York that the car accelerated on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall.
Solar power could provide 10 percent of US energy: report
(AFP)
AFP - The United States could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, a report said Tuesday, winning support from a US lawmaker who wants to boost the number of US solar panels.
First woman in space promotes careers in science
(Reuters)
Reuters - American physicist Sally Ride achieved lasting fame in June 1983 when she became the first American woman to travel in space as a crew member of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
China and India to Join Copenhagen Climate Change AccordThe countries are the last two major economic powers to agree with the aims of the nonbinding agreement.
John Thorbjarnarson, 52, a Leading Expert on CrocodilesMr. Thorbjarnarson was a scientist with wide interests in saving and learning about many species.
Obama Plans Florida Forum to Discuss NASA?s FutureThe president planned to spell out his vision for the future of American astronauts in space at a conference next month.
Reaching for Stars When Space Thrilled and Paranoia RuledIn a new book about the space race, Megan Prelinger sees hopes, dreams and fears in the form of magazine ads.
The Diminishing Difficulty of Enriching UraniumMaking the leap from reactor-grade nuclear fuel to bomb-grade is like the rich getting richer: really fast.
A Conversation With Dr. Peter J. Pronovost: Doctor Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for PatientsDr. Peter J. Pronovost, medical director of the Quality and Safety Research Group at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, travels the country advising hospitals on innovative safety measures.
Scientists See Fresh Signs of More Water on the Moon?Relatively pure? ice is believed to be in small craters near the lunar north pole, and researchers say it could be easily tapped by future explorers.
International Space Station in New LightNo, this is not a new model Jedi TIE Fighter -- it's the very real International Space Station passing across the field-of-view of a German Earth-watching satellite known as TerraSar-X . This radar image, taken last March, shows how smooth ...
Real-Life 'Hurt Locker' Bomb SuitI saw the movie, Hurt Locker, and wondered how that bomb suit could protect someone from death. Dvice has a great piece up that explains just that. The so-called explosive ordinance disposal suit has two layers, one rigid, one soft ...
Electronic Shirt Analyzes Pitcher's ThrowJust in time for Spring training. This electronic shirt analyzes a baseball pitcher's throw. That could keep the athletes in good form and reduce injuries, which cost the MLB organization $54 million a year in salary losses. The shirt was ...
A Sweet Deal SouredIt was the blockbuster environmental deal of a lifetime: Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced in 2008 that the state was going to buy 180,000 acres of wetlands from United States Sugar Corporation. The purchase would effectively close U.S. Sugar's doors ...
Discovery in legumes could reduce fertilizer use, aid environmentEscalating use of nitrogen fertilizer is increasing algal blooms and global warming, but a recent discovery by researchers could begin to reverse that. They have revealed a key step in how symbiotic bacteria living in legumes turn nitrogen into plant food, which could be used to improve the process in some plants, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Hormone thought to slow aging associated with increased risk of cancer deathOlder men with high levels of the hormone IGF-I (insulin-like growth factor 1) are at increased risk of cancer death, independent of age, lifestyle and cancer history, according to a new study.
Papaya extract thwarts growth of cancer cells in lab testsPapaya extract seems to have a toxic effect on cancer cells in culture, suggesting a potential treatment. Scientists documented for the first time that papaya leaf extract boosts the production of key signaling molecules called Th1-type cytokines. This regulation of the immune system, in addition to papaya's direct anti-tumor effect on various cancers, suggests possible therapeutic strategies that use the immune system to fight cancers.
Obese 3-year-olds show early warning signs for future heart diseaseA new study finds that obese children as young as 3 years old have elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that in adults is considered an early warning sign for possible future heart disease.
Big power from tiny wires: Carbon nanotubes can produce powerful waves that could be harnessed for new energy systemsScientists have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.
Low oxygen levels in body linked to cancer-aiding proteinA professor of biochemistry who was researching protein kinase C gamma in the lens of the human eye found her work taking a fascinating turn when she discovered a correlation between the protein Coonexin46 and hypoxia -- a deficiency of oxygen which kills normal tissue cells. The researcher believes the findings will lead to serious advancements in treating retinoblastoma, a cancer that forms in the tissue of the retina.
Ever-changing Earth: How the atmosphere can affect planet's shape, rotation, gravitational fieldResearchers in Austria are investigating the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on our planet's shape, its rotation and its gravitational field. The researchers' aim is to develop a better understanding of the Earth's system and to support the development of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS).
LHC fault forces 2011 shutdownThe Large Hadron Collider must be shut down for a year starting in late 2011 to address design flaws, the BBC has learned.
Fuel-injection System That Delivers 64 Miles Per GallonThe best hybrid cars of today can only deliver about 48 miles per gallon. By using this newly developed fuel injection system a test vehicle was measured at achieving 64 miles per gallon in highway driving. This is approximately a 50% increase in fuel efficiency in a gasoline engine.
Better Than Apollo: The Space Program We Almost HadSAN FRANCISCO — In the late 1950s, American space companies jumped into a headlong race to build an aerospace industry that could launch missiles across the world and rockets above.
Scientists tease DNA from eggshell of extinct birdsIn a world first, scientists in Australia announced on Wednesday they had extracted DNA from the fossilised eggshells of extinct birds, including iconic giants such as the moa and elephant bird.
Is Number of Earthquakes on the Rise? (Washington Post)Are the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Turkey a coincidence or a sign of increases seismic activity?
Woman tries to shut down Large Hadron ColliderA German woman has failed in a bid to force her country's government to halt experiments at the world's largest atom smasher which she feared would lead to the Earth's destruction.
Few Studies Compare the Efficacy of Medical Treatments
The forward momentum of medical progress is manifest, it could be argued, in the $50 billion spent in 2008 on pharmaceutical research and development in the quest to bring new drugs to market. But little scientific or governmental infrastructure exists to ensure that each new treatment is actually an improvement over existing therapies--and to tease out what therapies are best for which patients. [More]
You know how uncomfortable it feels when you really have to go to the bathroom? And you have to hold it in? If researchers get their way, disease-carrying mosquitoes will spend their last moments being that uncomfortable. Cornell University scientists [Peter M. Piermarini, et al] have been trying to disrupt the life cycle of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread dengue fever. The mosquitoes pick up the virus when they feed on one human and transmit it in their saliva to their next victim.
There’s no vaccine for dengue, and no fully protective treatment. So the only recourse has been to figure out how to best kill the mosquitoes themselves. Here’s where urination comes in. When the mosquito takes a blood meal, it has to get rid of fluid and salt so it doesn’t overload--and die. Scientists have discovered a key protein in the renal tubes of these mosquitoes that helps with the necessary excretion. Blocking the protein keeps a mosquito from urinating. [See http://bit.ly/defrih ] Without whizzing, they become too heavy to fly away. The researchers say they’re thus more likely to be swatted or eaten. So look for new insecticides that stop mosquitoes from lightening their liquid load. With fatal results.
The origins of language have long been a mystery, but mounting evidence hints that our unique linguistic abilities could have evolved from gestural communication in our ancestors. Such gesturing may also explain why most people are right-handed.
Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center recently examined captive chimpanzees and found that most of them predominantly used their right hand when communicating with one another--for example, when greeting another chimp by extending an arm. The animals did not show this hand preference for noncommunicative actions, such as wiping their noses. Such lateralized hand use suggests that chimpanzees have a system in their left brain hemisphere that is coupled to the production of communicative gestures, says study author William Hopkins. The same cerebral hemisphere is host to most language functions in humans, which hints that an ancestral gestural system could have been the precursor for language, he says.
I don’t know how many e-mails I have received from children who are terrified that 2012 will somehow involve the end of life as we know it, all because of an unfounded fringe religious prophecy that has received mass-market exposure with the release of a recent Hollywood movie. I have tried to reassure those children (and not a few adults) that this date represents nothing more cosmically special than the year of the next presidential election.
Having said that, however, I just realized there might be a genuine connection between 2012 and an end-of-days menace!
Invasion of the Drones: Unmanned Aircraft Take Off in Polar Exploration
A multinational, robotic air corps is quietly invading the polar regions of the earth. Some catapult from ships; some launch from running pickup trucks; and some take off the old-fashioned way, from icy airstrips. The aircraft range from remote-controlled propeller planes--of the type found at Toys “R” Us--to sophisticated, high-altitude jets. All are specially outfitted, not with weapons but with scientific instruments.
Unmanned aircraft have made headlines in the mountains of Afghanistan, but the technology has quickly trickled down to scientists seeking a less expensive, safer way to study the earth’s poles. Researchers have begun to put unmanned aerial systems, or UASs, to a variety of tasks, from monitoring the ozone layer to counting seal populations. Thanks to lower costs and improved technologies, “it’s absolutely exploded in the past couple of years,” says Elizabeth Weatherhead, who is an environmental scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
One's Enough: People Who Donate a Kidney Live Just as Long as Those Who Don't
Every 30 minutes, all of the blood in our bodies is filtered through two fist-size kidneys. But diseases such as diabetes can cause them to fail, leading to a build-up of chemicals in the blood that without dialysis (mechanical blood filtration) or a kidney transplant would be fatal. And the wait for a new kidney can be long, unless someone you know is willing to give one of theirs to you. [More]
Smithsonian Rolls Out Red Carpet for Hubble 3D PremiereThe Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Tuesday for the world premiere of the Hubble 3D IMAX film.
Air Force to Test New Hypersonic AircraftThe U.S. Air Force is gearing up for the first of four planned test flights of a hypersonic aircraft designed to operate for much longer durations and cover far greater distances than previous platforms of its type.
Warp Speed Will Kill YouHarmless interstellar hydrogen becomes deadly ionized radiation that would fry the crew and electronics of starships traveling near light speed, according to a physicist.
Fastest Orbiting Stars Circle Each Other in Mere MinutesAstronomers have reported the fastest known orbiting pair of stars ever known, a finding that challenges binary star formation models and could help uncover elusive gravitational waves.
NASA: Space Shuttles Could Fly Longer With Extra FundsNASA could continue to fly space shuttles beyond their planned 2010 retirement if given more money, the shuttle program chief said.
Collider to shut for year to fix faultsThe Large Hadron Collider must be shut down for a year starting in late 2011 to address design flaws, the BBC has learned.
Superweed predator to be releasedA plant-eating predator that preys on aggressive superweed Japanese knotweed is to be given a trial release in England.
Skynet satellite system extendedSkynet 5, the UK's single biggest space project, is to get a fourth satellite to up the bandwidth available to British forces.
Mars Science Lab launch delayed two yearsNASA's launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.
Shuttle lands at California air baseNASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.
Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat riseScientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft.
Some scientists misread poll data on global warming controversy"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you," then, with apologies to Kipling, you might not be a climate scientist.
Researchers link inflammation to illness in overweight peopleObesity scientists dig deep to find the connection between body fat, white blood cells and a cascade of diseases.
Former head of Johnson Space Center dies in TexasAaron Cohen, the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who helped create the space shuttle program, has died in College Station after a long fight with cancer. He was 79.
Ask USA TODAY WeatherHow do I track the national and worldwide high temperatures each day? Why is snow so bright at night? These and many more weather questions are answered in our online weather Q and A column.
Undersea Arctic methane could wreak havoc on climateThe potent greenhouse gas appears to be seeping through the Arctic Ocean floor and into the Earth's atmosphere, research shows.
Scientists conclude asteroid, not volcanoes, wiped out dinosaursAn international team Thursday concluded that it was an asteroid, not volcanoes, that wiped out dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago.
Spirit's Journey to the Center of MarsNASA's venerable Mars rover Spirit is starting a second career as an explorer of the Martian core--but first it must survive the deadly Martian winter.
Cool Movie: SDO Destroys a SundogNASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory amazed onlookers last week when it flew past a sundog and destroyed it. Must-see videos of the event captured shock waves from the rocket billowing through the sundog, eliciting cries of delight and amazement from the crowd below.
3D Sun for the iPhoneImagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can. A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the sun directly to your cell phone.
Are TGFs Hazardous to Air Travelers?Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) surge through thunderstorms at about the same altitude where commercial airliners fly. Do these blasts of gamma-radiation pose a hazard to air travelers?
Solar Dynamics Observatory: The 'Variable Sun' MissionThe Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), slated for liftoff on Feb. 9th, will make IMAX-quality movies of solar explosions, peer beneath the stellar surface to see the sun's inner dynamo, and--researchers hope--unravel the mysteries of solar variability.
Bill Introduced to Codify U.S. Stem Cell Rules Congressional supporters of stem cell research have re-introduced legislation to codify President Barack Obama's... [Read more]
Place Mammoth Telescope on Our Island, Not in Chilean Desert, Says SpainThe European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced last week that its site selection committee had recommended... [Read more]
It’s Not Just The Astronauts That Are Getting OlderRepresenting what may be the first long term lunar environmental impact study, recent laser ranging data from the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico suggests the Lunar Ranging Retro Reflectors (LRRRs) left on the Moon by Apollo missions 11, 14 and 15 are beginning to shows signs of age.(...)Read the rest of It’s Not Just The [...]
Massive Repeated Explosions Halted Star Formation in Early UniverseScientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe. According to their findings, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang, a massive galaxy exploded in a series of blasts trillions of times more powerful than any caused by [...]
An artist's representation showing outflow from a supermassive black hole inside the middle of a galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe. According to their findings, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang, a massive galaxy exploded in a series of blasts trillions of times more powerful than any caused by an atomic bomb. The blasts happened every second for millions of years. "We are looking into the past and seeing a catastrophic event that essentially switched off star formation and halted the growth of a typical massive galaxy in the local Universe," said lead author Dr. Dave Alexander from Durham University. (...) Read the rest of Massive Repeated Explosions Halted Star Formation in Early Universe (325 words)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Test Fire Ends with AbortUpdated at 9:40 EST Tuesday:
SpaceX just released the official word on what happened with Tuesday's 3.5 second test-fire of the Falcon 9 rocket. The test aborted immediately after it started, and a a spin start system failure forced the early shutdown. The Falcon 9 sits on Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral [...]
Screenshot of the Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday. Credit: Spaceflightnow.com
Updated at 9:40 EST Tuesday:
SpaceX just released the official word on what happened with Tuesday's 3.5 second test-fire of the Falcon 9 rocket. The test aborted immediately after it started, and a a spin start system failure forced the early shutdown. The Falcon 9 sits on Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and from the Kennedy Space Center press site, (about 4 miles away) a muffled bang was heard at the time of ignition, 1:41 pm EST. "Today SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle," said Emily Shankin from SpaceX in a press release. "We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance." (...) Read the rest of SpaceX Falcon 9 Test Fire Ends with Abort (370 words)
Where's My Jetpack? Right HereStep right up — you can now get your very own jetpack. That's right, a real, not-science-fiction-honest-to-goodness jetpack. New Zealander Glenn Martin has been working on perfecting his jetpack for 30 years, and in 1998 created the Martin Aircraft Company to develop and market his idea. Now, the jetpack has become a [...]
The Martin Jetpack in flight. Image courtesy Martin Jetpack
Step right up — you can now get your very own jetpack. That's right, a real, not-science-fiction-honest-to-goodness jetpack. New Zealander Glenn Martin has been working on perfecting his jetpack for 30 years, and in 1998 created the Martin Aircraft Company to develop and market his idea. Now, the jetpack has become a reality. The 200-horsepower, dual-propeller is designed to fly average-sized person for 48 km (30 miles) in 30 minutes on 18 liters (5 gallons) of gas. The newest model can also reach heights of 2,400 meters (about 1.5 miles). Price? $100,000. "They are a helluva lot of fun to fly," said Martin. (...) Read the rest of Where's My Jetpack? Right Here (288 words)
Carnival of Space #144, Oscar Edition
This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Ian O'Neill over at Discovery News/Space, (and formerly of Universe Today!) who has given the Carnival the "Red Carpet" treatment.
Click here to read the Carnival of Space #144.
And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If [...]
This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Ian O'Neill over at Discovery News/Space, (and formerly of Universe Today!) who has given the Carnival the "Red Carpet" treatment.
And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.
Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.
Possibility of Past Water on Mars Takes a HitImages of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look [...]
Details from the Ascraeus channel (red), meandering across the surface of Mars. The insets in the black boxes show close-ups of some of the structures that lava can form: (left) branched channels, (middle) a snaking channel and (right) rootless vents; the rootless vents are also marked by yellow spots on the main image. Credit: Jacob Bleacher
Images of Mars taken from orbit show a massive system of riverbeds and canyons etched by water. Or maybe not. A new study of one channel shows that it was formed by lava flow and not water, and the results make "a strong case that fluid lava can produce channels that look very much like water-generated features," said Jim Zimbelman from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, one of the researchers. "So, we should not jump to a water-related conclusion when we see such channels on other planets." (...) Read the rest of Possibility of Past Water on Mars Takes a Hit (746 words)
Obama to Unveil "Ambitous" Plan for NASA
President Obama will travel to Florida to unveil an "ambitious plan for NASA that sets the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration," according to a press release from the White House. The President will host a conference on April 15, inviting space officials and leaders to discuss the new budget and plan [...]
President Obama will travel to Florida to unveil an "ambitious plan for NASA that sets the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration," according to a press release from the White House. The President will host a conference on April 15, inviting space officials and leaders to discuss the new budget and plan for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. The location was not yet disclosed, but it likely will be at Kennedy Space Center. (...) Read the rest of Obama to Unveil "Ambitous" Plan for NASA (360 words)
Interesting news story on the CBC website this morning discussing some potential impact of disrupting ocean currents in key locations. From the article:
An iceberg about the size of Luxembourg that struck a glacier off Antarctica and dislodged another massive block of ice could lower the levels of oxygen in the world’s oceans, Australian and French scientists said Friday.
[…] The new iceberg is 78 kilometres long and about 39 kilometres wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s annual total water usage, Young told The Associated Press.
Experts are concerned about the effect of the massive displacement of ice on the ice-free water next to the glacier, which is important for ocean currents.
This area of water had been kept clear because of the glacier, said Steve Rintoul, a leading climate expert. With part of the glacier gone, the area could fill with sea ice, which would disrupt the ability for the dense and cold water to sink.
This sinking water is what spills into ocean basins and feeds the global ocean currents with oxygen, Rintoul explained.
As there are only a few areas in the world where this occurs, a slowing of the process would mean less oxygen supplied into the deep currents that feed the oceans.
“There may be regions of the world’s oceans that lose oxygen, and then of course most of the life there will die,” said Mario Hoppema, chemical oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany.
Rintoul also notes in the article that we might gain observations from this event that could be telling in terms of global climate and current models.
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