There are all kinds of dangers on a trip to Mars. Muscle atrophy, cramped quarters, social/isolation stress, being in space. Take your pick. One of the biggest though, is being exposed to all manner of radiation and cosmic rays without an o-zone layer to keep you safe. The solution? An O-zone layer of poop. Basically. More »
Dennis Tito is planning an ambitious private flyby of Mars for 2018 that will carry all kinds of logistical challenges during its proposed 501-day span, not the least of which is shielding the crew from radiation without consuming valuable resources. The team’s solution is a clever one, if not especially pretty: human waste. While the walls of the Inspiration Mars spacecraft will initially be lined with water-filled bags to guard against cosmic rays, their contents will be gradually replaced with er, byproduct that will be dehydrated through the bag (possibly using polyethylene) to reclaim and purify water for drinking. As water-based materials are better at stopping radiation than metal, the approach theoretically represents the best of all worlds with less bulk, a simpler life support system and maximum room for supplies. If the Inspiration Mars group can keep the bags working at high efficiency in space, it won’t have to worry about its travelers’ safety; their comfort with being surrounded by their own waste may be another matter.
Filed under: Transportation, Alt
Source: New Scientist
We recently saw research that suggested negative radiation pressure in light could lead to a practical tractor beam. A partnership between the Czech Republic’s Institute of Scientific Instruments and Scotland’s University of St. Andrews can show that it’s more than just theory: the two have successfully created an optical field that flipped the usual pressure and started pulling objects toward the light. Their demo only tugged at the particle level — sorry, no spaceships just yet — but it exhibited unique properties that could be useful here on Earth. Scientists discovered that the pull is specific to the size and substance of a given object, and that targets would sometimes reorganize themselves in a way that improved the results. On the current scale, that pickiness could lead to at least medicinal uses, such as sorting cells based on their material. While there’s more experiments and development to go before we ever see a tractor beam at the hospital, the achievement brings us one step closer to the sci-fi future we were always told we’d get, right alongside the personal communicators and jetpacks.
Via: BBC
Source: University of St. Andrews, Nature
During the Cold War, it wasn’t hard to determine who could have been behind an airborne nuclear strike—just check behind the Iron Curtain. But in the modern era of nuclear proliferation, figuring out who set off a bomb would be more akin to crime scene investigation. More »
The wonders of graphene never seem to cease. Desalinization, flexible semiconductors, and now nuclear waste clean-up. It turns out graphene-oxide is fantastic for clumping up around radioactive waste making it easier to get rid of the stuff. More »
The Death Star’s trash compactor may have been implausible, but it was on the right path towards solving a very real problem: space junk. More »
A duo of electrical engineers (or mad scientists, if you prefer) at the California Institute of Technology have developed chips that could very well end up in the next James Bond movie. Or, you know, real life. The newfangled chips are capable of generating and radiating “high-frequency electromagnetic waves, called terahertz (THz) waves, that fall into a largely untapped region of the electromagnetic spectrum.” They can penetrate a host of materials without the ionizing damage of X-rays, and apparently, can be integrated into small, handheld devices. The university is already dreaming of potential applications — everything from homeland security to wireless communications to health care, and even touchless gaming. In theory, this kind of work would eventually lead to noninvasive cancer diagnosis as well. The technobabble can be seen in full at the source link.
Source: Caltech
The city of Pembroke Pines, tucked away in between South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, has ended up as the first city in Florida to pass a resolution that warns cellphone users (smartphone users included, of course) concerning the risk of picking up cancer due to cellphone radiation. So far, medical research have proved rather inconclusive, as there is no real indicator that prolonged cellphone use and exposure would lead to a higher risk of cancer, although there are others who dispute that. The Pembroke Pines resolution warns cellphone users to ensure that the device remains at least one inch away from their body, and it is always better to use the speakerphone or a wired headset.
Not only that, instead of making phone calls, why not rely on other forms of communication such as email or text? Pembroke Pines also figured out that education is the best policy, hence urging its cellphone using residents to remain abreast with the latest developments and scientific reports concerning cellphone radiation. What do you think? Will this bit of news make you more wary of your cellphone using habit, or will you decide to change and purchase a wired headset the next time you head out?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Huawei expected to announce a Windows Phone device soon, Nook For iOS Now Supports VoiceOver & Zooming Feature,
It’s been three months since NASA’s Curiosity rover set foot wheels down on Martian terrain, and now the space agency has divulged what it’s learned about radiation on Mars. Marking the first time radiation has been measured from the surface of another planet, preliminary data collected using the rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector (or RAD for short) revealed that levels on the ground are similar to what astronauts encounter on the International Space Station. What’s that mean for space travel? “The astronauts can live in this environment,” Don Hassler, principal investigator on Curiosity’s RAD hardware, said in a press conference. However, humans would still experience higher levels of radiation on the way to and from the red planet than on its surface. The results are encouraging, but they’re just one of many developments left before Homo sapiens set foot on Mars. For more details on the RAD’s findings, look below for the press release.
Continue reading Curiosity rover finds radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans
Curiosity rover finds radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sweden’s Kollektivet Livet took a step towards demystifying the invisible energy around us last year through its Radioactive Orchestra, which turned isotopes into beats and beeps. To our relief, the Orchestra isn’t content to record in the studio. Version 2.0 of the music project is all about going on tour, so to speak, through live instruments: in a first prototype, a photon detector translates every radiation hit from nearby materials into its own audio pulse. The invention results in an imprecise art based on distance, but aspiring cesium rock stars can tweak the sensitivity or transpose the notes to generate their own distinct tunes. Orchestra manager Georg Herlitz tells us that the initial setup you see here, played at TEDx Gotëborg, is just a “sneak peek” of both a finished instrument and more work to come. We might just line up for the eventual concerts if the performance video after the break (at the 10:30 mark) is any indication.
Radioactive Orchestra 2.0 takes the music live, makes sweet photonic melodies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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