Hasta La Gadget!

Astronomers have tracked the formation of a blue supergiant star that, though emerging more than 55m years ago, could teach scientists today about a new mode of star formation unseen in our own galaxy. The new blue supergiant, located in galaxy IC 3418 in the constellation Virgo, was spotted using the Subaru Telescope at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and was observed forming from the huge stream of cool gas stripped from the fast-moving galaxy clusters.

Although the gas-stripping process – which occurs as the Virgo cluster, among others, moves at speed through million-degree hot plasma and dark matter – had been known for some time, scientists were uncertain as to what happened to that gas once it had been shed. One theory was that IC 3418′s sheddings of cool gas would vaporize amid the plasma, while another was that it would condense and form new, massive stars.

In fact, using GALEX ultraviolet imaging, the astronomy team discovered that the latter is true, a method of star creation quite dissimilar to the route to creation observed in the Milky Way. Stars in our own galaxy have sprouted in groups within cold molecular gas clouds, the Subaru Telescope team points out.

That takes place in what are described as “huge stellar nurseries”, evidence of which was absent from ultraviolet observations of IC 3418:

“Intense UV-radiation usually ionizes/heats-up the surrounding gas when a star is born. Instead of any sign of heated gas, the observation showed fast winds blowing out of the stellar atmosphere at a speed of about 160 kilometers per second. Comparison with emissions from nearby stars made it clear that this massive, hot (O-type) star had passed its youth and was now aging; it was at a stage known as Blue Supergiant star and would soon face its explosive death as a supernova” NAOJ

The discovery – which is believed to be “probably the farthest star ever discovered with spectroscopic observation” according to team member Dr. Youichi Ohyama of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan – will demand larger telescopes, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope expected to be completed later this decade, in order to examine fully. However, it could hold the key to new understandings of star behavior.

The opposite end of that behavior has also been spotted in recent weeks. Findings by the European Space Agency’s Herschel space telescope showed what would happen at the end of the life of a star similar to our own sun.

Blue Supergiant star shakes stellar birth theories is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Many techies have dreamed of the day when they can control things by simply thinking about them, and that reality is yet a step closer thanks to researchers at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Information and a $99 brainwave device. Using NeuroSky’s Mindset wearable EEG headset and custom software, users have successfully replaced passwords with passthoughts.

While one might be inclined to imagine a huge, expensive headset beyond the means of the average consumer, NeuroSky’s brainwave headset is priced at only $99, and connects to a computer or mobile device via Bluetooth connectivity. The headset has an ear-piece for audio, a grounding clip that goes on the ear, and a small sensor that rests on the forehead. In many ways, it resembles a cross beween an audio headset and an augmented reality eye piece.

Using this device, the researchers measured participants’ brainwaves and were able to use the resulting data to unlock a computer using a so-called passthought rather than a password. The passthought involves thinking of a specific thing, such as a word repeatedly or a certain movement. Such a method is more secure than a conventional password, and takes biometric security to a whole new level.

Just like placing a finger on a biometric scanner won’t unlock a computer unless it has the right fingerprint, using a brainwave headset to think of the passthought won’t unlock the computer unless it is the owner. This is because one’s brainwaves are unique, and one person thinking of something won’t have the same pattern as another person thinking the same thing. Of course, recovering a forgotten passthought is sure to be more difficult than recovering a forgotten password.

[via Mashable]

Researchers use brainwave device to replace passwords with passthoughts is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Imagine if silicon chips were smaller than a grain of sand and could be made using a laser printer: everything under the sun could be made unobtrusively smart. But that’s not science fiction, and you don’t have to imagine too hard—because researchers at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center have already done it. More »

The latest seafaring robot from Liquid Robotics got an unveiling this morning. Dubbed the Wave Glider SV3, the mobile, amphibious robot is targeted at the (thoroughly unexciting) usual suspects: big oil, the government, and scientific researchers. Apparently those halcyon days of seeking out Guinness World Records are over. Compared with the previous SV2 model, the latest ship runs faster (2.5 knots top speed), carries more (100 pounds, compared to a paltry 40 in the previous ship), and lasts longer (an additional 40 percent of surface area on the deck allows for many more solar cells). All that extra oomph should allow Liquid Robotics’ customers to spend even more time plumbing the Earth’s waters for … well, whatever they’d like. And for the mock G.I. Joe battles that are assuredly taking place with the Wave Glider. Like, come on.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

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Via: The New York Times

In what is a profound visual display of the earth’s increasingly warmer temperatures, glacial ice in the Andes that took a minimum of 1600 years to form have melted drastically in a mere 25 years, leaving behind a large pool of water framed by exposed rock and dimished beds of ice. As the ice melts, plants from thousands of years ago are being freed.

As the ice melts, plants that were trapped within it are exposed, and it is those very materials that are being used to analyze the glacial area’s history. Such a project has been undertaken by Ohio State University’s glaciologist Lonnie G. Thompson, who – along with his team – has published the results of their work on the Peruvian ice sheets known as the Quelccaya ice cap.

The timespan for the formation of the ice was determined by carbon dating the plants that have been exposed as the ice melts. The carbon being dated has a known decay rate and provides fairly exact data in return. In addition to the carbon dating, Thompson and team have published information on chemical tracers from ice pulled from the depths of the ice cap via drills.

These chemical tracers are significant to scientists because they provide information that reveals climate changes that have happened in the past. According to Thompson, in the late 1700s there was, in all likelihood, a period of weather variations that deviated from normal. This could have been responsible for famines during the French Revolution. While the ice cap has melted to varying degrees over its lifetime, evidence points to the recent melting as equal to or faster than melting seen when the ice age came to an end.

You can check out an interactive before-and-after image of the melting ice at the link below.

[via New York Times]

Warming temperatures melt 1600 years worth of ice in 25 years is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.