Apr 29

Frosty Asteroid Points to Origin of Earths Oceans

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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It’s well known that comets are made primarily of ice. But the recent discovery of frost on an asteroid–the first ever–has scientists looking for clues that icy rocks could have been the source of the Earth’s oceans, Scientific American reports.
Two studies in the journal Nature detail how scientists have used an infrared telescope to spectroscopically examine asteroid 24 Themis’s surface, the report said. The resulting chemical signature looked like a match for water ice.
Previously, asteroids were thought to be free of ice. 24 Themis first attracted attention because all of its neighbors are icy comets.
The asteroid is one of the largest in the belt just outside Mars, with a diameter of 129 miles. Let’s hope that one stays away from Earth. (Artist concept credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

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Apr 29

Ancient Gearlog: Weapons Found in Melting Arctic

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, science, Today's Chili

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Melting ice patches in the Canadian Arctic’s remote Mackenzie Mountains have revealed a “treasure trove of ancient weapons” that dates back thousands of years.
The weapons are already helping archaeologists figure out hunting strategies employed by humans, Discovery News reports. Among the finds were a 2,400-year-old spear throwing tool, a 1,000-year-old squirrel snare, and some 850-year-old bows and arrows.
Until recently, the snow remained frozen all year. At the time, hunters took aim at caribous and other animals, which huddled on the ice patches seeking relief from heat and bugs during the summer.
Be sure to see other Ancient Gearlog posts on Clovis tools and the first telephone.
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Apr 28

Looking Into My Genome Reveals Risks I’ll Never Unsee [Science]

Posted in: feature, science, Today's Chili, top

At the advice of many medical experts, I’m leaving the following article, in which I’ll discuss my personal probabilities of disease based upon my genetics, unsigned. More »

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Apr 28

Scientists: Some Moon Craters May Be Electrified

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili

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New NASA calculations show that the moon’s north and south poles may be a little more interesting than previously thought–and perhaps even dangerous.
Solar winds streaming over the craggy lunar surface may be strong enough to electrically charge polar crater on the moon, Space.com reports. That’s despite the presence of water ice; scientists believe it’s because of the moon’s orientation to the sun, which keeps the craters shielded and brings temperatures down to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, the report said. 
That’s enough to store water for billions of years, but the addition of solar winds presents additional problems for astronauts, said NASA lead author William Farrell in the article.
“Our research suggests that, in addition to the wicked cold, explorers and robots at the bottoms of polar lunar craters may have to contend with a complex electrical environment as well, which can affect surface chemistry, static discharge, and dust cling,” Farrell said.
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Apr 28

NASA Broadens Space Station Lab Research

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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NASA announced that it is seeking research ideas from private entities that may want to perform experiments on board the International Space Station, according to NetworkWorld.
The agency wants to expand the ISS’s role in technology development, basic and applied research, and industrial processing for commercial firms, non-profits, and academia, the report said.
Specifically, NASA listed two areas of expansion: Payload Integration and Operations Support Services, and Support Equipment and Instrumentation. The goal is to aid development of applications in biotechnology, energy, engineering, and remote sensing, according to the article.
The subtext here is that NASA is looking to give the ISS more to do. So far, during the course of nine years of ISS-based research, about 550 experiments have either already been completed or are still underway.
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Apr 27

ESO Chooses Location for Extremely Large Telescope

Posted in: science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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The European Southern Observatory organization has chosen Cerro Armazones, a nearly 10,000-foot mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert, for its next-generation observatory, BBC News reports, a location that should be good for 320 days of clear observing per year.
The E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) will feature a primary mirror that’s 187 feet (not inches) in diameter. Each of its 984 hexagonal segments will be 57 inches wide; all will combine with four smaller mirrors to generate each final image.
The resulting telescope will be five times the width of today’s best optical telescopes, and can gather 15 times more light. It’s expected to take images that are 15 times sharper than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, according to the article.
The $1 billion euro E-ELT will also feature improved optics techniques that correct for atmospheric distortions, the report said; construction could start as early as 2011, with the telescope going online sometime in 2018.
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Apr 26

Hawking: Avoid Contact With Alien Life

Posted in: science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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Fabled astrophysicist Stephen Hawking warned in a new Discovery Network series last night that humans shouldn’t try and make contact with alien lifeforms.
Like many astronomers before him, Hawking believes there is indeed extraterrestrial life out there somewhere. But given the way humans tend to behave, he said it wouldn’t be a good idea to communicate with them, especially since a given species could be millions of years more advanced than our own society.
For example, Hawking said aliens may have figured out how to capture the energy from a star like our Sun–which we need in tip-top working condition, the last time I checked.
“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out so well for the Native Americans,” Hawkings said in the debut episode, which aired at 9 PM EST on the Discovery Channel. (Image credit: Discovery Network)
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Apr 26

Scientists Steer Car With Their Eyes

Posted in: robot, Robots Robotics, science, Today's Chili
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Scientists in Germany have developed computer software that lets them steer a car with their eyes, ScienceDaily reports.
eyeDriver, the prototype software application, was designed by computer scientists at Freie Universitat Berlin in collaboration with SensoMotoric Instruments, the report said. The program collects the driver’s eye movements using SMI’s HED4, an upgraded bicycle helmet, and then converts them into control signals for the steering wheel.
The helmet itself contains two cameras and an infrared LED, and hooks into a laptop computer. One camera points forward, while the other films the eye’s movements; the infrared light supports the eye camera, according to the report.
So far, the software only works with the steering; the car’s throttle and brakes aren’t yet controllable in this manner.
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Apr 23

NC State gurus create harder, better, faster, stronger ‘smart sensors’

Posted in: military, research, science, sensor, Today's Chili, university, wargadget

The year is 1974. Skywalker lives, and a tradition is born. The year is 1983. The odds are ridiculous. The final score leads to an unpremeditated running around the court that’ll live forever in history. Fast forward to 2010, and NC State is hanging onto advancements in science while the blued neighbors in Durham and Chapel-Hill are celebrating back-to-back titles. Regardless of all that, we’re still pretty proud of Dr. Jay Narayan and company, who have just uncovered a new “smart sensor” that will allow for “faster response times from military applications.” Essentially, the team has taken a sensor material called vanadium oxide and integrated it with a silicon chip, forcing the sensor to become a part of the computer chip itself. The new approach leads to intelligent sensors that can “sense, manipulate and respond to information” in a much faster manner than before, providing soldiers with weapons and analyzing tools that can react more hastily to incoming ammunition or other, um, pertinent information. It’s no banner hanging ceremony, but we’ll take what we can get.

NC State gurus create harder, better, faster, stronger ‘smart sensors’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 23

Researchers: Exoplanet Contains Unusual Atmosphere

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
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As technology improves, scientists are beginning to pick up clues of Earth-like exoplanets, or planets orbiting other stars.
One possible stepping stone to finding those is a Neptune-sized exoplanet near a star about 33 light years away. The exoplanet’s surface could be as hot as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But its atmospheric composition has turned out to be much different than expected.
“GJ 436b is the smallest exoplanet whose direct light we’ve been able to measure,” said Kevin Stevenson, the University of Central Florida‘s first planetary sciences doctoral student and lead author of the study, which will be published Thursday, April 22, in Nature.
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