Astronomers Discover First Earthlike Exoplanet

ESO_COROT_7B_planet.jpg

After finding over 370 extrasolar planets over the past 15 years, scientists have confirmed the first Earth-like rocky planet outside the solar system, according to CNN.

To date, known exoplanets have been gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. That doesn’t necessarily mean the recently discovered rocky planet, called COROT-7B, can support life. While its composition may be similar to that of our own planet, COROT-7B orbits very close to its star, the report said. The planet’s daytime temperature at the surface could reach over 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, while its nighttime temperature may drop to 328 degrees below zero.

Astronomer Artie Hatzes said in the report that the star-facing side of the planet was likely molten, while the back could be icy. “We think it has no atmosphere to redistribute the heat,” he said, adding that astronomers “would never have dreamed” of finding a rocky planet orbiting so close to a star–close enough that its entire “year” is shorter than one of our own 24-hour days. (Artist credit: ESO/L Calcada)

Cornell gurus look to carbon nanotubes for efficient solar cells

You know what we love? Solar-powered gadgets, and carbon nanotubes. Oh, and Ivy League schools. Boffins from Cornell University are now looking to use the multifaceted carbon nanotube instead of silicon to develop efficient solar cells, and judging by the glacial pace at which solar cell efficiency is improving, we’d say the sector could use the boost. The researchers have already fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell (called a photodiode, just so you know) that was formed from an individual carbon nanotube. The tube was essentially a rolled-up sheet of graphene, and while the inner workings would take days to explain, the gist of it is this:

“The nanotube may be a nearly ideal photovoltaic cell because it allowed electrons to create more electrons by utilizing the spare energy from the light.”

So, solar-powered F-350 trucks are now a possibility for next year, right?

[Via Graphene-Info]

Filed under:

Cornell gurus look to carbon nanotubes for efficient solar cells originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Scientists set lasers on cells, end up playing Pong

Researchers have devised plenty of innovative ways of viewing living cells, but their options are a bit more limited when it comes to actually manipulating cells without, you know, destroying them. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have now come up with one promising new possibility, however, using lasers instead of the fixed electrodes more commonly used today. Those, as you might expect, don’t hit the cells directly, but are rather used to shine light on a “high-tech Petri dish,” which has a grid of light detectors built into its floor and sets of transparent electrodes on the top and bottom. When lit up in a pattern of a circle or square, the cells can then be isolated and moved about at will or, conceivably, even be used for a game of Pong. Check out the video after the break to see for yourself.

Continue reading Scientists set lasers on cells, end up playing Pong

Filed under:

Scientists set lasers on cells, end up playing Pong originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NASA Rocket to Create Clouds Tomorrow

Night_Clouds_Space.com.jpg

It’s not exactly controlling the weather, but it’s surprisingly close: NASA is set to launch a rocket tomorrow, called the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE), that will create artificial clouds at the outermost layers of Earth’s atmosphere, according to Space.com.

The idea is to create clouds around the rocket’s exhaust particles, in an effort to simulate the natural formation of noctilucent clouds high in the atmosphere. The real clouds are made of ice crystals and usually sit about 50 to 55 miles above Earth; to create the artificial clouds, the rocket will release dust particles a little higher so they can settle down to the right altitude naturally, according to the report.

The launch will occur NASA’s Wallops Flight Factility in Virginia, and is scheduled for Tuesday between 7:30 and 7:57 pm EDT. (Image credit: Space.com/Veres Viktor)

LiveScience: Laser-Propelled Spacecraft Could Happen

Laser_Wikimedia_Commons.jpgWhen we think of spaceships, we usually think of lasers as weapons. But what if they acted as thrusters instead? Beam-powered propulsion could theoretically enable us to build hyper-energetic vehicles powered by lasers and microwaves, according to LiveScience.

The way it works isn’t quite the picture I would have had, of bright red or blue lasers shooting out the back of a spacecraft. Instead, the power would come from energy beamed remotely from a power plant; the energy would then heat up propellant in a lightweight craft (pictured above).

Getting this to actually work on a large scale is unlikely to work, though. Two years ago, a California physicist built a small demonstration photonic laser thruster in a lab that could help fine-tune a satellite’s position. But the move from that to, say, powering an entire spacecraft–or even just doing the same thing again outside of a controlled lab experiment–could prove daunting. Then again, some scientists believe warp drive may be possible someday, so who knows? (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Astronauts Swap Huge Coolant Tank During Spacewalk

NASA_Shuttle_Discovery_Tank.jpg

NASA astronauts replaced a coolant tank the size of a small car late Thursday on the International Space Station.

During the course of about six and a half hours, Olivas and Christer Fuglesang spacewalked outside the space station to install the new 1,7–pound ammonia coolant tank, Space.com reports, and stick the old one 1,300-pound one back about shuttle Discovery.

“If you can almost picture someone handing around a Mini Cooper car between the two of them, it’s about the similar weight and mass of the tank they were handing between each other,” said Zeb Scoville, lead spacewalk officer for Discovery’s mission, in the article.

As they did this, the two kept their eyes on a large piece of space junk that came off a 3-year-old European rocket; it turned out to pose no threat to the astronauts or the shuttle, according to the report. (Image credit: NASA TV)

UC Berkeley researchers tout world’s smallest semiconductor laser

Scientists at the Norfolk State University may laid claim to a “world’s smallest laser” title just a few short weeks ago with the aid of some newfangled “spasers,” but it looks like the folks at UC Berkeley at hot on their heels with some tiny lasers of their own, and they’ve now announced what they claim to be the worlds smallest semiconductor laser. Unlike Norfolk State’s solution, the Berkeley researchers apparently relied primarily on standard semiconductor materials and fabrication technologies commonly used today, but devised a new means to squeeze the visible light into a 5 nanometer gap (about the size of a single protein molecule), while also using some newly-engineered “hybrid surface plasmons” to keep the light from dissipating as it moves along. That, the researchers say, represents nothing short of a “new milestone in laser physics,” and could pave the way for everything from new nanolasers that can probe, manipulate and characterize DNA molecules to new breakthroughs in computing that could see light replacing electronic circuitry “with a corresponding leap in speed and processing power.”

[Via DailyTech]

Filed under: ,

UC Berkeley researchers tout world’s smallest semiconductor laser originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NSF Awards $2 Million to Study Space Weather

Virginia_Tech_Space_Weather.jpgThe National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $2 million grant to researchers at Virginia Tech to build a chain of space weather instrument stations in Antartica, according to NetworkWorld.

The new stations will consist of radar units that hook into the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, an international project that when combined will give extensive views of the upper atmosphere in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, according to the report.

The researchers hope to use the stations to better understand how space weather affects satellite performance for GPS, TV reception, and cell phones. In addition, astronauts are vulnerable to energetic radiation at space station altitudes, the report said, and electric power distribution systems can be disrupted by geomagnetic storms. (Image credit: Virginia Tech)

Tetris players found to have greater brain efficiency, thicker cortex and better hair

You just knew all that Tetris playing you did as a kid yesterday was good for you, huh? A new study published by the big thinkers at Mind Research Network has found that “practicing Tetris” can actually improve brain efficiency and lead to a thicker cortex in other areas of the tabula rasa. In short, the study was done in order to show that the brain can change with stimulation, and that “a challenging visuospatial task has an impact on the structure of the cortex.” Of course, this is far from the first published report to use the quarter century-old title as its testing tool, but it’s certainly one of the best for getting your mum and pop to believe gaming really is good for the gord. Hit up the read links below for all the details — you know they’ll be firing off questions when you hit ’em with this.

[Image courtesy of BumpyBrains]

Read – Tetris study [PDF]
Read – Press release

Filed under: ,

Tetris players found to have greater brain efficiency, thicker cortex and better hair originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Shuttle Discovery Launches With COLBERT Treadmill

NASA_Shuttle_Discovery_ISS.jpg

The space shuttle Discovery launched late Friday night on a mission to the international space station, according to CNN.

The seven astronauts on board will transport and install several new components, including the Leonardo logistics module, as well as the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT), named after Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

Colbert had won an online NASA poll earlier in the year to name the newest compartment of the space station, but eventually compromised to give the name to the treadmill. The compartment ended up being named Tranquility. (Image credit: NASA)