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Bizarre Crystal Hitched Ride on Meteorite

Jeanna Bryner
Live Science
Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:04 UTC
Quasicrystals
© Paul Steinhardt, Princeton UniversityA rock sample containing quasicrystals unearthed in the Koryak Mountains in Russia.

A rock fragment containing a previously unidentified natural quasicrystal may be the remnant of a meteorite that originated in the early solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago before Earth even existed.

Until now, researchers had assumed such quasicrystals, whose atoms are arranged in a quasi-regular pattern rather than the regular arrangement of atoms inside a crystal, were not feasible in nature. In fact, until now the only known quasicrystals were synthetic, formed in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. (This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry honored Dan Shechtman for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals, which at the time were thought to break the laws of nature.)

"Many thought it had to be that way, because they thought quasicrystals are too delicate, too prone to crystallization, to form naturally," researcher Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University said. The new finding, described this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests "quasicrystals are much more common in the universe than we thought," Steinhardt added.
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Top Secret

Large Hadron Collider Confirms Discovery of First New Particle

Douglas Perry
TomsGuide.com
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:12 UTC
Image
© UnknownLarge-Hadron-Collider
However, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) published confirmation about the first new observed particle by the Atlas experiment at CERN. Called the Chi_b (3P) is part of the bigger story that will help scientists fill in the gaps of the theory that binds matter.

"The new particle is made up of a 'beauty quark' and a 'beauty anti-quark', which are then bound together," explained Roger Jones in a conversation with BBC News. "People have thought this more excited state should exist for years but nobody has managed to see it until now." It may also provide new hints where to look for the Higgs particle.

At this point, the Higgs boson is still hypothetical and simply predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. There is the hope that the LHC will confirm the existence of this particle, which would also confirm that the Standard Model is correct and explain why matter has mass. Recent experiments at the LHC suggested that the Higgs boson has a mass of 115 - 130 GeV/c2. Researchers believe that they can either confirm or deny the existence of the particle next year.
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Airplane

U.S. Navy Unveils "Cicada": Now Even the Drones Have Drones

Jason Mick
DailyTech
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:36 UTC
Tiny drones are marvelously versatile, much like their insect namesakes

The U.S. Navy Research Lab's Tempest Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) may not be the mother of all drones, but it is the mother of two drones, at least. Hoisted up to 53,000 feet onto a high-flying trajectory via releasable balloon, the Tempest UAV "gives birth" in flight, launching a pair of mini "Cicada" drones.

The tiny Cicadas are an exercise in efficiency, with their logic boards doubling as wings. The Cicada UAVs are gliders, complete with smartphone-like two-axis gyroscopes and GPS circuits for navigation.

Several variants have been produced. The Cicada Mark I can be launched by firing it from a gun into the air. The Cicada Mark III is designed with special wings for improved range and stability, and is the model used by Tempest "mothership". Cicada stands for Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft.
Image
© U.S. Navy Research LabThe Tempest first floats up to high altitudes via balloon, then launches as a glider.
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Cell Phone

U.S. Appeals Court Denies Citizens' Right to Sue Wiretapping Telecoms

Jason Mick
DailyTech
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:24 UTC
But court lifts previous ban on suing the government over warrantless wiretapping campaigns
Image
© Quick Meme

If you have a problem with federal warrantless wiretapping campaigns, sue the government, not the telecoms.

That was the key message in the Thursday ruling handed down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal appeals court that covers high profile cases appealed in nine western states, including California.

I. EFF is Greenlit for Class Action Against the NSA

The decision was still a quasi-victory for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who was leading the push against the warrantless wiretaps, at it prevents the most sweeping of protections on the domestic surveillance system, giving U.S. citizens at least one avenue to challenge the campaigns in court.

The EFF was less-than-thrilled that the court upheld the immunity for telecoms who served as the government's accomplices, helping federal agents spy on their customers. The telecom immunity was granted by the "Protect America Act" of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-55, S. 1927).

The EFF was seeking class action status for a lawsuit against AT&T, Inc. (T) and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The EFF accuses AT&T of conspiring with the NSA to divert its customers voice, SMS, and internet traffic into special secure rooms at its facility across the country, giving the NSA the ability to freely snoop on whatever private communications they pleased.
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Telescope

Space mountain produces terrestrial meteorites

Dauna Coulter
Physorg
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:51 UTC
Image
© NASAA side view of Vesta's great south polar mountain.

When NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around giant asteroid Vesta in July, scientists fully expected the probe to reveal some surprising sights. But no one expected a 13-mile high mountain, two and a half times higher than Mount Everest, to be one of them.
The existence of this towering peak could solve a longstanding mystery: How did so many pieces of Vesta end up right here on our own planet?

For many years, researchers have been collecting Vesta meteorites from "fall sites" around the world. The rocks' chemical fingerprints leave little doubt that they came from the giant asteroid. Earth has been peppered by so many fragments of Vesta, that people have actually witnessed fireballs caused by the meteoroids tearing through our atmosphere. Recent examples include falls near the African village of Bilanga Yanga in October 1999 and outside Millbillillie, Australia, in October 1960.

"Those meteorites just might be pieces of the basin excavated when Vesta's giant mountain formed," says Dawn PI Chris Russell of UCLA.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Deep Gulf Drilling Thrives 18 Months After BP Spill

Jonathan Fahey
The Guardian, UK
Mon, 31 Dec 2012 17:14 UTC
oil rig
© n/a
Alaminos Canyon Block 857, Gulf of Mexico - Two hundred miles off the coast of Texas, ribbons of pipe are reaching for oil and natural gas deeper below the ocean's surface than ever before.

These pipes, which run nearly two miles deep, are connected to a floating platform that is so remote Shell named it Perdido, which means "lost" in Spanish. What attracted Shell to this location is a geologic formation found throughout the Gulf of Mexico that may contain enough oil to satisfy U.S. demand for two years.

While Perdido is isolated, it isn't alone. Across the Gulf, energy companies are probing dozens of new deepwater fields thanks to high oil prices and technological advances that finally make it possible to tap them.

The newfound oil will not do much to lower global oil prices. But together with increased production from onshore U.S. fields and slowing domestic demand for gasoline, it could help reduce U.S. oil imports by more than half over the next decade.

Eighteen months ago, such a flurry of activity in the Gulf seemed unlikely. The Obama administration halted drilling and stopped issuing new permits after the explosion of a BP well killed 11 workers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
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Magic Wand

Corrupted Science Leaves Logic and Conscience at the Door while Debunking Unexplained Mysteries and Ecological Atrocities of 2011

Benjamin Radford
Discovery News
Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:52 UTC
Image
© iStockPhoto
As we head inexorably toward 2012, we decided to look back at some of the strangest mysteries of this past year, and some of the mysteries that remain with us as we enter the new year.

5 "Unexplained" Mysteries Solved in 2011

The Jerusalem UFO Video

Just a few weeks into 2011 a stunning UFO video circulated around the world. On Jan. 28, a mysterious glowing light hovered high above the Dome of the Rock, an ancient Islamic shrine in Jerusalem.

It was touted as possibly the best video ever taken of an extraterrestrial spacecraft -- made all the more apparently authentic because it was captured by at least two other people at the same time, from different angles. When the videos appeared on YouTube UFO interest was whipped into a frenzy; as Ian O'Neill noted, "The news headlines read: "Holy Smoke -- UFO in Jerusalem," "Dome of the Rock Jerusalem light all proof UFO fans need that aliens exist" and "Credible? Jerusalem UFO footage captured from multiple viewpoints."

Comment: Read 2012 - On The Eve Of Destruction? to learn more about what awaits us in the next year.

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Boat

New calculations suggest Jupiter's core may be liquefying


Physorg
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:23 UTC
Jupiters core liquefies
© NASA

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, may be causing its own core to liquefy, at least according to Hugh Wilson and colleague Burkhard Militzer of UC, Berkeley. They've come to this conclusion after making quantum mechanical calculations on the conditions that exist within the big planet. In a paper published on the preprint server arXiv, and submitted to Physical Review Letters, the two explain that because the gas giant has a relatively small core made of mostly iron, rock (partly magnesium oxide) and ice, and sits embedded in fluid hydrogen and helium all under great pressure from the planet's gravity (which has created very high temperatures (16,000 K)), there is a likelihood that the core is liquefying due to the heat and pressure exerted on the magnesium oxide.

Calculating the possibility of the magnesium oxide liquefying had to be done to predict the outcome because recreating the environment that exists inside of Jupiter for experimentation purposes isn't feasible. They have in essence shown that magnesium oxide, when exposed to such high temperatures and pressure, has high solubility, which of course means a high probability of dissolving into a liquid. In a previous study, the team also made calculations showing that the core ice would likely be dissolving as well.

The findings suggest that Jupiter's core might not be as big as it once was, though it currently weights about as much as ten Earth's (the whole planet weighs as much as 318 Earth's). This implies that the core could eventually be reduced down to nothing at all. And if that's the case, than those who study exoplanets, particularly the giant gas variety, will have to do some rethinking, because those others might not have a core at all, contrary to conventional wisdom.
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Magic Wand

Scientists tickle animals to find laughter clues

Rebecca Morelle
BBC
Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:48 UTC
Thought it was just humans that are ticklish? Think again - scientists are studying how animals respond to being tickled in a bid to shed light on how laughter evolved.


Tickling a gorilla is not for the faint-hearted. But keeper Phil Ridges is not worried at getting into the enclosure with Emmie at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent.

The gorilla, now 19, was hand-reared, and Phil has been her keeper for most of her life.

He says she has a tendency to be "a little bit frosty", but if she is in the mood, she cannot resist a chortle when she is tickled.

"I've worked with gorillas for a long time, and I've often seen gorillas tickling each other, so it is a nice feeling when they have accepted you enough and they don't mind you tickling them," he says.

But it is Emmie's response that has intrigued scientist Marina Davila-Ross from the University of Portsmouth, because the gorilla's reaction sounds a lot like human laughter.

Dr Davila-Ross says: "I was amazed about the way apes responded to being tickled - the apes seem to behave in the same way humans and children behave when they are being tickled."
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Sherlock

Police trialling lie detector tests in Britain


The Telegraph
Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:00 UTC
Lie Detector
© GettyLie detector tests are being used to help officers decide whether to charge suspects in a groundbreaking scheme by a British police force
Lie detector tests are being used to help officers decide whether to charge suspects in a groundbreaking scheme by a British police force.

The devices are for the first time being used by detectives for pre-conviction testing in the UK in a trial which could pave the way for their introduction across the country.

Hertfordshire police completed a successful pilot scheme last month in which 25 sex offenders were tested using polygraphs.

The scheme led to many of the "low level" offenders being reclassified as posing a more serious risk to children than originally thought.

The force has now been given a further 12 months to experiment with the devices while senior officers across Britain are investigating ways the technology could assist in solving cases.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has established a working group to advise forces contemplating using lie detectors.
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