On August 20th at 18:22 UT, amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa of Kumamoto city, Japan, video-recorded an apparent impact on Jupiter.
This is the third time in only 13 months that amateur astronomers have detected signs of impact on Jupiter. The earlier events occured on July 19, 2009, and June 3, 2010. This weekend's impact, if that's what it was, has not been confirmed by multiple observers, but it resembles the uncontroversial impact of June 3, 2010, and appears to be genuine.
Science & Technology
© TechCrunch
German architect Rolf Disch built the home, called Heliotrope, to follow the sun throughout the day. The structure features triple panes of thermally insulated glass to strike a balance between letting light in and keeping the house cooler inside.
A giant 6.6-kilowatt-capacity rooftop solar panel called the Sun Sail slurps up the rays of energy, pumping them into the home and grid. Solar thermal collectors on balcony railings act as water heaters and radiators. On cloudy days, the house can be heated with wood chips and solar thermal heating.
Worryingly, experiments include human cells and flies
Once again disregarding the warnings of science fiction, boffins in America are seeking to develop technology which will allow human parts to be frozen indefinitely in organ banks for use in on-demand transplants.
"The goal is to make human cells survive on ice. Twenty-four hours on ice is pushing it and many people die waiting," says Daniel Shain, biology boffin.
Shain and his colleagues believe that the key to allowing human tissues, organs etc to survive being deep-frozen and then returning to service inside another body may be found in nature. Specifically, it seems that a certain type of fruit fly may hold the secret.
The humble Drosophila melanogaster, according to Shain and his collaborating fly expert Nir Yakoby, has an enzyme-regulated "molecular thermostat" which could - expertly tinkered with - allow it to survive being frozen. It seems that Shain has already gained similar insights from the abilities of Tibetan ice worms.
Once again disregarding the warnings of science fiction, boffins in America are seeking to develop technology which will allow human parts to be frozen indefinitely in organ banks for use in on-demand transplants.
"The goal is to make human cells survive on ice. Twenty-four hours on ice is pushing it and many people die waiting," says Daniel Shain, biology boffin.
Shain and his colleagues believe that the key to allowing human tissues, organs etc to survive being deep-frozen and then returning to service inside another body may be found in nature. Specifically, it seems that a certain type of fruit fly may hold the secret.
The humble Drosophila melanogaster, according to Shain and his collaborating fly expert Nir Yakoby, has an enzyme-regulated "molecular thermostat" which could - expertly tinkered with - allow it to survive being frozen. It seems that Shain has already gained similar insights from the abilities of Tibetan ice worms.
Tailsitter two-stroke 'V-Bats' drop off surprise packages
DARPA, the US military research bureau occasionally prone to embarrassing tumbles from the teetering kitchen stool of unreasonable risk while groping wildly for the inaccessible biscuit tin of technological dominance secreted atop the unscalable refrigerator of unfeasibility, has done it again
DARPA, the US military research bureau occasionally prone to embarrassing tumbles from the teetering kitchen stool of unreasonable risk while groping wildly for the inaccessible biscuit tin of technological dominance secreted atop the unscalable refrigerator of unfeasibility, has done it again
Nork-bust blast cannon now set for Saturday sky-fry
The United States' radical jumbo jet mounted ICBM-blasting laser cannon was set for its most ambitious test yet last night, in which it would have fried a missile in flight from more than 100 miles off. However technical hitches have delayed the test until the weekend.
The trial was announced by the US defence department in a statement on Tuesday, at which time it was expected that the laser jumbo would shoot down its second missile above a Californian firing range early yesterday morning. Thus far the raygun has shot down just one missile (in February) at a relatively close range, which would be inconvenient in operational use - the plane would have to fly dangerously close to the enemy missile silo or pad, penetrating defences to do so.
Here's a vid of the test:
The United States' radical jumbo jet mounted ICBM-blasting laser cannon was set for its most ambitious test yet last night, in which it would have fried a missile in flight from more than 100 miles off. However technical hitches have delayed the test until the weekend.
The trial was announced by the US defence department in a statement on Tuesday, at which time it was expected that the laser jumbo would shoot down its second missile above a Californian firing range early yesterday morning. Thus far the raygun has shot down just one missile (in February) at a relatively close range, which would be inconvenient in operational use - the plane would have to fly dangerously close to the enemy missile silo or pad, penetrating defences to do so.
Here's a vid of the test:
Recent discoveries require us to rethink our understanding of history. "The histories of the universe," said renowned physicist Stephen Hawking "depend on what is being measured, contrary to the usual idea that the universe has an objective observer-independent history."
Is it possible we live and die in a world of illusions? Physics tells us that objects exist in a suspended state until observed, when they collapse in to just one outcome. Paradoxically, whether events happened in the past may not be determined until sometime in your future -- and may even depend on actions that you haven't taken yet.
In 2002, scientists carried out an amazing experiment, which showed that particles of light "photons" knew -- in advance −- what their distant twins would do in the future. They tested the communication between pairs of photons -- whether to be either a wave or a particle. Researchers stretched the distance one of the photons had to take to reach its detector, so that the other photon would hit its own detector first. The photons taking this path already finished their journeys -− they either collapse into a particle or don't before their twin encounters a scrambling device. Somehow, the particles acted on this information before it happened, and across distances instantaneously as if there was no space or time between them. They decided not to become particles before their twin ever encountered the scrambler. It doesn't matter how we set up the experiment. Our mind and its knowledge is the only thing that determines how they behave. Experiments consistently confirm these observer-dependent effects.
Is it possible we live and die in a world of illusions? Physics tells us that objects exist in a suspended state until observed, when they collapse in to just one outcome. Paradoxically, whether events happened in the past may not be determined until sometime in your future -- and may even depend on actions that you haven't taken yet.
In 2002, scientists carried out an amazing experiment, which showed that particles of light "photons" knew -- in advance −- what their distant twins would do in the future. They tested the communication between pairs of photons -- whether to be either a wave or a particle. Researchers stretched the distance one of the photons had to take to reach its detector, so that the other photon would hit its own detector first. The photons taking this path already finished their journeys -− they either collapse into a particle or don't before their twin encounters a scrambling device. Somehow, the particles acted on this information before it happened, and across distances instantaneously as if there was no space or time between them. They decided not to become particles before their twin ever encountered the scrambler. It doesn't matter how we set up the experiment. Our mind and its knowledge is the only thing that determines how they behave. Experiments consistently confirm these observer-dependent effects.
© MSNBC
The solar system may be up to 2 million years older than previously thought, a new study has found.
Researchers studying bits of a meteorite discovered that the space rock was 4.5682 billion years old, predating previous estimates of the solar system's age by up to 1.9 million years. This adjustment, though ever so slight, should help astronomers better understand how the sun and planets formed.
"We believe that, right now, this is the most precise and accurate date for the age of the solar system," said study co-author Meenakshi Wadhwa of Arizona State University.
© Corbis
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Scientists have discovered how the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting; by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze thought to have been smeared on with his fingers.
The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the mouth that give the Mona Lisa her barely noticeable smile that seems to disappear when looked at directly.
Using X-rays to study the painting, the researchers were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the face.
With the drying times for the glaze taking months, such effects would have taken years to achieve.
The scientists also suspect that he used his fingers to apply the glaze to his paintings as there are no brush marks or contours visible on the paintings.
© Peter Foster
Pan Ting-ting, 21, one of 500 graduate volunteers at Beijing Old Summer Palace who are working to piece back together 30,000 fragments of Qing Dynasty porcelain excavated from the ruins of the Old Summer Palace
Pan Ting-ting, 21, one of 500 graduate volunteers at Beijing Old Summer Palace who are working to piece back together 30,000 fragments of Qing Dynasty porcelain excavated from the ruins of the Old Summer Palace
Archaeology students are piecing together thousands of fragments of Qing Dynasty porcelain that have been excavated over the past 30 years from what is known in China as the "Gardens of Perfect Brightness".
"On a good day, we manage to reconnect about 20 pieces of the porcelain," says Pan Ting-ting, one of the student volunteers.
The team has been working on pieces of vases, bowls and plates depicting twirling dragons and weeping willows. These represent only a small portion of the 30,000 recovered pieces.
The 150th anniversary of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace during the Second Opium War will be marked in October.
© Courtauld Institute
Detail of a winged child playing the flute, before and after cleaning.
Detail of a winged child playing the flute, before and after cleaning.
Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.
Virtually no Hellenistic paintings survive today, and fragments only hint at antiquity's lost masterpieces, while revealing little about their colours and composition, so the revelation of these wall paintings in Jordan is all the more significant. They were created by the Nabataeans, who traded extensively with the Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires and whose dominion once stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea, and from Sinai to the Arabian desert.
Such is the naturalistic intricacy of these paintings that the actual species of flowers, birds and insects bursting with life can be identified. They were probably painted in the first century, but may go back further. Professor David Park, an eminent wall paintings expert at the Courtauld, said that the paintings "should make jaws drop".
