Science & TechnologyS


Info

Unexpectedly long-range effects in advanced magnetic devices

Michael Baum
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:25 UTC
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© Shapiro, NISTNIST MOIF (Magneto-optic imaging film) technique is unique in being able to image magnetic domains in real time while they are forming, growing and disappearing. Bright and dark regions represent stray magnetic fields as domains change. Here a series of MOIF images shows reversal of domains in a ferromagnetic film having a grid of antiferromagnetic strips on top as the external field increases to the right.
A tiny grid pattern has led materials scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Institute of Solid State Physics in Russia to an unexpected finding - the surprisingly strong and long-range effects of certain electromagnetic nanostructures used in data storage. Their recently reported findings* may add new scientific challenges to the design and manufacture of future ultra-high density data storage devices.
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R2-D2

Toyota Research Achieves Brain Control of Wheelchair

Martyn Williams
PCWorld
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:32 UTC
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Researchers in Japan have developed a brain-machine interface (BMI) system that allows for control of a wheelchair using thought.

The system processes brain thought patterns and can turn them into left, right and forward movements of the wheelchair with a delay as short as one-thousandth of a second. That's a vast improvement over other systems that can take as long as several seconds to analyze and react to the user's thoughts.

It was developed by scientists at the BSI-Toyota Collaboration Center, a research and development center established in 2007 by Japanese government-related research unit RIKEN, Toyota Motor, Toyota Central R&D Labs and Genesis Research Institute.
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Saturn

Uranium Found on the Moon

Clara Moskowitz
Space.com
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:58 UTC
Uranium exists on the moon, according to new data from a Japanese spacecraft.

The findings are the first conclusive evidence for the presence of the radioactive element in lunar dirt, the researchers said. They announced the discovery recently at the 40th Lunar and Planetary Conference and at the Proceedings of the International Workshop Advances in Cosmic Ray Science.

The revelation suggests that nuclear power plants could be built on the moon, or even that Earth's satellite could serve as a mining source for uranium needed back home.
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Sun

Zero-emission cars to race round world in 80 days

John Pickrell
Cosmos Online
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:40 UTC
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© Racing Green EnduranceStudents from Imperial College with the SR3 car they are currently turning into an electric vehicle.
London: The world's first major racing challenge for renewable vehicles will see six modified sports cars zip around 40,000 km of the northern hemisphere, through mountains and deserts, and across six continents.

The development of electric vehicles that are up to the challenge may encourage improved technology that could eventually filter down into electric consumer cars, says one of the teams involved in the project.

Vehicles are one of the greatest sources of carbon dioxide pollution. One possible solution to this will be the switch from petrol-driven to electric vehicles, but the widespread adoption of electric cars faces a challenge in that people perceive them to be low-performance vehicles.
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Info

Paleontology and Creationism Meet but Don't Mesh

Kenneth Chang
New York Times
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:58 UTC
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© Mark Lyons for The New York TimesA DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT Peter Dodson, left, of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Foote of the University of Chicago and Jon Todd of the Museum of Natural History in London watching a video at the Creation Museum.
Petersburg, Ky. - Tamaki Sato was confused by the dinosaur exhibit. The placards described the various dinosaurs as originating from different geological periods - the stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic, the heterodontosaurus from the Lower Jurassic, the velociraptor from the Upper Cretaceous - yet in each case, the date of demise was the same: around 2348 B.C.

"I was just curious why," said Dr. Sato, a professor of geology from Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan.

For paleontologists like Dr. Sato, layers of bedrock represent an accumulation over hundreds of millions of years, and the Lower Jurassic is much older than the Upper Cretaceous.
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Magnify

Dino tooth sheds new light on ancient riddle

Dr. Mark Purnell
University of Leicester
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:46 UTC
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© Vince Williams, University of LeicesterThese are teeth from the lower jaw of a hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus, showing its multiple rows of leaf-shaped teeth. The worn, chewing surface of the teeth is towards the top.
Microscopic analysis of scratches on dinosaur teeth has helped scientists unravel an ancient riddle of what a major group of dinosaurs ate- and exactly how they did it!

Now for the first time, a study led by the University of Leicester, has found evidence that the duck-billed dinosaurs- the Hadrosaurs- in fact had a unique way of eating, unlike any living creature today.

Working with researchers from the Natural History Museum, the study uses a new approach to analyse the feeding mechanisms of dinosaurs and understand their place in the ecosystems of tens of millions of years ago. The results are published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Sun

First step to converting solar energy using 'artificial leaf'

Hilje Papma
Leiden University
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:25 UTC
An international team of researchers has modified chlorophyll from an alga so that it resembles the extremely efficient light antennae of bacteria. The team was then able to determine the structure of these light antennae. This is the first step to converting sunlight into energy using an artificial leaf. The researchers will be publishing an article on their research findings in the online Early Edition of the PNAS journal in the week starting 29 June. Leiden researcher Swapna Ganapathy has obtained her PhD based on this subject, under the supervision of Professor Huub de Groot, one of the initiators of the research.
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Telescope

Galaxies Coming Of Age In Cosmic Blobs


Science Daily
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:54 UTC
galactic blob
© CXC/M. WeissThis is the first of a pair of artist's representations showing what one of the galaxies inside a blob might look like if viewed at a relatively close distance.

The "coming of age" of galaxies and black holes has been pinpointed, thanks to new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. This discovery helps resolve the true nature of gigantic blobs of gas observed around very young galaxies.

About a decade ago, astronomers discovered immense reservoirs of hydrogen gas -- which they named "blobs" - while conducting surveys of young distant galaxies. The blobs are glowing brightly in optical light, but the source of immense energy required to power this glow and the nature of these objects were unclear.

A long observation from Chandra has identified the source of this energy for the first time. The X-ray data show that a significant source of power within these colossal structures is from growing supermassive black holes partially obscured by dense layers of dust and gas. The fireworks of star formation in galaxies are also seen to play an important role, thanks to Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based observations.

"For ten years the secrets of the blobs had been buried from view, but now we've uncovered their power source," said James Geach of Durham University in the United Kingdom, who led the study. "Now we can settle some important arguments about what role they played in the original construction of galaxies and black holes."
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Saturn

Cosmic Rays Accelerated In Remnants Of Exploding Stars


Science Daily
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:48 UTC
stellar remnant
© ESO/E. Helder & NASA/ChandraImage of part of a stellar remnant whose explosion was recorded in 185 AD.

Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle accelerators. They show that cosmic rays from our galaxy are very efficiently accelerated in the remnants of exploded stars.

During the Apollo flights astronauts reported seeing odd flashes of light, visible even with their eyes closed. We have since learnt that the cause was cosmic rays - extremely energetic particles from outside the Solar System arriving at the Earth, and constantly bombarding its atmosphere. Once they reach Earth, they still have sufficient energy to cause glitches in electronic components.

Galactic cosmic rays come from sources inside our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and consist mostly of protons moving at close to the speed of light, the "ultimate speed limit" in the Universe. These protons have been accelerated to energies exceeding by far the energies that even CERN's Large Hadron Collider will be able to achieve.
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Palette

Study finds that prehistoric cave artists were women


Press TV
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:14 UTC
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© UnknownFrance's Pech Merle cave hand stencils surrounding the 'Spotted Horses' mural.
Archeologists say the hand stencils created by ancient Europeans were mostly artworks imprinted by female members of prehistoric societies.

Measuring and analyzing the hand stencils surrounding the famous 'Spotted Horses' mural in France's 25,000-year-old Pech Merle cave, Pennsylvania State University archaeologists found that most of them belonged to females.

"Even a superficial examination of published photos suggested to me that there were lots of female hands there," National Geographic quoted archaeologist Dean Snow as saying.

The 28,000-year-old hand stencils of Spain's El Castillo cave and the late Paleolithic ones in France's Gargas cave also yielded the same result.
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