Science & TechnologyS


Telescope

Shedding Light on the Cosmic Skeleton


ScienceDaily
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00 UTC
Galaxy
© ESOAstronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us.
Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed.

"Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe," says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic web', in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure."

These filaments are millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the Universe: galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest. Scientists are struggling to determine how they swirl into existence. Although massive filamentary structures have been often observed at relatively small distances from us, solid proof of their existence in the more distant Universe has been lacking until now.
Read More...
Sherlock

Terrible Teens of T. Rex: Young Tyrannosaurs did Serious Battle Against Each Other


ScienceDaily
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:00 UTC
tyrannosaurs
© Erica Lyn SchmidtYoung tyrannosaurs did serious battle against each other.
We all know adolescents get testy from time to time. Thank goodness we don't have young tyrannosaurs running around the neighborhood.

In a new scientific paper, researchers from Northern Illinois University and the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford report that adolescent tyrannosaurs got into some serious scraps with their peers.

The evidence can be found on Jane, the museum's prized juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, discovered in 2001 in Montana.

Jane's fossils show that she sustained a serious bite that punctured through the bone of the dinosaur's left upper jaw and snout in four places, the researchers report. The injury wasn't life threatening and eventually healed over, according to the scientists. The bite did leave scars, however.

"Jane has what we call a boxer's nose," says Joe Peterson, an NIU Ph.D. candidate in geology and lead author of the study published in the November issue of the journal Palaios. "Her snout bends slightly to the left. It was probably broken and healed back crooked."
Read More...
Ark

Space hotel 'on schedule to open in 2012'


Independent.co.uk
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:57 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro (£2.6 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company (www.galacticsuite.com) at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future.
Read More...
Telescope

Fermi Detects Gamma-Ray From "Star Factories" In Other Galaxies


Space Daily / SPX
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:58 UTC
Image
© NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT CollaborationFermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) shows that an intense star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud named 30 Doradus is also a source of diffuse gamma rays. Brighter colors indicate larger numbers of detected gamma rays.
Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories.

"Starburst galaxies have not been accessible in gamma rays before," said Fermi team member Seth Digel, a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif.

"Most of the galaxies Fermi sees are exotic and distant blazars, which produce jets powered by matter falling into enormous black holes. But these new galaxies are much closer to us and much more like our own."
Read More...
Info

Researchers unlock the 'sound of learning' by linking sensory and motor systems

Karen N. Peart
Yale University
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:22 UTC
Image
© David Ostry, Yale University, Haskins LabThis is a participant in the study using a speech learning robotic device.
Learning to talk also changes the way speech sounds are heard, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory. The findings could have a major impact on improving speech disorders.

"We've found that learning is a two-way street; motor function affects sensory processing and vice-versa," said David J. Ostry, a senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories and professor of psychology at McGill University. "Our results suggest that learning to talk makes it easier to understand the speech of others."
Read More...
Magic Hat

The Science of Magic: Not Just Hocus-Pocus

John Blackstone
CBS News
Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:38 UTC
Blackstone
© CBSAt the Barrow Neurological Institute John Blackstone wore a device that tracked his vision while a magician went through his paces. The result: His eyes were misdirected, to keep from seeing what the magician was actually doing.
Neuroscientists and Magicians Are Studying How Sleight of Hand Affects the Brain, and Its Potential to Diagnose Autism

Las Vegas can be a magical place. It certainly is for Penn and Teller, who have been performing magic in their own Las Vegas theatre for almost eight years.

The house is packed every night - a testament to both Penn and Teller's draw . . . and to the universal appeal of magic itself.

"What makes for a successful trick?" Blackstone asked Teller, who never says a word on stage. He broke his silence for our interview (but insisted that we not show his moving lips).

Comment: Read also, The Art of Deception, for a view on how the evil magicians of our times use their tricks to control us and render us helpless and hopeless under their spellbinding lies.

Read More...
Magnify

Forest Clearances Sealed Ancient Civilisation's Downfall


University of Cambridge
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00 UTC
Image
© UC
An ancient South American civilization which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found.

Archaeologists examining the remains of the Nasca, who once flourished in the valleys of south coastal Peru, have uncovered a sequence of human-induced events which led to their "catastrophic" collapse around 500 AD.

The Nasca are probably best known for the famous "Nazca Lines", giant geoglyphs which they left etched into the surface of the vast, empty desert plain that lies between the Peruvian towns of Nazca and Palpa.

The depictions have spawned various wild theories, including that they were created by aliens. Most scholars now believe that they were sacred pathways which Nasca people followed during the course of their ancient rituals.
Read More...
Rocket

Russia Hopes Nuclear Ship Will Fly Humans to Mars

Vladimir Isachenkov
The Associated Press
Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:21 UTC
Dmitry Medvedev
© AP Photo/ RIA NovostiRussian President Dmitry Medvedev inspects a piece of equipment at a facility in Fryazino, outside Moscow.
"Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets," the nation's space chief said Thursday.

Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting Wednesday but didn't explain its purpose. President Dmitry Medvedev backed the project and urged the government to find the money.

In remarks posted Thursday on his agency's Web site, Perminov said the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field.

Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012, and then it would take nine more years and cost 17 billion rubles (about $600 million, or euro400 million) to build the ship.
Read More...
Sherlock

British Holidaymaker Discovers Lost Underwater 'City'

Lawrence Marzouk
The Telegraph
Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:30 UTC
Montenegrin
© Le QuesneThe Montenegrin coast is dotted with ancient ruins yet to be documented.
A British holidaymaker has uncovered what is believed to be a lost, ancient temple while snorkelling in the Mediterranean.

Michael Le Quesne, 16, was swimming off a popular beach in Montenegro with his parents and his ten-year-old sister Teodora when he spotted an odd looking 'stone' at a depth of around two metres.

It turned out to be a large, submerged building which may have been the centrepiece of an important Greek or Roman trading post, swallowed up by the sea during a massive earthquake.

A British team of experts led by Dr Lucy Blue, presenter of BBC Two show Oceans, is to investigate the significant find in this largely unexplored corner of south east Europe.

Dr Blue said that if the discovery is confirmed to be an underwater temple it would "put Montenegro on the map".
Read More...
Sun

Solar Winds Triggered by Magnetic Fields


PhysOrg
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00 UTC
Solar winds
© HinodeSolar winds
Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers based on the latest observations from the Hinode satellite.

Scientists have long speculated on the source of solar winds. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS), on board the Japanese-UK-US Hinode satellite, is now generating unprecedented observations enabling scientists to provide a new perspective on the 50-year old question of how solar wind is driven. The collaborative study, published in this month's issue of Astrophysical Journal, suggests that a process called slipping reconnection may drive these winds.

Deb Baker, lead author from UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, says: "Solar wind is an outflow of million-degree gas and magnetic field that engulfs the Earth and other planets. It fills the entire solar system and links with the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets. Changes in the Sun's million-mile-per-hour wind can induce disturbances within near-Earth space and our upper atmosphere and yet we still don't know what drives these outflows."
Read More...