Science & TechnologyS


Bizarro Earth

Battlefield Earth: A Misguided Missile?

Jamais Cascio
Foreign Policy
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:12 UTC
It may sound like science fiction, but it's only a matter of time before the world's militaries learn to wield the planet itself as a weapon.

Preventing global warming from becoming a planetary catastrophe may take something even more drastic than renewable energy, superefficient urban design, and global carbon taxes. Such innovations remain critical, and yet disruptions to the Earth's climate could overwhelm these relatively slow, incremental changes in how we live. As reports of faster-than-expected climate changes mount, a growing number of experts worry that we might ultimately be forced to try something quite radical: geoengineering.

Geoengineering involves humans making intentional, large-scale modifications to the Earth's geophysical systems in order to change the environment. These can include sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide in the oceans, changing the reflectivity of the Earth's surface, and pumping particles into the stratosphere to block a fraction of incoming sunlight. Many of these proposals mimic natural events, so we know that - in principle - they can work, although there is insufficient understanding of their potential side effects. Unsurprisingly, geoengineering is highly controversial, and even proponents view it as a "Hail Mary" pass, to be considered only after all other options have failed.

©NASA

Comment: The prospect of geoengineering is far more worrying when one considers the psychopathic destructively short-sighted and self-interested nature of those in power who would direct such measures; and also the massive extent of the misconceptions and falsehoods that currently masquerade as scientific knowledge of the planet we inhabit - a lack of objectivity which could cause such measures to fail catastrophically.
"The following question thus suggests itself: what happens if the network of understandings among psychopaths achieves power in leadership positions with international exposure? This can happen, especially during the later phases of the [ponerization] phenomenon. Goaded by their character, such people thirst for just that even though it would conflict with their own life interest... They do not understand that a catastrophe would ensue. Germs are not aware that they will be burned alive or buried deep in the ground along with the human body whose death they are causing." - Andrew Lobaczewski
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)


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Bulb

Finding the door to a parallel universe


New Scientist
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:51 UTC
If there were a portal linking us to a parallel universe or some other region of space, how would we spot it? One suggestion is that it will give itself away by the curious way it bends light.

The existence of wormholes linking different regions of space was suggested in 1916 by the Austrian physicist Ludwig Flamm as a possible solution to equations of general relativity, which Einstein had published that year. They have since become accepted as a natural consequence of general relativity, which predicts that matter entering one end of a wormhole would instantly emerge somewhere else, so long as the wormhole is somehow propped open.

Though no direct evidence for wormholes has been observed, this could be because they are disguised as black holes. Now Alexander Shatskiy of the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, Russia, is suggesting a possible way to tell the two kinds of object apart. His idea assumes the existence of a bizarre substance called "phantom matter", which has been proposed to explain how wormholes might stay open. Phantom matter has negative energy and negative mass, so it creates a repulsive effect that prevents the wormhole closing.
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Star

Mercury's magnetosphere fends off the solar wind


University of Michigan
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:49 UTC
The planet Mercury's magnetic field appears to be strong enough to fend off the harsh solar wind from most of its surface, according to data gathered in part by a University of Michigan instrument onboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft.

U-M's Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on Jan. 14 took the first direct measurements of Mercury's magnetosphere to determine how the planet interacts with the space environment and the Sun.

The solar wind, a stream of charged particles, fills the entire solar system. It interacts with all planets, but bears down on Mercury, 2/3 closer than the Earth to the Sun.
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Bulb

DNA is blueprint, contractor and construction worker for new structures


Northwestern University
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:39 UTC
DNA is the blueprint of all life, giving instruction and function to organisms ranging from simple one-celled bacteria to complex human beings. Now Northwestern University researchers report they have used DNA as the blueprint, contractor and construction worker to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, a lifeless material.

Using just one kind of nanoparticle (gold) the researchers built two common but very different crystalline structures by merely changing one thing -- the strands of synthesized DNA attached to the tiny gold spheres. A different DNA sequence in the strand resulted in the formation of a different crystal.

The technique, to be published Jan. 31 as the cover story in the journal Nature and reflecting more than a decade of work, is a major and fundamental step toward building functional "designer" materials using programmable self-assembly. This "bottom-up" approach will allow scientists to take inorganic materials and build structures with specific properties for a given application, such as therapeutics, biodiagnostics, optics, electronics or catalysis.
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Bulb

Newborn brain cells modulate learning and memory


Salk Institute
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:32 UTC
Boosted by physical and mental exercise, neural stem cells continue to sprout new neurons throughout life, but the exact function of these newcomers has been the topic of much debate. Removing a genetic master switch that maintains neural stem cells in their proliferative state finally gave researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies some definitive answers.

Without adult neurogenesis - literally the "birth of neurons" - genetically engineered mice turned into "slow learners" that had trouble navigating a water maze and remembering the location of a submerged platform, the Salk investigators report in the Jan. 30 Advance Online Edition of Nature. The findings suggest that, one day, researchers might be able to stimulate neurogenesis with orally active drugs to influence memory function, the researchers say.
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Eye 1

Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor


University of Copenhagen
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:29 UTC
New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

What is the genetic mutation

"Originally, we all had brown eyes", said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a "switch", which literally "turned off" the ability to produce brown eyes". The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives colour to our hair, eyes and skin. The "switch", which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris - effectively "diluting" brown eyes to blue. The switch's effect on OCA2 is very specific therefore. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin colour - a condition known as albinism.
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Bulb

Deep stimulation 'boosts memory'


BBC
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:02 UTC
Electrical stimulation of areas deep within the brain could improve memory, early research suggests.

A team of doctors in Canada stumbled upon the finding while attempting to treat a morbidly obese man through deep brain stimulation (DBS).

The electrical stimulation caused the patient to experience vivid memories.

The findings, reported in the Annals of Neurology, potentially pave the way for electrical stimulation to treat disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

©Unknown
The brain's limbic system was stimulated
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Bomb

15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media Marketing

Glen Allsopp
Search Engine Land
Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:39 UTC
In September 2007, I was offered the role of 'Social Media Manager' at a company in Cape Town, South Africa which I took without much hesitation. I knew my job would focus on the 'general' projects such as proposals, running campaigns and devising social strategies for clients who had something they wanted to generate a buzz about online. Little did I know I would be training up the other team members completely from scratch on the subject but I can confidently say it was the most enjoyable part of the job. Here are 15 of the most important things about social media marketing I taught to those completely new to the approach.
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Phoenix

A Nova Doesn't Create, It Destroys

Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:31 UTC
Astronomers used to think that brief stellar eruptions called novae generated massive amounts of dust. But new observations of a well known nova system called RS Ophiuchus shows that isn't the case. The dust was there already, and a nova blast just clears it all away.
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Telescope

NASA Scientists Get First Images of Earth Flyby Asteroid


physorg.com
Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:12 UTC
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have obtained the first images of asteroid 2007 TU24 using high-resolution radar data. The data indicate the asteroid is somewhat asymmetrical in shape, with a diameter roughly 250 meters (800 feet) in size. Asteroid 2007 TU24 will pass within 1.4 lunar distances, or 538,000 kilometers (334,000 miles), of Earth on Jan. 29 at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time (3:33 a.m. Eastern time).

©NASA/JPL-Caltech
These low-resolution radar images of asteroid 2007 TU24 were taken over a few hours by the Goldstone Solar System Radar Telescope in California's Mojave Desert. Image resolution is approximately 20-meters per pixel. Next week, the plan is to have a combination of several telescopes provide higher resolution images.
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