Science & TechnologyS


Meteor

World space agencies gather to discuss what to do about asteroid threat


ZeeNews
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 10:36 UTC
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With a mandate from the UN, space agencies from all over the world are about to establish a high-level group to help coordinate global response should a threatening asteroid ever be found heading towards Earth.

Of the more than 600,000 known asteroids in our Solar System, more than 10 000 are classified as near-Earth objects, or NEOs, as their orbits bring them relatively close to our path.

The Space Mission Planning and Advisory Group (SMPAG - pronounced 'same page') was established by Action Team 14, a technical forum with a mandate from the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) to develop a strategy on how to react on a possible asteroid impact threat.

Comment: Comment: Along with a rise of Near Earth Objects, 2013 saw a remarkable rise in meteor fireballs. See the following articles for the year in review: Fire in the Sky: SOTT Summary of Meteor Fireballs in 2013
2013 saw a dramatic increase in meteor fireballs - What does 2014 have in store?

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Robot

Hologram of Turkish Prime Minister delivers speech

John David Kahn
Breitbart
Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Breitbart
On January 26, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan addressed the ruling Justice and Development Party at a meeting in Izmir...as a hologram.

With the help of Turkish special effects company Polyvision, Erdogan was beamed into the meeting after being shot against a green screen.

The avatar version of the PM told the meeting, "We are going to the elections in the shadow of attacks prepared by treasonous networks. I urge all my mayoral candidates to not waste any of their time."

Comment:
Say hello to life-sized holograms
Hologram-Style Avatars Ready to Greet Airport Travelers
Russian Researchers want to Replace Your Physical Body with a Holographic Avatar

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Cell Phone

Angry Birds app used by NSA to mine your data

Jared Keever
Opposing Views
Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:33 UTC
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The NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ are able to use some of the most popular smartphone apps in the world to obtain personal user information, suggests recently leaked documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Of particular note is the mention of the popular smartphone game Angry Birds. The game, which has been downloaded 1.7 billion times worldwide, is dubbed a "leaky app" by the agencies. Such apps, especially if running on the popular Android operating system, are able to provide US and British officials with information including the phone's settings, which websites the phone had visited and which documents it had downloaded.

The documents also included a 14 page slideshow developed by NSA officials. The slideshow mentioned popular apps that link to social networking site Facebook and the photo upload site Flickr. Photos uploaded to these sites could allow the two agencies to mine mobile devices for information including sexual orientation and political alignment as well as location data of where the photo was taken.
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Galaxy

SOTT Focus: Quantum Future? - Can be scary...

Arkadiusz Jadczyk
Sott.net
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 09:08 UTC
It was in June of 1990, Florence, Italy, when I formulated my Quantum Future Project. The project, with details, can be found here. Later on, in 1999, I consulted with my usually well-informed, albeit sometimes enigmatic and careful-about-what-to-share-and-what-not, sources about the status of quantum theory. The Questions and Answers run as follows:
Q: (A) Now, there are claims, more or less, shared by many scientists, that quantum theory is necessary to model or understand consciousness. From what was said before, it seems that quantum theory is not necessary, that it is sufficient to have the right geometric model of extended gravity.

A: No, not extended, expanded.

Q: (A) Does that mean that quantum theory is irrelevant for understanding the modelling of consciousness?

A: Quantum first needs to be graduated from the realm of theory.

Q: (C) It means it needs to be proved, right?

A: No. Proving is a concept we should now be moving beyond.

Q: (C) When you say 'graduated from the realm of theory,' I assumed that meant that it needed to be proven. So how does it get graduated? What is the next realm after theory?

A: No, my dear, you are missing the point. The currently imposed protocol for "proving" theories is a bit passe, we think. Can you imagine trying to fly a plane if you must first prove that there is a sky?

Q: (C) So, don't try to prove quantum theory, just go ahead and use it, I guess.

A: Pretty close.

Q: (A) Are you laughing at quantum theory?

A: No. We are laughing at 3rd density scientific protocol!
"Just go ahead and use it?" Easy to say, but use in which way? My original idea behind the Quantum Future Project was to understand the nature of Free Will, to construct a 'Free Will Detector and Amplifier'. Later on I understood that, perhaps, no one would buy such a device. Most people are probably better off giving up their free will, leaving decisions to others and to the wind. (At least they must think so since they do it all the time.)

Yet there are other possible uses of quantum theory; some of which I was not aware of until recently when I stumbled upon the publications of Louisiana State University theoretical physicist Jonathan P. Dowling. What I read is important, which is why I want to share the part that concerns our Quantum Future - yours, mine and everyone else's.
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Flashlight

Trick identified that aids viral infection


Science Daily
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 06:07 UTC
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© Fred Murphy, Sylvia Whitfield/CDCScientists have discovered a defense system — built into some viruses — that may be vulnerable to treatment. The researchers studied alphaviruses similar to the Eastern equine encephalitis virus, pictured above in red. This virus is transmitted to humans and horses by mosquito bites.
Sientists have identified a way some viruses protect themselves from the immune system's efforts to stop infections, a finding that may make new approaches to treating viral infections possible.

Viruses have well-known strategies for slipping past the immune system. These include faking or stealing a molecular identification badge that prevents a cell from recognizing a virus.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have found some viruses have another trick. They can block the immune system protein that checks for the identification badge.

The blocking structure is called a stem-loop, found at the beginning of the virus's genetic material. This is the first time scientists have found an immune-fighting mechanism built directly into the genetic material of a virus. They are looking for ways to disable it and searching for similar mechanisms that may be built into the genetic material of other disease-causing microorganisms.
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Beaker

The era of genetically-altered humans could begin this year

David DiSalvo
Forbes
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 03:31 UTC
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© Kyle & Kelly Adams
By the middle of 2014, the prospect of altering DNA to produce a genetically-modified human could move from science fiction to science reality. At some point between now and July, the UK parliament is likely to vote on whether a new form of in vitro fertilization (IVF) - involving DNA from three parents - becomes legally available to couples. If it passes, the law would be the first to allow pre-birth human-DNA modification, and another door to the future will open.

The procedure involves replacing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to avoid destructive cell mutations. Mitochondria are the power plants of human cells that convert energy from food into what our cells need to function, and they carry their own DNA apart from the nuclear DNA in our chromosomes where most of our genetic information is stored. Only the mother passes on mtDNA to the child, and it occasionally contains mutations that can lead to serious problems.
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Wolf

Wolf's powers of observation may have aided dog domestication

Dr. Becker
Healthy Pets Mercola
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 01:27 UTC
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© Martin Belan.
A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology suggests that the ability of humans to domesticate dogs may have its origins in the innate social skills of wolves.

Most theories of dog domestication hold that dogs have been selected for enhanced communication and interactions with humans, including learning socially from human demonstrators. But to what extent these skills are newly acquired and to what extent they originate from wolf - wolf interactions is unclear.
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Calculator

UK gov. plans switch from Microsoft to open source


The Guardian
Wed, 29 Jan 2014 18:49 UTC
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© Jonathan Alcorn/ReutersMicrosoft Office costs the UK government significant amounts every year, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude plans to standardise on open formats to cut costs on Office suite and break 'oligopoly' of IT suppliers

Ministers are looking at saving tens of millions of pounds a year by abandoning expensive software produced by firms such as Microsoft.

Some £200m has been spent by the public sector on the computer giant's Office suite alone since 2010.

But the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude believes a significant proportion of that outlay could be cut by switching to software which can produce open-source files in the "open document format" (ODF), such as OpenOffice and Google Docs.

Document formats are set to be standardised across Whitehall to help break the "oligopoly" of IT suppliers, and improve communications between civil servants.

The proposal is part of the coalition's drive to make its procurement more effective and efficient.

Speaking at a cross-government event showcasing new online services on Wednesday, Maude will say: "The software we use in government is still supplied by just a few large companies. A tiny oligopoly dominates the marketplace.
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Magnet

Physics experiment suggests magnets with only one pole actually exist

George Dvorsky
io9
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 09:00 UTC
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© Heikka Valja.
Though predicted to exist, magnetic monopoles - hypothetical elementary particles with only one magnetic pole - have never been detected by scientists. But physicists have just accomplished the next best thing by actually creating their own synthetic version of these bizarre magnetic particles in the lab.

As any grade 3 student can tell you, every magnet has a north and a south pole. Break that magnet in half, and the pieces will still have a north and south pole. Even if you cut this magnet down to the atomic level, it should still feature bipolar magnetic fields.
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Arrow Down

Genetically modified monkeys created with cut-and-paste DNA

Ian Sample
The Guardian, UK
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:38 UTC
cynomolgus monkeys
© Cell, Niu et alThe twin cynomolgus monkeys, Ningning and Mingming, born at Nanjing Medical University in China.
Researchers have created genetically modified monkeys with a revolutionary new procedure that enables scientists to cut and paste DNA in living organisms.

The macaques are the first primates to have their genetic makeup altered with the powerful technology which many scientists believe will lead to a new era of genetic medicine.

The feat was applauded by some researchers who said it would help them to recreate devastating human diseases in monkeys, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The ability to alter DNA with such precision is already being investigated as a way to make people resistant to HIV.

But the breakthrough is controversial, with groups opposed to animal testing warning that it could drive a rise in the use of monkeys in research. One critic said that genetic engineering gave researchers "almost limitless power to create sick animals".

The work was carried out in a lab in China, where scientists said they had used a genome editing procedure, called Crispr/Cas9, to manipulate two genes in fertilised monkey eggs before transferring them to surrogate mothers.

Writing in the journal, Cell, the team from Nanjing Medical University reported the delivery of twin female long-tailed macaques, called Ningning and Mingming. Five surrogates miscarried and four more pregnancies are ongoing.

The Crispr procedure has been welcomed by geneticists in labs around the world because of its enormous potential. Unlike standard gene therapy, Crispr allows scientists to remove faulty genes from cells, or replace them with healthy ones. It can even correct single letter spelling mistakes in the DNA code.
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