Science & TechnologyS


Fireball 5

Newfound asteroid whizzes between the Earth and the Moon this week

Scott Sutherland
Geekquinox
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:17 UTC
Asteroid 2013 RZ53
© GeekquinoxThe orbit of Asteroid 2013 RZ53 closely tracks the orbit of Earth.
Discovered just two days ago, a small asteroid will be whizzing past the Earth on Wednesday night, coming within two-thirds the distance to the Moon.

Asteroid 2013 RZ53 was found early Friday morning by astronomers working at the Steward Observatory, at the University of Arizona, as part of the Catalina Sky Survey. Astronomers from Australia and Illinois helped to track the asteroid, and found that it's about 3 metres wide, its orbit is very close to Earth's, and it even flies along with us as we make our way around the Sun. On Wednesday night, 2013 RZ53 will come within 0.6 lunar distances of Earth, or roughly 230,000 kilometres.

2013 RZ53 is an Apollo asteroid. These are a specific type of asteroids that cross Earth's orbit, putting them into a class of 'potentially-dangerous asteroids'. Astronomically speaking, it's coming pretty close to us, but it's well outside the orbit of our satellites, and there's no chance of it hitting the Earth. Still, based on the astronomers backtracking the orbit of this space rock, that's apparently the closest approach it's made since March of 1954.

Comment: Who does the author think he is kidding?!

It clearly shows how much more material is reaching the inner solar system!

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Jupiter

It's only thanks to amateur astronomers that we know comets and asteroids are regularly impacting Jupiter


RedOrbit
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:09 UTC
Jupiter Fireball
© Hueso/Wesley/Go/Tachikawa/Aoki/Ichimaru/PetersenThe first of these collisions was observed by A. Wesley from Australia and C. Go from Philippines on June, 3 2010. The second object was observed by three Japanese amateur observers (M. Tachikawa, K. Aoki and M. Ichimaru) on August, 20 that year and a third collision was observed by G. Hall from USA on September, 10 2012 after a report of a visual observation from D. Petersen from USA.
Amateur astronomers observing Jupiter with video cameras for the past three years have observed a trio of collisions between small stellar objects occurring around the planet, according to research presented last week at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC 2013) in London.

The collisions are similar but smaller in scale than the meteor explosion that occurred over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February, explained Ricardo Hueso of the University of the Basque Country in Spain. Hueso presented a detailed report of these collisions during EPSC 2013, which concluded on Friday.

Such collisions are not uncommon in the Solar System, the researchers explained. Most smaller objects such as asteroids and comets have stable orbits, but some of them travel in orbits that place them at risk of colliding with planets. The smaller the objects, the more numerous they are and the more likely they are to cause collisions.


Comment: Not necessarily. The obvious reason that no one seems to want to spell out is that more material - big and small, 'stable' and 'unstable' - has entered the inner solar system. When it comes down to it, what everyone on this planet is about to learn is that there is no such thing as 'stability' in space!

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Eye 1

New treatment for macular degeneration by attacking abnormal blood vessels directly

Brett Smith
RedOrbit
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 14:03 UTC
Macular Degeneration
© Thinkstock
According to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, medical researchers at the University of North Carolina are developing a promising new treatment for macular degeneration.

Based on experiments with laboratory mice, a group of drugs known as MDM2 inhibitors proved exceedingly effective at mitigating the abnormal blood vessels responsible for the vision loss linked to the disease.

"We believe we may have found an optimized treatment for macular degeneration," said senior study author Dr. Sai Chavala, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the UNC School of Medicine. "Our hope is that MDM2 inhibitors would reduce the treatment burden on both patients and physicians."

The best treatment for macular degeneration available on the market right now is an antibody called anti-VEGF that is injected directly into the eye. Individuals with the condition must visit their doctor for a new injection every four to eight weeks, typically at a significant personal loss of time and money.

"The idea is we'd like to have a long-lasting treatment so patients wouldn't have to receive as many injections," said Chavala. "That would reduce their overall risk of eye infections, and also potentially lower the economic burden of this condition by reducing treatment costs."
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Eye 1

Apple iPhone 5S: Big Brother dream come true

Anthony Gucciardi
Storyleak
Wed, 11 Sep 2013 19:53 UTC
Image
The latest series of Apple's iPhone will not only continue to cultivate numerous apps that track your location through GPS and transmit data directly back to corporations and government, but contain a fingerprint sensor that stores your fingerprint in order to purchase apps and unlock the phone for use.

And that's really just the beginning. As millions will most likely continue through the Apple food chain and purchase this phone, the NSA and bloated federal government at large will be beyond ecstatic. Because after all, it's a real dream come true for the Big Daddy government spy state. No longer will you actually need to be arrested to gather your fingerprints - we're talking about millions nationwide willingly submitting their biometrics to a database that most certainly is accessible by Apple and big government.

But don't worry, the same company that has given away all of your chats and personal data through the NSA's top secret PRISM program says that you're perfectly safe. Security experts and high level tech analysts, however, seem to disagree. In addition to the fact that it seems consumer trust is all but dead in regards to Apple and its ties to the spying grid, it seems these 'safety' features are actually quite vulnerable in reality. To the point now where hackers can access a massive database of fingerprints just waiting to be taken and utilized fraudulently.
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Solar Flares

The sun goes strangely quiet


Bold Corsican Flame's Blog
Sat, 14 Sep 2013 19:47 UTC

ALL QUIET ALERT:

With the Sun's disk almost completely devoid of sunspots, solar flare activity has come to a halt. Measurements by NOAA's GOES 15 satellite show that the sun's global x-ray emission, a key metric of solar activity, has flatlined:

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Info

Nitrogen fixation in oceans linked to Earth's axial precession


RedOrbit
Sat, 14 Sep 2013 12:30 UTC
Earth's Wobble
© RedOrbitResearchers from Princeton University and the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich found that the wobble of the Earth on its axis controls the production of fertilizing nitrogen essential to the health of the ocean. The wobble, known as axial precession, causes an upwelling of nitrogen-poor (but phosphorus-rich) water from the deep ocean roughly every 23,000 years. Blue-green algae such as Trichodesmium (above) feed on the phosphorous as they convert, or “fix,” nitrogen in the air into a biologically active form that becomes part of the ocean’s nitrogen cycle. (Image courtesy of the Center for Microbial Oceanography, University of Hawaii)
The nutrient known as "fixed" nitrogen, which is essential to the health of the ocean, is controlled by the cyclic wobble of the Earth on its axis, researchers from Princeton University and the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) claim in research appearing in the journal Nature.

According to the study authors, the discovery will give scientists new insight into how the ocean regulates its own life-support system, which in turn influences the planet's climate as well as the size of marine fisheries. They explain that, over the past 160,000 years, nitrogen fixation rose and fell in a pattern closely resembling the changing orientation of the Earth's axis of rotation (also known as axial precession).

The phenomenon of axial precession occurs on a cycle of approximately 26,000 years, and occurs because the planet wobbles slightly during the rotation process. Previous research revealed that precession results in a regular upwelling of deep water in the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator, roughly every 23,000 years.
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Comet

Newly discovered: Lovejoy will add to "comet lineup" in winter skies


The Extinction Protocol
Fri, 13 Sep 2013 21:09 UTC
Image
Move over Comet ISON. You've got company. Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy, discoverer of three previous comets, including the famous, long-tailed sungrazer C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), just added a 4th to his tally. This new comet will add to a lineup of comets that should grace early November skies in the northern hemisphere: Comets ISON, Encke and now the new Lovejoy.

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The discovery of C/2013 R1 Lovejoy was announced on Sept. 9 after two nights of photographic observations by Lovejoy with an 8-inch (20 cm) Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector. When nabbed, the comet was a faint midge of about 14.5 magnitude crossing the border between Orion and Monoceros.
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Info

First reported self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently repairs itself


Phys Org
Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:34 UTC
Elastomer
© Phys OrgA cylindrical sample of the elastomer mends itself after being cut in two by a razor blade and can be manually stretched without rupture.
Scientists in Spain have reported the first self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently repairs itself without any intervention. The new material could be used to improve the security and lifetime of plastic parts in everyday products such as electrical components, cars and even houses.

The researchers have dubbed the material a 'Terminator' polymer in tribute to the shape-shifting, molten T-100 terminator robot from the Terminator 2 film.

The research is published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Materials Horizons.

Self-healing polymers that can spontaneously achieve quantitative healing in the absence of a catalyst have never been reported, until now.

The scientists prepared the self-healing thermoset elastomers from common polymeric starting materials using a simple and inexpensive approach.

A video shows that the permanently cross-linked poly(urea-urethane) elastomeric network completely mends itself after being cut in two with a razor blade. A metathesis reaction of aromatic disulphides, which naturally exchange at room temperature, causes the regeneration.
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Robot

Phone sensors could meld with human body


LiveScience
Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:35 UTC
Bio Compatible Polymers
© iStockPhotoNew microscopic computer components made from polymers are bio-compatible and could help convert electrical signals into movement.
Microscopic sensors and motors in smartphones detect movement, and could one day help their cameras focus. Now scientists have devised components for these machines that are compatible with the human body, potentially making them ideal for use in medical devices such as bionic limbs and other artificial body parts, researchers say.

The technology is called microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, and involves parts less than 100 microns wide, the average diameter of a human hair. For example, the accelerometer that tells a smartphone if its screen is being held vertically or horizontally is a MEMS sensor; it convert signals from the phone's environment, such as its movement, into electrical impulses.

MEMS actuators, which may focus your next smartphone's camera, work in the opposite way, by converting electrical signals into movement.

MEMS are typically produced from silicon. But now researchers have devised a way to print highly flexible parts for these micro-machines from a rubbery, organic polymer more suitable for implantation in the human body than is silicon.

The new polymer is attractive for MEMS because of its high mechanical strength and how it responds to electricity. It is also nontoxic, making it biocompatible, or suitable for use in the human body.

The method the scientists used to create MEMS components from this polymer is called nanoimprint lithography. The process works much like a miniaturized rubber stamp, pressing a mold into the soft polymer to create detailed patterns, with features down to nanometers, or billionths of a meter, in size. The scientists printed components just 2 microns thick, 2 microns wide and about 2 centimeters long.
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Hiliter

Lefty or Righty? Genes for handedness found

Tia Ghose
LIveScience
Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:40 UTC
Twins
© MJTH | Shutterstock
Genes that play a role in the orientation of internal organs may also affect whether someone is right- or left-handed, new research suggests.

The study, published today (Sept. 12) in the journal PLOS Genetics, suggest those genes may also play a role in the brain, thereby affecting people's handedness.

Still, the findings can't yet explain the mystery of why a minority of people are left-handed because each gene only plays a tiny role in people's handedness.

"Handedness is a complex trait, there are hundreds of genes involved," said study co-author William Brandler, a genetics doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford in England. "There are also lots of environmental influences."
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