Science & TechnologyS


Blackbox

Quantum wonders: Spooky action at a distance


New Scientist
Sun, 09 May 2010 12:33 UTC
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© Allan Baxter / The Image Bank / GettyEntanglement poses a serious challenge to our view of the world
Erwin Schrodinger called it the "defining trait" of quantum theory. Einstein could not bring himself to believe in it at all, thinking it proof that quantum theory was seriously buggy. It is entanglement: the idea that particles can be linked in such a way that changing the quantum state of one instantaneously affects the other, even if they are light years apart.

This "spooky action at a distance", in Einstein's words, is a serious blow to our conception of how the world works. In 1964, physicist John Bell of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, showed just how serious. He calculated a mathematical inequality that encapsulated the maximum correlation between the states of remote particles in experiments in which three "reasonable" conditions hold: that experimenters have free will in setting things up as they want; that the particle properties being measured are real and pre-existing, not just popping up at the time of measurement; and that no influence travels faster than the speed of light, the cosmic speed limit.
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Brick Wall

Company says it has solution for Gulf oil spill, but being ignored

Mike Deeson
10 Connects TV
Sun, 09 May 2010 00:17 UTC

St Petersburg, Florida -- With the disaster in the Gulf keeping everyone on edge looking for a solution, the answer might lay in material manufactured by a Columbian company with an office in Florida.

The company, Global Environmental Technology, has a product that is 100 percent organic and was invented in 1998 by its president, Carlos Forero. He won science competitions in Switzerland and Austria for the product, which encapsulates oil and cleans the material up.

Not only does the product clean up the oil, it can also be recycled for use afterwards. In addition, if birds are contaminated, the product can used for them as well.

You would think that with the disaster in the Gulf, and oil spilling out and heading to the beaches, the Coast Guard would be interested in the product. However, the company says all they are getting is red tape and getting nowhere.
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Sun

Crackling Sun Spot


Space Weather
Sat, 08 May 2010 19:01 UTC
The magnetic fields of sunspot 1069 are in a state of considerable agitation today. Click here to launch a 16-hour time-lapse movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

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© SOHO Extreme UV Telescope; May 8, 0000 - 1600 UT
The magnetic turmoil you just observed is giving rise to repeated explosions. The sunspot is literally crackling with C-class solar flares. Because of the sunspot's location near the sun's western limb, these explosions are not directed toward Earth. It's just a good show. Readers with backyard solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor the action.
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Cowboy Hat

Neanderthal Genes "Survive in Us"


BBC News
Thu, 06 May 2010 15:02 UTC
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Many people alive today possess some Neanderthal ancestry, according to a landmark scientific study.

The finding has surprised many experts, as previous genetic evidence suggested the Neanderthals made little or no contribution to our inheritance.

The result comes from analysis of the Neanderthal genome - the "instruction manual" describing how these ancient humans were put together.

Between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals.

But the study confirms living humans overwhelmingly trace their ancestry to a small population of Africans who later spread out across the world.

The most widely-accepted theory of modern human origins - known as Out of Africa - holds that the ancestors of living humans (Homo sapiens) originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago.
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Sherlock

Archaeologists Discover 5000-Year-Old Skeletons in Morocco


Middle East Online
Fri, 07 May 2010 10:00 UTC
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© Middle East OnlineA first in Khemisset
Ancient burial ground in cave of Beaker culture discovered in Morocco's city of Khemisset.

Khemisset - Archaeologists in Morocco uncovered an ancient burial ground in a cave east of the capital Rabat, digging up human skeletons dating back 5000 years, they said Friday.

It is the first time that human skeletons dating from the end of the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age have been discovered in Morocco, Youssef Bokbot said, leading the team carrying out the digs.

"Seven skeletons and four graves will allow us to identify very precisely the funeral rites of the Beaker culture, a first", Bokbot said of the discovery in a cave near Khemisset, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Rabat.

"The copper objects that we found confirmed humanity's evolution, the passage from stone to metal, a real transformation", the archaeologist added.

The digs, which began in 2006, were in a cave 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Khemisset.
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Sherlock

1,000 Ancient Rock Paintings Found in East-Central China


People's Daily
Thu, 06 May 2010 16:13 UTC
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© www.dahe.cnThere are more than 500 small craters of different sizes on the surface of the stone and several relatively larger craters that are 13 to 20 centimeters in diameter and three to seven centimeters in depth.
Archaeologist Ma Baoguang recently found some 1,000 hieroglyphic rock paintings in Yangce Town, Biyang County of east-central China's Henan province, according to the report from www.dahe.cn.

Ma went to Yangce with his students for an archaeological investigation on the eve of the May Day holiday. They spent over a week there and have found approximately 1,000 rock paintings of various types within an area of 5 square kilometers in villages such as Chenzhou, Tangligou, Xuzhuang, Leigutai, Anzhai, and Guogang.

Ma told reporters that he was deeply impressed by a large cambered stone which is 8 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. There are more than 500 small craters of different sizes on the surface of the stone and several relatively larger craters that are 13 to 20 centimeters in diameter and three to seven centimeters in depth. These craters are connected by various lines, forming a very large ancient diagram (as shown in the above picture).

"It is quite incredible that a large stone goat carries 'Hetu and Luoshu' (map of the Yellow River and the book of the Luo River) on its back," Ma said.
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Meteor

Halley's Comet's Cosmic Dust to be seen


Puggal.com
Thu, 06 May 2010 23:43 UTC
Halley Comet
Halley Comet

Halley's Comet was last seen passing near the earth 24 years ago. The Comet passes through our inner solar system every 76 years. As most of us having an interest in astronomy know that the Halley's Comet is a huge piece of rock orbiting our sun at a very high speed. The reason that the Halley's Comet is called a Comet and not a planet is that it travels at speeds much greater than planets. Planets travel at a relatively slow speed whereas comets travel at extremely fast speeds leaving behind a trail of meteors and meteorites that are usually called the comet's cosmic dust.

There is still a long time before the Halley's Comet can be seen again, but nowadays the comet is at such a position (far away from the earth obviously) that its cosmic dust can be seen in form of some meteor showers near the earth. The shower is expected to become visible 3 to 4 days before and after May 6th.
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Recycle

So that's why Pontius Pilate washed his hands - it can help ease niggling doubts about decisions

Fiona Macrae
The Daily Mail
Thu, 06 May 2010 20:49 UTC
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Pontius Pilate: Washed his hands after condemning Jesus in the Bible
If you have made a difficult decision and want to stick to it, go and wash your hands.

A study has revealed that hand washing, long associated with absolving the mind of guilt, can also erase any doubts about everyday choices.

The latest research, reported in the journal Science, looked at whether the phenomenon extends to decisions with little or no moral implications by asking a set of volunteers to pick between two CDs or two jams.

Scientists found the 40 volunteers were less likely to try to justify their choice if they washed their hands just after making it.
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Telescope

Herschel reveals the hidden side of star birth


European Space Agency
Thu, 06 May 2010 18:50 UTC
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© ESA/PACS/SPIRE/HOBYS ConsortiaRCW 120 is a galactic bubble with a large surprise. How large? At least 8 times the mass of the Sun. Nestled in the shell around this large bubble is an embryonic star that looks set to turn into one of the brightest stars in the Galaxy.
The first scientific results from ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory are revealing previously hidden details of star formation. New images show thousands of distant galaxies furiously building stars and beautiful star-forming clouds draped across the Milky Way. One picture even catches an 'impossible' star in the act of formation.

Presented today during a major scientific symposium held at the European Space Agency (ESA), the results challenge old ideas of star birth, and open new roads for future research.
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Umbrella

Powerful Laser Makes Raindrops Out of Thin Air

Stephanie Pappas
TechNewsDaily
Thu, 06 May 2010 18:40 UTC
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© Jean-Pierre Wolf / University of GenevaA high-power red laser beam ionizes air and triggers the condensation of water droplets in an atmospheric cloud chamber. The droplets (green) are lit by a second, lower-powered laser
Ultra-fast pulses from a powerful laser can create droplets of water out of thin air, according to a new study. With the right conditions and large enough droplets, the researchers say, the technique could be used to make rain on demand.

Rain forms when water condenses around tiny particles in the atmosphere. Most of the time, dust or pollen do the job, but humans have long attempted to speed the process by seeding clouds with chemicals like silver iodide. Those chemicals provide the so-called "condensation nuclei" that trigger the consolidation of water into raindrops.
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