Science & TechnologyS


Blackbox

Myth of raindrop formation exploded

Colin Barras
New Scientist
Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:32 UTC
The short lifetime of a raindrop is a complicated and explosive affair, physicists have revealed. Using high-speed video footage they have solved a longstanding conundrum of what determines the size of raindrops.

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Info

NYU physicists find way to explore microscopic systems through holographic video

James Devitt
New York University
Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:44 UTC
Physicists at New York University have developed a technique to record three-dimensional movies of microscopic systems, such as biological molecules, through holographic video. The work, which is reported in Optics Express, has potential to improve medical diagnostics and drug discovery.

The technique, developed in the laboratory of NYU Physics Professor David Grier, is comprised of two components: making and recording the images of microscopic systems and then analyzing these images.

To generate and record images, the researchers created a holographic microscope, which is based on a conventional light microscope. But instead of relying on an incandescent illuminator, which conventional microscopes employ, the holographic microscope uses a collimated laser beam - a beam consisting of a series of parallel rays of light and similar to a laser pointer.
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Info

'Invisibility cloak' could protect against earthquakes

University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:39 UTC
Liverpool, UK - 20 July 2009: Research at the University of Liverpool has shown it is possible to develop an 'invisibility cloak' to protect buildings from earthquakes.

The seismic waves produced by earthquakes include body waves which travel through the earth and surface waves which travel across it. The new technology controls the path of surface waves which are the most damaging and responsible for much of the destruction which follows earthquakes.

The technology involves the use of concentric rings of plastic which could be fitted to the Earth's surface to divert surface waves. By controlling the stiffness and elasticity of the rings, waves travelling through the 'cloak' pass smoothly into the material and are compressed into small fluctuations in pressure and density. The path of the surface waves can be made into an arc that directs the waves outside the protective cloak. The technique could be applied to buildings by installing the rings into foundations.
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Meteor

California's Channel Islands Hold Evidence of Clovis-Age Comets


PhysOrg
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:41 UTC
California
© NOAA and UC Santa BarbaraThis map shows California's Channel Islands with the islands of the previously combined islands of Santarosae encircled at the top.
A 17-member team has found what may be the smoking gun of a much-debated proposal that a cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago ripped through North America and drove multiple species into extinction.

In a paper appearing online ahead of regular publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Oregon archaeologist Douglas J. Kennett and colleagues from nine institutions and three private research companies report the presence of shock-synthesized hexagonal diamonds in 12,900-year-old sediments on the Northern Channel Islands off the southern California coast.

These tiny diamonds and diamond clusters were buried deeply below four meters of sediment. They date to the end of Clovis -- a Paleoindian culture long thought to be North America's first human inhabitants. The nano-sized diamonds were pulled from Arlington Canyon on the island of Santa Rosa that had once been joined with three other Northern Channel Islands in a landmass known as Santarosae.
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Powertool

At Fault: Did Drilling Cause Earthquakes at Cleburne Texas?

Ben Casselman
Environmental Capital - WSJ
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:21 UTC
Image
© anonymouswhole lot of shaking goin' on
At last, something that fossil fuels and renewable energy exploration have in common: They both may cause earthquakes.

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on

The New York Times reported Wednesday on concerns that a geothermal energy project about to begin near San Francisco could trigger quakes in the seismically active region. Worried residents point out that a similar project in Switzerland was shut down in 2006 after it was blamed for a magnitude 3.4 quake - enough to cause quite a stir in an area not accustomed to temblors.

If all this sounds familiar, recall the hubbub earlier this month when some residents of Cleburne, Texas, blamed natural-gas drilling for causing a series of minor earthquakes in the town. Geophysicists took the concerns seriously enough to deploy seismic sensors around the town - at which point the quakes promptly stopped.

Among those convinced the drilling and the earthquakes are related: Markus Haring, a former oilman and the head of the Swiss geothermal project. After the Wall Street Journal wrote about the Cleburne quakes, Mr. Haring emailed to say there is "not the slightest doubt" that gas production caused the temblors.
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Sun

Solar eclipse pits superstition against science

Phil Hazlewood
Agence France-Presse
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:43 UTC
Image
© AFP/Deshakalyan ChowdhuryAn Indian astronomy researcher explains solar eclipses in Kolkata on July 19. Indian astrologers are predicting violence and turmoil across the world as a result of this week's total solar eclipse, which the superstitious and religious view as a sign of potential doom.
Indian astrologers are predicting violence and turmoil across the world as a result of this week's total solar eclipse, which the superstitious and religious view as a sign of potential doom.

But astronomers, scientists and secularists are trying to play down claims of evil portent in connection with Wednesday's natural spectacle, when the moon will come between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun.

In Hindu mythology, the two demons Rahu and Ketu are said to "swallow" the sun during eclipses, snuffing out its life-giving light and causing food to become inedible and water undrinkable.

Pregnant women are advised to stay indoors to prevent their babies developing birth defects, while prayers, fasting and ritual bathing, particularly in holy rivers, are encouraged.

Shivani Sachdev Gour, a gynaecologist at the Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, said a number of expectant mothers scheduled for caesarian deliveries on July 22 had asked to change the date.
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Better Earth

Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says

John Acher
News Daily
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:56 UTC
The 15th century Vinland Map, the first known map to show part of America before explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the continent, is almost certainly genuine, a Danish expert said Friday.

Controversy has swirled around the map since it came to light in the 1950s, many scholars suspecting it was a hoax meant to prove that Vikings were the first Europeans to land in North America -- a claim confirmed by a 1960 archaeological find.
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People

Will Chromosome Y Go Bye-Bye?

Radha Chitale
ABC News
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:38 UTC
What makes a man a man? Socially, that is a complicated question. Genetically, however, it is as simple as a single Y chromosome.

But guys, that chromosome is in trouble.

In a new study, researchers say there is a dramatic loss of genes from the human Y chromosome that eventually could lead to its complete disappearance -- in the next few millennia. While the Y chromosome's degeneration has been known to geneticists and evolutionary biologists for decades, the study sheds new light on some of the evolutionary processes that may have contributed to its demise and posits that, as the degeneration continues, the Y chromosome could disappear from our genetic repertoire entirely.
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Telescope

Waiting For The Eclipse


Space Weather
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:47 UTC
Image
© Olivier Staiger
On July 22nd, the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century will take place in Asia. Traveling photographer Olivier Staiger took this picture from Shanghai, where he is waiting for the lights to go out.

"The high skyscraper with the hole is the Shanghai World Financial Center, the other one is the Jin Mao building," says Staiger. "The sun halo was caused by a hazy layer of icy clouds hanging over the city."

Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population greater than 20 million. On Wednesday, the Moon's shadow will linger over the great metropolis for nearly six full minutes, giving residents a stunning and lengthy view of the Sun's ghostly corona. In addition to Shanghai, the path of totality crosses a number of other large cities in India and China--e.g., Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hefei, Hangzhou--each with populations numbering in the millions. This could be the best-observed solar eclipse in human history.
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Meteor

Possible Impact Event On Jupiter


Space Weather
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:42 UTC
Image
© Anthony Wesley
Did something just hit Jupiter? On July 19th, a black "scar" appeared in Jupiter's clouds similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts of 1994. Veteran Jupiter observer Anthony Wesley photographed the feature from his observatory in Murrumbateman, Australia.

"The jet-black mark is near Jupiter's south pole (south is up in the image)," says Wesley. "I have imagery of that same location from two nights earlier without the impact mark, so this is a very recent event. The material has already begun to spread out in a fan shape on one side, and should be rapidly pulled apart by the fast jetstream winds. I recorded a lot of footage, and will be generating more images and a rotation animation soon."
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