Science & TechnologyS


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Phoenix lander scoops up first sample of Mars dirt

Dan Whitcomb
News Daily
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:45 UTC
The Phoenix lander has scooped up its first, cup-sized sample of Martian dirt for analysis, kicking off the spacecraft's primary science mission of searching for water or signs of life on the Red Planet.

Image
©REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University/Handout
This image from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) shows material from the Martian surface captured by the Robotic Arm (RA) scoop during its first test dig and dump on the seventh Martian day of the mission June 1, 2008 and released by NASA June 2.

The small sample includes a large Martian dirt clod crusted with white matter that intrigues NASA scientists because they believe it could be salt left behind by evaporated water or ice.

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Display

Update! Amazon's Web Site Goes Down: An 'Unplanned Event'

Brad Stone
The New York Times
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:13 UTC
The Web site of Amazon.com, the Web's biggest retailer, was down and unavailable for two hours today.

On an Amazon discussion forum for sellers, a post entitled "Amazon Un-Planned Event (06/06)" says that the company is "currently investigating an issue that has impacted the availability of the Amazon.com website."

"Engineers are actively engaged in resolving this issue and we will provide an update once the issue is resolved," the post says. "We appreciate your patience during this time."
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Rocket

Nasa Optimistic Causes of Soyuz Ballistic Descent Will Be Removed


Red Orbit
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:52 UTC
NASA is concerned by the two consecutive ballistic descents of the Russian manned Soyuz spacecraft, but is certain that Russia will identify and remove their causes, Deputy Director of the Human Space Flight Program-Russia Mark Bowman told journalists on Monday.
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Sherlock

Mystery Of Infamous 'New England Dark Day' Solved By Tree Rings


Science Daily
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:34 UTC
At noon, it was black as night. It was May 19, 1780 and some people in New England thought judgment day was at hand. Accounts of that day, which became known as 'New England's Dark Day,' include mentions of midday meals by candlelight, night birds coming out to sing, flowers folding their petals,and strange behavior from animals. The mystery of this day has been solved by researchers at the University of Missouri who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive wildfires as the likely cause, one of several theories proposed after the event, but dismissed as 'simple and absurd.'

Comment: For an in-depth look at dendochronology and some "really dark nights" see The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets by Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

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Monkey Wrench

Neolithic tools found in western Iran


Press TV
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:32 UTC


Image
©Unknown

Iranian and Belgian archeologists have found Neolithic stone tools in Iran's Yafteh Cave located in the western Luristan Province.

The tools and other remains found in the cave's late Ice Age sediments show that Persian Neolithics were very similar to their European peers.
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Star

Where did all the sunspots go - an ice age cometh?

Lawrence Solomon
Financial Post
Sat, 31 May 2008 15:22 UTC


Image
©Solarcycle24.com
The spotless Sun, as it appeared yesterday at 12:48 p.m. The Sun's spotlessness is giving rise to speculation of another Little Ice Age.

With the debate focused on a warming Earth, the icy consequences of a cooler future have not been considered

You probably haven't heard much of Solar Cycle 24, the current cycle that our sun has entered, and I hope you don't. If Solar Cycle 24 becomes a household term, your lifestyle could be taking a dramatic turn for the worse. That of your children and their children could fare worse still, say some scientists, because Solar Cycle 24 could mark a time of profound long-term change in the climate. As put by geophysicist Philip Chapman, a former NASA astronaut-scientist and former president of the National Space Society, "It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are moving into another little ice age."

Comment: What has SoTT been saying for ages?

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Einstein

Where Mathematics And Astrophysics Meet


Science Daily
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:24 UTC
The mathematicians were trying to extend an illustrious result in their field, the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. The astrophysicists were working on a fundamental problem in their field, the problem of gravitational lensing. That the two groups were in fact working on the same question is both expected and unexpected: The "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" is well known throughout the sciences, but every new instance produces welcome insights and sheer delight.

Einstein rings
©NASA, ESA, and the SLACS Survey team: A. Bolton (Harvard/Smithsonian), S. Burles (MIT), L. Koopmans (Kapteyn), T. Treu (UCSB), and L. Moustakas (JPL/Caltech)
Einstein rings produced by a galaxy behind the lensing galaxy. The sources are actually extended and that is why one sometimes sees arcs rather than complete rings.
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Frog

Fish 380 Million Years Old Found With Unborn Embryo


Science Daily
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:12 UTC
In 2005, Museum Victoria's expedition to the Gogo fossil sites in north Western Australia, led by Dr John Long, made a swag of spectacular fossil discoveries, including that of a complete fish, Gogonasus, showing unexpected features similar to early land animals.

Placoderm
©Museum Victoria
Placoderm gives birth.
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Stop

Amazon.com Web Site Appears Down

Ed Welsch
Dow Jones
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:02 UTC
Amazon.com's (AMZN) Web site appeared to down early Friday afternoon.

Several Dow Jones employees in various locations were unable to call up the site.

Attempts to contact Amazon weren't immediately successful.
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Telescope

Building mirrors on the moon

Matt Ford
DailyAstronomy.com
Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:31 UTC


Image
©NASA

When astronomers peer up at the sky through the lens of a telescope situated on the Earth's surface, they have to deal with the adsorbtion and blurring of light by the Earth's atmosphere. This is one of the reasons space-based telescopes can be so powerful: the light they observe is not affected by the atmosphere. New work presented at this week's meeting of the American Astronomical Society describes how astronauts could build mirrors - capable of powering telescopes or reflecting solar light - with relative ease on the lunar surface using materials found there.
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