Science & TechnologyS


Cloud Lightning

Bolts Of Blue Lightning Thrusting Upward And Other Weird Lightning Explained


Science Daily
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:17 UTC
The mechanism behind different types of lightning may now be understood, thanks to a combination of direct observation and computer modeling reported by a team of researchers from New Mexico Tech and Penn State.



lightning strikes
©iStockphoto/Martin Fischer
Most people see lightning strikes that go from clouds to the ground, but some lightning goes upward, forming blue jets and gigantic jets. Perhaps the most dangerous lightning appears as "bolts from the blue" -- lightning that begins upward, but then moves sideways and then downward to hit the ground as much as three miles from a thunderstorm.


"Our explanation provides a unifying view of how lightning escapes from a thundercloud," the researchers report in the April edition of Nature Geoscience.

Most people see lightning strikes that go from clouds to the ground, but some lightning goes upward, forming blue jets and gigantic jets. Perhaps the most dangerous lightning appears as "bolts from the blue" -- lightning that begins upward, but then moves sideways and then downward to hit the ground as much as three miles from a thunderstorm.
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Telescope

Druid Legends of Catastrophe


Ireland's Druidschool
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:56 UTC
The Druids of ancient times had no illusions about the stability of our planet, or about the other planets in our solar system. They had inherited knowledge of earlier catastrophic happenings, and this led them to believe that the earth would be destroyed by fire and water. But they always preached that the universe and the souls of those living in it are indestructible. In the legendary voyage of Snedgus and McRiagla there is an island with two lakes, one of fire and the other one of water.
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Robot

New 'hospital' with robots among their staff


NewKerala.Com
Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:30 UTC
Washington : The new 5 million dollars medical and surgical simulation training centre located at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in East Baltimor, which opened in March, has some very unique new staff members - robots.
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Life Preserver

Dolphins swim so fast it hurts

Catherine Brahic
New Scientist
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:50 UTC
What is the fastest a dolphin can swim? Near the surface, no more than 54 kilometres per hour. Why? Because it hurts it to swim faster.

Those are the findings of a pair of researchers from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. But tuna, they say, do not suffer the same problem.

Gil Iosilevskii and Danny Weihs carried out a series of calculations to model the tail and fins of fish such as tuna and mackerel, and cetaceans such as dolphins. The aim was to determine what limits the maximum speed at which these creatures can swim.
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Smiley

April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs

Graeme Stemp-Morlock
National Geographic
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:45 UTC
For the eager prankster, nothing beats April Fools' Day, a light-hearted tradition that's several hundred years old.

"A lot of people think [April Fools' Day] is just obnoxious, and just wish it would stop," said Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, California.

"But people who love pranks really love the day and refuse to give up the tradition. They're the ones who keep it alive."

Image
©Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Street kids tie a kite to an elderly man's hair on April Fools' Day in a 1770 painting.

Many historians believe the day of pranks originated in 1500s France, when country dwellers did not realize the start of the New Year had been moved from April to January - making them "April fools."

Boese notes, however, that the number of pranks in the home and at the office has decreased in recent years in the United States, and has been replaced by large institutionalized media hoaxes, he said.
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Cloud Lightning

Saturn Storm Has Hurricane-Like Features

Andrea Thompson
Space.com
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:32 UTC
A massive whirling vortex recently discovered over Saturn's south pole has features that are similar to hurricanes on Earth and unlike anything astronomers have seen before, a new study finds.

The polar vortex was first discovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 11, 2006, as it flew over the gas giant's south pole. The mass of swirling clouds took scientists by surprise.

"This is something we have never seen before," said study team leader Ulyana Dyudina of Caltech. "Before Cassini, we didn't know such a feature could exist on the poles."
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Rocket

Flashback Speech by Gen. Simon Worden: "Military Perspectives on the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Threat"

Gen. Simon P. Worden
United States Space Command / SpaceRef.com
Mon, 15 Jul 2002 13:18 UTC
PRESS RELEASE
SIMON P. WORDEN, BRIGADIER GENERAL, USAF
Deputy Director for Operations
United States Space Command
Peterson AFB, CO
July 10, 2002

The opinions and concepts expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Department of Defense or the United States Space Command

Introduction

A few weeks ago the world almost saw a nuclear war. Pakistan and India were at full alert and poised for a large-scale war - which both sides appeared ready to escalate into nuclear war. The situation was defused - for now! Most of the world knew about this situation and watched and worried. But few know of an event over the Mediterranean in early June of this year that could have had a serious bearing on that outcome. U.S. early warning satellites detected a flash that indicated an energy release comparable to the Hiroshima burst. We see about 30 such bursts per year, but this one was one of the largest we've ever seen. The event was caused by the impact of a small asteroid - probably about 5-10 meters in diameter on the earth's atmosphere. Had you been situated on a vessel directly underneath the intensely bright flash would have been followed by a shock wave that would have rattled the entire ship and possibly caused minor damage.
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Star

Hawaii: Big meteor shower coming, but moon will dim it

Carolyn Kaichi
Bishop Museum
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:42 UTC
There is a major meteor shower next month, the Lyrids, peaking on the evening of April 21. Unfortunately, an almost-full moon will shine in the sky all night, making viewing conditions less than ideal for seeing many meteors.

The radiant is between Lyra and Hercules but won't even begin to rise until 9:30 p.m., when the moon is well up in the eastern sky. Fortunately, there are many other science-related events going on right here in the Islands to satisfy your celestial appetite.
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Ladybug

Human nose 'can smell danger'

Nic Fleming
Daily Telegraph
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:17 UTC


Smell danger
©Unknown
Is this the smell of danger?

The human nose has evolved to sniff out the smell of danger, according to research published today.

Scientists found volunteers who were previously unable to differentiate between two similar scents learnt to tell them apart when given electric shocks alongside just one of them.
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Telescope

South Pole telescope peers heavenward for dark energy

William Mullen
Chicago Tribune
Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:54 UTC


Amundsen-Scott
©Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune
The Amundsen-Scott station, where scientists are scanning space for evidence of dark energy.
Understanding it could explain the history and future of the universe.

Anywhere on Earth this would be a big telescope, as tall as a seven-story building, with a main mirror measuring 32 1/2 feet across. But here at the South Pole, it seems especially large, looming over a barren plain of ice that gets colder than anywhere else on the planet.

Scientists built the instrument at the end of the world so they can search for clues that might identify the most powerful, plentiful but elusive substance in the universe: dark energy.
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