Science & TechnologyS


Coffee

Weird dinosaur was "cow of the Mesozoic"

Maggie Fox
Reuters
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:48 UTC
A strange-looking dinosaur with rows of tiny teeth crammed into the very front of its jaws and fragile air-filled bones may have been the "cow of the Mesozoic," and far more common than better-known dinosaurs, scientists said on Thursday.

©REUTERS/Mike Hettwer-National Geographic/Handout
An artist's rendition of Nigersaurus taqueti, a 110 million-year old sauropod from the Sahara is shown in this undated handout image from National Geographic. A reconstruction of the dinosaur will be on display at the National Geographic Museum at Explorer's Hall in Washington until March 18, 2008.
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Key

Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything


The Telegraph
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:24 UTC
An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which as received rave reviews from scientists.

Garrett Lisi, 39, has a doctorate but no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii, where he has also been a hiking guide and bridge builder (when he slept in a jungle yurt).

©Telegraph
The E8 pattern (left), Garrett Lisi surfing (middle) and out of the water (right)

Comment: Arkadiusz Jadczyk remarks about this work:
After looking through the paper I had the following image: suppose you are to put the Rubik cube in the right order. You proceed and you "almost got it". Yet this is not the way, to really get it. You need to go back to your original point and start with another move at the very start.

There are few nice things there - that are generally expected to have its place: E8 (related to octonions) and Clifford bundles (Waldyr Rodrigues used them extensively in his recent monograph).

I wish Garrett well, yet I have an impression that sooner or later someone will find a serious flaw in his model.

Certainly it is not the solution to the main problem of physics, which is to understand the quantum theory.



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Ambulance

Look Up! Comet Holmes Bigger Than The Sun

David Jewitt
University of Hawaii
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:04 UTC
Formerly, the Sun was the largest object in the Solar System. Now, comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction.

Comment: The same image is available from the University of Hawaii as a 300 dpi tif file.

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Telescope

Small planets forming in the Pleiades


Reuters
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:13 UTC
Small, rocky planets that could resemble the Earth or Mars may be forming around a star in the Pleiades star cluster, astronomers reported on Wednesday.

©REUTERS/ Gemini Observatory/Lynette R. Cook
An artist's rendering of what the environment around Pleiades star HD 23514 might look like as two planets collide. Small, rocky planets that could resemble the Earth or Mars may be forming around a star in the Pleiades star cluster, astronomers reported on Wednesday.
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Magnify

New hydrogen storage material found


United Press International
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:05 UTC


©Unknown
disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

University of Virginia scientists said they discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make storing and transporting energy more efficient.
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Better Earth

Clean, Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen On The Horizon


Energy Daily
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:51 UTC
Hydrogen as an everyday, environmentally friendly fuel source may be closer than we think, according to Penn State researchers. "The energy focus is currently on ethanol as a fuel, but economical ethanol from cellulose is 10 years down the road," says Bruce E. Logan, the Kappe professor of environmental engineering. "First you need to break cellulose down to sugars and then bacteria can convert them to ethanol."

©Unknown
Hydrogen produced from cellulose and other renewable organic materials could be blended with natural gas for use in natural gas vehicles.
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Monkey Wrench

Alternative fuels may boost pollution


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:45 UTC
Some alternative vehicle fuels such as liquid coal can cause more harmful greenhouse gas emissions than polluters such as petrol or diesel, scientists warned in a US study released Tuesday.

©Unknown
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Coffee

Experts find jawbone of pre-human great ape in Kenya

Katie Nguyen
Reuters
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:57 UTC


©REUTERS/Antony Njuguna
A Kenyan scientist holds a fossil at the Kenya National Museum in Nairobi November 13, 2007.

Researchers unveiled a 10-million-year-old jaw bone on Tuesday they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans.
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Info

Unknown health impact of nanotech worries some

Amanda Beck
Reuters
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:47 UTC
Nanotechnology has been hailed as the science of the future, with micro-particles already powering innovations that remove lines from faces, strengthen beer bottles and clean clothing without water.

Yet early studies also indicate some of these particles, enabled by the latest in engineering science, can cause cancer.
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Telescope

Comets: The Loose Thread


thunderbolts.info
Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:44 UTC
Spacecraft have now visited four comets. What they found contradicts what was expected and falsifies accepted comet theory. But that theory is woven with every other astronomical theory into a cosmology that defines the universe as we know it. The fall of comet theory will inevitably bring us a new and different universe.

©NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Comet Wild 2 is shown in close-up above. Beside it is a microscopic view of an EDM (electrical discharge machined) surface. Note the flat-floored depressions with steep scalloped walls and terracing. The small white spots on the comet can then be reasonably identified as the active cathode arcs that produce the cometary jets.
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