Science & TechnologyS


Question

Mars Chronicles: The mysterious ridges at the mouth of Tiu Valles


ESA
Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:02 UTC
These images taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express show the mouth of the Tiu Valles channel system on the red planet.

The pictures were taken in orbit 3103 on 10 June 2006 with a ground resolution of approximately 16 metres per pixel.

©ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
Tiu Valles

The mouth of Tiu Valles is an estuary-like landform. On Earth, an estuary is the tidal mouth of a river valley, or the end that meets the sea and fresh water comes into contact with seawater. In such an area, tidal effects are evident.
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Question

Shrinking Kilogram Bewilders Physicists

Jamey Keaten
Associated Press
Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:42 UTC
A kilogram just isn't what it used to be. The 118-year-old cylinder that is the international prototype for the metric mass, kept tightly under lock and key outside Paris, is mysteriously losing weight - if ever so slightly.

Physicist Richard Davis of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, southwest of Paris, says the reference kilo appears to have lost 50 micrograms compared with the average of dozens of copies.

"The mystery is that they were all made of the same material, and many were made at the same time and kept under the same conditions, and yet the masses among them are slowly drifting apart," he said. "We don't really have a good hypothesis for it."
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Rocket

Moon race escalating! Japan's lunar "princess" shoots for the moon

Teruaki Ueno
Reuters
Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:32 UTC
Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday, nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon.

The rocket carrying the three-metric ton orbiter took off into blue skies, leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean.
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Wine

Brains Learn Better at Night


YubaNet.com
Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:41 UTC
If you think that the idea of a morning person or an evening person is nonsense, then postgraduate student Martin Sale and his colleagues from the University of Adelaide have news for you.

They have found that the time of day influences your brain's ability to learn-and the human brain learns more effectively in the evening.
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Display

Microsoft fiddles with your Windows without permission

Nick Farrell
The Inquirer
Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:25 UTC
SOFTWARE GIANT, Microsoft has been caught updating punters' Windows machines without asking them.
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Telescope

Bizarre Parasitic Star Found

Ker Than
Space.com
Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:27 UTC
A dead, spinning star has been found feeding on its stellar companion, whittling it down to an object smaller than some planets.

©Sonoma State

Comment: As above, so below.

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Cloud Lightning

New evidence on the role of climate in Neanderthal extinction


Physorg.com
Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:26 UTC
The mystery of what killed the Neanderthals has moved a step closer to resolution after an international study led by the University of Leeds has ruled out one of the competing theories - catastrophic climate change - as the most likely cause.

The bones of more than 400 Neanderthals have been found since the first discoveries were made in the early 19th century. The finds suggest the Neanderthals, named after the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, where they were first recognized as an extinct kind of archaic humans, inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia for more than 100,000 years.

The causes of their extinction have puzzled scientists for years - with some believing it was due to competition with modern humans, while others blamed deteriorating climatic conditions. But a new study published today in Nature has shown that the Neanderthal extinction did not coincide with any of the extreme climate events that punctuated the last glacial period.
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Wine

NASA considering testing astronauts for alcohol - agency head


RIA Novosti
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:37 UTC
Following recent media reports that U.S. astronauts have on occasion flown drunk, NASA will consider instituting limited testing of flight crews and employees, the agency's director said.

Addressing a news conference Wednesday, Michael Griffin said that while a newly released report into the allegations revealed no concrete evidence of alcohol use prior to spaceflights, NASA would nevertheless implement a testing program whenever suspicion warranted it or in the event of a mishap.

An independent panel alleged last month that impaired astronauts had flown twice in the past, but the 45-page report released Wednesday by NASA's chief safety officer, Bryan O'Connor, concluded the incidents could not be verified.

"I was unable to verify any case in which an astronaut spaceflight crewmember was impaired on launch day," the report said.
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Clock

Length of Saturn's day gets shorter

Ker Than
Space.com
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:44 UTC
A day on Saturn just got a few minutes shorter, if new calculations are correct.

Using data collected by NASA's Cassini, Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, scientists have revised the ringed planet's rotation period to 10 hours, 32 minutes and 35 seconds - about 15 minutes shorter than an estimate made only last year.

Those precious minutes could have big implications for how scientists think about Saturn and other gas giants.
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No Entry

Online crime hits 300 per minute

Ben Farmer
Telegraph
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:36 UTC
More than 300 internet crimes are being committed every hour - with a victim hit every ten seconds on average, according to a report.

Three million online crimes were carried out in 2006, according to the study for online identity experts Garlik.

But 90 per cent went unreported because victims did not know the activity was criminal or thought the police would be unwilling or unable to investigate, the study said.
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