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Nanotech clothing fabric 'never gets wet'

Jon Evans
New Scientist
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:50 UTC
Image
© University of Zurich/Wiley VchThe new fabric strongly repels water thanks to nanoscale filaments with a spiky structure.
If you were to soak even your best raincoat underwater for two months it would be wet through at the end of the experience. But a new waterproof material developed by Swiss chemists would be as dry as the day it went in.

Lead researcher Stefan Seeger at the University of Zurich says the fabric, made from polyester fibres coated with millions of tiny silicone filaments, is the most water-repellent clothing-appropriate material ever created.
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Satellite

Solar-powered probe to view unseen parts of Jupiter

Rachel Courtland
New Scientist
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:33 UTC
After a two-year delay, NASA has given the green light to Juno, a $1 billion, solar-powered mission to Jupiter.

Juno was originally set to launch as early as 2009, but budget constraints delayed the next step in the probe's design.

Now, funding had been approved to build the spacecraft, the agency announced on Monday. Juno will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in August 2011. After reaching Jupiter in 2016, it will orbit 32 times over the course of its year-long mission.
Jupiter orbiter Juno
© NASA/JPLThe Jupiter orbiter Juno will study the distribution of water in the gas giant and look for evidence of a solid core.

Juno will be the second orbiter to study Jupiter. The first such probe, Galileo, circled Jupiter's equator for almost eight years before plunging into the Jovian atmosphere in 2003.

Juno, on the other hand, will take up a polar orbit around the planet, skimming the poles at an altitude of 5000 kilometres. This trajectory will afford the spacecraft a view of unseen parts of the planet.
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Saturn

Planet Pillars


Space Weather
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:57 UTC
Venus and Jupiter are so bright, they do things normally reserved for the sun and Moon. For instance, they make pillars. Inspect the elongated shape of the planets in this Nov. 24th photo taken at sunset by Laurent Laveder of Gouesnac'h, France:
Venus and Jupiter
© Laurent LavederVenus and Jupiter.
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Runaway ISS Toolbag Sighted and Filmed


Space Weather
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:53 UTC
When Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped her toolbag during a spacewalk on Nov. 18th and it floated away, mission controllers probably thought they'd seen the last of it. Think again.
ISS runaway toolbag.
© NASAISS runaway toolbag.

Amateur astronomers have been monitoring the backpack-sized toolbag as it circles Earth not very far from the International Space Station.
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Info

Recipes for life: How genes evolve

Michael Le Page
New Scientist
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:20 UTC
Once, we could only marvel at the wonder of life. Like movie audiences not so long ago, we had little idea of what went on behind the scenes.

How times have changed. As the genomes of more and more species are sequenced, geneticists are piecing together an extraordinarily detailed "Making of..." documentary. Nowadays, we can not only trace how the bodies of animals have evolved, we can even identify the genetic mutations behind these changes.
DNA molecule forming chromosomes
© Cosmocyte / Phanie / Rex FeaturesIllustration of a DNA molecule forming chromosomes. But how do the genes encoded in the DNA evolve?

Most intriguing of all, we can now see how genes - which are the recipes for making proteins, the building blocks of life - arise in the first place. And the story is not unfolding quite as expected.

We can now see how genes arise in the first place. And the story is not unfolding quite as expected.
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Eye 1

Grenade camera to aid UK troops


BBC News
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:41 UTC
I-Ball camera
© UnknownThe I-Ball camera allows troops to see into hostile areas
A "grenade" camera, that would enable soldiers to look into hazardous areas, is being developed for UK troops.

Dubbed the I-Ball the wireless device is robust enough to survive being thrown onto a battlefield.

The I-Ball's internal camera gives a 360 degree view, with images being sent from the instant it is launched.

It is thought the new technology would enable soldiers to see into potential danger spots without putting themselves at risk of ambush.
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Telescope

Mystery Of Missing Hydrogen: Apparent Absence From Distant Galaxies Puzzles Astronomers


Science Daily
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:09 UTC
Something vital is missing in the far distant reaches of the universe: hydrogen -- the raw material for stars, planets and possible life.

The discovery of its apparent absence from distant galaxies by a team of Australian astronomers is puzzling because hydrogen gas is the most common constituent of normal matter in the universe.

If anything, hydrogen was expected to be more abundant so early in the life of the universe because it had not yet been consumed by the formation of all the stars and galaxies we know today.
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India
© National Centre for Radio Astrophysics / Tata Institute of Fundamental ResearchThe Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India, which comprises thirty 45-metre-diameter dishes, is one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes.

Dr Steve Curran and colleagues at the University of New South Wales made their observations with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India, which comprises thirty 45-metre-diameter dishes and is one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes. The results are to be published in a forthcoming issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Info

Prehistoric Climate Can Help Forecast Future Changes


Science Daily
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:59 UTC
The first comprehensive reconstruction of an extreme warm period shows the sensitivity of the climate system to changes in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels as well as the strong influence of ocean temperatures, heat transport from equatorial regions, and greenhouse gases on Earth's temperature.

New data allow for more accurate predictions of future climate and improved understanding of today's warming. Past warm periods provide real data on climate change and are natural laboratories for understanding the global climate system.
Pliocene vs. modern sea surface temperature anomaly
© United States Geological SurveyPliocene vs. modern sea surface temperature anomaly.

Scientists examined fossils from 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago, known as the mid-Pliocene warm period. Research was conducted by the Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) group, led by the U.S. Geological Survey.

"PRISM's research provides objective, unbiased data for climate modelers to better understand the environment in which we live and for decision makers to make informed adaptation and mitigation strategies that yield the greatest benefits to society and the environment," said Senior Advisor to USGS Global Change Programs Thomas Armstrong. "This is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period and emphasizes the importance of examining the past state of Earth's climate system to understand the future."
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Telescope

Cosmic Ray 'Hot Spots' Bombarding Earth With Cosmic Rays


Science Daily
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:55 UTC
A Los Alamos National Laboratory cosmic-ray observatory has seen for the first time two distinct hot spots that appear to be bombarding Earth with an excess of cosmic rays. The research calls into question nearly a century of understanding about galactic magnetic fields near our solar system.

Joining an international team of collaborators, Los Alamos researchers Brenda Dingus, Gus Sinnis, Gary Walker, Petra Hüntemeyer and John Pretz published the findings November 25 in Physical Review Letters.
hot spots in orion
© John Pretz, P-23An international team of researchers, using Los Alamos National Laboratory's Milagro observatory, has seen for the first time two distinct hot spots that appear to be bombarding Earth with an excess of cosmic rays. The hot spots were identified in the two red-colored regions near the constellation Orion.

"The source of cosmic rays has been a 100-year-old problem for astrophysicists," Pretz said. "With the Milagro observatory, we identified two distinct regions with an excess of cosmic rays. These regions are relatively tiny bumps on the background of cosmic rays, which is why they were missed for so long. This discovery calls into question our understanding of cosmic rays and raises the possibility that an unknown source or magnetic effect near our solar system is responsible for these observations."
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Info

Amoeba tracks prompt rethink over early life

Devin Powell
New Scientist
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:08 UTC
Fossil tracks on the seabed could be the handiwork of oversized amoebas that roamed the ocean 1.8 billion years ago, if their modern counterpart is anything to go by.

While exploring the Bahamas, Mikhail Matzof the University of Texas at Austin discovered a new species of giant amoeba called Gromia sphaerica.
giant amoeba
© Mikhail Matz/University of Texas at AustinThe ancestors of a giant amoeba that roams the seabed today (inset) may have left fossil tracks 1.8 billion years ago.

As the grape-sized protozoan rolls along the ocean floor, it sucks up and spits out sediment, leaving behind long grooves and ridges.
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