Science & TechnologyS


Telescope

Space Rock Watch: Next Generation of Near-Earth Asteroid Lookout Comes Online

John Matson
Scientific American
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:37 UTC
Pan-STARRS 1
© Rob RatkowskiWide-eyed: The Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii samples a large area of the sky at once, which should enable it to spot large numbers of near-Earth asteroids and other transient objects
The first of four planned Pan-STARRS telescopes in Hawaii should boost asteroid detection rates over the next few years

A new sentry is on guard atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii, scanning the skies for potentially threatening asteroids and comets. The first of four telescopes planned for the Pan-STARRS project, short for Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, began a dedicated survey of the sky May 13.

Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) is a modest-size telescope, just 1.8 meters in diameter, but it has an extremely wide field of view, making it an ideal instrument for surveying. Its view encompasses seven square degrees at once - about 35 times the area of the full moon and more than four times as much sky as is visible to the telescope used in the influential Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which began in 2000. "In terms of survey power, we're the biggest telescope in the world," says PS1's director, Ken Chambers, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA). Pan-STARRS' operators predict that the telescope will complete a survey of the sky visible from Hawaii - about three quarters of the entire sky - three times a month.

Comment: For our readers to get an idea of what lies ahead and what we truly need to worry about, read Laura Knight-Jadczyk's comprehensive SOTT editorial: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls

Read More...
Info

World's Largest Dinosaur Graveyard Linked to Mass Death

Charles Q. Choi
Live Science
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:54 UTC
Dinosaur Graveyard
© Royal Tyrrell Museum.A herd of centrosaurs (a type of horned dinosaur) drowning in a flood millions of years ago in what is now Alberta, as depicted in this illustration. They left behind what could be the world's largest dinosaur graveyard.
Scientists have revealed what may be the world's largest dinosaur graveyard.

The dinosaurs may have been part of a mass die-off resulting from a monster storm, comparable to today's hurricanes, which struck what was then a coastal area.

The findings could help solve a mystery concerning why the badlands of western Canada are so rich in dinosaur fossils.

The roughly 76-million-year-old fossil beds apparently hold thousands of bones over an area of at least 568 acres (2.3 square km), skeletons that belonged to a roughly cow-sized, plant-eating horned dinosaur known as Centrosaurus. This treasure trove provides the first solid evidence that some horned dinosaur herds were much larger than previously thought, with numbers easily in the high hundreds to low thousands, said senior research scientist David Eberth, a palaeontologist and geologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta.
Read More...
Telescope

Venus Express shows off new findings at major conference


European Space Agency
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:26 UTC
Image
© ESA Venus Express in orbit around Venus
Thanks to data from Venus Express we have the best idea yet of how Venus' atmosphere works, but there is still a long way to go, delegates at this year's International Venus Conference will be told. At the event, taking place this week (20-26 June) in Aussois, France, scientists are outlining how a better understanding of our nearest planetary neighbour can help us probe our own planet, as well as other bodies in our Solar System, and beyond.

Venus has long been a mysterious place. A runaway greenhouse effect has rendered the surface invisible, as thick clouds of sulphuric acid and a dense atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide engulf a planet only marginally smaller than Earth. With surface temperatures averaging about 464 ºC (737 K), and surface pressures about 100 times that on Earth, Venus was a prime target for early space exploration. However, it then lost favour with space agencies, subsequently being labelled the "forgotten planet".
Read More...
Robot

7 Unmanned Airborne Warriors

Ned Smith
TechNewsDaily
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:46 UTC
Image
© Northrup GrummanNorthrop Grumman Fire-X
Though fixed-wing UAVs dominate the category, they don't have a complete monopoly on unmanned aerial action. The Fire-X medium-range vertical unmanned aerial system is currently in development with first flight expected by the end of the year. The Fire-X combines the reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition architecture of the U.S. Navy's MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV, which takes off and lands vertically, and the extended range, payload and cargo-hauling capabilities of the commercially mature FAA-certified Bell 407 helicopter. The result is a fully autonomous, four-blade single-engine unmanned helicopter that will support battlefield demand for enhanced situational awareness.
Read More...
Grey Alien

Now Scientists Read Your Mind Better Than You Can

Maggie Fox
Reuters
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:00 UTC
mind reader
© unknown

Scan predicted 75 percent of behavior

People were right about themselves just half the time

Technique might enhance advertising, education efforts

Brain scans may be able to predict what you will do better than you can yourself, and might offer a powerful tool for advertisers or health officials seeking to motivate consumers, researchers said on Tuesday.

They found a way to interpret "real time" brain images to show whether people who viewed messages about using sunscreen would actually use sunscreen during the following week.

The scans were more accurate than the volunteers were, Emily Falk and colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Read More...
Magnify

King Tut Died of Blood Disorder, Study Says


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseKing Tutankhamun's golden mask displayed at the Egyptian museum in Cairo in 2009
The new finding challenges past assertions that the famous pharaoh died of malaria.

Legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun was probably killed by the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease, German scientists said Wednesday, rejecting earlier research that suggested he died of malaria.

The team at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in the northern city of Hamburg questioned the conclusions of a major Egyptian study released in February on the enigmatic boy-king's early demise.

That examination, involving DNA tests and computerised tomography (CT) scans on Tutankhamun's mummy, said he died of malaria after suffering a fall, putting to rest the theory that he was murdered.
Read More...
People

Women's bodies 'choosy' about sperm: Australian study


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:56 UTC
Image
© unkThis handout photo shows human sperm. A woman's body may be unconsciously selective about sperm, allowing some men's to progress to pregnancy but killing off the chances of less suitable matches, an Australian researcher has said.
A woman's body may be unconsciously selective about sperm, allowing some men's to progress to pregnancy but killing off the chances of less suitable matches, an Australian researcher said Wednesday.

University of Adelaide professor Sarah Robertson said her research suggested that sperm contains "signalling molecules" that activate immunity changes in a woman so her body accepts it.

But some apparently healthy sperm failed to activate these changes, leading to the suggestion that the female system can be "choosy" about its biological mate, she said.
Read More...
Evil Rays

Low-Radiation Cell Phones: All the Rage?

Adam Hadhazy
TechNewsDaily
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:59 UTC
Image
© credit: © Kk5hy | Dreamstime.com
Ever progressive, San Francisco voted today to become the first city in the nation where retailers must display the radiation levels emitted by cell phones. This value, which will be posted alongside each cell phone model's features and prices, represents a potential new front in the extremely competitive and booming cell phone marketplace.

Backers of the ordinance, such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome, have essentially framed the right-to-know law as a "better safe than sorry" approach to cell phone safety.
Read More...
Telescope

Hubble captures bubbles and baby stars


Hubble European Space Agency
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:50 UTC
Image
© NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)A spectacular new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image — one of the largest ever released of a star-forming region — highlights N11, part of a complex network of gas clouds and star clusters within our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This region of energetic star formation is one of the most active in the nearby Universe.
The Large Magellanic Cloud contains many bright bubbles of glowing gas. One of the largest and most spectacular has the name LHA 120-N 11, from its listing in a catalogue compiled by the American astronomer and astronaut Karl Henize in 1956, and is informally known as N11. Close up, the billowing pink clouds of glowing gas make N11 resemble a puffy swirl of fairground candy floss. From further away, its distinctive overall shape led some observers to nickname it the Bean Nebula. The dramatic and colourful features visible in the nebula are the telltale signs of star formation. N11 is a well-studied region that extends over 1000 light-years. It is the second largest star-forming region within the Large Magellanic Cloud and has produced some of the most massive stars known.
Read More...
Sherlock

Oldest Portraits of Apostles Found in Rome

Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:36 UTC
Image
© Tony GentileProfessor Fabrizio Bisconti shows the portraits of the Apostles Peter, Andrew, John and Paul were discovered in a catacomb underneath an office building near St. Paul's Basilica in Rome.
The oldest known icons of Jesus Christ's apostles have been found in a catacomb near St. Paul's Basilica in Rome, Vatican officials announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

Dating from the end of the 4th century, the full-face paintings depict three of Jesus' original 12 apostles -- St. Peter, St. Andrew and St. John -- as well as St. Paul, who became an apostle after Christ's death.

The Vatican already announced the discovery of St.Paul's icon last June, to mark the end of the Pauline year. But the portrait was part of a larger fresco that also included the full-face depictions of the other three apostles.

Located on the ceiling of a noblewoman's burial place in the catacombs of St. Tecla, the four circular portraits, about 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) in diameter, were buried in layers of white calcium carbonate caused by the extreme humidity and lack of air circulation.
Read More...