Science News

Hey, Peoples, guess what, WE ARE ALMOST AT PLUTO, so we will get some pictures! This is very exciting for me personally. I was starting second grade when they launched the space craft, and have been watching this project for a while , and am so happy it's almost in viewing distance. This will be a great break through for science. I've always imagined what it would look like on Pluto, and we will be able to see shortly Here it the link to the article I read: http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-pluto-new-horizons-20150125-story.html#page=2 Thanks for reading!

Building a clear shell around a small planet to hold in an atmosphere seems like a no brainer at first, lots of hydrocarbons in space to make a poly-carbonate shell small robots crawling around on the inside or outside to repair any holes.... "sunbathing on Mercury or jamming on Jupiter which do you prefer " Daedalus http://www.space.com/23063-terraforming-planets-shell-worlds.html?cmpid=545402

Hey, I wanted to share some videos from The University of Manchester with you all that talk about all the developments they're making in Graphene There are two really interesting ones about: composites and membranes might be worth a look if you're interested in Graphene

It does not say how much effect whales have on climate, but the following video explains that some whales feed deep in the ocean, surface and spread poop at the surface that contains Fe and N, which promotes plankton growth. Plankton absorbs CO2; thus, whales affect climate; fish feed on plankton, which means whales increase fish numbers. See: http://vimeo.com/112551821 It seems to me that OTEC (Ocean Thermal Electric Conversion) also pulls nutrients from deep in the ocean and promotes plankton growth. Although the economics of generating electricity with OTEC are poor, the added benefits of increased plankton, CO2 sequestration, increased fish population, and fre…

http://insights.globalspec.com/article/423/u-s-nuclear-power-plants-break-efficiency-records As resident curmudgeon of the forum I have a few complaints about the article. The gain is negligible and is in capacity factor or reliability rather than efficiency in the thermodynamic sense. The formula used to derive results > 100% is absent, as is the fact that these plants are all decades old and built overwhelmingly with yesterday's technology. And "carbon free", for those who care about such matters. Nevertheless, it is so rare for the nuclear industry to get any sort of good publicity, I thought it worthwhile to mention.

http://insights.globalspec.com/article/430/swiss-nuclear-power-plant-retrofit-for-hydrogen-control While I am certainly not opposed in any way to nuclear safety, I am puzzled by the responses of the Swiss to the Fukushima incident. To begin with, the proximate cause of the notorious meltdown was the drowning of the auxiliary cooling system's diesel engines by the tsunami. Fukushima was the only such installation affected by said tsunami, the others have been restored to service, and the historical record of tsunamis affecting Switzerland is nil, leading one to conclude that the threat of such Alpine tsunamis is remote.

The underground injection of CO2 is currently the aim of global warming policy-makers. But in our panicked desperation, let's not make things even worse by cracking the bedrock and salting the groundwater. “We have faults that are accumulating stress over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, even in Iowa,” says Stanford University geophysicist Mark Zoback. “So when you inject water or gas or any fluid it can set some of them off. ... Stanford’s Zoback says the standard calculations that have convinced some that immense volumes of CO2 can be buried safely in the pore space of deep formations reflect “science that could be done by a fourth grader. They are leaving…

I have to admit, when I first heard about 3D printing I rolled my eyes. I'm a scientist, but even I couldn't see the practical value. Well, I'm starting to think I was wrong (isn't the first time, won't be the last). Check out this article on 3D Printers in manufacturing. I mean, GE is investing 50 million in it! Here's the article: 3D Printers Build on Manufacturing Success Anyway, check it out and tell me what you think. Is 3D printing a fad? I used to think so...but now I'm less sure.

Please help us to spread the word about a free repository of open access scientific protocols ScientificProtocols.org. We are a not-for-profit site aiming to solely to help scientists and are without commercial vested interest of any kind. By sharing scientific protocols we hope to encourage transparency in research and promote reproducibility of published results. ScientificProtocols.org is built on the GitHub API. This allows us to provide free sophisticated version control of all protocols submitted to the site. This means you can easily track changes to a protocol over time. Learn more about GitHub and the open science movement. ScientificProtocols.org is also…

New: Malaysia Flooding2014 link removed by mod ! Moderator Note Not News and just a link to youtube video

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf These toys are great for kids, and kids at heart. They include a motor and generator, but most are very simple, and all can are inexpensive enough for any child.

This discovery seems to change the proportion of normal and dark matter in the Universe, and perhaps double the total number of planets. I wonder if the number of rogue planets is also similar; in other words, are there as many planets between stars are there are around stars?

Devon UK. Farmer - Richard Pratt ( on his Farm at Plymtree , Cullompton, North of Exeter ), bread live animals which consisted of beef ' of an Unsaturated Fat nature . ' In today's health climate this is a major break through ! He reports eaters of the beef , arise from their meal and 'walk on air ' , whereas other diners eating a meal of beef containing saturated fat , feel ' drowsy ' and ' dose easily ' ! . If this attribute could be introduced ' he says ', into the main herds . . . " Eating beef could take on , new heathy wakeful aspects ! " Mike

Hi everyone, I have recently started [a website] and the whole idea behind the site is to redirect and host articles with permission from the source websites on the latest research studies on various fields within science out there. I really need input from you guys on the site all together, if it holds your interest and attention, things I can change, add, remove, or anything else. Please be honest. Thank you!!

New observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed alignments over the largest structures ever discovered in the Universe. A European research team has found that the rotation axes of the central supermassive black holes in a sample of quasars are parallel to each other over distances of billions of light-years. The team has also found that the rotation axes of these quasars tend to be aligned with the vast structures in the cosmic web in which they reside....Read More>>> Arxiv: Alignment of quasar polarizations with large-scale structures

http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/11/cern-makes-public-first-data-lhc-experiments

Last night there was a great debate on Intelligence Squared over Genetically Modified Food. The science came out on top with audience overwhelmingly voting in favor of GMOs. Great information, very civil debate, well worth a watch. http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/upcoming-debates/item/1161-genetically-modify-food

Warning: the link is R-rated In a recent thread, the topic of predatory journals came up. Here's an example of why scientists don't trust the material they publish "Get Me Off Your F***ing Mailing List" is an actual science paper accepted by a [predatory] journal The journal claims to peer-review their submissions, but the evidence here shows that they don't. The link also points to other examples of intentionally poor papers submitted to multiple vanity journals, and getting frighteningly high acceptance rates — around half.

I see a video showing a sub station explosion at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Kursk, Russia which immediately knocked out power throughout the surrounding area on December, 1st, 2014 https://mx.screen.yahoo.com/must-see-videos/power-plant-explosion-leaves-russian-152807079.html

synthetic biology - a science which marries disciplines such as biotechnology, molecular biology and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology offers hope with incurables http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=11367827 That sounds really exciting. I could imagine huge fortunes could be made from exploring this technology.

NASA plans to launch a new unmanned spacecraft called "Orion" Thursday morning There is a live chat feed at youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaaKoySLK8w https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gaaKoySLK8w http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.VIBhqtKsWmw Close, but no cigar, delayed valve/weather problems, 24hr delay, tomorrow is another day.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1611410447/rosetta-an-orchestral-album What do you guys think of the idea? It's getting a little traction but not much. You know what they say - use inspiration from wherever you find it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30191584 It would be nice if anyone had a link to the (sea)horse's mouth on this.

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/physics-hendo-hoverboard/ Have we fulfilled the Back to the Future dream of hoverboards? Or is this simply another ploy?

Brian Cox visits the world's biggest vacuum chamber and performing experiment.