Science News

Only 12 M LY away. Just reported this morning, so not a lot of in-depth stories out yet. Add links when they appear. I posted a link to the report and a picture on my blog http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/14585

Ideas on dark matter structure as webs looking good http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25809967

A triple system with millisecond pulsar has been found and studied which has the potential to provide new observation data that will strongly test the so far unblemished predictive power of General Relativity in the Cosmological Realm and may even cast into doubt some of the core assumptions. The Strong Equivalence Principle can be read about here in wikipedia or here in Living Reviews In Relativity My layman's reading is that conditions are such that the tiniest flaws in GR ( ie GR's equivalent of the precession of mercury) which we are certain will be manifest in the very very small (ie at the borders of quantum mechanics) will actually be observable here in th…

http://www.space.com/24207-dark-energy-galaxy-map-aas223.html The new results, presented by Schlegel and his colleagues here today (Jan. 8) at the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society, also provide one of the best-ever determinations of the curvature of space, researchers said. In short, the universe appears to be quite "flat," meaning that its shape can be described well by Euclidean geometry, in which straight lines are parallel and the angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees. "One of the reasons we care is that a flat universe has implications for whether the universe is infinite," Schlegel said. "That means — while we can't say with certainty …

University students searched social media for signs of time travelers by looking for mentions of two subjects before they happened... http://www.space.com/24232-time-travelers-social-media-aass223.html?cmpid=556082

http://www.space.com/24288-strange-metal-asteroid-psyche-nasa-mission.html?cmpid=556375#sthash.RtEDlAkI.dpuf One of the strangest objects in the solar system may get its first close-up in the coming years. A team of scientists is mapping out a mission to the huge metallic asteroid Psyche, which is thought to be the exposed iron core of a battered and stripped protoplanet. The proposed mission would reveal insights about planet formation processes and the early days of the solar system, its designers say, and would also afford the first-ever good look at an odd class of celestial objects. "This is the first metal world humankind will have ever seen," team member L…

Microbes shed blobs of DNA into the worlds oceans, this could shed light on how DNA is swapped between microbes... http://www.livescience.com/42452-ocean-bacterial-buds.html?cmpid=556100

Interesting Article: Learning drugs reawaken grown-up brain's inner child See http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24831-learning-drugs-reawaken-grownup-brains-inner-child.html It would be great if the creativity and perspective of a child could be restored to older people. Seeing the world through the eyes of a child could be beneficial in helping one to realize their artistic aspirations. And I wonder if such "learning drugs" might also help one in other fields, like doing mathematics.

The last few days uk bbc has conducted a space watch experiment. The public was encouraged to take part. An amateur astronomer discovered the galaxy. Major telescopes, around the world followed the sighting .Keck telescope in Hawaii , etc uk Jodrell Bank radio telescope seen in background. Live. Looking at new galaxy. The galaxy is due to be named 9........ With the name of the discoverer . Pictures : - A) Gravity lens produced by galaxy in front ( bright central cluster ). A very large galaxy behind able to be seen by the lens , and bent around galaxy in front . (seen to bottom right smudge of bright light ,) more examination will reveal more details of the n…

NASA says observations suggest that brown dwarfs have weather possibly akin to Jupiter and it's red spot... http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-005&3

Uk is being hit by a series of wind,tide.storm,rain onslaught. They are all coming on the jet stream from the North American direction. ' Give over chaps! ' Mike

Somebody is building a starship. The engines are being manufactured in France......Fusion Drive

This news means the world population may begin to grow again, and possibly fast. Although, it depends on how expensive the process to reverse aging will be. This is not good news for mother Earth. Is it ethical for people to extend their lives? How can Earth support tens of billions more people?

Since this section of these forums seem to be a bit out of date. I figured it would be nice to bring some science up to date. Two of the biggest breakthroughs just in this past month. What a way to end 2013! The first breakthrough is for our tree hugging, peace-loving, save the planet, environment, types. You know, the ones who are in the 30ies! Who grew up watching Captain Planet and how to save the planet cartoons! While us old G.I JOE and Barbie people stand by and watch! But alas, something the greens can reap and be happy about. No more drilling, destroying the environment, no more fracking! Can actually save the forest! Ohh wait forgot about those lumberjacks! …

Could mushrooms explain the Santa myth? http://www.livescience.com/42077-8-ways-mushrooms-explain-santa.html?cmpid=556093

Just stumbled upon one of the sites called Sparkonit claiming Orchid Hypothesis may be the possible answers to why genes survived throughout evolution. http://sparkonit.com/2013/12/19/orchid-hypothesis-a-possible-answer-to-why-genes-for-depression-survived-throughout-evolution/

Recent genetic studies indicate ancient humans interbred with at least three known and possibly one unknown hominid species. This interbreeding went on for thousands of years in a possibly back and forth gene exchange between the species.. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218133658.htm

Global Analysis - November 2013 Global Highlights The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for November 2013 was record highest for the 134-year period of record, at 0.78°C (1.40°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.2°F). The global land surface temperature was 1.43°C (2.57°F) above the 20th century average of 5.9°C (42.6°F), the second highest for November on record, behind 2010. For the global oceans, the November average sea surface temperature was 0.54°C (0.97°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F), tying with 2009 as the third highest for November. The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature…

Science is getting closer and closer to synthetic life. Creating a cell from parts of living cells is one direction but building a living cell from scratch is gaining ground. http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/38393/title/Proto-Organelles-for-Synthetic-Cells/

I had already hypothesized this way before, but was considered a crackpot for it. I guess I was right in some areas.

Holographic universes makes sense of entwined black holes at a distance having identically the same interior (via a wormhole).

The sweet spot is, according to economists, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $36,000 / yr. I'm afraid US politicians will continue to be gridlocked, and ignore these experts, unless they are afraid unhappy voters will vote them out of office.

Something interesting for those of us with a laser fetish... New military laser system takes down mortar rounds... http://www.gizmag.com/hel-md-vehicle-mounted-laser-test/30116/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=da80c1591c-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-da80c1591c-90207101

Ctenophores, it would now seem, are the most basal of all living animals according to genetic analysis. Sponges have long been considered the most basal or closest living representative of the base of the animal tree. Sponges which lack a nervous system or muscles would appear to have descended from animals that had those traits instead of being animals that never had them. ​Ctenophores are predators that eat plankton and swim with cilia, have smooth muscles and a nervous system would appear to be more advanced than sponges but apparently this is not true. Details here... http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/38619/title/A-New-Basal-Anima…

So, apparently this is a big effing deal. http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/materials/bose-einstein-condensate-made-at-room-temperature-for-first-time What do you think? Where does this take us? What comes next?