Science News

Hi all, read an article in New scientist , issue dated 18.05.2013. The article is entitled The deep, Dark lake frozen in time on page 10. Now i cannot be bothered typing it all out by i highly suggest you all read it online somewhere. The main points however i will state. The ;lake is 2.5 kilometers below earth's surface and circulates through fractures of rocks of a Canadian copper mine. Dating techniques indicate it has been isolated from the the rest of the planet for 2.64 billion years making it a time capsule for life on the early days of earth. Sherwood lollar a microbiologist from the univerity of Toronto Says the conditions are perfect for life. "What is uni…

I have started this thread to avoid a huge branch in a topic on orbital motion. The press release is here (I would really like to hear the views of the press-hype puncturer-general please) because many of the claims, at least to scientific diletente like myself, seem to be contrary to the academic mainstream or wikipedia as I call it. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/gu-mpf052813.php For those with access the paper itself is here http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v110/i22/e220402 and for those without the preprint is here http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.0370 Despite mispelling Podolsky - which I suppose can be almost forgiven - I th…

On the Talk Talk News Page . Astronomers hoping to get a glimpse of a giant asteroid will need a powerful telescope Published: 3:30am, 31st May 2013 Updated: 5:49am, 31st May 2013 An asteroid more than one and a half miles long is due to zoom past Earth later - from a far-off distance. The big rock called Asteroid 1998 QE2 will keep a safe distance of 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. You will not be able to see it without a powerful telescope. It is believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or about nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship. But that has nothing to do with its name. The letters and number in …

Today is a very exciting day for space enthusiasts. That’s because Planetary Resources (the asteroid mining company) is offering the public an opportunity to control an ARKYD space telescope and use it for science, education and fun. This isn’t like any telescope that’s come before. That’s because this ARKYD will be both funded and controlled by everyday folks like you and me who are passionate about space technology and the thrill of discovery. We all get to take control and decide what this telescope looks at. We can also support future scientists by gifting research time to schools where students will have the opportunity to learn about the space industry and give …

I didn't think the movie would be too accurate, but apparently http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/researchers-western-iqs-dropped-14-points-over-last-180634194.html That means this forum is in trouble! Just as a personal oddity, I have more than twice the reaction time of an average person (which I measured in a physics experiment with three different senses), but it takes me twice as long to do moderately complex arithmetic problems even though I practice it in all sorts of calculus problems I do involving expanding or shrinking polynomials, how accurate is this exactly? There has to be different components of what is called "intelligence".

D-Wave Systems recently released their D-Wave Two quantum computer, purchased for use by Google and NASA. The machine is designed to run only certain types of algorithms and is therefore limited in its problem solving abilities, but for those problems which it can be applied, it processes approximately 3200x faster than any classical computer and runs on a 512 qubit register. Of course, this costs many millions of dollars to develop, as stated it can only process certain types of algorithms, and it must be kept cooled to very low temperatures making it of very limited use. What do you think will be the implications of the D-Wave Two, as well as what it may mean for the fu…

Hello friends, Milky way galaxy and Andromeda galaxy is going to collide after 4 billion years which may or may not destroy the solar system. I haven't got much information about this.So how did NASA predict this??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTKHHfsM7Y

This is old news, but my search did not find any hits. IMO this is the most exciting development in artificial general intelligence (AGi) ever. It may be the software breakthru necessary for AGI, and they are working on special hardware. See the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_temporal_memory https://www.groksolutions.com/ Search youtube for more videos by jeff hawkins.

There are many advances taking place in the field of genetics, more precisely, gene therapy. I am fairly confident that everybody here has a basic understanding of what gene therapy is. I had a few questions when it comes to gene therapy. First, How far along are we in this field? Second, will we reach a point where we can transform ourselves a la E.O wilsons shape shifting man? I would like to see in the very near future, a man getting an injection and in a matter of days he goes from being 5'9" to 6'3". Or a man being 300 pounds, gets an injection, and in a matter of days shrinks down to 160 pounds, changing your race, your facial features etc. etc. etc. Third…

After conducting his own analysis, skeptic physicist Richard Muller now convinced "global warming is real and humans are causing it." http://www.scientifi...=SA_WR_20120801

From Space.com http://www.space.com/19845-dark-matter-found-nasa-experiment.html My predictions is that whatever the results, the arguments will continue.

published article http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6131/1233232 pre-print http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.6875 podcast including discussion http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6131/499.2.full Not sure yet how this differs from previous observation of decay of orbit fitting with general relativity's prediction of energy being radiated through gravitational wave - but will update if/when I realise what the new bit is. http://phys.org/news/2013-04-einstein-gravity-theory-toughest-bizarre.html

I Noticed this article when it was first published probably a lot like many of you On the site. It states that warp speed may well be not just possible but practical in our lifetime , also that the paper itself was written 10+ years ago, and was just not possible at the time, but Now due to technological advances it may well be possible. One of the most interesting things is it is still possible while not breaking the laws of physics and even parts of the theory of relativity. . Just google - when will warp speed be possible, you'l notice that all the press releases were over the same 2 days. heres a few links to get you started. http://www.complex.com/tech/2012/…

News combining Plank Telescope and Higgs field research via CERN work reveals likely changes may be required for infant universe model. link data could spell trouble for leading Big Bang theory : Nature News & Comment

This is the first time a light beam has been used to draw objects towards the light source. What current law of physics would explain this phenomenon? http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2013/title,97477,en.php http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2013/04/15/video-tractor-beam/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-21187598

It looks like spiders are getting bigger now and webs are getting bigger too.This is not good becuse it changes the ecosystem if spiders become more of predator .

The prospect of mind-reading technology has moved a step closer after scientists established the first brain-to-brain connection. Using electrodes implanted in the brains of two rats, one rodent was able to pass information to another in a cage thousands of miles away – albeit without knowing it was doing so. The experiment, by researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, is the first direct communication link between two minds. Previous studies had shown that visual and tactile information could be transferred between a brain and a computer, for example allowing amputees to control prosthetic limbs, but the latest research represents a significant advance. A…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22148141 Happy birthday Kim II-sung. Now blow out your candle!!!

Why isn't this in use worldwide?

"Apr. 3, 2013 A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130403104104.htm

The long awaited and trailed announcement from the AMS Collaboration is imminent SPECIAL CERN-EP Seminar on Wednesday 3rd of April 2013 "Recent results from the AMS experiment" by Prof. Samuel TING (Massachusetts Inst. Of Technology (US)) https://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=244334 NASA TV BRIEFING DISCUSSES ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER RESULTS NASA will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 3, to discuss the first results of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment. For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv AMS Draft Press Announcement (cannot find final …

Did anyone see the remarkable paper in Nature by Inokuma etal, entitled X-Ray analysis on the nanogram to microgram scale using porous complexes; Nature 2013, 495, 461-466 doi:10.1038/nature11990. Apparently all you have to do is dip your sample in a solution of the porous material, slowly evaporate the solvent and place the solid material in the X-ray diffractometer, you know the one, it's been gathering dust in the corner of the lab. Out pops a single crystal structure showing the guest/host complex in which the guest can clearly be observed. The authors have also combined this with HPLC methodology. This is an amazing piece of work. I wish it had been around ear…

A comet is headed for Mars in 2014, newly found comet C/2013 A1 seems to be headed for a close encounter with the planet Mars. Calculations at this time indicate the comet has less than a 1/2000 chance of actually impacting Mars but even a close encounter should have significant effects on Mars and some of the space craft currently investigating the Red Planet. An actual impact of the comet on Mars would release about 1/3 the energy thought to have been released by the impact that caused the extinction of the Dinosaurs on Earth. Unless the impact was close by the Curiosity Rover should survive since it is nuclear powered but the Solar powered Opportunity Rover would…