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MaterialsNews
- News Feeds (BBC News)
"If you run your own website, you can use RSS feeds to display the latest headlines from other websites on your site." 09-08
Papers
- -01-26-09 Teleportation Is Real (Time.com)
"Depending on your favorite sci-fi yarns, teleportation is either a very, very bad idea (see: The Fly) or a very, very cool one (see: Star Trek). For scientists, it's just very, very complex, so much so that at this point, teleportation is not a matter of moving matter, but of transporting information. Already, physicists have been able to exchange information between light particles — or photons — or between atoms so long as they were right next to each other. The current experiment marks the first in which information has traveled a significant distance — 1 meter, or a little less than 3 ft. — between two isolated atoms." 01-09
- -02-14-09 Poll: Fewer Than Four in Ten Believe in Evolution (U.S. News)
"Charles Darwin would have been 200 tomorrow, an event that Gallup is marking with a new poll showing that 39 percent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. A quarter say they don't believe in evolution, and 36 percent say they have no opinion."
"The strongest predictor of respondents' views on evolution? Church attendance."
"In fact, Gallup's analysis says religiosity outweighs educational level in shaping views on evolution, even though those with the most education are far more likely to support evolution than those with the least. Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees." 10-07
- -02-20-09 Brainwave-Controlled Games Now Available (Time.com)
"This fall, the Force can finally be with you — for a suggested retail price of $129.99. Put on a headset, focus on a small ball in a cylinder, and use your mind to make the sphere rise. It's cool, not to mention a little strange." 02-09
- -02-23-09 NASA Launch Fails on First Carbon-Testing Satellite (CNN News)
"The satellite, which would have monitored greenhouse gases to study how they affect the Earth's climate, was launched on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:55 a.m. PT (4:55 a.m. ET)."
"But the payload fairing -- a clamshell-shaped structure that allows the satellite to travel through space -- failed to separate from the rocket, NASA officials said." 02-09
- -02-24-09 Breakthrough Against Flu and Bird Flu (U.S. News)
"Researchers have found what they think could be the key to a whole new way of treating and protecting against influenza—with monoclonal antibodies. If the discovery pans out, the approach could be used as a treatment for bird flu and seasonal flu and also as the basis for a vaccine against many different flu strains, including the H5N1 strain that has caused so much worry about a pandemic."
"Our vaccine is directed against the lollipop stick, which actually contains the machinery that allows the virus to enter cells. This is what allowed us to make this significant scientific advance—to identify a new Achilles' heel in the virus's coat protein."
"We tested the antibody against bird flu, against 1918 pandemic flu; we tested it against all 10 different types of flu viruses, multiple strains, both in tissue culture and in animals. The antibody was not only active in preventing infection; you could give it to animals that got a lethal dose of the flu virus as late as three days after infection, when they were clearly getting sick, and they recovered and survived." 02-09
- -02-25-09 NASA Looks for Extraterrestrial Life (CNN News)
"As NASA prepares to hunt for Earth-like planets in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy, there's new buzz that 'Star Trek's' vision of a universe full of life may not be that far-fetched."
"In a paper published recently in the International Journal of Astrobiology, the researchers concluded that based on what they saw, at least 361 intelligent civilizations have emerged in the Milky Way since its creation, and as many as 38,000 may have formed." 02-09
- -02-27-09 The World May Be a Giant Hologram (NewScientist.com)
"The holograms you find on credit cards and banknotes are etched on two-dimensional plastic films. When light bounces off them, it recreates the appearance of a 3D image. In the 1990s physicists Leonard Susskind and Nobel prizewinner Gerard 't Hooft suggested that the same principle might apply to the universe as a whole. Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface."
"The "holographic principle" challenges our sensibilities. It seems hard to believe that you woke up, brushed your teeth and are reading this article because of something happening on the boundary of the universe. No one knows what it would mean for us if we really do live in a hologram, yet theorists have good reasons to believe that many aspects of the holographic principle are true." 02-09
- -03-11-09 Discovery Ready for Launch (CNN News)
"This will be the 125th shuttle flight and the 36th for Discovery. The two-week mission will include four spacewalks to install the 31,000-pound final truss segment with two solar array wings. The final segment completes the backbone of the station, and the set of solar arrays will convert solar energy to electrical power, providing the capacity to generate enough power to maintain a full crew of six and increase scientific research on the [STS-119] station." 03-09
- -03-18-09 Feathered Find Could Rewrite Dinosaur History (Christian Science Monitor)
"Scientists in China report that they have unearthed the fossil remains of a small plant-eating dinosaur that sports what appears to be a primitive form of feather." 03-09
- -04-16-09 The Celestial Hand (MSNBC News)
"An X-ray probe's picture of a celestial 'Hand,' 17,000 light-years from Earth, has stirred up spiritual responses on a par with the Hubble Space Telescope's famous Pillars of Creation and the Eye of God - plus a couple of lighthearted laughs." 04-09
- -04-28-09 Scientists Clone Glowing Dogs (CBS News)
"South Korean scientists say they have engineered four beagles that glow red using cloning techniques that could help develop cures for human diseases." 04-09
- -05-09-09 Hubble Space Telescope Gets Final Upgrade (MSNBC News)
"When astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis open up the Hubble Space Telescope for its final extreme makeover, much of the work will be aimed at fixing what's been ailing the world's premier orbiting observatory. It'll get fresh batteries and brand-new gyros, and if all goes well, Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph will be back in full working order for the first time in years."
"But this is not just a fix-up mission. Two new instruments are due to be swapped into the mix, and those enhancements should give Hubble superpowers it never had before: for example, three-in-one vision that spans the spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared, and the ability to make out the cosmic cobwebs that stretch out between galaxies." 05-09
- -05-13-09 Space Junk Threatens Hubble's Repair Mission (ABC News)
"A myriad of space debris combined with a 21-inch scratch across delicate thermal tiles has the seven-member crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis facing very real danger as it tries to repair and update the Hubble Space Telescope." 05-09
- -05-29-09 The World's First Controlled Thermonuclear Reaction (National Ignition Facility)
"The world's largest and highest-energy laser was certified to operate by the U.S. Department of Energy on March 27, 2009. In 2010, NIF will focus the intense energy of 192 giant laser beams on a BB-sized target filled with hydrogen fuel — fusing, or igniting, the hydrogen atoms' nuclei in the world's first controlled thermonuclear reaction. This is the same fusion energy process that makes stars shine and provides the life-giving energy of the sun." 05-09
- -06-28-09 The Suns's Protection is Not Constant (NewScientist.com)
"The sun protects us from cosmic rays and dust from beyond the solar system by enveloping us in the heliosphere - a bubble of solar wind that extends past Pluto. These cosmic rays would damage the ozone layer, and interstellar dust could dim sunlight and trigger an ice age. However, when the solar system passes through very dense gas and dust clouds, the heliosphere can shrink until its edge is inside Earth's orbit." 06-09
- -09-05-09 Massive Ancient Wall Uncovered in Jerusalem (CNN News)
"An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say." 09-09
- -09-09-09 Hubble Telescope Fixed and Improved (BBC News)
"Astronomers are celebrating the release of remarkable new images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)." Some of the pictures are included in the article.
Hubble discoveries to date include:
"In what was a prime mission objective, Hubble fixed the Universe's age at about 13.7 billion years - later confirmed by other instruments"
"Hubble's ability to detect faint supernovae contributed to the discovery that the expansion rate of the Universe is accelerating"
"Hubble was one of two telescopes to make the first direct images of planets orbiting another star - historic images made public last November"
"Hubble provided the first direct measurements of the three-dimensional distribution of dark matter in space"
"Hubble has shown that monster black holes, with masses millions to billions times the mass of our Sun, inhabit the centres of most galaxies" 09-09
- -09-17-09 Miniature T. Rex Discovered (USA Today)
"Tyrannosaurus Rex's likely ancestors started small, but perfectly armed, some 125 million years ago, dinosaur researchers reported Thursday. Puny arms, massive jaws, swift legs — all the ingredients of the king of the carnivores — adorned a newly discovered dinosaur, Raptorex kriegsteini, reported by the journal Science. But Raptorex was only about 1/90 the size of Tyrannosaurus, and flourished about 40 million years before T.Rex appears in the fossil record." 09-09
- -09-21-09 Students Launch Camera to the Edge of Space (CNN New)
"These enterprising students seem to have hit a nerve with the public, probably because their effort costs so little, suggesting that anyone with some know-how and a few common tools can photograph the edge of space. That's something normally reserved for big-budget agencies like NASA."
"They've gotten so many inquiries they had to post this warning: 'CAUTION/DISCLAIMER: Launching things into the stratosphere can be DANGEROUS! Please contact the FAA before trying ...' " 09-09
- -10-06-09 Nobel Prizes Awarded in Physics (CNN News)
"Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for two breakthroughs that led to two major underpinnings of the digital age -- fiber optics and digital photography, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said." 10-09
- -10-09-09 NASA Craft Crashes Into Moon (Time.com)
"NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos." 10-09
- -11-12-09 Fifty Best Inventions for 2009 (Time.com)
"From a rocket of the future to a $10 million lightbulb, here are TIME's picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year." 11-09
- -12-30-08 Report: Columbia Astronauts Died Quickly (ABC News)
"The seven astronauts who died when Space Shuttle Columbia exploded in 2003 never had a chance, according to a report written at NASA's request." 12-08
- An Organism Survives Antarctica, Maybe Mars (Time.com)
"Say what you will about the simple, uninteresting lives of microorganisms, they're tough little critters. You try surviving for a million and a half years without heat, food or sunlight and see how you do. A team of National Science Foundation researchers just discovered a species of Antarctic organisms that has accomplished exactly that — and the microbes' unlikely survival can tell us a lot not just about the adaptability of life on Earth, but the prospects for it on Mars." 04-09
- Fishermen Catch Rare Megamouth Shark, Then Eat It (CBS News)
"Fishermen in the Philippines accidentally caught and later ate a megamouth shark, one of the rarest fishes in the world with only 40 others recorded to have been encountered, the World Wildlife Fund said Tuesday." 04-09
- King Tut's Real Face (MSNBC News)
"The first facial reconstructions of King Tutankhamun based on CT scans of his mummy have produced images strikingly similar to the boy pharaoh’s ancient portraits, with one model showing a baby-faced young man with chubby cheeks and his family’s characteristic overbite." 11-07
- -01-06-09 Five Ways to Recharge Without Plugging In (U.S. News)
"So maybe we need a little magic: electricity that's delivered without wall plugs. A variety of new systems will recharge our cellphones, MP3 players and digital cameras without having to cable them into the grid. In fact, by year's end there should be at least five ways that we can detach ourselves from the outlet:" 02-09
- Earliest Known T. rex Dinosaur Found (Nature.com)
"Ask any dinner-party palaeontologist and they'll tell you that, despite its star turn in Jurassic Park, Tyrannosaurus rex didn't live in the Jurassic period. But now a team in China has found a tyrannousaur that did, and it gives us valuable clues about the rise of this clan of prehistoric predators."
"The new species, found in Xinjiang province in northwestern China, lived around 160 million years ago. This makes it more than twice as old as T. rex, and the most primitive known member of the family." 02-06
- Nurtured Apes Show Higher IQ than Humans at 9 Months (MSNBC News)
"Orphaned infant chimpanzees that received attentive, nurturing care from human surrogate mothers were found to be more intellectually advanced than the average human baby when both groups were compared at the age of nine months, according to a new study published in the latest issue of Developmental Psychobiology."
"Lead researcher Kim Bard added, however, that 'Clearly the extensive linguistic ability of humans, and their ability to construct complex objects, such as the computer I'm using now, are beyond the capacity of chimpanzees.' "
Researcher Van Ijzendoorn commented also. " 'At the moment, hundreds of thousands of orphans — either social orphans abandoned by their parents or orphans who lost their parents because of AIDS (and other reasons) — are raised in orphanages in Eastern European countries, Africa, China, India and elsewhere,' he said, concluding that 'enrichment of the environment in the orphanages can make a big difference in cognitive development, and we think also for emotional development.' "
- Stem Cell Research Resumes (Time.com)
"While embryonic stem cells remain the gold standard for any treatments that find their way into the clinic, newer techniques using the next-generation stem cells may soon surpass the older ones." 01-09
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