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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond's LiveJournal:
| Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | |
| 12:01 am | Super Cells to Power Cyborgs
Researchers at Yale University have come up with
blueprints for a bio-battery, organic cells which can work together to
produce an electrical voltage. These cells are optimised versions of
electric eel electrocytes, the results of millions of years of
evolution plus a few more of scientists going "We can do better than
that!" The upgraded electro-cells will produce 30% higher voltages than the original organics, and 30% more efficiently. The improvements were made possible by mathematically modeling the ion pumps and channels which set up the voltages in the natural cells. With the mechanisms freed from the gooey bits of the actual cell, the model could be varied to find the most efficient values, which were then mapped back into a design for cells which will do a much better job. Or at least they will if we can build them. There's a long way between the drawing board and the cyber-implant in the world of biotechnology, at least for those of us outside of Marvel, and several "How do we actually build this?" questions have to be answered. The key will be the connection of the electro-cells to the ATP reserves in the body, allowing you to convert calories into charge to run your Apple iMplant audio player. |
| Friday, October 10th, 2008 | |
| 12:01 am | Discovery -The Daily Flash (10/10)
Meteor Explodes Over Sudan — Right On Schedule |
| 12:03 am | Space -The Daily Flash (10/10) |
| 12:04 am | Green -The Daily Flash (10/10)
Researchers
argue that it’s time to see beyond the “myth of the pristine forest”—to
gain a truer understanding of humankind’s interactions with the natural
landscape. |
| 12:05 am | Stonehenge: A Crematory or a Healing Center?
That's what the new evidence suggests. Apparently, Stonehenge was a grand cemetery for a powerful ruling family--not a health spa. New evidence indicates that Stonehenge was used as a cremation cemetery throughout its entire history. Recent discoveries also suggest that Stonehenge may be even older than previously thought. Academics and historians have been guessing at the origins and purposes of Stonehenge for centuries and been the subject of heated debate. Originally it was believed that the tall circle of stones was was erected in 2,600 BC, replacing an earlier wood structure where cremation was carried out. A recent BBC documentary suggested that the standing stones were not erected until 2,300BC, when the site then became a center of healing. But new evidence indicates that the cremations never stopped. Additionally, the team behind the latest dig believes the stones were actually erected in 3,000 BC. They’re saying that Stonehenge continued to be used for cremation burial throughout its history, and not for healing. The dig known as The Stonehenge Riverside Project includes archeologists from several British universities who have been carrying out excavations for the past five years. The report asserts: "Contrary to claims made in the recent BBC Timewatch film, which promoted a theory of Stonehenge as a healing centre built after the practice of cremation burial had ceased, standing stones and burial may have been prominent aspects of Stonehenge's meaning and purpose for a millenium." The head of a stone mace, known as a symbol of authority, was found in one grave, which indicates that this was likely a cemetery for the ruling dynasty responsible for erecting Stonehenge. Dr. Parker Pearson said, “one has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials.” In a teleconference with reporters, arranged by the National Geographic Society, Dr. Parker Pearson mentioned three burials of burned bones and teeth that were dated recently. They estimate that up to 240 people were buried there, all as cremations. Other evidence from the British Isles shows that cremation was the custom for the elite. Another Sheffield archaeologist, Andrew Chamberlain, believes the Stonehenge burials were for generations of a single elite family. The clue, he said, is the small number of burials early on and the larger numbers in later centuries, as offspring would have multiplied. “It’s now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages,” said Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at the University of Sheffield in England. Mike Pitts, one of the authors of the study and editor of British Archaelogy, said that the study overturned the previous theory of Stonehenge being a place of healing. "This means there were earlier connections with Wales, where the standing stones came from, than previously thought and that Stonehenge was always about death and ancestors and burial and not healing," he said. Geoffrey Wainwright, one of the archaelogists behind the BBC film, still believes that healing was one of the uses of the site. "We do not claim Stonehenge was a single use monument," he said. "We think it was a multifunctional monument and part of its purpose was for healing." Some experts are saying that both theories could be right—it might have been a healing center and a cremation cemetery. Perhaps it was also a beer hall, bowling alley, or a place for giants to play cricket. I’m just waiting for the new evidence… Posted by Rebecca Sato |
| 12:05 am | Humans Predicted to Make Contact with an Extraterrestrial Civilization Within Two Decades--A Galaxy
Seth Shostak, SETI senior astronomer Some leading astronomers are quite confident that mankind will make contact with intelligent alien life within two decades. The search for extraterrestrial life will leap forward next year when NASA launches the Kepler space telescope. The instrument will be constantly scanning the same 100,000 stars over its four-year mission with the exciting objective of discovering Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones around suns. However, some astrophysicists have warned that we humans may be blinded by our familiarity with carbon and Earthlike conditions. In other words, what we’re looking for may not even lie in our version of a “sweet spot”. After all, even here on Earth, one species “sweet spot” is another’s species worst nightmare. In any case, it is not beyond the realm of feasibility that our first encounter with extraterrestrial life will not be a solely carbon-based occasion. Hydrogen fluoride methanol, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and formamide have all been suggested as suitable solvents that could theoretically support alternative biochemistry. All of these “water replacements” have pros and cons when considered in our terrestrial environment. What needs to be considered is that with a radically different environment, comes radically different reactions. Water and carbon might be the very last things capable of supporting life in some extreme planetary conditions.
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on Digg, Reddit, or StumbleUpon.Thanks! Related Galaxy posts: Michio Kaku on Extraterrestrial Civilizations: "How Advanced Could They Possibly Be?" Source links: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/ar |
| 12:30 am | DARPA Wants Submarines that can Fly
Specifically, DARPA's strategic technology office wants a submersible aircraft that can reach a destination, whether it is 1,850km (1,000nm) away by air or 185km by sea or 22km traveling underwater, in less than 8 hours. Carrying a crew of eight and 910kg (2,000lb) of payload it would use a snorkel device to provide an air supply while submerged once at its target. Now, your first reaction may well be that this sounds insanely James Bond/fictional, but keep in mind that DARPA has been able to pull off a lot of pretty far off ideas—including creating the Internet. Even so, DARPA admits that this one is going to be tough, stating that: "Prior attempts to demonstrate a vehicle with the manoeuvrability of both a submersible and an aircraft have primarily explored approaches that would endow flight capability to platforms that were largely optimised for underwater operations. Unfortunately these attempts have been unsuccessful." If you think you can come up with a concept that would help them be successful at it this time around, then DARPA is open to suggestions (http://www.darpa.gov/sto/solicitations/s Here’s some helpful “duh” advice the agency is sharing with would-be collaborators: “Be advised, difficulties with developing such a platform will arise from the diametrically opposed requirements that exist for an airplane and a submarine.” But, if anyone can create a flying submarine, it’s DARPA. Posted by Rebecca Sato Related posts: DARPA Develops Brain Chemical to Replace Sleep Cyborg Insect Surveillance -The World's Privacy May Never Be the Same |
| 12:15 am | World's Scientists Call on U.S. to be Smarter About Biofuel—A Galaxy Interview
The paper, published recently in the journal Science, urges US decision makers to adopt standards and incentives that will help ensure that future production efforts are sustainable, both energetically and environmentally. Grain-based ethanol, they point out, has already served as a lesson in the perils of embracing energy solutions before their environmental effects are considered. Biofuels do present a viable alternative, the paper asserts, but only if approached intelligently. The Daily Galaxy asked Dr. William Schlesinger, President of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem studies for his take on the subject. “Consensus is emerging that corn-based ethanol isn’t a net positive in terms of energy balance and isn’t good for the environment,” notes Schlesinger. “The consensus on some of the cellulose based fuels is more positive, particularly those that can be grown on otherwise marginal lands, that are not good for agriculture.” Schlesinger says that biofuels do represent a viable alternative energy option, especially when compared to other sources, but only if it is approached in the right way. Rather than charging in and figuring it out as we go, the smart approach is to weigh our options beforehand to avoid needlessly harming the environment. “Given finite stores of fossil fuels, and the environmental consequences associated with burning them, biofuels present a sustainable option. They are preferable to non-sustainable alternatives, such as the processing of tar sands. Tar sands and oil sands actually give off more carbon dioxide per gallon or BTU of energy than traditional fossil fuels, so they are worse for the climate,” Schlesinger explains to The Daily Galaxy. “In many cases they [tar and oil sands] are found in regions where water is scarce, so they create an environmental problem there too. Other non-sustainable alternatives (hydro, because the reservoirs fill up; and nuclear, because uranium ore isn’t all that abundant) have their problems too.” Dr. Kathleen Weathers, an ecosystem scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and one of the paper's authors, comments, "Society is in a race to find renewable sources of carbon-neutral energy. Cellulose-based biofuels hold promise, but we need to proceed cautiously and with an eye toward minimizing long-term ecological impacts. Without a sound plan, we could wind up doing more environmental harm than good." Most of the commercial ethanol produced in the United States is made from corn. When large parts of the landscape are converted to such resource-intensive, monoculture grain crops, as is the current model, the scientific consensus is that the environment suffers. Moving forward, if cellulosic ethanol is to emerge as a feasible source of renewable energy, a vast amount of land will need to be used for its production. This land conversion - estimated to be as large as the amount of land in row-crops today - will change the face of the global landscape. Production standards and incentive programs could help minimize negative impacts and, in many cases, help farmers choose crops that provide valuable ecosystem services. The bottom line, says Schlesinger is that we can’t afford to ignore the consequences. Policies need to be enacted that are based on sound scientific research. It will take a realistic approach to making smart decisions, not wishful thinking. “For biofuels to make a dent in our energy portfolio, a great deal of land will need to be put into biomass production. This will need to be done with any eye toward minimizing ecological impacts,” he notes to The Daily Galaxy. “We would need realism about how much land is being used and how it is being used, to ascertain whether the benefits to biofuels are better than the environmental costs involved.” Weathers concurs, "Incentives, such as substantial subsidies for cellulosic ethanol production, could send us hurtling down an environmentally tenuous path. I hope decision makers heed our recommendations. They emerged from a collaborative effort that cut across disciplines and ideologies, and we came to a strong scientific consensus." Posted by Rebecca Sato |
| 12:00 am | Hmmm, this pretty much sums up the mainstream media problem...
|
| Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | |
| 12:01 am | Discovery -The Daily Flash (10/09)
Google Earth turning into Google Underwater Giant crystal found in Swiss Alps Deep biosphere research points to new methods for recovering petroleum The world's deepest-dwelling fish five miles under the ocean's surface Thirteen per cent of the world's land surface is now a protected area Using living cells as nanotechnology factories |
| 12:02 am | Green -The Daily Flash (10/09) |
| 12:30 am | Diamonds: Not Just Wealth but Health?
Researchers at Northwestern University, Chicago, are using nanodiamond patches to deliver drugs to recovering surgery sites. Certain chemicals can greatly reduce the risk of lingering cells restarting all the cellular trouble after a tumor has been removed. The problem is that getting those drugs into the system can either result in flooding the entire body with the agent, with all manner of unwanted effects, or using site-specific implanted patches which give up their contents all too quickly. Unless they're made of nanodiamonds. Thanks to their large biocompatible surfaces, the clusters of mini-gems can hold large reserves of many different kinds of agents which are slowly released over a period of months. This can continue treatment of the affected region without supervision or constant surgery. Don't worry, you won't have to choose between your wedding band and a healthy body. The diamonds used in this work are mass-manufactured nanomaterials, widely used in applications from medical treatments to automobile lubricants. The crystal-carbon structure is extremely versatile in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology, and could soon be worth far more to the species as a whole than a few rich specimens at the top. Diamond isn't the only precious material to be radically repurposed - researchers at MIT are also working on using gold as a cancerbuster. There are plans to inject golden nanorods into tumor sites, where the mini-metals would strongly absorb infrared light and can therefore accurately target laser light on the unwanted tissue without affecting healthy material, burning the cancer right out of the body. It seems that in this new age of information and nanotech, even gold and gems have to find new jobs. Better ones. Posted by Luke McKinney |
| 12:05 am | One in Four Children Believes it is Against the Law for Women, African Americans, or Latinos to be P
???There has been an incredible level of racial and gender exclusion for the office of presidency, and most children are aware of it, but they don't really understand why,??? Bigler tells The Daily Galaxy. ???When they see a poster with all of the presidents and every single one of them is a white male, they naturally come up with their own explanation for it since no one talks to them about it. Sometimes the explanations they come up with are completely wrong, and in other instances the explanations they come up with are not too far off, such as when a little girl explains that there has never been a woman president because, ???boys won't vote for girls???.??? Most of the children, in fact, attributed the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents to gender and racial discrimination. In the year prior to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama???s bids to become the Democratic nominee, researchers interviewed children between five and ten years of age from various ethnic and racial backgrounds to assess their knowledge of and attributions for the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents. The study found that most children endorsed the belief that the presidency should be filled by people of both genders and diverse races and ethnicities, although the majority also believed that women and people of color have been intentionally excluded from the role. However, girls who attributed the lack of female presidents to discrimination were more likely to report that they could not really become president, even if they were interested in doing so. In contrast, among African American children, a discussion about discrimination led to an increased interest in becoming president. But why would a child think that it???s illegal for a girl or non-white to become the president in the first place? Bigler says that when children aren???t educated about a topic they will naturally start coming up with their own explanations. ???Kids knew a surprisingly lot about the presidents,??? Bigler told The Daily Galaxy. ???They have seen them all over the media, on posters, in classroom history books, yet no one ever explains to them why they have all been white men. There is never a conversation about that so children start to come up with their own explanations.??? The problem with this, Bigler notes, is that by not addressing these topics with children, most of them will spend their formative years with the limited view that they are not as qualified as white males to be leaders in our country. We need to teach and empower all children, and that means not being afraid to talk to them about what might be regarded as sensitive issues. ???Just like in math and science, we need the best and brightest people in this country to want to be leaders, and to understand that they can be leaders regardless of race or gender,??? says Bigler to The Daily Galaxy. The majority of children in America are not white males, and most of them perceive themselves as unqualified to ever be the president of the United States. That's unfortunate, because we are letting a lot of potentially great future leaders feel excluded.??? When asked if the current election will help dispel these myths among children, since Barack Obama is African American, Bigler explains that it will likely depend somewhat on the outcome of the election. ???This election is really important for race and gender in the united states. If Barack Obama wins, it will certainly wipe out the myth among children that it is illegal for anyone but a white male to be the president. On the other hand, if he loses it may well reinforce children's perception that only white men can ultimately become president,??? Bigler says. ???But regardless of who wins, we have got to start talking to children more honestly and openly even in kindergarten. When the kids are looking at a poster of presidents and they are all white men, this is a great teaching opportunity. The teacher can ask things like, ???Why do you think all of the presidents were white men???? Then when kids respond with fallacies like 'because it's against the law for a woman to be the president', then that opens up a great discussion and learning opportunity for the children. The teacher can explain, ???Well, you're right. It used to be illegal for a woman to be the president, but that wasn't fair, so they changed the law. Did you know that now a girl or boy with any skin color can now grow up to become the president?" It???s about having discussions that empower children, says Bigler. It???s about making sure that every child knows that their gender or race should not be a barrier to achieving whatever it is that they want to become in life???even if that happens to be the president of the United States of America. Posted by Rebecca Sato |
| 12:04 am | Satellite Data Reveals Extreme Summer Snowmelt in Arctic
The team discovered the rapid snowmelt based on an analysis of microwave brightness temperature recorded by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) onboard the F13 satellite. Tedesco told The Daily Galaxy that he does not know what animal species may be affected by this extreme melting, since that is not his field of work, but from a climate perspective he finds the melting to be unusual. ???Having such extreme melting so far north, where it is usually colder than the southern regions is extremely interesting,??? Professor Tedesco said. ???In 2007, the record occurred in southern Greenland, mostly at high elevation areas where in 2008 extreme snowmelt occurred along the northern coast.??? Tedesco says that the runoff is 88 percent higher than the 1979 ??? 2007 mean. In addition, analysis of ground measurements from World Meteorological Organization automatic weather stations located close to where the record snowmelt was observed indicate surface/air maximum temperatures up to 3?? Celsius above average. Melting in northern Greenland lasted up to 18 days longer than previous maximum values. The melting index, i.e. the number of melting days times the area subject to melting) was three times greater than the 1979???2007 average, with 1.545???106 square kilometers x days. The snowmelt and temperature anomalies occurred near Ellesmere Island, where several ice shelf break-ups were observed this summer. The region where the record melting days were recorded includes the Petermann glacier, which lost 29 square kilometers in July. ???The consistency of satellite, model and ground-based results provides a basis for a more robust analysis and synthesis tool,??? Professor Tedesco added. Next June, he and his colleagues plan to conduct field work in northern Greenland to further study the phenomenon. |
| 12:03 am | Space -The Daily Flash (10/9) |
| 12:06 am | Cyber Command: US Air Force Moves Forward with New Digital Warrior Unit
The decision was made at the Corona leadership conference in Colorado Springs. The leadership, including Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, made the decision last week, said Captain Michael Andrews, an Air Force spokesman. The service put Cyber Command on hold in August saying that they wanted to postpone the program until the new senior Air Force leaders had the time to make a final decision on just what Cyber Command was to do. Apparently they???ve come up with a ???to do??? list. Fears that the Air Force would lose sole control over any such project to a larger and all encompassing project were raised in May by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. Writing in a memo, England wrote: "Because all the combatant commands, military departments and other defense components need the ability to work unhindered in cyberspace, the domain does not fall within the purview of any particular department or component." "The conduct of cyber operations is a complex issue, as [Defense] and other interagency partners have substantial equity in the cyber arena," Donley said. "We will continue to do our part to increase Air Force cyber capabilities and institutionalize our cyber mission." At the moment it looks as if the Air Force is looking to investigate ways that it can securely implement Cyber Command in a way that encompasses all aspects of the US military and defense. Andrews said the Air Force will provide more details on the Cyber Command later in October after discussions with Pentagon and congressional leadership. Posted by Josh Hill |
| 12:08 am | Telescopes Capture the Beauty of Star Creation
NGC 346 is the brightest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, an irregular dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way at a distance of 210 000 light-years. "NGC 346 is a real astronomical zoo," says Dimitrios Gouliermis of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, and lead author of the paper describing the observations. "When we combined data at various wavelengths, we were able to tease apart what's going on in different parts of this intriguing region." Small stars are scattered throughout the NGC 346 region, while massive stars populate its center. These massive stars and most of the small ones formed at the same time out of one dense cloud, while other less massive stars were created later through a process called "triggered star formation". Intense radiation from the massive stars ate away at the surrounding dusty cloud, triggering gas to expand and create shock waves that compressed nearby cold dust and gas into new stars. The red-orange filaments surrounding the centre of the image show where this process has occurred. But another set of younger low-mass stars in the region, seen as a pinkish blob at the top of the image, couldn't be explained by this mechanism. "We were particularly interested to know what caused this seemingly isolated group of stars to form," says Gouliermis. By combining multi-wavelength data of NGC 346, Gouliermis and his team were able to pinpoint the trigger as a very massive star that blasted apart in a supernova explosion about 50 000 years ago. Fierce winds from the massive dying star, and not radiation, pushed gas and dust together, compressing it into new stars, bringing the isolated young stars into existence. While the remains of this massive star cannot be seen in the image, a bubble created when it exploded can be seen near the large, white spot with a blue halo at the upper left (this white spot is actually a collection of three stars). The finding demonstrates that both wind- and radiation-induced triggered star formation are at play in the same cloud. According to Gouliermis, "the result shows us that star formation is a far more complicated process than we used to think, comprising different competitive or collaborative mechanisms." The analysis was only possible thanks to the combination of information obtained through very different techniques and equipments. It reveals the power of such collaborations and the synergy between ground- and space-based observatories. Posted by Rebecca Sato A higher rez picture can be viewed at: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-r |
| Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 | |
| 12:05 am | Researchers Say Ancient Tibetan Practice May Improve Health & Happiness
"Our findings suggest that meditation practices designed to foster compassion may impact physiological pathways that are modulated by stress and are relevant to disease," explains Charles L. Raison, MD, a lead author on the study. The study focused on the effect of compassion meditation on inflammatory, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress, and evaluated the degree to which engagement in meditation practice influenced stress reactivity. "While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming the mind, improving focused attention or developing mindfulness, less is known about meditation practices designed to specifically foster compassion," says Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD, who designed and taught the meditation program used in the study. Sixty-one healthy college students between the ages of 17 and19 participated in the study. Half the participants were randomized to receive six weeks of compassion meditation training and half were randomized to a health discussion control group. The thousand-year-old Tibetan Buddhist mind-training practice "lojong" utilizes a cognitive, analytic approach to challenge an individual's unexamined thoughts and emotions toward other people, with the long-term goal of developing altruistic emotions and behavior towards all people. Each meditation class session combined teaching, discussion and meditation practice. After the study interventions were finished, the students participated in a laboratory stress test designed to investigate how the body's inflammatory and neuroendocrine systems respond to psychosocial stress. Within the meditation group there was a strong relationship between the time spent practicing meditation and reductions in inflammation and emotional distress in response to the stressor. "These initial results are quite exciting," says study co-author Thaddeus W.W. Pace, PhD. "If practicing compassion meditation does reduce inflammatory responses to stress it might offer real promise as a means of preventing many conditions associated with stress and with inflammation including major depression, heart disease and diabetes." Raison concurs. "Based on the promising findings from this study we are planning to offer compassion meditation classes to patients at Emory Winship Cancer Institute, and have partnered with the Emory Predictive Health Institute to study potential long term effects of compassion meditation on health and well-being," says Raison. The study's findings are published in the medical journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Posted by Rebecca Sato *Portions of this post were extracted from an Emory University news release. Related posts: Space Euphoria: Do Our Brains Change When We Travel in Outer Space? |
| 12:01 am | Discovery -The Daily Flash (10/08)
Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa "Intelligent" Supercomputers Put to the Turing Test |
| 12:01 am | Space -The Daily Flash (10/8) |
