Einstein's Math May Be Compatible With Faster-Than-Light Travel, Mathematicians Say

Einstein's Math May Be Compatible With Faster-Than-Light Travel, Mathematicians Say

By: Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer
Published: 10/09/2012 on LiveScience

Although Einstein's theories suggest nothing can move faster than the speed of light, two scientists have extended his equations to show what would happen if faster-than-light travel were possible.

Physics Nobel goes to Serge Haroche and David Wineland

Physics Nobel goes to Serge Haroche and David Wineland

9 October 2012

This year's Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to two researchers for their work with light and matter at the most fundamental level.

Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US will share the prize, worth 8m Swedish krona (£750,000; $1.2m).

Their "quantum optics" work deals with single photons and ions, the basic units of light and matter.

Bizarre Species of Miniature Dinosaur Identified

Bizarre Species of Miniature Dinosaur Identified

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: October 3, 2012

Not every dinosaur grew up to be a mighty predator like Tyrannosaurus rex or a hulking vegan like Apatosaurus. A few stayed small, and some of the smallest dinosaurs that ever lived — tiny enough to nip at your heels — were among the first to spread across the planet more than 200 million years ago
Fossils of these miniature, fanged plant-eaters known as heterodontosaurs, or “different toothed reptiles,” have turned up as far apart as England and China. Now, in a discovery that has been at least 50 years in the making, a new and especially bizarre species of these dwarf herbivores has been identified in a slab of red rock that was collected in the early 1960s by scientists working in South Africa.

In a report published Wednesday in the online journal ZooKeys, Paul C. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and a dinosaur specialist, described the strange anatomy of the newfound member of the heterodontosaur family and gave the new species the name Pegomastax africanus, or “thick jaw from Africa.” He also apologized in an interview for not getting around sooner to this piece of research.

MP Bob Katter calls for starfish bounty to save Great Barrier Reef

MP Bob Katter calls for starfish bounty to save Great Barrier Reef

• Townsville Bulletin
• October 03, 2012

CROWN-of-thorns starfish beware: Bob Katter wants to place a bounty on your head. The Kennedy MP has called for scuba divers to be paid $10 for every pest starfish they kill.

It comes after a report found coral cover throughout the Great Barrier Reef has been declining rapidly each year, with the starfish accounting for 42 per cent of the damage.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke, however, says there is no way he would place a bounty on the coral-consuming creatures, whose poisonous spines pose a danger to divers. He said the way to control the starfish was through further research and government-assisted culling programs.

Large quakes can trigger others around the globe

Large quakes can trigger others around the globe

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Kate Taylor

Very large earthquakes like last April's Sumatra quake can set off others around the world for at least a week, including one as far away as Baja California.
The Sumatra quake, a magnitude 8.6 temblor, did little damage, but was the tenth largest in the last 100 years. Like some other recent large quakes, it triggered small quakes during the three hours it took for seismic waves to travel through the Earth's crust.

But according to seismologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the US Geological Survey (USGS), it had longer-term effects too, triffering some faults to break up six days later.

Tracking a Subtle Scent, a Dog May Help Save the Whales

Tracking a Subtle Scent, a Dog May Help Save the Whales

By KIRK JOHNSON Published: September 1, 2012

OFF THE COAST OF SAN JUAN ISLAND, Wash. — A dog named Tucker with a thumping tail and a mysterious past as a stray on the streets of Seattle has become an unexpected star in the realm of canine-assisted science. He is the world’s only working dog, marine biologists say, able to find and track the scent of orca scat, or feces, in open ocean water — up to a mile away, in the smallest of specks.
Through dint of hard work and obsession with an orange ball on a rope, which he gets to play with as a reward after a successful search on the water, Tucker is an ace in finding something that most people, and perhaps most dogs, would just as soon avoid.

Low-Calorie Diet Not High on Longevity, Boosts Only Health

Low-Calorie Diet Not High on Longevity, Boosts Only Health

Drishya Nair

First Posted: Aug 30, 2012

Many of us count calories while eating every single time because we know that restricting calorie intake not only keeps us in shape, but also healthy.
The calorie count has no long term effect on the body. According to a new study, the low-calorie diet befits are limited to boosting health and does not prolong life.
A research conducted by researchers on rhesus monkeys shows that there is no link between food restriction and longevity.
The 23-year study showed that though fewer calorie intake in monkeys did boost up their health in

Mars rover sends amazing photos, 1st human voice from red planet By Mike Wal

Mars rover sends amazing photos, 1st human voice from red planet

By Mike Wall Space.com

Published August 28, 2012
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has beamed home the first human voice ever sent from another planet, as well as some spectacular new images of its Martian environs.
The 1-ton Curiosity rover broadcast a pre-loaded greeting from NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, who congratulated the mission team for getting the huge robot to Mars safely. While the significance of the audio accomplishment is largely symbolic, NASA officials hope it presages a more substantial human presence on the Red Planet down the road.

Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies

Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies

August 25, 2012
By online.wsj.com

Neil Armstrong was a quiet, self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved U.S. pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step on to the moon. The modest man who entranced and awed people on Earth has died. He was 82.
Mr. Armstrong died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, his family said Saturday. It didn't say where or when he died.

Mr. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century's scientific expeditions. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and in the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Mr. Armstrong said.

Mr. Armstrong's family described him as "a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job." The statement mentioned his success after the lunar walk "in business and academia" and as a "community leader in Cincinnati."

Close to Shore, Humpbacks Are Far From Safe

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Close to Shore, Humpbacks Are Far From Safe

By KELLY SLIVKA
Published: August 20, 2012
video

WOODS HOLE, Mass. — When the whale known as Touché is hungry for a school of fatty fish, he circles below them, fashioning a net of air by streaming bubbles from his blowhole. Then he corkscrews toward the surface of the Gulf of Maine, herding the fish into an ever tighter packet with the bubbles and his 30-ton body. Finally he opens his jaw wide, takes a monstrous gulp and relaxes, breathing deeply at the water’s surface.
Then he dives again. Over and over.

Touché’s feeding strategy, captured in June by an electronic tag attached to his back, is of keen interest to scientists tracking North Atlantic humpback whales off Cape Cod.

Why Curiosity zaps Mars rock with 30 laser blasts

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Why Curiosity zaps Mars rock with 30 laser blasts

Curiosity fired the first laser gun ever on Mars Sunday. Curiosity fires laser pulses that turn solid rock into an ionized plasma in order to analyze its composition.

By Staff, Space.com / August 20, 2012
A NASA rover has fired the first laser gun on Mars to take a peek inside a small Martian rock.
The Mars rover Curiosity zapped a rock scientists are now calling "Coronation" on Sunday (Aug. 19) to test an instrument that measures the composition of targets hit by its powerful laser beam. The rover fired 30 laser pulses in 10 seconds at the fist-size Coronation rock in order to analyze the results.

Mars Rock-Zapping Laser Explained

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Mars Rock-Zapping Laser Explained

By Christina DesMarais, PCWorld Aug 18, 2012
A rock-zapping laser and telescopic combination called ChemCam is getting a lot of attention with NASA's rover Curiosity landing on Mars.

But what is it?

Here's an explainer, as well as more details about the mission.

ChemCam can look at rocks and soils from a distance, fire a laser to vaporize the materials and analyze them with an on-board spectrograph that measures the composition of the resulting plasma. NASA says ChemCam can also use the laser to do less destructive things, such as clear away dust from Martian rocks as well as use a

Mating with Neanderthals is off-again, on-again

Mating with Neanderthals is off-again, on-again

By JOHN TIMMER
2012/8/14

One of the odd aspects of scientific peer review is that, because it's handled anonymously, you sometimes have no idea someone else is working on the same problem, preparing a paper at the same time. That seems to have been the case with a couple of papers that have appeared online over the last couple of days on the subject of what our ancestors may or may not have done with Neanderthals.

Mutated butterflies found near Fukushima

Mutated butterflies found near Fukushima

20123/8/14

By chron.com

Researchers found dozens of mutated butterflies near the site of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, prompting officials to say it’s the first sign of damage to the ecosystem.

According to NBC News, researcher Joji Otaki of the University of Ryukyus found mutation in roughly 12 percent of 144 commonly-found pale grass blue butterflies collected two months after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Even more alarming, researcher said the mutation increased to 28 percent six months later and more than 50 percent of the offspring showed some signs of mutation.

Researchers said the butterflies has disfigured antennas, smaller-sized wings, indented eyes and different color patterns, NBC News reported.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover: 5 surprising facts

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover: 5 surprising facts

By Andrew Couts

NASA's car-sized Curiosity rover has successfully landed on Mars. And if all goes right, the historic mission could provide us with evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet. Unfortunately, for those of us without much patience, such revelations could take as much as two years before they are uncovered by the extraterrestrial robot. So to satisfy your Curiosity curiosity, here are five surprising facts about the Mars-going rover.

Robotic earthworm could be use for secret military missions

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Robotic earthworm could be use for secret military missions

The Petri Dish | Staff | Saturday, August 11, 2012

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Seoul National University are turning heads with their latest creation: A robotic earthworm. While some may call it the most detestable robotic-creation yet, others will call it an engineering marvel. The earthworm robot is described by researchers in the latest report from MIT News.

New Mars rover photos reveal 'Earthlike' landscape

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New Mars rover photos reveal 'Earthlike' landscape

Published August 09, 2012
Space.com

Mars looks remarkably like the California desert in a new photo beamed home by NASA's Curiosity rover, researchers said.
In the new black-and-white image, Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site bears a striking resemblance to the desert landscape a hundred miles or so east of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built, scientists said.

Video: NASA test lander crashes, burns

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Video: NASA test lander crashes, burns

By James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY
2012/8/10
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An apparent hardware malfunction caused a prototype NASA lander to crash and explode seconds into a test flight Thursday at Kennedy Space Center, destroying the vehicle.
Around 12:40 p.m., the lander called Morpheus rose 10 feet from its pad near the center of the shuttle runway before it turned over, fell to the ground and burst into flames.
A dramatic, larger explosion followed about 12 seconds later, according to video of the event streamed live online and broadcast later in the afternoon on NASA TV.
KSC firefighters controlled the blaze. No one was injured.

Microbial Life In An Undersea Volcano, New Limits Of Life Defined

Microbial Life In An Undersea Volcano, New Limits Of Life Defined

AUGUST 7, 2012 BY NATHAN
A third of Earth’s organisms by mass are estimated to be the ones that live in the Earth’s rocks and sediments, but until now hardly anything has been known about them. Their lives and ecology are mostly a mystery.
That’s beginning to change though, a new study headed by microbiologist James Holden at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has provided “the first detailed data about a group of methane-exhaling microbes that live deep in the cracks of hot undersea volcanoes.”
Holden says, “Evidence has built over the past 20 years that there’s an incredible amount of biomass in Earth’s subsurface, in the crust and marine sediments, perhaps as much as all the plants and

Curiosity's landing on Mars gives NASA's scientists a reason to high-five

Curiosity's landing on Mars gives NASA's scientists a reason to high-five

Published: Tuesday, August 07, 2012
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA celebrated the precision landing of a rover on Mars and marveled over the mission's first photographs Monday — grainy, black-and-white images of Martian gravel, a mountain at sunset and, most exciting of all, the spacecraft's white-knuckle plunge through the red planet's atmosphere.
Curiosity, a roving laboratory the size of a compact car, landed right on target late Sunday night after an eight-month, 352-million-mile journey.
Cheers and applause echoed through NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and engineers hugged, high-fived and thrust their fists in the air after signals from space indicated the vehicle had survived the harrowing descent through Mars' pinkish atmosphere.
JPL Director Charles Elachi likened the team to Olympic athletes: "This team came back with the gold."