Mars rover hunts for signs of life

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Mars rover hunts for signs of life

AFP
August 05, 2012
By news.com.au
ARE we alone? Or was there life on another planet? NASA's $2.4 billion Mars rover Curiosity aims to find out.

The $US2.5 billion ($2.4 billion) dream machine, the Mars Science Laboratory, aims to take the first steps toward finding out when it nears Mars's surface tomorrow.

India set to launch Mars mission in 2013

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India set to launch Mars mission in 2013

2012/8/02
BANGALORE, India — India plans to launch a mission to Mars next year, putting an orbital probe around the red planet to study its climate and geology, top space department officials said on Thursday.
The mission would mark another step in India's ambitious space programme, which envisages the Asian giant's first manned mission in 2016.
"We will embark on the Mars mission after the Department of Science gives the green signal and decides the schedule early next year," Deviprasad Karnik, director of the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told AFP.
A 320-tonne Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket will be used to carry the orbiter spaceship, blasting off from the ISRO launch site at Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Another senior official at ISRO, requesting anonymity, estimated the cost of the mission at 4.0-5.0

Researchers: Modern culture may have earlier start

Researchers: Modern culture may have earlier start

2012/8/01
JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Poisoned-tipped arrows and jewelry made of ostrich egg beads found in South Africa show modern culture may have emerged about 30,000 years earlier in the area than previously thought, according to two articles published on Monday.
The findings published in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" show that the 44,000-year-old artifacts are characteristic of the San hunter-gatherers. The descendants of San people live today in southern Africa, so the items can clearly be traced forward to modern culture, unlike other archaeological finds, researchers said.
South African researcher Lucinda Backwell said the findings are the earliest known instances of "modern behavior as we know it." Backwell said the discovery reinforces the theory that modern man came from southern Africa.

Ex-sceptic says climate change is down to humans

30 July 2012

Ex-sceptic says climate change is down to humans

By www.bbc.co.uk
A formerly sceptical climate scientist says human activity is causing the Earth to warm, as a new study confirms earlier results on rising temperatures.

In a US newspaper opinion piece, Prof Richard Muller says: "Call me a converted sceptic."

Muller leads the Berkeley Earth Project, which is using new methods and some new data to investigate the claims made by other climate researchers.

Their latest study confirms the warming trend seen by other groups.

The project received funds from sources that back organisations lobbying against action on climate change.

New CO2 findings may unlock secrets of global warming

New CO2 findings may unlock secrets of global warming (+video)

A team of British and Australian scientists has discovered an important method of how carbon is drawn down from the surface of the Southern Ocean.

The Capitol Column | Staff | Sunday, July 29, 2012 This article was updated at 8:46 p.m. EDT with a video released by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). A newly released study finds that giant whirlpools and currents 500 miles wide may allow scientists to unlock the secrets of how oceans absorb greenhouse gases and curb the effects of global warming.

Three-planet system's regular orbits hint at orbital chaos elsewhere

Three-planet system's regular orbits hint at orbital chaos elsewhere

Systems evolve from one disk then have orbital interactions destabilize them.

by Matthew Francis - July 26 2012
The Solar System is remarkably regular, its eight planets orbiting the Sun in the same direction in very nearly circular trajectories. Their orbits lie nearly in the same plane, which is aligned with the Sun's equator. These facts point toward a common origin for the Solar System, where everything collapsed from a single protostellar disk.

However, many exoplanetary systems are very different: exoplanets often orbit in highly elliptical orbits, and some "hot Jupiters" (giant planets in very small orbits) even revolve in the opposite direction from their host stars. A current major challenge in astrophysics is to understand why irregular systems exist.

NASA: Strange and Sudden Massive Melt in Greenland

NASA: Strange and Sudden Massive Melt in Greenland

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON July 24, 2012 (AP)





Nearly all of Greenland's massive ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, a freak event that surprised scientists.

Even Greenland's coldest and highest place, Summit station, showed melting. Ice core records show that last happened in 1889 and occurs about once every 150 years.

Three satellites show what NASA calls unprecedented melting of the ice sheet that blankets the island, starting on July 8 and lasting four days. Most of the thick ice remains. While some ice usually melts during the summer, what was unusual was that the melting happened in a flash and over a widespread

Lost at sea: Hunt for Earhart's plane abandoned

Lost at sea: Hunt for Earhart's plane abandoned

Published July 24, 2012
Associated Press
HONOLULU – A $2.2 million expedition that hoped to find wreckage from famed aviator Amelia Earhart's final flight is on its way back to Hawaii without the dramatic, conclusive plane images searchers were hoping to attain.
But the group leading the search, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, still believes

Swimming jellyfish built out of rat cells, silicone

Swimming jellyfish built out of rat cells, silicone

By Stephanie Pappas
Published July 23, 2012 LiveScience

Using rat heart cells and silicone polymer, researchers have bioengineered a "jellyfish" that knows how to swim.
The odd jellyfish mimic, dubbed a "Medusoid" by its creators, is more than a curiosity. It's a natural biological pump, just like the human heart. That makes it a good model to use to study cardiac physiology, said study researcher Kevin Kit Parker, a bioengineer at Harvard University.
"The idea is to look at a muscular pump other than the heart or other muscular organ and see if there are some fundamental similarities, or design principles, that are conserved across them," Parker told LiveScience. "This study revealed that there are." [10 Amazing Facts About Your Heart]
Building a jelly
Jellyfish propel themselves with a pumping action, as anyone who has ever watched them float around an aquarium tank can attest. Parker was looking for a way to tackle questions about the heart that aren't

In First, Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism

In First, Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism

By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: July 20, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. — Scientists at Stanford University and the J. Craig Venter Institute have developed the first software simulation of an entire organism, a humble single-cell bacterium that lives in the human genital and respiratory tracts.
The scientists and other experts said the work was a giant step toward developing computerized laboratories that could carry out many thousands of experiments much faster than is possible now, helping scientists penetrate the mysteries of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

“You read in the paper just about every week, ‘Cancer gene discovered’ or ‘Alzheimer gene discovered,’ ” said the leader of the new research, Markus W. Covert, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford. “A lot of the public wonders, ‘Why haven’t we cured all these things?’ The answer, of course, is that cancer is not a one-gene problem; it’s a many-thousands-of-factors problem.”

Dramatic illustration of warming Greenland? Iceberg twice size of Manhattan breaks off glacier

Dramatic illustration of warming Greenland? Iceberg twice size of Manhattan breaks off glacier

By Associated Press,
7/17/2012

WASHINGTON — An iceberg twice the size of Manhattan tore off one of Greenland’s largest glaciers, illustrating another dramatic change to the warming island.

For several years, scientists had been watching a long crack near the tip of the northerly Petermann Glacier. On Monday, NASA satellites showed it had broken completely, freeing an iceberg measuring

Ripp-Off Rodents Are Key in Life Cycle of Tropical Trees

Ripp-Off Rodents Are Key in Life Cycle of Tropical Trees

DAILY DISRUPTION JULY 16, 2012
There’s no honor among thieves when it comes to rodent robbers—which turns out to be a good thing for tropical trees that depend on animals to spread their seeds.

Results of a yearlong study in Panama, published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of July 16, suggest that thieving rodents helped the black palm tree survive by taking over the seed-spreading role of the mighty mastodon and other extinct elephant-like creatures that are thought to have eaten these large seeds.

DARPA drops the bass to extinguish fire

DARPA drops the bass to extinguish fire

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has created a bass cannon that can put out fires with sound.
by Christopher MacManus July 16, 2012
Citing a lack of innovation in fire-extinguishing methods over the last 50 years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last week revealed an ear-buzzing new method for putting out fires: blast it with fine-tuned frequencies.
Officially referred to as "acoustic suppression of flame," this simple yet potentially revolutionary method simply relies on two speakers playing a specific low frequency toward the fire.
The resulting acoustics increase air velocity, making it easier to alter the origin of the fire's

Race for space: SpaceX prepping private manned space capsule

Race for space: SpaceX prepping private manned space capsule

Published July 16, 2012
Space.com
The crewed version of SpaceX's Dragon space capsule has passed a key design review, moving one step closer to carrying astronauts into orbit, NASA officials announced Thursday, July 12.
In the review, which was conducted June 14 at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., company officials gave NASA details about every phase of a potential crewed Dragon mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX outlined how it plans to modify its launch pads to support such a mission, and it discussed the Dragon capsule's docking capabilities, living arrangements, weight and power requirements and potential ground landing sites and techniques, NASA officials said. The Dragon capsule is designed to

Space station crew launches into orbit on Russian craft

Space station crew launches into orbit on Russian craft

Trio represents US, Russia and Japan; will join three others on outpost
By Clara Moskowitz
7/14/2012
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched into orbit late Saturday, carrying three new crewmembers toward the International Space Station.
The rocket rose from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, lofting the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft into orbit. Liftoff came at 10:40 p.m. ET Saturday, which means it was early Sunday at the Central Asian spaceport. Onboard were an American, a Russian and a Japanese astronaut due to take up residence for four months at the orbiting outpost.
NASA TV showed the Soyuz soaring smoothly into a blue sky dotted with clouds, punching a hole through a cloud layer on its way up. It is due to dock at the station early Tuesday, at which time the three newcomers will join the existing crew of three on the space station's Expedition 32 mission.
The new complement includes NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri

Major solar storm heads towards Earth

Major solar storm heads towards Earth

The Capitol Column | Stacey Pounsberry | Sunday, July 15, 2012

Solar flares release a wave of ions that can damage satellites, interfere with navigation or communication signals, and damage power plant infrastructure. Scientists say we should expect many more of these sun storms before the year is through, with varying results and ramifications.
According to an article on Space.com, “The sun unleashed a huge flare Thursday (July 12), the second

Snow leopard moms, cubs captured in first-ever

Snow leopard moms, cubs captured in first-ever video

Animals normally difficult to find because of their secretive, elusive nature
OurAmazingPlanet
updated 7/13/2012
The dens of two snow leopard mothers and their cubs have been located in Mongolia for the first time, with new, unprecedented video showing the mothers and their young inside the den, a conservation organization announced July 12.
Snow leopard dens are difficult to find because of the animals' secretive, elusive nature and the difficult, mountainous terrain in which they live. Finding the dens is an important step in learning more about the reproductive behavior and the young of this endangered

Stone tools focus picture of ancient Americans

Stone tools focus picture of ancient Americans

By Jeff Barnard
ssociated Press Writer / July 12, 2012
AGRANTS PASS, Ore.—Stone tools and human DNA from ancient caves in Oregon offer new evidence of how some of the first Americans spread through the continent: Quite apart from the better-known Clovis culture, a separate group occupied the West.

Archaeologists said Thursday that using multiple techniques, they have dated broken obsidian spear points from Paisley Caves to about 13,200 years ago, as old as much different stone tools from the Clovis culture found in the southeast and interior United States. Radio-carbon dating of human DNA from coprolites -- ancient desiccated human feces -- shows people lived in the caves as early as 14,300 years ago.

Mars Rover Curiosity Is One Month Away From Landing

Mars Rover Curiosity Is One Month Away From Landing

JULY 8, 2012 BY NATHAN
The largest rover ever launched to explore an alien planet is only one month away from landing on Mars.
NASA’s very large rover, Curiosity, is headed towards its scheduled late-night landing on Mars, on Aug. 5 PDT (early Aug. 6 EDT).
“At 1 ton, Curiosity is the largest rover ever aimed at Mars. It will land in a completely new way, using a giant parachute and a rocket-powered sky crane. And it is carrying a sophisticated set of tools to find out if its Martian drop zone could once have been home for life.”
Of course, first, Curiosity has to reach Mars in one piece.

Higgs boson

Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to the Universe

By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: July 4, 2012
ASPEN, Colo. — Signaling a likely end to one of the longest, most expensive searches in the history of science, physicists said Wednesday that they had discovered a new subatomic particle that looks for all the world like the Higgs boson, a key to understanding why there is diversity and life in the universe.
Like Omar Sharif materializing out of the shimmering desert as a man on a camel in “Lawrence of Arabia,” the elusive boson has been coming slowly into view since last winter, as the first signals of its existence grew until they practically jumped off the chart.

“I think we have it,” said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN, the multinational research center headquartered in Geneva. The agency is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the immense particle accelerator that produced the new data by colliding protons. The findings were announced by two separate teams. Dr. Heuer called the discovery “a historic milestone.”