Fellow GEEK - science...

Married Couples Needed for Trip to Mars

2013-03-01T15:54:38-07:00

Married Couples Needed for Trip to Mars via NewsLook Planning on honeymooning in space A billionaire is financing a trip to Mars set to take off in 2018. He s teaming up with NASA and they re looking for married couples to take the 501 day journey. ...

Large Hadron Collider Is Being Shut Down

2013-02-16T18:10:37-07:00

The Large Hadron Collider or LHC best known for identifying a particle that could be the Higgs boson. If the particle is it this would confirm the existence of the Higgs field to explain why some fundamental particles have mass although other theories say they shouldn t. Although it is still not certain whether the particle is the Higgs boson the discovery of the particle has been a hot topic of conversation. Unfortunately the LHC is being shut down. Try not to worry too much This shut down of the machine will last two years and is necessary to get it working at maximum capacity. Since the LHC s beginning days particle beams used by the machine caused a quench in some of the magnets. This means the magnets...

Bacteria Producing Nitric Oxide Could Prolong Human Life

2013-02-15T12:48:58-07:00

Scientists have recently conducted research using nitric oxide on roundworms in the lab. They fed the organism bacteria that could manufacture nitric oxide and found that the round worm lived for a significantly longer period of time. This news has scientists wondering about the impact of the molecule on humans and how the multitude of microbial cells within our bodies all help to contribute to our overall health. According to Dr. Evgeny Nudler a professor of biochemistry at NYU Langone Medical Center humans see a decrease in their own nitric oxide levels as they age. He goes so far as to speculate as to whether the bacteria Bacillus subtilis that produces the molecule could be supplemented in humans as they grow older to offset their natural decline. He discusses how in the roundworms...

Solar Storms Vs. Snow Storms - Space Has Us Beat

2013-02-14T15:21:07-07:00

No longer are humans condemned to worry about snowstorms or floods in their area. For NASA this year s newest hot topic is space weather which can present even more of a hassle than regional weather problems would. Consider that in comparison to snow and wind we are talking about solar wind and flares coronal mass ejections and even radiation storms. Thinking about the weather of the cosmos in relation to Earth s own weather almost makes you hate snowstorms less. Almost. The problem is that this weather doesn t only affect distant planets or orbiting comets. A strong enough solar storm has the capacity to cause power outages and disable satellites and GPS. NASA is glad to find that the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space COPUOS...

Is the Heat Making You Do Stupid Things? Researchers Have an Idea Why

2013-02-13T11:57:10-07:00

Have you ever found it unbelievably hard to concentrate in warm weather Well researchers believe that warm weather impairs this ability. The warmer the climate the harder it is for us to make complex decisions. Conversely cooler weather seems not to have much of an affect on decision making skills. An individual will have a harder time choosing what to do in Florida s heat than in Alaska s cold. One of the reasons for this is based on the fact that our bodies require glucose to function. Glucose is an energy source that powers physical and mental processes. Our bodies work to regulate their own temperature to keep us safe and they use up glucose which is rather limited as it is in this effort. Warming our bodies up...

Discovery of Gene Potentially Involved in Depression Therapy

2013-02-07T18:31:58-07:00

According to a study published in the February 7 edition of Cell Stem Cell scientists at Johns Hopkins University have identified a common mechanism underlying the therapeutic effects of antidepressants and electroconvulsive also known as “electroshock” therapy ECT . Professor Hongjun Song Ph.D. and his team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine s Institute for Cell Engineering identified reductions in the activity of a specific gene as the underlying factor in the efficacy of both sets of treatments. The sFRP3 “secreted frizzled related protein 3” gene is responsible for producing a protein that inhibits a chemical reaction that results in the division of neural stem cells suppressing the activity of this gene results in the formation of new neurons. Through comparisons of normal mice...

Study Claims UV-B Radiation Can Prevent Rheumatoid Arthritis

2013-02-05T14:37:58-07:00

New research that suggests a link between arthritis and lack of sunlight has come out. U.S. researchers published their study in Annals of the Rheumatic Disease recently. In the study over 200 000 women were followed. These women were split into two different groups. The first group s monitoring began in 1976 while the second s began in 1989. Harvard Medical School headed this research which compared levels of UV B radiation of the groups based on where they lived i.e. participants living in sunnier areas vs. those living in climates with less sun exposure. The results of the first group were that those living in the sunniest regions of the U.S. were less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis by 21%. The results of the second group however showed...

Colliding Asteroids to Learn About the Moon

2013-02-02T15:46:41-07:00

Have you ever wanted to design your own while learning about it in the process There currently exists such a game. It s called Selene A Lunar Construction GaME. This game allows users to learn about our own moon s formation while constructing their own moons. As humans living on this planet the moon is one of our few glimpses at a celestial body using only the naked eye. Many people who look at the moon are still at a loss however to understand what the darker spots or grooves on it are. When playing this game the user is able to see how these different aspects of the moon have formed and what they are. Developers of the game have designed it to consist of...

The Increasing Scarcity of Water

2013-01-31T19:20:23-07:00

Based on demands for fresh water right now the International Energy Agency IEA estimates that this strain will double by the year 2035. According to the agency much of this strain is the result of water being used in the production of power using coal. By 2035 they believe that more than half of the world s water usage will be from coal fired power plants. The IEA also maintains that biofuel production will come second using up 30% of the supply. The agency s projections center on the fact that coal plants powered by steam require massive amounts of water. This along with an increase in coal power throughout the world is the reason for the IEA s fears. Although improvements have been made in the coal industry...

DNA: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

2013-01-30T14:47:01-07:00

Scientists have found that not only does DNA store genetic information but that it can store other types of information as well. This is not the first time that this feat has been attempted but the scientists have devised a new technique. Researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute EBI were able to use synthetic DNA molecules to store digital information. These researchers were then able to recreate the information from the DNA without any problems. The files that they used consisted of 154 of Shakespeare s sonnets along with a color digital photo scientific paper and an excerpt from a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. In total the data was 739 kilobytes. This new technique that researchers are using includes software that corrects errors. Their...

A Look Into the Sun's Corona

2013-01-26T12:55:46-07:00

NASA recently spent 5 million to send its Hi C telescope into space for 300 seconds. While most people might think this sounds ridiculous NASA scientists consider this to be quite the bargain for a mission that has relayed so much information. The data received within this 300 seconds might not seem like a lot but the truth is that for a telescope to capture so much about an active region of the sun it is a feat. The Hi C telescope which stands for High Resolution Coronal Imager successfully completed its job. This job was to capture data about the hottest part of the sun the corona. The 300 seconds of observation revealed magnetic braids of plasma which had never yet been seen in the...

The Continued Search for Life on Mars

2013-01-21T18:52:40-07:00

For years we have all been subject to rumors about the possibility of life on Mars. Through the use of advanced technology we have been able to gain amazing amounts of data that support this assertion. One of the reasons scientists support this idea is that ice from water was found on the polar caps of Mars. This was one of the original evidences supporting the concept of life on Mars being plausible. More recently we ve seen evidence on the surface of the planet that liquid water existed in the planet s past. As time goes on we learn more and more about the possibilities that this information holds for us. As for whether it could mean a bright and beautiful future for the human race on the planet...

Future Antibiotics from Cockroaches and Wasps

2013-01-08T18:48:03-07:00

Cockroaches are known across the world as disgusting horrible pests that need to be exterminated. However these dreaded creatures may be able to help in future developments of new antibiotics. The Emerald Wasp The emerald wasp is a parasitic wasp that deposits its larvae inside of the cockroaches. The larvae then feeds on the insect eating it from the inside out. The cockroach however carries many germs that could make the wasp sick and could potentially kill it. So how does the wasp survive these conditions The wasp has evolved to produce a chemical that sanitizes the insides of the bacteria filled roach making it safe for the wasp to eat. This chemical could potentially be used in the future...

Mars 500 Project Sleep Study Results

2013-01-07T18:26:57-07:00

Sleep study results for the 520 day simulated Mars voyage were released today. The results show that those who desire to travel to Mars in the near future need to be prepared for long periods of sleepiness. This Mars 500 project is a cooperative project completed by the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems and the European Space Agency. Six men were sent on a round trip to Mars that was simulated within small isolation chambers. These men were performed jobs and duties that are similar to what would be required on an actual mission to Mars. They had to remain inside of their chambers except for a brief walk onto a simulated Mars site. The human body has not yet adapted to be able to thrive in a spacecraft for such an...

This is how life emerged on Earth!

2012-12-17T08:25:50-07:00

How all life emerged on Earth has always been a source of mystery for researchers and people alike. Finally we have a breakthrough in the mystery as a new research has revealed how metabolism and all life emerged on our planet. Thanks to these researchers we now know that life emerged from Earth’s abiotics and the early geochemical mechanisms were gradually replaced and strengthened by biological ones. Research conducted by Eric Smith a Santa Fe Institute External Professor and Santa Fe Institute Omidyar Fellow Rogier Braakman have synthesized information gathered from branches such as geochemistry biochemistry evolution and ecology to describe the most probable ways with which molecules “decided” to become cells. Readers of the paper titled Logic of Metabolism ...

Hubble lets astronomers identify 7 distant galaxies

2012-12-14T04:47:08-07:00

Astronomers recently peeked in the space using the Hubble telescope and had a closer look at the seven galaxies formed more than 13 billion years ago. Identified as the most distant galaxies on record these galaxies are said to be formed when our universe was relatively new 4% of its existing age. Six of these galaxies were recently identified and one of them named UDFj 39546284 was formed when the universe 380 million years old. A report by telegraph UK notes that it is the furthest back in time that any object in space has ever been identified. This age was estimated by astronomers from the California Institute of Technology who are exploring the exact formation of the earliest galaxies. Apparently back then galaxies were able to “collect”...

Report finds NASA Broken, Offers Plans to Fix it

2012-12-08T17:23:56-07:00

NASA is broken. So says a report produced by a commission commissioned by NASA itself. NASA is so broken in fact that there is no clear way to fix it. The problems are obvious even to the layman NASA has no focus and NASA lacks strong leadership. The administration that once took us to the moon and has managed to land an SUV on Mars is now having trouble convincing foreign space programs programs with far fewer achievements that working with them is a smart move. After NASA pulled out of the EXOMars program its probably going to be ignored altogether. The report s 80 pages are fairly damning of the organization largely echoing a similar report produced by the Augustine Commission...

Small LCD Fits inside a Contact Lens

2012-12-05T11:01:06-07:00

Well Google s Glass might have a smaller window than we previously thought to thrive. A team of scientists has managed to make a tiny LCD panel that is both small enough to fit into a contact lens and durable enough to survive there. To say that this is a major breakthrough would be an understatement. There have been previous attempts at putting pixels in the eye. But most of them relied on LED technology trying to merely get a few LEDs to light up. This new approach makes an entire curved and pixellated display something capable of showing for example a dollar sign. Which by the way was the test pattern they used. it was a nod to the many cartoons...

New Brain Neural Network Reconfigures Itself for Problem Solving

2012-12-04T11:02:11-07:00

We ve seen plenty of neural networks before. heck you probably rely on some without even knowing it. but as cool an application of technology as they are these computer models of organic networks just can t compete with the real thing. But that might be changing. Thanks to some pioneering work recently published in Science the next generation of neural networks might be capable of actually solving real problems rather than just learning to solve one really really niche one. The neural network in question is called SPAUN. It makes do with only 2.5 million nodes in its network a fairly small fraction of the larger networks out there. But for SPAUN its not the numbers that count but the...

There's Ice Water on Mercury, of all Places

2012-12-01T20:50:56-07:00

In another bit of big news to come out of NASA the US space agency has reported that there is water ice on Mercury the closest planet to the sun. Which is quite remarkable. considering that the surface temperature of the sun facing side is 426 degrees Celcius that s quite remarkable. And while the portion in shade is much much cooler Mercury still rotates. It turns out though that craters near the poles of the planet only get a little light remaining in partial shade the whole time. And the the temperatures are cool enough for ice to have collected there. An interesting segue you might notice that 426 degrees isn t actually all that hot considering Mercury s proximity...

Skylon Spaceplane gets ESA approval, One Step Closer to Reality

2012-11-30T15:09:48-07:00

While we might not hear much about spaceplanes these days some companies still think there s potential there. And the major player in that field is Skylon a proposed spaceplane with a hybrid air breathing and rocket engine. Until recently the device was only a proposal a concept undergoing fundamental testing. But now the revolutionary engine that powers the spaceplane has gotten approval from the European Space Agency and the thing has gotten much much more real. The Skylon works like this in the atmosphere two engines suck in air and mix it with fuel just like any jet. These engines accelerate the device to mach 5.5. Using that speed the plane tilts up and aims for an escape vector. Eventually...

Yes, NASA is Working on a Warp Drive

2012-11-28T15:25:57-07:00

Faster than light travel has long been imagined impossible. Its even fallen out of vogue in science fiction thanks to its perceived impossibility. But while the speed of light might be hard and fast it turns out that it might still be possible to exceed it. Clever trickery here we come. Back in 1994 a physicist by the name of Miguel Alcubierre proposed a theoretical loophole in the laws of physics that could let an object move faster than the speed of light without actually you know going all that fast. The idea centers around distorting space time. In front contract it a far bit. Behind stretch it out. Then feed that contracted space time around to the back and you...

Elon Musk Wants to Build a City on Mars

2012-11-27T19:14:22-07:00

What do you do when you have a successful rocket company and billions of dollars to throw around Start talking about building a city on Mars of course At least that s what future world leader Elon Musk has decided to do. The eccentric billionaire talked to the Washington Post briefly about his plans which would result in the founding of an 80 000 person city on Mars. Pretty ambitious considering how hard it was to get Curiosity there Musk expects that people would be willing to pay to the tune of 500 000 to live on Mars. While that might result in a city devoid of a much needed working class he s probably right. He also plans on moving people...

There might be Life on Mars

2012-11-20T18:26:52-07:00

This data is gonna be one for the history books. It s looking really good. So said John Grotzinger the chief investigator for the Curiosity mission. He was referring to data retrieved by the SAM an instrument designed to analyze rocks and determine what they are made of. The latest batch of data has come in and NASA is really really excited about it. So excited in fact they are refusing to tell us anything more than that they are excited which if you re paying attention is when you know that there really is something to be excited about. That s right NASA isn t telling us a thing. They are refusing to share their...

This Planet Orbits No Star

2012-11-14T11:46:00-07:00

Normally when we think planets we imagine them orbiting stars right Well turns out that s not always the case. A recently discovered planet happens to be an orphan floating through the universe without a parent star to wrangle it. We ve long known that such planets are technically possible. Just like with comets things happen that can nudge planets out of their orbits. When that happens the planet is lost in interstellar space. But because there is a lot of space and these planets aren t exactly glowing and we re not looking for them they are hard to spot. But in this case beacause we just happened to be looking in the right spot finding the...