Friday 11 July 2014

New ultrastiff, ultralight material developed

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What’s the difference between the Eiffel Tower and the Washington Monument? Both structures soar to impressive heights, and each was the world’s tallest building when completed. But the Washington Monument is a massive stone structure, while the Eiffel Tower achieves similar strength using a lattice of steel beams and struts that is mostly open air, gaining its strength from the geometric arrangement of those elements. A visualization shows a full array of the unit cells, which produces a material that is exceptionally light while also having exceptional strength and stiffness. This microscope image shows a single unit of the structure developed by the team, called a stretch-dominated octet truss unit cell, made from a polymer using 3-D microstereolithography.Photo courtesy of the researchers Now engineers at MIT and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have devised a way to translate that airy, yet remarkably strong, structure down to the microscale — designing a system that could be fabricated from a variety of materials, such as metals or polymers, and that may set new records for stiffness for a given weight. The new design is described in the journal Science by MIT’s Nicholas Fang; former postdoc Howon Lee, now an assistant professor at Rutgers University;

The post New ultrastiff, ultralight material developed has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Solar System 2 Posters

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ImageID: 42-17990563 / Tim Kiusalaas / Corbis / Solar System /

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Changing farming practices could cut the intensity of heat waves

Science Focus

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As the Earth's climate continues to warm, the elevated temperatures can put a strain on agriculture. Although an increase in the average temperature can harm crops, it's the details obscured by that average that can cause the biggest problems: more—and more extended—periods of extreme temperatures often harm crops far more than raising the typical temperature a fraction of a degree.

Fortunately, as a team of Swiss and French researchers have determined, the opposite may also be true. They've identified a simple agricultural practice that does little to alter the average temperature of farming areas. But it does have a strong effect on extreme temperatures, lowering them by nearly 2°C. That should be enough to keep existing crops viable for longer in the face of future climate change.

The technique in question is called "no-till farming," and it simply involves leaving the debris from previous crops on the surface of the fields rather than plowing the fields and exposing the soil underneath. Observations of test agricultural fields indicate that no-till practices have several effects. To begin with, the debris tends to retain moisture, which limits evaporation; since evaporation cools the surface, this tends to have a warming effect. But this warming is extremely limited on the hottest days, when the intense heat drives evaporation even when plant debris is present.

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 » see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/27PjyoIu-Ic/
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Theorists propose globally networked entangled atomic clock

Science Focus

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The concept of world-wide quantum clock network. Credit: Nature Physics (2014) doi:10.1038/nphys3000 A small team of physicists from the U.S. and Denmark has published a paper in the journal Nature Physics outlining the idea of a collection of atomic clocks located around the world—all networked via entangled particles. They propose that such a system of clocks would be far more accurate than anything that exists today. The idea of networking clocks involves two areas of research—atomic clocks and entanglement. Atomic clocks are of course the most accurate time devices available today—they track time by measuring the resonance frequency of atoms—generally caesium. And entanglement is where pairs of particles are linked in ways that are still not fully understood—what happens to one automatically happens to the other, regardless of distance. To make a global networked clock, the researchers propose, would involve setting up a bunch of atomic clocks at various sites around the globe (and one or more in space) and then entangling particles between each of them, one after the other. The result would be a single clock that would be more precise than any of its component clocks. That would be possible, the team notes, because entanglement would allow for reduced measurement noise

The post Theorists propose globally networked entangled atomic clock has been published on Technology Org.

 
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 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/RZqOs8-rrAE/
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Academics 'Yes' vote research fears

Science Focus

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Medical and scientific research across the UK will suffer if Scotland votes for independence, claim the heads of three academic institutions. 
#science 
 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-28174633#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, galaxy, envelope sealers, dorneblmc, stellar nursery, r136, 30 doradus nebula, massive stars, large magellanic cloud, star cluster, amazing hubble images, tarantula nebula

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds in appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

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Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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Venus Express rises again

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After a month surfing in and out of the atmosphere of Venus down to just 130 km from the planet’s surface, ESA’s Venus Express is about to embark on a 15 day climb up to the lofty heights of 460 km.




via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_rises_again

Spotty Sunrise over Brisbane

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In this composite cityscape, dawn's first colors backdrop the lights along Brisbane's skyline at the southeastern corner of Queensland, Australia, planet Earth. Using a solar filter, additional exposures made every 3.5 minutes follow the winter sunrise on July 8 as planet-sized sunspots cross the visible solar disk. The sunspots mark solar active regions with convoluted magnetic fields. Even as the maximum in the solar activity cycle begins to fade, the active regions produce intense solar flares and eruptions launching coronal mass ejections (CMEs), enormous clouds of energetic particles, into our fair solar system.

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Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) Wall Sticker

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: le0065, nasa, etoiles, les etoiles, astronomy, science, nebula, hubble, space, scientific, outer space, deep space, nebulae, dark, hst, hubble telescope, sky, cone, hubble space telescope, red, blue, black, white, pretty, unusual, strange, celestial

"Resembling a nightmarish beast rearing its head from a crimson sea, this monstrous object is actually an innocuous pillar of gas and dust. Called the Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) — so named because, in ground-based images, it has a conical shape — this giant pillar resides in a turbulent star-forming region.

This picture, taken by the newly installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the upper 2.5 light-years of the nebula, a height that equals 23 million roundtrips to the Moon."

(qtd. from Hubblesite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2002-11)

Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA

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Earth-Building Bridgmanite: Our planet’s most abundant mineral now has a name

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Deep below the earth’s surface lies a thick, rocky layer called the mantle, which makes up the majority of our planet’s volume. For decades, scientists have known that most of the lower mantle is a silicate mineral with a perovskite structure that is stable under the high-pressure and high-temperature conditions found in this region. Although synthetic examples of this composition have been well studied, no naturally occurring samples had ever been found in a rock on the earth’s surface. Thanks to the work of two scientists, naturally occurring silicate perovskite has been found in a meteorite, making it eligible for a formal mineral name. The mineral, dubbed bridgmanite, is named in honor of Percy Bridgman, a physicist who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his fundamental contributions to high-pressure physics. “The most abundant mineral of the earth now has an official name,” says Chi Ma, a mineralogist and director of the Geological and Planetary Sciences division’s Analytical Facility at Caltech. “This finding fills a vexing gap in the taxonomy of minerals,” adds Oliver Tschauner, an associate research professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas who identified the mineral together with Ma. High-pressure and temperature experiments, as well as seismic

The post Earth-Building Bridgmanite: Our planet’s most abundant mineral now has a name has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Bizarre nearby blast mimics Universe’s most ancient stars

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ESA’s XMM-Newton observatory has helped to uncover how the Universe’s first stars ended their lives in giant explosions.




via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Bizarre_nearby_blast_mimics_Universe_s_most_ancient_stars

Hi-ho! Astronomers discover seven dwarf galaxies with new telescope

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Meet the seven new dwarf galaxies. Astronomers, using a new type of telescope made by stitching together telephoto lenses, recently discovered seven celestial surprises while probing a nearby spiral galaxy. The previously unseen galaxies may yield important insights into dark matter and galaxy evolution, while possibly signaling the discovery of a new class of objects in space.

via Science Daily

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NASA spacecraft observes further evidence of dry ice gullies on Mars

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Repeated high-resolution observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate the gullies on Mars' surface are primarily formed by the seasonal freezing of carbon dioxide, not liquid water. The first reports of formative gullies on Mars in 2000 generated excitement and headlines because they suggested the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet, the eroding action of which forms gullies here on Earth. Mars has water vapor and plenty of frozen water, but the presence of liquid water on the neighboring planet, a necessity for all known life, has not been confirmed.

via Science Daily

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Orbital Sciences’ second mission to deliver delights to space station

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Satellites, Girl Scouts and good ole Charlie Brown highlight Orbital Sciences Corporation's second commercial resupply voyage to the International Space Station. The mission, Orbital-2, will both deliver new scientific investigations to the space station, as well as help build upon and expand prior studies. The launch of Orbital's Antares rocket is planned for July 12 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. Antares is schedule to deliver the Cygnus spacecraft to the space station on July 15.

via Science Daily

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NASA’s newest near Earth network antenna is operational

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A ribbon-cutting ceremony near the base of the new NASA antenna within the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) marked the official beginning for the Near Earth Network (NEN) asset. Operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), the facility is a prime polar location for NASA and part of its globally distributing ground-based network providing communication services for orbiting spacecraft.

via Science Daily

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Radio-burst discovery deepens astrophysics mystery

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The discovery of a split-second burst of radio waves by scientists using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico provides important new evidence of mysterious pulses that appear to come from deep in outer space. Exactly what may be causing such radio bursts represents a major new enigma for astrophysicists.

via Science Daily

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Hubble spots spiral bridge of young stars linking two ancient galaxies

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed an unusual structure 100,000 light-years long, which resembles a corkscrew-shaped string of pearls and winds around the cores of two colliding galaxies. The unique structure of the star spiral may yield new insights into the formation of stellar superclusters that result from merging galaxies and gas dynamics in this rarely seen process.

via Science Daily

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New window into high-energy processes on the sun

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Understanding the sun from afar isn't easy. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft -- which orbits Mercury, and so is as close as 28 million miles from the sun versus Earth's 93 million miles -- is near enough to the sun to detect solar neutrons that are created in solar flares.

via Science Daily

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Milky Way Galaxy Posters

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


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ImageID: 42-20484565 / NASA / JPL-Caltech/Corbis / Milky Way Galaxy

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Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Rectangle Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: galaxies, dorneblmc, stellar nursery, 30 doradus nebula, large magellanic cloud, amazing hubble images, tarantula nebula, r136, star cluster, astronomy pictures, massive stars

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds in appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

more items with this image
more items in the Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

image code: dorneblmc

Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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Cute cartoon Planet with rings Wall Decals

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Cute cartoon Planet with rings infront of a Nebula and twinkling stars.

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Tarantula Nebula Large Magellanic Cloud iPad Mini Cases

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tagged with: space, galaxy, science, astronomy, universe, geek, hubble, galaxies, nebula, stars

Brash young stars vie for attention in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a rowdy stellar nursery located in the heart of the Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus). Early astronomers gave the nebula this descriptive nickname because its glowing, spindly filaments look like spider legs.

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