Friday 7 August 2015

New 2D transistor material made using precision lasers

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Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2)  is a crystalline compound that if pure enough can be used as a transistor.  Its molecular structure is an atomic sandwich made up of one molybdenum atom for every two tellurium atoms[HY1].  It was first made in the 1960’s via several different fabrication methods, but until last year it had never been made in a pure enough form to be suitable for electronics. 
via Science Daily

Salt flat indicates some of the last vestiges of Martian surface water

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Mars turned cold and dry long ago, but researchers have discovered evidence of an ancient lake that likely represents some of the last potentially habitable surface water ever to exist on the Red Planet.
via Science Daily
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NASA / Sun / Prominence / Poster

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tagged with: astronomy, space, exploration, usa, nasa, other, missions, solar, soho

Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) image of a huge, handle-shaped prominence taken on Sept. 14,1999 taken in the 304 angstrom wavelength - Prominences are huge clouds of relatively cool dense plasma suspended in the Sun's hot, thin corona. At times, they can erupt, escaping the Sun's atmosphere. Emission in this spectral line shows the upper chromosphere at a temperature of about 60,000 degrees K. Every feature in the image traces magnetic field structure. The hottest areas appear almost white, while the darker red areas indicate cooler temperatures. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

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Curiosity catches a whiff of methane on Mars — and a possibility of past life

Science Focus

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NASA has revealed that a whiff of methane has been detected twice in the last couple of years at the Martian surface by the Curiosity Rover.

The source of the methane is uncertain. It is not even clear if the methane originated on Mars or arrived there by way of a meteorite that landed on the surface of the red planet, but this is the strongest evidence yet of possible life in its ancient past.

"We have full confidence that there is methane in the atmosphere of Mars," announced John Grotzinger of CalTech, a Curiosity project scientist, on December 16. "Life is one of the few hypotheses for the formation of methane on Mars".

The data that the Curiosity Rover is collecting about what Mars is like today provides strong clues about its history. The first in situ detection shows methane in the Martian atmosphere at a low background level as well as in episodic spikes at 10 times the background concentration.

These latest results were announced at the American Geophysical Union's meeting in San Francisco, a gathering of more than 25,000 Earth and planetary scientists. The findings, published in the journal Science, were obtained through separate periods of daytime sampling in late 2013 and early 2014.

The results were described as "An unexpected episodic increase in the Mars methane" by members of the project. Sushil Atreva, of the University of Michigan said: "A sudden spike and just as suddenly a disappearance of methane tells us that the Mars surface is communicating with the atmosphere."

How did it get there?

There are three likely scenarios for the origin of the methane. The first is alteration of surface organics formed from past life on Mars that have since been broken down by the Sun's ultraviolet rays.

Another is a reaction of water with minerals in the Martian subsurface that created methane from olivine in a process called serpentinisation. Or it could have been delivered from elsewhere in the Solar System as cosmic dust or micrometeorites.

Once produced, it seems most likely that the methane was stored as gas ice-like crystals, called clathrate hydrates, in the subsurface.

Possible pathways for methane on Mars. | (Courtesy NASA/The Conversation UK)

It seems that the methane is periodically destabilized and escapes into the atmosphere. It is distributed across the surface of the planet by winds over the course of a few months, and then oxidized by photochemistry, eventually breaking down to CO2 in the atmosphere. The methane source was described by NASA scientists as localized and small, and they claim that this strongly suggests Mars is currently active.

Now what?

Grotzinger said that NASA doesn't know when methane will next appear but will monitor the surface continuously in a bid to determine how it got there.

The NASA scientists suggest that the methane originates from organic compounds accumulated in the Martian sediment, possibly early in the planet's history, maybe billions of years ago. Loose sediment accumulates organics, they explained, which are degraded by cosmic radiation. Fluids containing oxidising compounds then move through the rock, and the rock undergoes chemical change. Then cosmic radiation destroys the organics.

Instruments on board Curiosity identified a compound called chlorobenzine from samples of dust drilled at the Gale crater. For Roger Summons of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this chlorobenzine is indicative of "more complex organic matter in the sample".

"The stability of the clathrates depends on where are they are in the surface. Small impacts or thermal stresses may have destabilized the clathrates, which may represent ancient methane. They can be stored for billions of years," said Syshil Atreya, from the University of Michigan.

The background levels measured in the Martian gas samples correspond to a total of around 5,000 tons of methane in the entire atmosphere. At their peak, the methane "burps" reached concentrations 10 times this amount. This compares with the much higher amount of methane in Earth's air, which stands at around 500,000,000 tons.

The team is planning further drilling samples to try to characterize the nature of the source of the methane in the trapped sediments.

More from The Conversation UK...

 
#science 
 » see original post http://theweek.com/articles/441447/curiosity-catches-whiff-methane-mars--possibility-past-life
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VIDEO: BBC presenter talks to Cleverbot

Science Focus

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BBC News presenter Philippa Thomas had a conversation with Cleverbot, and its creator Rollo Carpenter. 
#science 
 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30299100#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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How science can improve interrogation

Science Focus

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The release of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program documents the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) against terrorism suspects detained by the agency.

The report concludes that the CIA program was more widespread and egregious than the American public — and Congressional oversight committees — had been led to believe. Not surprisingly, key findings in the report also call into question the claimed efficacy of EITs in eliciting reliable intelligence information.

As a research psychologist who has spent more than a decade assessing the effectiveness of various interview and interrogation methods, I regard release of the Senate report as a uniquely important event. It should encourage us to critically assess the ethical, legal, and scientific basis upon which the EIT program was based. Just as important, it should prompt us to consider how we devise our future interrogation practices.

An absence of scientific scrutiny

The report offers an opportunity for us to reflect upon the events that led to the use of EITs by the CIA, as well as the debate over their purported effectiveness.

While proponents claim these methods are necessary to compel uncooperative subjects to divulge critical information, critical analysis fails to justify their use.

From my perspective, EITs are ethically indefensible. Their use appears to violate both domestic and international law. Furthermore, no scientific assessment of the techniques can be offered to demonstrate their effectiveness in practice.

The report's first finding agreed — the "CIA's use of its enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees." However, the debate between critics and proponents of the program continues, with both sides offering anecdotal evidence to support their claims.

The absence of (and need for) scientific scrutiny on this issue is obvious. Unfortunately, ethical issues once again pervade any such discussion. The ethical conduct of experimental research would preclude any responsible scientist from systematically assessing the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques".

How should one conduct interrogation?

A 2006 Intelligence Science Board concluded that the U.S. government's interrogation practices were largely devoid of any scientific validity.

In fact, existing research into current practices in the U.S. indicates that the use of an accusatorial approach — characterized by accusation, confrontation, and psychological manipulation — can produce false confessions if applied against innocent subjects.

In 2009, the Obama administration created the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), an inter-agency group comprising personnel from the FBI, CIA, and (Defense Intelligence Agency) DIA. The operational mission of the HIG was to conduct interrogations of high-value terrorism suspects. In addition, the HIG was also tasked with developing a research program to assess the effectiveness of current interrogation practices and to develop novel, science-based methods.

Since 2010, I have led a group of internationally renowned psychologists from the U.S., UK, Sweden, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Africa, and the Middle East to do just that. For the past four years, we have worked to develop new methods of intelligence interviewing and interrogation. This research is unclassified and is conducted with the oversight of Human Subjects Review Committees that protect the rights and welfare of study participants. Our group has produced more than 60 studies — from experimental research to interviews and surveys of interrogation professionals and systematic analysis of specific criminal and counterterrorist interrogation interviews.

These studies assess the importance of social relationships, active listening, and personal rapport in extracting information. They have developed methods that enhance memory recall and evaluate what kind of questioning can help an interrogator judge whether a suspect is telling the truth or not. They look at the impact of the interrogation context (how should we set up the interrogation room?), and the role of culture and language (including the influence of interpreters).

We are working with U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to introduce science-based methods into their formal training programs. The good news is that these methods are now being taught to U.S. government personnel.

Our findings clearly show that interrogation strategies that are based on building rapport and seek to understand a suspect's motivation to cooperate are more effective than accusatory practices that look to raise anxiety levels, fabricate evidence, and minimize a suspect's perception of their own culpability. This conclusion is confirmed by the experiences of many highly skilled interrogators. Further, the "information gathering approach," as it is known, preserves the ethical principles of fairness and justice and is legally permissible.

A complete description of the implications of this research is too detailed to be included here. However, the results of our efforts are available to both the scientific and professional communities. Studies conducted by our researchers are being published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both academic and professional meetings. A new publication, Interrogation: Expanding the Frontiers of Research and Practice, shares our findings with interrogation professionals, U.S. government trainers, and the public.

Our research program represents only the beginning of what is possible. Medicine and education have turned to researchers for the development of evidence-based approaches. It is time that the practice of interrogation be similarly informed by scientific scrutiny.

The Conversation

More from The Conversation US...

 
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 » see original post http://theweek.com/articles/441551/how-science-improve-interrogation
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The Active Cigar Galaxy - Messier 82 Rectangular Sticker

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Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

Composite of images of the active galaxy Messier 82 from the three Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears here in blue, infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red. Hubble's observation of hydrogen emission appears in orange. Hubble's bluest observation appears in yellow-green.

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Image code: agmet

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope

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Graphene enables ultrafast laser pulses for spectroscopy, biomedical applications

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An optical fiber laser that emits pulses with durations equivalent to just a few wavelengths of the light used has been developed by researchers. This fastest ever device based on graphene will be ideal for use in ultrafast spectroscopy, and in surgical lasers that avoid heat damage to living tissue.
via Science Daily

Heart-shaped Li-ion battery printed on a cup shows batteries can be printed almost anywhere

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Scientists have developed a new technique that can print batteries on almost any surface, which is expected to be essential for future flexible electronics such as roll-up displays, smart electronic clothing, and Google Glass-type devices. Whereas today's Li-ion batteries can be fabricated only in fixed shapes and sizes, such as cylinders or pouch cells, the new Li-ion batteries can be printed in their entirety—including electrodes and electrolyte—almost anywhere. The researchers even predict that in the future the batteries could be printed with a 3D printer into various 3D shapes.

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Weather reports on the sun could lead to safer space travel

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Astronauts could one day tune in to the morning’s space weather report to see whether they should take that trip to Mars. New research has revealed for the first time that magnetic waves travelling across the Sun’s surface can accelerate solar winds.
via Science Daily
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Full Moon, Full Earth

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The Moon was new on July 16. Its familiar nearside facing the surface of planet Earth was in shadow. But on that date a million miles away, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) captured this view of an apparently Full Moon crossing in front of a Full Earth. In fact, seen from the spacecraft's position beyond the Moon's orbit and between Earth and Sun, the fully illuminated lunar hemisphere is the less familiar farside. Only known since the dawn of the space age, the farside is mostly devoid of dark lunar maria that sprawl across the Moon's perpetual Earth-facing hemisphere. Only the small dark spot of the farside's Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow) is clear, at the upper left. Planet Earth's north pole is near 11 o'clock, with the North America visited by Hurricane Dolores near center. Slight color shifts are visible around the lunar edge, an artifact of the Moon's motion through the field caused by combining the camera's separate exposures taken in quick succession through different color filters. While monitoring the Earth and solar wind for space weather forcasts, about twice a year DSCOVR can capture similar images of Moon and Earth together as its crosses the orbital plane of the Moon.

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Eye in Orion Black Handle Acoustic Guitar Wall Decals

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Abstract digital artwork inspired by one of NASA/Hubble's images of the Orion Nebula on the shape of an acoustic guitar.

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Hubble Sees a Cosmic Caterpillar iPad Air Covers

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


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A new technique for making 2D transistors from dual-phase TMD crystals

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Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2)  is a crystalline compound that, if pure enough, can be used as a transistor. Its molecular structure is an atomic sandwich made up of one molybdenum atom for every two tellurium atoms.  It was first made in the 1960s via several different fabrication methods, but until last year, it had never been made in a pure enough form to be suitable for electronics. 

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Lab Develops New Device For Studying Cells

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While studying latent HIV cells, researchers in the laboratory of Prof. Kathryn Miller-Jensen have developed a device that

The post Lab Develops New Device For Studying Cells has been published on Technology Org.

 
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TEST POSTER

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Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Rectangular Sticker

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tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, peel off, carina nebula, argos navis constellation, carina the keel, star formation, gas clouds, carnebngcttst, ngc 3372

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).
The original image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

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image code: carnebngcttst

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope; colour data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile

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Cosmic Orion Nebula Electric Guitar Wall Skins

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Space image of the Orion Nebula on the shape of an electric guitar.

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Hubble Deep Field Image at Full Resolution iPad Cases

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