Monday 21 September 2015

Radioactive contaminants found in coal ash

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A new Duke University-led study has revealed the presence of radioactive contaminants in coal ash from all three

The post Radioactive contaminants found in coal ash has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Pairs of supermassive black holes in galaxies may be rarer than previously thought

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Astronomers analyzing new images of 'X-shaped galaxies' conclude that their peculiar shape is less-commonly caused by mergers than was thought. This result could lower the level of gravitational waves coming from such galaxies.
via Science Daily
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Full Moon Poster Print

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High resolution Full Moon Photo from Robsastrophotography

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Observatory: Earth Blamed for Cracks in Moon

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According to a new study, images taken by NASA’s lunar orbiter showed more than 3,200 ridges in the moon, which was found to be 50 yards thinner.










via New York Times

How the harm of climate change could explode exponentially down the road

Science Focus

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About two years ago there was a a political flap about something called "climate sensitivity." Roughly speaking, this is how much global temperature will increase given a certain quantity of greenhouse gas emissions. A low sensitivity means it takes relatively more emissions to increase temperatures, a high sensitivity means the opposite.

Back then, there was a lot of talk about the global warming "pause," since the rise in atmospheric temperatures seemed to have slowed, suggesting that sensitivity might be lower than previously thought. Conservative and centrist writers like Will Wilkinson, Ross Douthat, and Clive Crook seized on this as evidence that climate hawks were mistaken, and that the case for climate policy had been dramatically weakened.

Their analysis was obviously flawed, an error that has only become more glaring after 2014 was measured as the warmest year on record, and with 2015 looking set to beat it handily. Yet there is another reason to return to climate sensitivity, brought up in a recent paper in Geophysical Research Letters. The paper's authors ask: What if there are hidden time bombs in the way that climate sensitivity works? The answer should inform how we think about climate risks.

The paper, by Jonah Bloch-Johnson, Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, and Dorian S. Abbot, is about nonlinear feedbacks. That's not as complicated as it sounds. Most climate models assume that climate sensitivity is linear — that is, temperature will always move proportionally to the greenhouse gases added. In a linear model, if the carbon dioxide concentration doubles, then the temperature would increase by twice some constant.

However, it could be that sensitivity is not linear — meaning the temperature response to a given change in greenhouse gases could be more than simply proportional (or less). Essentially, the authors assume climate sensitivity has a quadratic factor, and imagine what happens:

-ΔF = λΔT + αΔT2

Don't worry about the overall equation, the αΔT2 is the important part. It's basically a fudge factor for the actual nonlinear mechanisms, such as water vapor, and T stands for temperature. Depending on the α, it could seriously change the overall climate behavior. As greenhouse gas concentrations increase, a negative α would make the sensitivity smaller, while a positive one would make it larger.

It's important to note that nonlinearity wouldn't be visible until we have a lot more data on temperature increases. Just like how y=x2 looks pretty straight between x=0 and x=1, any nonlinear factor wouldn't be visible for years, when the curve will start bending.

So why does this matter, if we can't even measure nonlinearity yet? It's true, if this were an anodyne scientific topic — the mating behavior of frogs or something — then it wouldn't be of much import to society or politicians. However, this could potentially be of great importance, since extreme climate change poses a huge threat to world society.

It matters because a large positive α would be an absolute catastrophe. If we're assuming that sensitivity is linear, and therefore that we have a certain amount of running room to emit carbon dioxide before we hit the danger zone, a large α would mean that some or all of that running room is an illusion. We'd go on emitting, and then we'd discover that temperature was increasing much faster than we thought it would.

In other words, this is about risk management. The possibility of nonlinear feedbacks means we should raise our estimate of the likelihood of catastrophic climate change somewhat, and plan accordingly. Even when a great danger is unlikely, it's still worth taking steps to avoid it.

 
#science 
 » see original post http://theweek.com/articles/558645/how-harm-climate-change-could-explode-exponentially-down-road
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Vaccine safety, climate change featured in Republican debate

Science Focus

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Aurich / Getty Images

Ideally, science should inform many of the major policy decisions facing the US. As such, scientific questions are fair game for candidates for office. However, at last night's Republican Presidential candidate debate, scientific questions came up solely because people knew that this field of candidates would say something stupid in response. The field delivered.

The two areas touched on were vaccines and climate change. The former was motivated by Donald Trump's previous public pronouncements linking vaccinations to autism. The latter came up because members of the Republican party seem to have settled on a tactic of admitting they're not scientists and then suggesting that the actual scientists don't know what they're talking about.

Vaccines

The moderator, Jake Tapper, didn't pose the vaccine question to Trump. Instead, he asked Ben Carson, one of the MDs on stage, whether he'd be interested in correcting Trump on his claims regarding vaccines and autism. Carson came through, correctly noting that "there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism."

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

 
#science 
 » see original post http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/09/vaccine-safety-climate-change-featured-in-republican-debate/
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Not Monkeying Around

Science Focus

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Researchers have developed a noninvasive method to image simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication in real-time, in vivo. This

The post Not Monkeying Around has been published on Technology Org.

 
#physics 
 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/jHK-OUdPLZQ/
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Star Birth in Constellation Cygnus, The Swan Rectangular Sticker

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tagged with: envelope sealers, star clusters, nebulae, gstlnrsr, rcw120, breathtaking astronomy images, star nurseries, inspirational stars, ionised gas clouds, star forming regions, galaxies, starfields, eso, european southern observatory, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous star forming region in Constellation Cygnus (The Swan). This Hubble image shows a dust-rich, interstellar gas cloud with a new-born star in the centre of the hour-glass shape. The glowing blue of the hydrogen in this nebula is due to the jets being emitted from the forming star as dust falls into into it and this causes the heating and turbulence of the hydrogen. The star, known as S106 IR, is reaching the end of its birth and will soon enter the much quieter period of adulthood known as the main stage.

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Image code: cygsb

Image credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA

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Spiral Galaxy M96 from Hubble

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

The Cats Eye Nebula - Awesome Space Images Room Sticker

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Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous design featuring a composite image of the Cat's Eye nebula from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
This famous nebula represents a phase of stellar evolution after a star like our Sun runs out of fuel. In this phase, a star becomes an expanding red giant and sheds some of its outer layers, eventually leaving behind a hot core that collapses to form a dense white dwarf star. A fast wind emanating from the hot core rams into the ejected atmosphere, pushes it outward, and creates the graceful filamentary structures.
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image code: tcenebnch

Image credit: NASA/Chandra www.nasa.gov

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i love hubbles law iPad cases

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Cosmic optical illusions

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Space Science Image of the Week: This whirling mix of galaxy arms, bright cores and shining blue gas makes up Arp 194, a turbulent galaxy group in Ursa Major
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/09/Cosmic_optical_illusions_in_Ursa_Major

New protein manufacturing process unveiled

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Researchers from Northwestern University and Yale University have developed a user-friendly technology to help scientists understand how proteins

The post New protein manufacturing process unveiled has been published on Technology Org.

 
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The birds and the beams: Biodiversity at CERN

Op-Ed Contributor: Let’s Not Move to Mars

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Recent plans to colonize the red planet are excessively optimistic. It is a veritable hell for living things.










via New York Times

Full Moon in White Sky Large Poster

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


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High Resolution Full Moon on white background

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Wreath Nebula in our awesome Milky Way Square Sticker

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Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous outer space picture featuring the Wreath Nebula, located in our Milky way near the boundary between the constellations of Perseus and Taurus.
Tiny particles of dust, glowing warmly in the energy being radiated by the new-born star are similar to those in the composition of our Earthly smog. The red cloud is cooler than its environs and likely comprises more metallic elements as well.

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image code: wnmwbpt

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

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Star Birth in Constellation Cygnus, The Swan Room Graphic

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


tagged with: star clusters, nebulae, gstlnrsr, rcw120, breathtaking astronomy images, star nurseries, inspirational stars, ionised gas clouds, galaxies, european southern observatory, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous star forming region in Constellation Cygnus (The Swan). This Hubble image shows a dust-rich, interstellar gas cloud with a new-born star in the centre of the hour-glass shape. The glowing blue of the hydrogen in this nebula is due to the jets being emitted from the forming star as dust falls into into it and this causes the heating and turbulence of the hydrogen. The star, known as S106 IR, is reaching the end of its birth and will soon enter the much quieter period of adulthood known as the main stage.

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

Image code: cygsb

Image credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA

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Light Echo from Star V838 iPad Mini Case

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"[This is] the most recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of an unusual phenomenon in space called a light echo. Light from a star that erupted nearly five years ago continues propagating outward through a cloud of dust surrounding the star. The light reflects or "echoes" off the dust and then travels to Earth."

(qtd. from HubbleSite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2006-50)

Credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Bond (STScI)

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