Tuesday 3 November 2015

Radar images provide details on Halloween asteroid

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The highest-resolution radar images of asteroid 2015 TB145's safe flyby of Earth have been processed and yield new information about its surface features.
via Science Daily
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Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells with Graphene Electrodes

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A researcher has developed the first-ever made semitransparent perovskite solar cells with graphene as electrode. With simple processing techniques, solar cells with high power conversion efficiencies can be fabricated at low cost.
via Science Daily

Astrosat's Soft X-ray Telescope sees first light

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The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT) onboard Astrosat, India's first satellite dedicated to astronomical observations, saw its first light from an astronomical source in a distant galaxy, on Oct. 26. The SXT is India's first X-ray telescope based on doubly reflecting grazing incidence optics, containing 320 mirrors assembled together in 2 sets of 40 co-axial shells.
via Science Daily
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'Magic' plant discovery could lead to growing food in space

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A plant geneticist has discovered the gene in the ancient Australian native tobacco plant Nicotiana benthamiana, known as Pitjuri to Australian indigenous Aboriginals tribes. The discovery was made while tracing the history of the Pitjuri plant, which for decades has been used by geneticists as a model plant upon which to test viruses and vaccines.
via Science Daily
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Seeking Venus under the Spitzkoppe Arch

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Celebrity comet spotted among Gaia’s stars

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A local cosmic celebrity was recently pictured among the multitude of stars and Solar System bodies surveyed by ESA’s Gaia satellite: Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, currently accompanied by another ESA spacecraft, Rosetta.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Gaia/Celebrity_comet_spotted_among_Gaia_s_stars

CERN speaks at UN about the laboratory’s cooperation model

CERN has had observer status at the UN General Assembly since 2012 (Image: CERN)

At the United Nations in Geneva yesterday, in a conference entitled “The CERN Model, United Nations and Global Public Goods” CERN representatives discussed with UN delegates the laboratory’s model for international cooperation. After a welcome by UNOG Director-General (DG) Michael Møller and CERN DG Rolf Heuer, a panel including CERN DG elect Fabiola Gianotti highlighted the importance of CERN’s ‘consensual governance’.

“At CERN, ideas are the drivers of research,” said Gianotti. “At the laboratory, authority comes from intellectual ability, not hierarchy, so any student can contribute to the scientific discussion … people are animated by a strong common passion for science.”

Former CERN DG Herwig Schopper gave examples of how CERN cooperates in the spirit of science for peace. He mentioned how, at the height of the Cold War, CERN was the first western institute to sign agreements with Soviet scientific institutes; and spoke of the success of the SESAME project, currently under construction in Jordan, which brings together scientists in the Middle East to do fundamental research in physics.

UN delegates took the stage for the second and third panel sessions, examining The United Nations and Public Goods and The United Nations model and Global Development. CERN representatives joined the final panel of the day The CERN Model and Climate related issues.

Former president of the CERN Council, Michel Spiro, opened the session, in which Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia spoke of building trust in science. To help tackle the problem of climate change, he said, “A coherent energy policy is required relying on truly innovative scientific development”.

Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that coordination and cooperation between countries sharing meteorological observations has allowed concrete scientific data to be collected and analysed. “No country can work alone in this discipline,” he said. “This is where the CERN model is so pertinent.”

CERN has a long history of cooperation with the United Nations. The laboratory was set up under the auspices of UNESCO, and in 2012 was granted observer status at the UN General Assembly. As a UN observer, CERN will continue to push forward its model of international collaboration for advancing knowledge and innovative technologies.

 


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2015/11/cern-speaks-un-about-laboratorys-cooperation-model

Traveling through space? Don't forget your sleeping pills and skin cream

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A new study is the first-ever examination of the medications used by astronauts on long-duration missions to the International Space Station: the medications they used, the reasons they used them and how well they said the medicines worked were analyzed.
via Science Daily
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