Steps into Space - Commercialisation, Occupation, Colonization: 09/22/14

Monday, 22 September 2014

Finding hints of gravitational waves in the stars

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Scientists have shown how gravitational waves -- invisible ripples in the fabric of space and time that propagate through the universe -- might be 'seen' by looking at the stars. The new model proposes that a star that oscillates at the same frequency as a gravitational wave will absorb energy from that wave and brighten, an overlooked prediction of Einstein's 1916 theory of general relativity. The study contradicts previous assumptions about the behavior of gravitational waves.

via Science Daily

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NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet

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NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft successfully entered Mars' orbit at 7:24 p.m. PDT (10:24 p.m. EDT) Sunday, Sept. 21, where it now will prepare to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere as never done before. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars.

via Science Daily

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SpaceX Dragon spacecraft lifts off with scientific cargo for International Space Station

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An eruption of fire and smoke sent a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft skyward laden with 5,000 pounds of scientific equipment and supplies destined for use by the crew of the International Space Station.

via Science Daily

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Breezy science, plant studies and more head to space station on SpaceX-4

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Imagine a dragon flying through the heavens on mighty, outstretched wings. The majestic beast knows the currents of winds and how to harness their power as it soars above the clouds. SpaceX's real Dragon -- the company's spacecraft that transports supplies and science to the International Space Station (ISS) -- will deliver, and later return, new technology, biology and biotechnology and Earth and space science research to the orbiting outpost.

via Science Daily

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Researchers exploring collagen growth

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Wonmuk Hwang Research by a biomedical engineer at Texas A&M University is shedding light on how collagen grows

The post Researchers exploring collagen growth has been published on Technology Org.

#materials
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Engineers unlock potential for faster computing

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Engineers discovered a way to create a special material -- a metal layer on top of a silicon semiconductor -- that could lead to cost-effective, superfast computers that perform lightning-fast calculations but don’t overheat. This new "topological insulator" behaves like an insulator on the inside but conducts electricity on the outside.

via Science Daily

Graphene imperfections key to creating hypersensitive 'electronic nose'

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Researchers have discovered a way to create a highly sensitive chemical sensor based on the crystalline flaws in graphene sheets. The imperfections have unique electronic properties that the researchers were able to exploit to increase sensitivity to absorbed gas molecules by 300 times.

via Science Daily

Study Confirms Criticism of Big Bang Finding

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Astronomers who say they detected ripples from the Big Bang appear to have underestimated the extent to which interstellar dust could have contaminated their results.

via New York Times

Hubble's Deepest View of Galaxies Poster

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

Hubble's Deepest View of Galaxies Poster

tagged with: astronomy, space, hubble, galaxy, galaxies, stars, outer space, prints, posters, telescope, science, scientific, discovery, discoveries, technology

Hubble's Deepest View of Galaxies Print December 8, 2009: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made the deepest image of the universe ever taken in near-infrared light. The faintest and reddest objects in the image are galaxies that formed 600 million years after the Big Bang. No galaxies have been seen before at such early times. The new deep view, taken in late August 2009, also provides insights into how galaxies grew in their formative years early in the universe's history. The image was taken in the same region as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), which was taken in 2004 and is the deepest visible-light image of the universe. Hubble's newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) collects light from near-infrared wavelengths and therefore looks even deeper into the universe, because the light from very distant galaxies is stretched out of the ultraviolet and visible regions of the spectrum into near-infrared wavelengths by the expansion of the universe. Courtesy:NASA.

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Google branches out from D-Wave in quantum computing initiative

Science Focus

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Erik Lucero

Google was one of the early backers of a new approach to quantum computing adopted by a company called D-Wave. The company offers boxes that perform a process called quantum annealing instead of the more typical approach, which involves encoding information in a quantum state of a collection of entangled qubits. Although whatever D-Wave is doing is clearly quantum, it's still not clear that it offers a speedup compared to classical computers.

So rather than keeping all its eggs in D-Wave's basket, Google's "Quantum A.I. Lab" announced that it is starting a collaboration with an academic quantum computing researcher, John Martinis of the University of California-Santa Barbara. Martinis' group focuses on creating fault-tolerant qubits using a solid-state superconducting structure called a Josephson junction. By linking several of these junctions and spreading a single quantum state across them, it's possible to reach fidelities of over 99 percent when it comes to storing the quantum state.

Quantum states tend to be fragile and decay when they interact with their environment, so a lot of labs are working on making qubits that are more robust or have error correcting ability. Josephson junctions are one possible approach to this, but they have the advantage of being on familiar turf for computing companies, since they can be made by standard fabrication techniques (although they still need to be chilled to near absolute zero).

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» see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/OsPY1Q5XVVw/
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Topological devices as an enabler of dissipationless electronics

Science Focus

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When a strong magnetic field is applied to a layered semiconductor device, a current flow emerges without any

The post Topological devices as an enabler of dissipationless electronics has been published on Technology Org.

#physics
» see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/BzJA_rb65ZM/
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How best to follow TEDxCERN this week

CERN is hosting its second TEDxCERN event this Wednesday 24 September. While the main programme will take place on CERN's Meyrin site in Geneva, Switzerland, all the talks will be webcast live from 1.30pm CEST on the CERN homepage and on the TEDxCERN website. You, the online audience, are invited to participate through social media.

Participating institutes will also be streaming Wednesday's event at viewing parties around the world. Find a viewing party near you.

TEDxCERN 2014 will demonstrate how science is essential in shaping the landscape that future generations will navigate. The theme this year is ‘Forward: Charting the future with science’ and the talks will build a bold, new vision for tomorrow. The programme has three sessions – ADAPT, CHANGE, CREATE – and is available online.

Speakers at the event include biotechnologist Hayat Sindi, cardiopad inventor Arthur Zang, innovator Topher White, plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff, nano technologist Sonia Trigueros, science philosopher Robert Crease and teen scientist Jamie Edwards, among others. ATLAS physicist and BBC TV-presenter Brian Cox will host.

TEDxCERN has also produced three animations with TED-Ed this year, all of which will premiere during the main event. The first of the animations will be released online tomorrow, followed by the remaining two later in the week.

Keep checking for updates about TEDxCERN this week!

via CERN: Updates for the general public

http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/09/how-best-follow-tedxcern-week

Carina Nebula - Breathtaking Universe Sticker

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

Carina Nebula - Breathtaking Universe Sticker

tagged with: stlrnrsry, star clusters, galaxies, starfields, awesome astronomy pictures, constellation puppis, the stern, star nurseries, exploring outer space, universe pictures, european southern observatory, nebulae, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

A gorgeous set of oval stickers showing the area surrounding the stellar cluster NGC 2467, located in the southern constellation of Puppis ("The Stern"). With an age of a few million years at most, it is a very active stellar nursery, where new stars are born continuously from large clouds of dust and gas.

The image, looking like a colourful cosmic ghost or a gigantic celestial Mandrill, contains the open clusters Haffner 18 (centre) and Haffner 19 (middle right: it is located inside the smaller pink region - the lower eye of the Mandrill), as well as vast areas of ionised gas.

The bright star at the centre of the largest pink region on the bottom of the image is HD 64315, a massive young star that is helping shaping the structure of the whole nebular region.

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ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Name, Witch Head Nebula deep space astronomy image Wrapping Paper

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Name, Witch Head Nebula deep space astronomy image Wrapping Paper

tagged with: star galaxies, outer space picture, deep space astronomy, wtchneb, witch head nebula, screaming witch, cursing witch, nasa space photograph, faces in space, witches curse

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A witch appears to be screaming out into space in this image from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The infrared portrait shows the Witch Head nebula, named after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked witch. Astronomers say the billowy clouds of the nebula, where baby stars are brewing, are being lit up by massive stars. Dust in the cloud is being hit with starlight, causing it to glow with infrared light, which was picked up by WISE's detectors.
The Witch Head nebula is estimated to be hundreds of light-years away in the Orion constellation, just off the famous hunter's knee.
WISE was recently "awakened" to hunt for asteroids in a program called NEOWISE. The reactivation came after the spacecraft was put into hibernation in 2011, when it completed two full scans of the sky, as planned.
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Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Earth at Equinox

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Horsehead Nebula Room Decal

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

Horsehead Nebula Room Decal

tagged with: horsehead nebula, dark nebula, nebulae, space, astronomy, space exploration, universe, cosmic, milky way galaxy, outer space

A reproduction of a composite colour image of the Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 in emission nebula IC 434) and its immediate surroundings. It's based on three exposures in the visual part of the spectrum with the FORS2 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m KUEYEN telescope at Paranal. The Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest west on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Williamina Fleming.
Credit: ESO

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V838 Monocerotis Hubble Space Telescope iPad Mini Cover

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!

V838 Monocerotis Hubble Space Telescope iPad Mini Cover

tagged with: v838, monocerotis, hubble, astronomy, space, hubble space telescope, nasa, light echo

In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The mysterious star, called V838 Monocerotis, has long since faded back to obscurity. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of a phenomenon called a "light echo" around the star have uncovered remarkable new features. These details promise to provide astronomers with a CAT-scan-like probe of the three-dimensional structure of shells of dust surrounding an aging star. Sign up to Mr. Rebates for FREE and save 12% on any zazzle order in addition to a $5.00 sign up bonus All Rights Reserved; without: prejudice, recourse or notice (U.C.C. 1-308) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V838_Mon_HST.jpg v838 monocerotis hubble astronomy space "hubble space telescope" nasa "light echo"

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Quantum mechanics to charge your laptop?

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Top scientists from UC Berkeley and MIT found the expertise they lacked at FIU. They invited Sakhrat Khizroev, a professor with appointments in both medicine and engineering, to help them conduct research as part of their NSF-funded Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science.

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A cosmic hurricane

Space Science Image of the Week: Captivating Cassini view of Saturn’s hexagon, a storm that has raged for decades

via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/09/A_cosmic_hurricane

Buckyballs and diamondoids join forces in tiny electronic gadget

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Illustration of a buckydiamondoid molecule under a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). In this study the STM made images

The post Buckyballs and diamondoids join forces in tiny electronic gadget has been published on Technology Org.

#materials
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A nanosized hydrogen generator

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Researchers have created a small scale “hydrogen generator” that uses light and a two-dimensional graphene platform to boost production of the hard-to-make element. The research also unveiled a previously unknown property of graphene. The two-dimensional chain of carbon atoms not only gives and receives electrons, but can also transfer them into another substance.

via Science Daily

Vintage Astronomy, Phases of the Moon with Sun Print

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

Vintage Astronomy, Phases of the Moon with Sun Print

tagged with: vintage, moon, sun, celestial, sky, nostalgic, retro, earth, nostalgia, americana

Vintage illustration astronomy celestial image featuring the different phases of the moon around the earth and the sun.

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Midterm Calculus: In Senate Battle, the Wild Cards Become Alaska and Kansas

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The two states would probably decide the election if it were held today, and they pose unusual challenges for election forecasters.

via New York Times

Midterm Calculus: Court Ruling in Kansas Makes Senate Race a True Tossup

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The basic contours of the race are consistent with the serious possibility of an independent victory, a victory that could decide Senate control.

via New York Times

Name, The Rings of Gas Giant Saturn - solar system Gift Wrap Paper

Get your out-of-this-world gift wrap here! Perfect for Christmas gifts for anyone who is fascinated by what the universe holds in store for us!

Name, The Rings of Gas Giant Saturn - solar system Gift Wrap Paper

tagged with: star galaxies, astronomy pictures, strnmxtlt, outer space picture, hubble space image, rings of saturn, gas giant astronomy, solar system planet, ice particles, planetary bodies, planet, rocky debris

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A stunning image of Saturn, taken when the planet's rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the Sun, much the same way Earth does. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. This means that approximately every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn's South Pole and the southern side of the planet's rings. Between March and April 2003, researchers took full advantage to study the gas giant at maximum tilt. They used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of Saturn's Southern Hemisphere and the southern face of its rings.
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Image credit: NASA (Hubble Telescope) and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

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Trifid Nebula, Messier 16 Rectangle Sticker

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

Trifid Nebula, Messier 16 Rectangle Sticker

tagged with: breathtaking astronomy images, star forming nebulae, trfdnbl, star nurseries, galaxies, nebulae, star factory, trifid nebula, star clusters, heavens, factories for stars, eso, vista, european southern observatory

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A fantastic picture from our universe featuring the massive star factory known as the Trifid Nebula.

It was captured in all its glory with the Wide-Field Imager camera attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
So named for the dark dust bands that trisect its glowing heart, the Trifid Nebula is a rare combination of three nebulae types that reveal the fury of freshly formed stars and point to more star birth in the future. The field of view of the image is approximately 13 x 17 arcminutes.
It's an awe-inspiring, breathtaking image that reveals some of the wonder that is our universe.

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image code: trfdnbl

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Crab Nebula Wall Sticker

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

Crab Nebula Wall Sticker

tagged with: crab nebula, supernova, remnant, pulsar, wind nebula, nebulae, space, astronomy, universe

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus.

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Hubble iPad case

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Hubble iPad case

tagged with: hubble

Hubble

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