Strange But True
Supersonic skydiver reached 844 mph in record jump
February 5, 2013 8:14 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsSupersonic skydiver Felix Baumgartner was faster than he or anyone else thought during his record-setting jump last October from 24 miles up. The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph, according to official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound. His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.
Researchers synthesize first biologically effective perfume
February 1, 2013 9:17 am | News | CommentsAlthough several hundred different forms of the immune genes exist in humans, individuals only have a few variants which co-determine their typical body odor, their individual “scent”. Scientists in Germany have succeeded in explaining the chemical nature of this individual scent. They have also synthesized it and have tested its effectiveness on people. The results show how perfumes that are completely effective biologically can be produced synthetically without resorting to animal products.
Physicists find new order in quantum electronic material
February 1, 2013 8:36 am | News | CommentsTwo Rutgers physics professors have proposed an explanation for a new type of order, or symmetry, in an exotic material made with uranium. When cooled to near absolute zero, the material’s electrons essentially act like electronic versions of polarized sunglasses. The new theory that explains this strange behavior may one day lead to enhanced computer displays and data storage systems and more powerful superconducting magnets for medical imaging and levitating high-speed trains.
Beer’s bitter compounds could help brew new medicines
January 29, 2013 3:44 pm | News | CommentsResearchers employing a century-old observational technique have determined the precise configuration of humulones, substances derived from hops that give beer its distinctive flavor. That might not sound like a big deal to the average brewmaster, but the findings overturn results reported in scientific literature in the last 40 years and could lead to new pharmaceuticals to treat diabetes, some types of cancer, and other maladies.
DARPA funds research for electronics that disappear
January 28, 2013 5:23 pm | News | CommentsAdvanced electronics are indispensable in modern warfare, but locating and tracking them all on the field of battle is almost impossible. To prevent valuable and strategic technology from falling into enemy hands, DARPA has announced the Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program, which has the aim of improving “transient” electronics, or electronics capable of dissolving into the environment around them.
NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket
January 28, 2013 9:46 am | by Jay Reeves, Associated Press | News | CommentsYoung engineers who weren't even born when the last Saturn V rocket took off for the moon are testing a vintage engine from the Apollo program. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was grounded because of a glitch during a test in Mississippi and later sent to the Smithsonian Institution. Now, NASA engineers are using to get ideas on how to develop the next generation of rockets for future missions to the moon and beyond.
Study: Distant rural areas may feel cities' heat
January 28, 2013 8:33 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsHeat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a new study theorizes. In an unusual twist revealed by computer modeling, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean. The finding stems from the ability of “heat island” energy to change high-altitude currents.
Scientists confirm surprisingly small proton radius
January 25, 2013 11:17 am | by Olivia Meyer-Streng, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics | News | CommentsUsing laser spectroscopy to examine an exotic form of hydrogen, which has a negatively charged muon instead of an electron, physicists at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland have for the first time determined the magnetic radius of the proton. The result significantly different than the one from previous investigations of regular hydrogen.
Study: Digital information can be stored in DNA
January 24, 2013 11:42 am | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsUsing genetic material as their medium, researchers reported Wednesday that they had stored all 154 Shakespeare sonnets, a photo, a scientific paper, and a 26-second sound clip from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. That all fit in a barely visible bit of DNA in a test tube.
Pentagon researches new life for dead satellites
January 23, 2013 10:42 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsWhen satellites retire, certain parts—such as antennas and solar panels—often still work. There's currently no routine effort to salvage and reuse satellite parts once they're launched into space. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is spending $180 million to test technologies that could scavenge defunct communication satellites for their valuable parts and recycle them to build brand new ones for cheap.
Wind in the willows boosts biofuel production
January 21, 2013 9:43 am | News | CommentsA curious characteristic of willows is that when they are cultivated for green energy they can yield five times more biofuel if they grow diagonally, compared with those that grow naturally straight up. Scientists were previously unable to explain why some willows produced more biofuel than others, but researchers have now identified a genetic trait that causes this effect and is activated in some trees when they sense they are at an angle, such as where they are blown sideways in windy conditions.
A light switch inside the brain
January 18, 2013 11:06 am | News | CommentsScientists in Germany and Switzerland have developed an implant that is able to genetically modify specific nerve cells, control them with light stimuli, and measure their electrical activity all at the same time. This new tool relies on an innovative genetic technique that forces nerve cells to change their activity by shining light of different colors onto them.
Space station to get $18 million balloon-like room
January 17, 2013 3:07 pm | by Hannah Dreier, Associated Press | News | CommentsNASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap. A $17.8 million test project will send to the International Space Station an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery.
Researcher uses snail teeth to improve solar cells, batteries
January 16, 2013 2:13 pm | News | CommentsAn assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering is using the teeth of a marine snail found off the coast of California to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.
'Smart' potty or dumb idea? Wacky gadgets at CES
January 9, 2013 6:49 pm | by Barbara Ortutay and Ryan Nakashima, The Associated Press | News | CommentsNot everything there is “high-tech”, but the annual Consumer Electronics Show is a great place to see the newest and most fanciful products to reach the market each year. From the iPotty for toddlers to the 1,600-pound (725-kg) mechanical spider and the host of glitch-ridden "smart" TVs, the International CES show is a forum for gadget makers to take big—and bizarre—chances.
Giant squid captured on video in ocean depths
January 9, 2013 6:24 pm | by Malcolm Foster, Associated Press | News | CommentsAfter years of searching, scientists and broadcasters say they have captured video images of a giant squid in its natural habitat deep in the ocean for the first time. Japanese public broadcaster NHK released photographs of the giant squid this week ahead of Sunday's show about the encounter. The Discovery Channel will air its program on Jan. 27.
A quantum eraser without causality
January 9, 2013 11:23 am | News | CommentsWhether a quantum object behaves like a wave or like a particle depends on the type of measurement performed. When two quantum objects, like photons, are observed, one behaves like a particle or a wave depending on the measurement performed on a second photon. When measurement methods are swapped, information appears to be “erased”. A recent experiment supports this phenomenon even in the absence of causality, when the photons are so far removed that no information can be exchanged between the two.
Stopping leaks the way blood does
January 8, 2013 2:00 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has analyzed the blood clotting process and found, for the first time, exactly how the different molecular components work together to block the flow of blood from a cut. Now, they are working on applying that knowledge to the development of synthetic materials that could be used to control different kinds of liquid flows, and could lead to a variety of new self-assembling materials.
Mock Mars trek finds down-to-Earth sleep woes
January 8, 2013 9:19 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsIn 2010, six volunteers were confined in a cramped mock spaceship in Moscow to simulate a voyage to Mars. They emerged after 17 months, claiming a successful experience, but encountered difficulties in getting enough sleep. A study conducted during the experiment found that the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes
A temperature below absolute zero
January 7, 2013 1:46 pm | News | CommentsAccording to the physical meaning of temperature, the temperature of a gas is determined by the chaotic movement of its particles. At zero kelvin (-273 C) the particles stop moving and all disorder disappears. Thus, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. Nevertheless, researchers in Germany have now created an atomic gas in the laboratory that has negative Kelvin values.
Suspend the crystals, and they grow better
December 21, 2012 12:47 pm | News | CommentsCrystals growing near the bottom of a beaker are subject to convection, but it is much quieter near the top of the beaker. In that case, why not just let them grow hanging in the beaker? A researcher in The Netherlands who had already tried growing crystals in space has used magnets to grow suspended crystals that form more perfectly, allowing better X-ray diffraction.
Gift misgivings? Trust your gut
December 20, 2012 8:06 pm | News | CommentsThe clock is ticking and you still haven't decided what to get that special someone in your life for the holidays. When it comes to those last-minute gift-buying decisions for family and close friends, intuition may be the best way to think your way through to that perfect gift. At least, that’s according to new research from Boston College.
Paper waste used to make bricks
December 20, 2012 11:06 am | News | CommentsResearchers in Spain have mixed waste from the paper industry with ceramic material used in the construction industry. The result is a brick that has low thermal conductivity. Despite is good insulating properties, however, its mechanical resistance still requires improvement.
Physicists achieve elusive “evaporative cooling” of molecules
December 19, 2012 1:55 pm | News | CommentsEvaporative cooling has long been used to cool atoms, but it has never before been done by molecules—two different atoms bonded together. Achieving a goal considered nearly impossible, JILA physicists have done this, chilling a gas of molecules to very low temperatures by adapting the familiar process by which a hot cup of coffee cools.
Closest Sun-like star may have planets
December 19, 2012 10:40 am | News | CommentsAn international team of scientists has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may have five planets. The surprise finding was the result of combining more than 6,000 observations from three different instruments and applying intensive modeling to the data. New techniques allowed the scientists to find signals half the size previously thought possible.
