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Show Notes:

Tales of an IT professional sailing around the Antarctic loop – sent in by Eric Miller

• CTD device – A CTD or Sonde is an oceanography instrument used to measure the conductivity, temperature, and pressure of seawater (the D stands for “depth,” which is closely related to pressure). The reason to measure conductivity is that it can be used to determine the salinity.

• Had to reinstall software for a winch to get it working

• Registered a new website and webmail and created a custom email solution so scientists would remotely access their email

security.txt – an RFC in the making

• Based on /.well-known/ of RFC5785 and similar in nature to robots.txt

• JSON was discussed, but dismissed

• CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) will be used

• Versioning of security.txt by third parties

• Generation utilities have been created](https://github.com/EdOverflow/security-txt/issues/10)

Dumping Data from Deep-Insert Skimmers

• Deep-insert skimmers

• Romanian links to US crime

• European data skimmed from cards, then used in US because chip technology is not widely deployed there

• ‘wands’ inserted deep into the ATM to retrieve data

Feedback

• re Database migrations in Episode 332 jungle boogie writes in to mention Sqitch github by David Wheeler. JB says “This is a program written in perl and looks to have support for many databases”. JB also mentioned [pgBackRest](https://www.pgbackrest.org/] github

• Gary Foard writes in about a command line utility called shred. He uses to erase laptops from a live Linux disc. I checked the FreeBSD manual pages to check it’s there also, and it is – although I had to search for gshred instead of shred to find shred which I find weird. – See sysutils/coreutils in the FreeBSD Ports tree. – Dan notes: not recommended for erasing files any more. Not feasible for COW filesystems.

• prime62 mentioned on the TechSNAP sub-reddit mentioned some password hashing/salting resources: Salted Password Hashing – Doing it Right and The definitive guide to form-based website authentication

• Also seen on Reddit: There is no point [on max password lengths] since the field is hashed.

Round Up:

• Mobile operators deploying portable Cell-On-Wheels/Cell-On-Truck units along eclipse path to handle huge data usage of photos and streaming

• Security Keys

• 83601 is a supervisor number

• Brian Krebs Fan Creates New Cryptocurrency Miner for Linux Devices

• Random Thoughts – next release of OpenSSL see Password Strength

• Create randomly insecure VMs

• This algorithm cleverly recreates 3D objects from tiny 2D images

The post Rsync On Ice | TechSNAP 333 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

We take a look at a HIV-infected infant that is \”Functionally Cured,\” a really old star, one big Antarctic meteorite, renaming a NASA center, an update on a private Mars mission and the Dragon space station supply mission, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

\”Functional Cure\” in an HIV-Infected Infant

• A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children\’s Center has described the first case of a so-called \”functional cure\” in an HIV-infected infant
• The infant described in the report underwent remission of HIV infection after receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 30 hours of birth
• Natural Viral Suppression
• Natural viral suppression without treatment is an exceedingly rare phenomenon observed in less than half a percent of HIV-infected adults
• HIV experts have long sought a way to help all HIV patients achieve elite-controller status
• \”Elite controllers,\” whose immune systems are able to rein in viral replication and keep the virus at clinically undetectable levels
• Functionally Cured
• \”Functionally cured,\” a condition that occurs when a patient achieves and maintains long-term viral remission without lifelong treatment and standard clinical tests fail to detect HIV replication in the blood
• A functional cure occurs when viral presence is so minimal, it remains undetectable by standard clinical tests, yet discernible by ultrasensitive methods
• Sterilizing Cure
• A sterilizing cure-a complete eradication of all viral traces from the body
• A single case of sterilizing cure has been reported so far in an HIV-positive man treated with a bone marrow transplant for leukemia.
• The bone marrow cells came from a donor with a rare genetic mutation of the white blood cells that renders some people resistant to HIV
• Such a complex treatment approach, however, HIV experts agree, is neither feasible nor practical for the 33 million people worldwide infected with HIV
• Medical Details
• The child described was born to an HIV-infected mother and received combination antiretroviral treatment beginning 30 hours after birth.
• A series of tests showed progressively diminishing viral presence in the infant\’s blood, until it reached undetectable levels 29 days after birth
• The infant remained on antivirals until 18 months of age, at which point the child was lost to follow-up for a while
• Ten months after discontinuation of treatment, the child underwent repeated standard blood tests, none of which detected HIV presence in the blood
• Test for HIV-specific antibodies-the standard clinical indicator of HIV infection-also remained negative
• Antiviral Treatment
• Investigators say the prompt administration of antiviral treatment likely led to this infant\’s cure by halting the formation of hard-to-treat viral reservoirs
• Prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure may help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without lifelong treatment by preventing such viral hideouts from forming in the first place
• Dormant cells are responsible for re-igniting the infection in most HIV patients within weeks of stopping therapy
• Researchers say they believe this is precisely what happened in the child described in the report
• What This Means
• Currently, high-risk newborns-those born to mothers with poorly controlled infections or whose mothers\’ HIV status is discovered around the time of delivery-receive a combination of antivirals at prophylactic doses to prevent infection for six weeks and start therapeutic doses if and once infection is diagnosed
• This particular case may change the current practice because it highlights the curative potential of very early ART
• Investigators caution they don\’t have enough data to recommend change right now to the current practice of treating high-risk infants
• This infant\’s case provides the rationale to start proof-of-principle studies in all high-risk newborns
• The next step is to find out if this is a highly unusual response to very early antiretroviral therapy or something we can actually replicate in other high-risk newborns
• Researchers say preventing mother-to-child transmission remains the primary goal as they already have proven strategies that can prevent 98 percent of newborn infections by identifying and treating HIV-positive pregnant women
• Multimedia
• Image Scanning electromicrograph of an HIV-infected T cell. (Credit: NIAID) | ScienceDaily.com
• Further Reading / In the News
• Researchers describe first \’functional HIV cure\’ in an infant | MedicalXpress
• Synthesized compound flushes out latent HIV | MedicalXpress
• Researchers Describe First \’Functional HIV Cure\’ in an Infant | ScienceDaily.com

— NEWS BYTE —

A Star That’s Almost as Old as the Universe

• Results from a new study show that a metal-poor star located merely 190 light-years from the Sun is 14.46+-0.80 billion years old, which implies that the star is nearly as old as the Universe
• Such metal-poor stars are important to astronomers because they set an independent lower limit for the age of the Universe and can be used to corroborate age estimates inferred by other means
• Amount of Metal vs Age of Star
• Metal-poor stars can be used to constrain the age of the Universe because metal-content is typically a proxy for age
• Heavier metals are generally formed in supernova explosions, which pollute the surrounding interstellar medium.
• Stars subsequently born from that medium are more enriched with metals than their predecessors with each successive generation becoming increasingly enriched
• The reliability of the age determined is likewise contingent on accurately determining the sample’s metal content, and is likewise contingent on the availability of a reliable distance
• Analyses of globular clusters and the Hubble constant yielded vastly different ages, by billions of years, for the Universe, the discrepant ages stemmed partly from uncertainties in the cosmic distance scale
• HD 140283
• HD 140283 exhibits less than 1% the iron content of the Sun, which provides an indication of its sizable age.
• Based on the microwave background and the Hubble constant, it must have formed soon after the big bang
• This star had been used previously to constrain the age of the Universe, but uncertainties tied to its estimated distance (at that time) made the age determination somewhat imprecise
• Scientists were recently also to obtain a new and improved distance for HD 140283 using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), namely via the trigonometric parallax approach
• From that data the distance uncertainty for HD 140283 was significantly reduced by comparison to existing estimates, thus resulting in a more precise age estimate for the star
• The age of HD 140283 does not conflict with the age of the Universe, 13.77 ± 0.06 billion years, within the errors
• This study reaffirms that there are old stars roaming the solar neighborhood which can be used to constrain the age of the Universe
• Multimedia
• Image A new age estimate for the star HD 140283 implies that it was among the first few generations of stars created in the Universe | NASA, ESA, A. Felid (STScI) | UniverseToday.com
• Further Reading / In the News
• Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe | UniverseToday.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Antarctic Meteorite Season Findings

• Finding Meteorites in the Antarctic\”
• Motion of the ice sheet tends to concentrate the meteorites and wind erosion brings them to the surface
• The first meteorites were found in 1912
• Now teams drive through areas looking for meteorites on snowmobiles
• The charred black crust of meteorites stands out in the snow
• The cold, dry climate helps preserve any organic chemicals inside the rocks
• Latest Belgian and Japanese Expedition
• The expedition collected 425 meteorites in 40 days, with a total weight of 165 pounds (75 kg).
• Among the discoveries they may have found one Mars meteorite and one piece of the asteroid Vesta among the many discoveries.
• A 40-pound (18 kilogram) meteorite
• A 40-pound (18 kilogram) meteorite was discovered in East Antarctica
• Only 0.08% of all meteorites found in the Antarctic have been bigger
• It is the fifth largest meteorite ever found in East Antarctica and the largest found in East Antarctica for 25 years
• Initial tests show it is an ordinary chondrite, the most common type of meteorite found on Earth
• The Russian meteor that burst into fragments above the Chelyabinsk region on Feb. 15 is also an ordinary chondrite
• Multimedia
• Image Gallery Big Meteorite Found in Antarctica (Photo Gallery) | Space.com
• The fifth largest meteorite ever found in East Antarctica | CREDIT: International Polar Foundation
  
• Meteorites concentrate in locations due to ice flows Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica | Goolge
• The movement of the ice and the wind creates easily visible meteorite plains Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica | Goolge
• Drive around on snowmobiles and look for rocks Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica | Goolge
• There are places where natural rocks \’pops through\’ the ice so not everything seen in a meteorite Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica | Goolge
• Further Reading / In the News
• Big Meteorite Discovered in Antarctica | Meteorites & Antarctica | Space.com
• 18kg: Scientists find one of Antartica\’s largest meteorites | Phys.org

Voting to rename NASA Dryden after Neil Armstrong

• Renaming NASA\’s Dryden Flight Research
• The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to rename NASA\’s Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.
• This is at least the third time since 2007 that the House of Representatives has tried to rename the NASA center after Armstrong,
• This time it was approved unanimously in the House and will be referred on to the Senate for consideration
• The bill would also renames the surrounding Western Aeronautical Test Range after Hugh L. Dryden to continue honoring the aeronautical engineer
• Dryden and Armstrong
• Dryden was the visionary behind NASA\’s X-15 rocket plane and the Apollo program. Neil Armstrong was the one who flew the spacecraft Dryden envisioned
• He also recommended to President John F. Kennedy that the goal of putting a man on the moon within 10 years was achievable and something the American people could rally behind
• Unfortunately Dryden died in 1965 before that dream came true
• Multimedia
• Aerial view of NASA\’s Dryden Flight Research Facility | CREDIT: NASA
• YouTube Rep. Calvert Remarks in Support of Armstrong Flight Research Center Bill | RepKenCalvert
• YouTube Rep. McCarthy Speaks in Support of H.R. 6612, Honoring Two Kern County Space | RepKevinMcCarthy
• Further Reading / In the News
• Lawmakers Vote to Rename NASA Dryden After Neil Armstrong | Space.com

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

SpaceX – Dragon Space Station Resupply Mission Glitch

• The Glitch
• The problem cropped up immediately following Dragon\’s separation from the rocket upper stage, nine minutes into the flight.
• Three of the four sets of thrusters on the company\’s unmanned Dragon capsule did not immediately kick in, delaying the release of the solar panels.
• The problem may have been caused by a stuck valve or a line blockage
• Dragon\’s twin solar wings swung open two hours later than planned, an hour later, the Dragon was raised with the thrusters to a safe altitude.
• Working Towards the Solution
• SpaceX worked to bring up the idled thrusters and keep the capsule on track
• The Dragon is equipped with 18 thrusters, divided into four sets, and can maneuver adequately even with some unavailable.
• The capsule is designed to return to Earth with just two good sets of thrusters and, in \”a super worst case situation,\” conceivably just one although it would be \”a bit of a wobbly trip.\”
• If SpaceX and NASA had determined that more time was needed to gain confidence that Dragon could safely carry out an attempt the Dragon could have stayed in orbit for several additional months if needed
• By late Saturday afternoon sufficient recovery work had been accomplished to warrant NASA, ISS and SpaceX managers to give the go-ahead for the Dragon to rendezvous with the station early Sunday morning, March 3.
• Capture
• The capsule was captured 5:31 am EST (1031 GMT) on Sunday, March 3
• More than 1 ton of space station supplies aboard this Dragon, which included some much-needed equipment for air purifiers
• It is scheduled to spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose by the crew
• Despite the one-day docking delay, the Dragon unberthing and parachute assisted return to Earth will still be the same day as originally planned on March 25.
• History
• This has been the first serious trouble to strike a Dragon in orbit, none of the four previous unmanned flights had any thruster issues
• On the previous flight in October, one of nine first-stage engines on the Falcon rocket shut down too soon, on this flight it performed \”really perfectly\” and that the thruster problem was isolated to the Dragon
• Future Re-Supply Missions
• SpaceX plans to launch its next Dragon to the station in late fall.
• SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned-both NASA missions and commercial flights-totaling about $4 billion in contracts
• NASA also has a $1.9 billion resupply contract for the station with Orbital Sciences Corporation, which will launch the first test flight of its Antares rocket from a base in Virginia in the coming weeks
• Multimedia
• YouTube SpaceX Dragon Carrying NASA Cargo Arrives at International Space Station | NASATelevision
• Further Reading / In the News
• SpaceX\’s capsule arrives at ISS | phys.org
• SpaceX\’s capsule nears ISS for rendezvous on Sunday (Update) | Phys.org
• SpaceX Dragon Recovers from Frightening Propulsion System Failure – Sunday Docking Set | UniverseToday.com
• SpaceX rocket launched, but problem with thrusters (Update 3)
• SpaceX working to fix Dragon capsule\’s thrusters (Update 2) | phys.org
• SpaceX company fixes Dragon capsule problem | phys.org
• Dragon Spacecraft Glitch Was \’Frightening,\’ SpaceX Chief Elon Musk Says | Space.com

— UPDATES—

Russian Meteorite Chunk Found

• New Fragment Found
• More than 100 fragments have been found so far that appear to be from the space rock
• Fragments of the meteorite have been found along a 50 kilometer (30 mile) trail under the meteorite’s flight path
• Small meteorites have also been found in an eight-meter (25 feet) wide crater in the region’s Lake Chebarkul
• Now scientists have discovered the biggest chunk so far, a meteorite fragment weighing more than one kilogram (2.2 lbs)
• They believes there are more to be found, including a possible biggest chunk that he says may lie at the bottom of Lake Chebarkul. It could be up to 60cm in diameter
• Multimedia
• Image Lecturer at Ural Federal University’s Institute of Physics and Technology Viktor Grokhovsky with meteorite fragment | Credit: RIA Novosti / Pavel Lysizin
• Meteorite crash in Russia: Video of meteor explosion that stirred panic in Ura | RussiaToday
• Further Reading / In the News
• Big Meteorite Chunk Found in Russia’s Ural Mountains | UniverseToday.com

Dennis Tito\’s Honeymoon Suite to Mars

• The Couple of Tomorrow?
• The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation announced on Feb. 27 that it aims to launch two people on a 501-day Mars flyby mission in January 2018
• The main goals are to generate excitement about space travel and test out technologies that will be needed to put boots on Mars in the future
• The mission would combine a commercial space capsule and inflatable module into a single spacecraft that will carry a man and a woman, possibly a married couple, to Mars and back.
• Multimedia
• Inspiration Mars Introductory News Conference | SpaceRef Rep
• Infographic | Dennis Tito\’s 2018 Human Mars Flyby Mission Explained | Space.com
• Further Reading / In the News
• Inspiration Mars Foundation
• Private Groups Set Sights on Deep Space | Mars, the Moon & Asteroids | Space.com

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

• The \’Glitch\’
• The spacecraft remained in communications at all scheduled communication windows on Wednesday, but it did not send recorded data, only current status information.
• Status information revealed that the computer had not switched to the usual daily \”sleep\” mode when planned
• On Thurs, Feb 28, the ground team for NASA\’s Mars rover Curiosity switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer in response to a memory issue on the computer that had been active
• Flash Memory
• The condition is related to a glitch in flash memory linked to the other, now-inactive, computer.
• Diagnostic work in a testing simulation at JPL indicates the situation involved corrupted memory at an A-side memory location used for addressing memory files
• It appears to have caused the computer to get stuck in an endless loop.
• Protections and History
• Curiosity has protections against such high-energy disruptions, but the problem was compounded by what appears to have been the location of the strike-in the directory, or \”table of contents,\” of the computer\’s memory
• Similar problems were caused by high-energy solar and cosmic ray strikes on other space missions
• Previous rovers experienced many so-called \”anomalies\” during the early part of their treks
• Like many spacecraft Curiosity carries a pair of redundant main computers in order to have a backup available if one fails
• Each of the computers, A-side and B-side, also has other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer
• Operations
• Curiosity is now operating on its B-side, as it did during part of the flight from Earth to Mars. It operated on its A-side from before the August 2012 landing through Wednesday.
• Although scientific investigations by the rover were suspended the team hopes that Curiosity would resume science work in about a week.
• While resuming operations on the B-side, they are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup
• What Happens Next
• Even if the rover is fully operational again in a week, the amount of science it can perform is limited.
• The sun comes between Mars and the Earth in early April, partially blocking the path for radio commands for an entire month
• The Curiosity team had planned to send back science data from Mars during that period-called \”solar conjunction,\” but had decided not to send up any commands.
• Multimedia
• Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
• Image This artist concept features NASA\’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover | mars.jpl.NASA.gov
• Social Media
• Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
• Further Reading / In the News
• Curiosity Rover Has Computer Problems | UniverseToday.com
• Mars Rover Curiosity Has First Big Malfunction news.NationalGeographic.com
• Mars Science Laboratory: Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover | mars.jpl.NASA.gov
• Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

• March 10, 1797: 216 years ago : Thomas Jefferson on paleontology : Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) presented a paper on the megalonyx to the American Philosophical Society. It was published as \”A Memoir on the Discovery of Certain Bones of a Quadruped of the Clawed Kind in the Western Parts of Virginia,\” Transactions of American Philosophical Society 4:255-256, along with an account by Caspar Wistar (1761-1818). This is arguably the first American publication in paleontology, but the only paleontology paper written by Jefferson. In 1822, this huge extinct sloth was named Megalonyx jeffersoni by a French naturalist. (Megalonyx Gr. large claw). It was a bear-sized ground sloth, over 2 meters tall, widespread in North America during the last Ice Age

Looking up this week

• Keep an eye out for …

• Mercury, Venus, Mars | Now hidden in the Sun\’s glare

• Jupiter | High in the S-SW after sunset, moving to the W/SW later in the evening

• Saturn | ~10-11 pm | Rises in the E-SE moving to high in the Southern skies by dawn

• Where to Find Comet PanSTARRS
  

• 10* is about the width of your fist held at arm\’s length.
• This diagram is drawn for a viewer near 40* north latitude (Denver, New York, Madrid) 30 minutes after sunset.
• If you\’re south of there, the comet will be a little higher above your horizon early in the month than shown here.
• North of 40°, it will be a little lower early in March than shown here.
• SkyandTelescope.com/panstarrs

Daylight Savings Time

• Sunday, March 10

• ‘Spring Ahead’ and lose an hour

• Further Reading and Resources

• Sky&Telescope
• SpaceWeather.com
• StarDate.org
• For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
• Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
• Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
• AstronomyNow
• HeavensAbove

The post HIV & SpaceX Troubles | SciByte 84 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

We take a look at measuring arthritis, Stephen Hawking’s voice, building moons with a game, an update on subglacial lakes, viewer feedback, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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Show Notes:

Arthritis

• What if your doctor could actually listen to your body, monitoring the way your knees sound as they bend and flex
• A new, noninvasive, and low-cost method for the early detection and monitoring of osteoarthritis (arthritis caused by wear and tear) may be on its way
• It suggests that detecting this friction, may points to new research directions for getting to the root cause of arthritis
• Osteoarthritis
• The degeneration of cartilage is the most common cause of osteoarthritis: The pads wear away, leaving bone grinding against bone
• Researchers have found that it isn\’t just any kind of friction that leads to the irreversible wear and tear on the material
• It is currently believed that a high-friction force, or \’coefficient of friction,\’ is the primary factor in surface wear and damage, new research has found is that this is not the case
• The critical feature is not a high-friction force, but what is known as \”stick-slip\” friction, or, sometimes, \”stiction.\”
• Both are characterized by surfaces that initially stick together, and then accelerate away quickly once the static friction force is overcome
• Stick-Slip Friction
• Stick-slip is a common phenomenon, that is responsible for everything from computer hard drive crashes and automobile failures, to squeaking doors and music
• The same thing happens with a violin string, even if you\’re pulling the bow steadily, it\’s moving in hundreds or thousands of little jerks per second, which determine the sound you hear
• Each little jerk, no matter how submicroscopic, is an impact, and over time the accumulation of these impacts can deform surfaces, causing irreparable damage-first microscopically, then growing to macroscopic
• It\’s not easy to tell the difference between types of friction at the microscopic level
  Smooth-sliding joints might feel the same as those undergoing stiction, or the even more harmful stick-slip, especially in the early stages of arthritis
• Measuring the Types of Friction
• An instrument called a Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA), measures the adhesion and friction forces between surfaces-in this case cartilage, the pad of tissue that covers the ends of bones at a joint.
• By studying patterns of friction between cartilage pads, researchers have discovered a different type of friction that is more likely to cause wear and damage
• When measured with an ultra-sensitive and high-resolution instrument like the Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA), each type of friction revealed its own characteristic profile
• Smooth-sliding joints yielded an almost smooth constant line, friction force or friction trace
• Stiction shows up as a peak, as the \”sticking\” was being overcome, followed by a relatively smooth line
• Stick-slip shows the jagged sawtooth profile of two surfaces repeatedly pulling apart, sticking, and pulling apart again
• These measurements could be recorded by placing an acoustic or electric sensing device around joints, giving a signal similar to an EKG
• These reading could be a good way to measure and diagnose damage to the cartilage, to measure the progression, or even the early detection of symptoms related to arthritis which has been a priority for many years
• The Future
• Scientists will continue their work by studying synovial fluid, the lubricating fluid between two cartilage surfaces in joints
• Synovial fluid plays a major role in whether or not the surfaces wear and tear, and the synergistic roles of the different molecules (proteins, lipids, and polymers) all involved in lubricating and preventing damage to our joints.
• There are a number of directions to take, both fundamental and practical and currently it looks as if there is need to focus research on finding ways to prevent stick-slip motion, rather than lowering the friction force
• Multimedia
• Image Steady-state sliding profiles illustrate the different types of friction | UCSB
• Further Reading / In the News
• Study of friction reveals clues about arthritis | phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Stephen Hawking\’s Voice

• Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has long relied on technology to help him connect with the outside world despite the degenerative motor neuron disease he has battled for the past 50 years
• A computer scientist indicated at this year\’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that he and his team may be close to a breakthrough that could boost the rate at which the physicist communicates, which has fallen to a mere one word per minute in recent years.
• Current SetUp
• Hawking\’s current setup includes a tablet PC with a forward-facing Webcam that he can use to place Skype calls
• A black box beneath his wheelchair contains an audio amplifier, voltage regulators and a USB hardware key that receives the input from an infrared sensor on Hawking’s eyeglasses, which detects changes in light as he twitches his cheek
• A hardware voice synthesizer sits in another black box on the back of the chair and receives commands from the computer via a USB-based serial port
• Intel\’s Interface Technology
• Intel has since the late 1990s supplied Hawking with technology to help the scientist express himself
• For the past decade Hawking has used a voluntary twitch of his cheek muscle to compose words and sentences one letter at a time that are expressed through a speech-generating device connected to his computer.
• Each tweak stops a cursor that continuously scans text on a screen facing the scientist.
• In late 2011 Hawking reached out to inform the Intel cofounder that the physicist’s ability to compose text was slowing and inquiring whether Intel could help.
• Possibly Improving Hawkings Interface Technology
• They met with Hawking early last year around the time of the latter’s 70th birthday celebration in Cambridge, where the Intel CTO was one of the speakers
• Intel chief technology officer noted that Hawking can actually make a number of other facial expressions as well that might also be used to restore the scientist’s ability to communicate at five words per minute, or even increase that rate to 10
• Intel is now working on a system that can use Hawking’s cheek twitch as well as mouth and eyebrow movements to provide signals to his computer they have built a new, a character-driven interface in modern terms that includes a better word predictor
• The company is also exploring the use of facial-recognition software to create a new user interface for Hawking that would be quicker than selecting individual letters or words
• Even providing Hawking with two inputs would give him the ability to communicate using Morse code
• Other Plans for This Technology
• Intel’s work with Hawking is part of the company’s broader research into smart gadgets as well as assistive technologies for the elderly
• The key to advancing smart devices-which have been at a plateau over the past five or six years-is context awareness
• Devices will really get to know us the way a friend would, understanding how our facial expressions reflect our mood
• Intel’s plan for identifying personal context requires a combination of hardware sensors-camera, accelerometer, microphone, thermometer and others with software that can check one’s personal calendar, social networks and Internet browsing habits, to name a few.
• One approach to “pervasive assistance” is the Magic Carpet, a rug that Intel and GE developed with embedded sensors and accelerometers that can record a person’s normal routine and even their gait, sounding an alert when deviations are detected.
• Such assistance will anticipate our needs, letting us know when we are supposed to be at an appointment and even reminding us to carry enough cash when running certain errands
• Further Reading / In the News
• Chipmaker Races to Save Stephen Hawking’s Speech as His Condition Deteriorates | scientificamerican.com

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Moon Games

• \”Selene: A Lunar Construction GaME\”
• Is an online game that allows players to build their own moon and sculpt its features has won big praise in science art competition and received an honorable mention in the 2012 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge
• The game measures how and when players learn as they discover more about how the Earth\’s moon formed and by extension, the solar system.
• Playing the Game
• In the first round, players aim asteroids of varying sizes, densities, and radiations so that they collide with one another
• Too much force, and the rocks ricochet off one another and even if you overshoot your target, the gravity of the growing moon may tug just enough to pull the new piece into the pack
• After all of the small asteroids have melted together to form a smooth new moon, it\’s time to scratch up the surface
• Players can then aim asteroids of varying sizes at the body, and select areas where lava breaks through the crust
• The players moon is constantly compared to the real-life one, and players strive to make as close a match as possible
• When they look at the moon, players are seeing what actually created those features and makes moon observations more meaningful
• Because the accretion and surface-sculpting processes for the moon echo that of the rest of the planets, players also develop an understanding of how the early solar system formed
• Primary Goal
• One of the primary goals of Selene is to allow the team to analyze the learning process, which means the game requires a login, and for minors, parental permission must be given.
• Analyzation of the data takes time, but it is able to provide a quick overview of a persons game play so you can tell from looking at your data what your experiences were
• That under-the-hood ability to study learning is why the project was so attractive in terms of funding to NASA and the National Science Foundation
• History and Future
• A prototype of the game was developed by CyGaMEs in May of 2007, and the first version was released in 2010. bit the game is constantly being improved as the understanding of the learning process grows
• The team is also looking at expanding it to mobile platforms in the near future.
• The team says that the recognition is of course a great honor and encouragement – but more importantly it may drive more players to the website so that we can collect more data about how participants learn
• At the same time, more people can learn about how the moon formed, growing their understanding of the nearest celestial body.
• Multimedia
• YouTube Mountain State Science – Lunar Games | WVPublicBroadcasting
• Further Reading / In the News
• Selene.cet.edu
• Online Game on How Earth\’s Moon Formed Nabs Honors | Space.com

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE —

Kepler back on track

• Last time on SciByte
• SciByte 78 | Dyscalculia & the Flu- SPACECRAFT UPDATE – Kepler | January 22, 2013
• What happened
• Kepler went into a protective \”safe mode\” on Jan. 17 after engineers detected elevated friction levels in one of its reaction wheels
• Engineers spun the wheels down to zero speed, hoping the break would redistribute lubricant and bring the friction back down to normal
• The update
• NASA\’s Kepler space telescope mission officials announced on Jan. 29 that it has resumed its search for alien planets after resting for 10 days to work out kinks in its attitude control system,
• Though it will take time to determine if the problem is solved daily health and status checks with the spacecraft were normal during the safe mode
• Over the next month, the engineering team will review the performance of reaction wheel #4 before, during and after the safe mode to determine the efficacy of the rest operation
• The wheel has acted up before without causing serious problems with a variety of friction signatures, none of which look like reaction wheel #2, failed in July 2012, and all of which disappeared on their own after a time
• Social Media
• NASA Kepler @NASAKepler
• Further Reading / In the News
• NASA\’s Planet-Hunting Kepler Spacecraft Recovering from Glitch | Space.com

— Updates —

Antarctic Subglacial lake

• Last time on SciByte
• SciByte 33 | Sub Glacial Lakes & Updates | February 14, 2012
• The search continues for life in subglacial Lake Whillans, 2,600 feet below the surface of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet-but a thrilling preliminary result has detected signs of life
• **Sampling the Water
• At 6:20am on January 28, four people in sterile white Tyvek suits tended to a winch winding cable onto the drill platform
• One person knocked frost off the cable as it emerged from the ice borehole a few feet below
• A gray plastic vessel, as long as a baseball bat, filled with water from Lake Whillans, half a mile below.
• The bottle was hurried into a 40-foot cargo container outfitted as a laboratory on skis
• Some of the lake water was squirted into bottles of media in order to grow whatever microbes might inhabit the lake
• What Has Been Seen
• When lake water was viewed under a microscope, cells were seen: their tiny bodies glowed green in response to DNA-sensitive dye.
• Although this was the first evidence of life in an Antarctic subglacial lake, cultures could require weeks to produce results
• Minerals in the Water
• The half mile of glacial ice sitting atop Lake Whillans is quite pure-derived from snow that fell onto Antarctica thousands of years ago.
• It contains only one-hundredth the level of dissolved minerals that are seen in a clear mountain creek, or in tap water from a typical city
• However a sensor lowered down the borehole showed that dissolved minerals were far more abundant in the lake itself
• The fact that we see high concentrations is suggestive that there’s some interesting water-rock-microbe interaction that’s going on
• Microbes, in other words, might well be munching on minerals under the ice sheet
• Munching on Minerals?
• Lake bacteria could live on commonly occurring pyrite minerals that contain iron and sulfur
• They would obtain energy by using oxygen to essentially “burn” that iron and sulfur, similar to the way that animals use oxygen to slowly burn sugars and fats
• The team will perform experiments to see whether microbes taken from the lake metabolize iron, sulfur, or other components of minerals
• Where Does the Oxygen Come From?
• Oxygen comes from water melting off the base of the ice sheet-maybe a few penny thicknesses of ice per year
• When you melt ice, you’re liberating the air bubbles trapped in that ice that’s 20 percent oxygen
• The Future
• In order to conclusively demonstrate that Lake Whillans harbors life, the researchers will need to complete more time-consuming experiments showing that the cells actually grow
• Dead cells can sometimes show up under a microscope with DNA-sensitive but weeks or months will pass before it is known whether these cells represent known types of microbes, or something never seen before
• The team will also analyze the DNA of those microbes to see whether they’re related to rock-chewing bacteria that are already known to science.
• Taking What We Learn
• Antarctica isn’t the only place in the solar system where water sits concealed in the dark beneath thick ice.
• Europa and Enceladus (moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively) are also thought to harbor oceans of liquid water.
• What is learned at Lake Whillans could shed light on how best to look for life in these other places
• Multimedia
• Image Gallery U.S. Team Penetrates Subglacial Lake Whillans | DiscoverMagazine.com
• Further Reading / In the News
• First Evidence of Life in Antarctic Subglacial Lake : The Crux | blogs.discovermagazine.com

World’s largest prime number

• The number, 2 multiplied by itself 57,885,161 times, written mathematically as 257,885,161-1
• It is the first prime discovered in four years and has 17,425,170 digits

— VIEWER FEEDBACK —

Finding an observatory

• Tom Grady
• I\’m looking for an observatory in the Denver area …
• Planetariums are useful when
• For those who are far away to a dark area to do observations
• Where a ‘regular’ observatory is not nearby
• For people, often young children, who may not be able to stay up late enough to be able to view, especially during times of the year when ‘full dark’ happens late at night
• Telescope observatories with public viewing nights
• Often the best idea if to find a local astronomy club
• They will know the nearby observatories or if they might have ‘Star Parties’ that the public can attend to look through their telescopes
• Telescope observatory in Denver
• Chamberlin Observatory, owned and operated by University of Denver, is located in Denver, Colorado in Observatory Park near University and Evans
• Chamberlin Observatory – University of Denver
• Public Nights at Chamberlin Observatory
• Multimedia
• YouTube Chamberlin Observatory at the University of Denver | uofdenver
• Interactive Worldwide Planetariums Database
• Further Reading / In the News
• International Planetarium Society
• Astronomical League
• Chamberlin Observatory – University of Denver
• Public Nights at Chamberlin Observatory

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

• **Drilling Prep – “Pre-Load” test*
• Curiosity drove about 3.5 meters to reach the John Klein outcrop that the team chose as the 1st drilling site, a shallow depression known as ‘Yellowknife Bay’
• There is widespread evidence for repeated episodes of the ancient flow of liquid water near her landing site inside Gale Crater on Mars.
• The Curiosity team placed its drill onto a series of four locations on a Martian rock and pressed down on it with the rover\’s arm, in preparation for using the drill, a \”Pre-load\” test
• The next step was an overnight pre-load test, to gain assurance that the large temperature change from day to night at the rover\’s location does not add excessively to stress on the arm while it is pressing on the drill
• Air temperature plunges from about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius) in the afternoon to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius) overnight
• The temperature swing, this large rover\’s arm, chassis and mobility system grow and shrink by about a tenth of an inch (about 2.4 millimeters), a little more than the thickness of a U.S. quarter-dollar coin
• Drilling Prep – “Drill-on-Rock”
• A \”drill-on-rock checkout\” will use the hammering action of Curiosity\’s drill briefly, without rotation of the drill bit, for assurance that the back-and-forth percussion mechanism and associated control system are properly tuned for hitting a rock
• The bit in the rotary-percussion drill of NASA\’s Mars rover Curiosity left its mark in a target patch of rock on Feb. 2, 2013, the test only used the hammering or percussive action of the drill, not rotary action.
• The length of the gray divot cut by the drill bit is about two-thirds of an inch (1.7 centimeters)
• Drilling Prep – upcoming “Mini Drill” test
• Another preparatory test, called \”mini drill,\” will precede the full drilling
• The mini drill test will use both the rotary and percussive actions of the drill to generate a ring of rock powder around a hole
• This will allow for evaluation of the material to see if it behaves as a dry powder suitable for processing by the rover\’s sample handling mechanisms
• The \”mini-drill\” is designed to produce a small ring of tailings, powder resulting from drilling the surface of the rock while penetrating less than eight-tenths of an inch (2 centimeters)
• Other notes
• The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was also placed in contact with the ground to determine the chemical composition of the rock drill test site and possible calcium sulfate vein and investigate its hydration state.
• This will be the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars and Curiosity can drill to a depth of about 2 inches (5 cm) into rocks
• Ultimately a powdered and sieved sample about half an aspirin tablet in size will be delivered to the SAM and CheMin analytical labs on the rover deck.
• Multimedia
• Preparatory Test for First Rock Drilling by Mars Rover Curiosity | Mars Science Laboratory: Images
• Drill Bit Tip on Mars Rover Curiosity, Head-on View | Mars Science Laboratory: Images
• Drill Bit Tip on Mars Rover Curiosity, Side View | Mars Science Laboratory: Images
• Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
• Social Media
• Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
• Further Reading / In the News
• Curiosity Hammers into Mars Rock in Historic Feat | universetoday.com
• Mars Science Laboratory: Weekend Test on Mars Was Preparation to Drill a Rock | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
• Historic First Use of Drill on Mars Set for Jan. 31 – Curiosity’s Sol 174 | UniverseToday.com
• Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Maneuver Prepares for Drilling | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
• NASA\’s Curiosity Rover Poised to Drill Into Mars | Space.com | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

• Feb 06, 1971 : 42 years ago : Golf on the Moon : Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard takes a few shots at some golf balls while on the moon. Near the end of the second moonwalk, and just before entering the lunar module for the last time, Shepard (an avid golfer) attached a 6-iron golf club to the end of a sample collecting tool. Despite thick gloves and a stiff suit that forced him to swing the club with one hand only, he hit two golf balls. The first landed in a nearby crater. The second was hit squarely, and in the one-sixth gravity of the moon, Shepard said it traveled \”miles and miles and miles.\” Then the U.S. Apollo IV astronauts prepared to head back to Earth after a 33-hour stay on the moon. The golf club is on display at the U.S. Golf Association headquarters in Far Hills, N.J.
• YouTube APOLLO 14 Golf Shot On The Moon | MoonInGoogleEarth

Looking up this week

• Keep an eye out for …
• Thurs-Sat | Feb 7-9 | ~30 min after sunset | If you have binoculars then look low in the W-SW skies and you can see Mars and Mercury very close to each other
• Venus | No longer very visible in the glow of sunrise

• Jupiter | Early Evening it\’s in the high Southern skies moving to the SW later. The orange star Aldebaran is still around this week to it\’s left

• Further Reading and Resources

• Sky&Telescope
• SpaceWeather.com
• StarDate.org
• For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
• Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
• Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
• AstronomyNow
• HeavensAbove

The post Arthritis & Hawking’s Voice | SciByte 80 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

We take a look at how sounds are connected to coma patients, water on Mercury, Subglacial lakes, long lasting bread, updates on Voyager 1 and Curiosity and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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The post Curiosity & Subglacial Life | SciByte 73 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

We take a look at some of your feedback and questions concerning the sun, solar cells, and even Space Camp. We will also look at the news about some new extra-solar planets, black holes and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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