Charon – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com Open Source Entertainment, on Demand. Mon, 22 Feb 2016 02:45:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Charon – Jupiter Broadcasting https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com 32 32 Marijuana & “Exo-Earth” | SciByte 127 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/55667/marijuana-exo-earth-scibyte-127/ Tue, 22 Apr 2014 21:15:11 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=55667 We take a look at marijuana\’s effect on the brain, an \”Earth-like\” exoplanet, the brains distraction controls, a possible new moon for Saturn, spacecraft updates, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week. Direct Download: MP3 Audio | OGG Audio | HD Video | Video […]

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We take a look at marijuana\’s effect on the brain, an \”Earth-like\” exoplanet, the brains distraction controls, a possible new moon for Saturn, 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:

Marijuana’s and Changes to the Brain

  • Young adults who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation
  • The Study
  • This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes
  • Through different methods of neuroimaging, scientists examined the brains of young adults ages 18 to 25, from Boston-area colleges; 20 who smoked marijuana and 20 who didn\’t. Each group had nine males and 11 females
  • The users underwent a psychiatric interview to confirm they were not dependent on marijuana
  • The changes in brain structures indicate the marijuana users\’ brains are adapting to low-level exposure to marijuana
  • Results
  • The degree of brain abnormalities in these regions is directly related to the number of joints a person smoked per week, the more joints a person smoked, the more abnormal the shape, volume and density of the brain regions
  • Some of these people only used marijuana to get high once or twice a week thinking a little recreational use shouldn\’t cause a problem; however, data directly says this is not the case
  • Scientists examined the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala-key regions for emotion and motivation, and associated with addiction-in the brains of casual marijuana users and non-users
  • Researchers analyzed three measures: volume, shape and density of grey matter to obtain a comprehensive view of how each region was affected.
  • Both these regions in recreational pot users were abnormally altered for at least two of these structural measures and the degree of those alterations was directly related to how much marijuana the subjects used
  • What is Means
  • The study results fit with animal studies that show when rats are given tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) their brains rewire and form many new connections. THC is the mind-altering ingredient found in marijuana
  • Think when people are in the process of becoming addicted, their brains from these new connections
  • In animals, these new connections indicate the brain is adapting to the unnatural level of reward and stimulation from marijuana. These connections make other natural rewards less satisfying
  • The brain changes suggest that structural changes to the brain are an important early result of casual drug use
  • Researchers did not know the THC content of the marijuana, which can range from 5 to 9 percent or even higher, the THC content is much higher today than the marijuana during the 1960s and 1970s, which was often about 1 to 3 percent
  • Further Reading / In the News

— NEWS BYTE —

Another Earth-sized Exo-Planet

  • The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory
  • The initial discovery, made by NASA\’s Kepler Space Telescope, is one of a handful of smaller planets found by Kepler and verified using large ground-based telescopes
  • The System
  • The host star, Kepler-186, is an M1-type dwarf star relatively close to our solar system, at about 500 light years and is in the constellation of Cygnus
  • The star is very dim, being over half a million times fainter than the faintest stars we can see with the naked eye and is cooler than the Sun
  • Five small planets have been found orbiting this star, four of which are in very short-period orbits and are very hot
  • This Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the Sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form
  • Observations
  • Neither Kepler (nor any telescope) is currently able to directly spot an exoplanet of this size and proximity to its host star all they can do is eliminate essentially all other possibilities so that the validity of these planets is really the only viable option
  • With such a small host star, the team employed a technique that eliminated the possibility that either a background star or a stellar companion could be mimicking what Kepler detected
  • Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI)
  • The team obtained extremely high spatial resolution observations from the eight-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii using a technique called speckle imaging, as well as adaptive optics (AO) observations from the ten-meter Keck II telescope
  • The Gemini \”speckle\” data directly imaged the system to within about 400 million miles (about 4 AU, approximately equal to the orbit of Jupiter in our solar system) of the host star and confirmed that there were no other stellar size objects orbiting within this radius from the star
  • It works on a principle that utilizes multiple short exposures of an object to capture and remove the noise introduced by atmospheric turbulence producing images with extreme detail
  • The System
  • Kenny MacLeod ‏@siabost9deas
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | Kepler-186f : First Earth-size Planet Discovered in the Habitable Zone of Another Star [HD] | The Mars Underground
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed: It may have liquid water | Phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

The Brains Distraction Control

  • A new study to reveals that our brains rely on an active suppression mechanism to avoid being distracted by salient irrelevant information when we want to focus on a particular item or task
  • This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction.
  • These results show clearly that this is only one part of the equation and that active suppression of the irrelevant objects is another important part
  • Psychologists say their discovery could help scientists and health care professionals better treat individuals with distraction-related attentional deficits
  • Distraction is a leading cause of injury and death in driving and other high-stakes environments
  • Disorders associated with attention deficits, such as ADHD and schizophrenia, may turn out to be due to difficulties in suppressing irrelevant objects rather than difficulty selecting relevant ones
  • Researchers are now turning their attention to understanding how we deal with distraction and why we can\’t suppress potentially distracting objects, whether some of us are better at doing so and why that is the case.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • ADHD: Scientists discover brain\’s anti-distraction system | ScienceDaily

A New Moon for Saturn?

  • A bright clump spotted orbiting Saturn at the outermost edge of its A ring may be a brand new moon in the process of being born
  • The effects of this now 1,200-kilometer-long, 10-kilometer-wide arc of icy material were first seen in May 2012 traveling along the edge of the A ring
  • The arc is thought to be the result of gravitational perturbations caused by an as-yet unseen embedded object about a kilometer wide – possibly a miniature moon in the process of formation
  • The half-mile-wide object has been unofficially named “Peggy,” eventually it may coalesce into a slightly larger moon and move outward, establishing its own orbital path around Saturn
  • This is how many of Saturn’s other moons are thought to have formed much further back in the planet’s history
  • While it is possible that the bright perturbation is the result of an object’s breakup rather than formation, researchers are still looking forward to finding out more about its evolution.
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Is Saturn Making a New Moon? | UniverseToday.com
  • NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of New Saturn Moon | NASA.gov
  • NASA Cassini Missiom Page

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

SpaceX Dragon Delivery Mission

New Horizons and Questions About Pluto

  • Compositional Model Theories
  • Two space researchers have published a paper where they describe three possible interior models of the former planet Pluto
  • The possibilities include: an undifferentiated rock/ice mixture, a differentiated rock/ice mixture, and an ocean covered with ice, the third possibility suggests the likelihood, they claim, of tectonic action on the dwarf planet
  • Scientists believe that Pluto came to exist as it does today, in part due to a collision billions of years ago that led also to the formation of its moon Charon
  • When celestial bodies collide, not only do they knock each other around, they produce heat—heat, the researchers suggest that could still be evident today
  • A theory that suggests that shortly after impact, Pluto and Charon were much closer together where the gravity attraction between them would have caused both to be egg shaped.
  • As time passed, melted ice from the impact would have created an icy crust on top of an ocean on Pluto
  • As Charon moved farther away, the attractive pull would have diminished, causing ice plates to form and crack against one another, a form of tectonics.
  • If that were the case, the two add, then in all likelihood, when New Horizons begins sending back images, they should see evidence of such tectonic action—plate edges thrust into the air
  • Pluto circles the sun in an elliptical orbit, thus sometimes it\’s much closer to the sun than other times, when near, it has a defined atmosphere, when far away however, its atmosphere actually freezes to its surface
  • Something that could hide ridges in the ice and thus evidence of both tectonic activity and an ocean beneath the crust of ice
  • New Horizons will arrive during a time when its atmosphere is frozen to the surface, it might be difficult to determine which of the three proposed models actually describes the relationship between its exterior and interior
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Research pair offer three possible models of Pluto ahead of New Horizons visit | Phys.org
  • New Horizons | NASA

— CURIOSITY UPDATE —

  • New Science Location
  • Scientists using NASA\’s Curiosity Mars rover are eyeing a rock layer surrounding the base of a small butte, called \”Mount Remarkable,\” as a target for investigating with tools on the rover\’s robotic arm
  • The butte stands about 16 feet (5 meters) high. Curiosity\’s science team refers to the rock layer surrounding the base of Mount Remarkable as the \”middle unit\” because its location is intermediate between rocks that form buttes in the area and lower-lying rocks that show a pattern of striations
  • Depending on what the mission scientists learn from a close-up look at the rock and identification of chemical elements in it, a site on this middle unit may become the third rock that Curiosity samples with its drill
  • Multimedia
  • Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
  • Social Media
  • Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • NASA Mars Orbiter Spies Rover Near Martian Butte | mars.jpl.nasa.gov

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • April 25, 1990 : 24 years ago : Hubble Space Telescope : In 1990, the $2.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in space from the Space Shuttle Discovery into an orbit 381 miles above Earth. It was the first major orbiting observatory, named in honour of American astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble. It was seven years behind schedule and nearly $2 billion over budget. In orbit, the 94.5-in primary mirror was found to be flawed, giving blurred images and reduced ability to see distant stars. However, correcting optics were successfully installed in 25 Dec 1993. The telescope 43-ft x 14-ft telescope now provides images with a clarity otherwise impossible due to the effect of the earth\’s atmosphere. Instrument packages capture across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Looking up this week

  • Solar Eclipse
  • On April 29th, an annular solar eclipse occurs over a small D-shaped 500 kilometre wide region of Antarctica
  • 2014 has the minimum number of eclipses possible in one year, with four: two partial solars and two total lunars
  • This month’s solar eclipse is also a rarity in that it’s a non-central eclipse with one limit, where the center of the Moon’s shadow – known as the antumbra during an annular eclipse – will juuuust miss the Earth and instead pass scant kilometres above the Antarctic continent
  • Out of 3,956 annular eclipses occurring from 2000 BCE to 3000 AD, only 68 (1.7%) are of the non-central variety
  • An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is too distant to cover the disk of the Sun, resulting in a bright “annulus” or “ring-of-fire” eclipse
  • Several southern Indian Ocean islands and all of Australia will still witness a fine partial solar eclipse from this event, a scattering of islands in the southern Indian Ocean will see a 55% eclipsed Sun.
  • In Australia, Perth will see a 55% eclipsed Sun and Sydney will be able to see a 50% partial eclipse low to the horizon in west at sunset
  • Don\’t Forget to Use Safe Viewing Practices
  • The safest way | Pinhole camera/projector and telescope — pinhole projector
  • Optical Filters | Eclipse glasses, welder\’s goggles rated at 14
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | Safely See the Sun — Build a Shoebox Pinhole Camera | VideoFromSpace
  • YouTube | The April 29th, 2014 Annular Eclipse: Sims from Space | astroguyz
  • Further Reading / In the News

  • Our Guide to the Bizzare April 29th Solar Eclipse UniverseToday.com

  • Keep an eye out for …

  • Fri, April 25 | Dawn | The thin crescent Moon is low in the E and left of Venus
  • Planets
  • Venus | \”Morning Star\” | Look to the E-SE as daylight approached
  • Mars | Just past opposition you can see it most of the night. In the evening is is in the SW with Spica below it, both will be at their highest point around local 12pm DST moving towards the NE as dawn approaches
  • Jupiter | Twilight | High in the SW sinking towards the W horizon as the night progresses

  • Saturn | End of Twilight | Highest in the S around 2am

  • 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 Marijuana & “Exo-Earth” | SciByte 127 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Apollo 11 & Spinning Diagnostics | SciByte 54 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/21826/apollo-11-spinning-diagnostics-scibyte-54/ Tue, 17 Jul 2012 21:10:20 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=21826 We take a look at Medical diagnostics on a disk, navigating fish, Pluto, Lunar X Prize, and a peek back at Apollo 11 and up in the sky this week.

The post Apollo 11 & Spinning Diagnostics | SciByte 54 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at Medical diagnostics on a disk, navigating fish, Pluto, Lunar X Prize, spacecraft updates and as always take a peek back into history to Apollo 11 and up in the sky this week.

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Support the Show:

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Show Notes

Upcoming spinning medical diagnostic tool



Credit: SandiaLabs Channel | Credit: Randy Wong (Sandia National Laboratories)

  • The low down
  • Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a lab-on-a-disk platform that they believe will be faster, less expensive and more versatile than similar medical diagnostic tools
  • The unit can determine a patient’s white blood cell count, analyze important protein markers, and process up to 64 assays from a single sample, all in a matter of minutes.
  • Significance
  • The device uses a spinning disk, much like a CD player, to manipulate a sample. The disks contain commercially available reagents and antibodies specific to each protein marker.
  • The disks cost pennies to manufacture and results can be delivered to the physician’s computer in 15 minutes.
  • Sample take only a pin-prick sample of blood
  • Researchers envisions an approach where the physician could choose a “cardiac disk,” “immune disk” and similar options.
  • Of Note
  • Researchers recently led a National Institutes of Health grant to adapt the lab-on-a-disk platform for toxin diagnostics
  • That device could be the most accurate method available to detect the botulinum toxin
  • Laboratory mice remain the only reliable way to test for botulism, mouse bioassay is primitive, but remains the gold standard due to its sensitivity
  • SpinDx botulinum assay vastly outperformed the mouse bioassay in head-to-head tests, and requires absolutely no animal testing.
  • Although botulism is quite rare, only about 145 cases are reported in the United States each year, the lethality of the toxin brings concerns
  • Multimedia
  • SpinDx technology uses a spinning disk, much like a CD player, to manipulate samples. Image
  • YouTube | SpinDX medical diagnostic tool
  • Social Media
  • Sandia National Labs @SandiaLabs
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Faster, less expensive device gives lab test results in 15 minutes at point-of-care | Phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Fish and magnetic fields

  • The low down
  • Previous research has shown that many species of fish, as well as migratory birds, have the ability to detect differences in magnetic field
  • A Rainbow trout can swim straight back to its original hatching ground, following freshwater streams inland even after spending 3 years at sea and traveling up to 186 mi [300 km] away
  • They likely rely partially on their excellent eyesight and smell, they also seem to rely on Earth’s magnetic fields
  • Significance
  • Now for the first time scientists have isolated magnetic cells in the fish that respond to these magnetic fields
  • This study may even help researchers get to the root of magnetic sensing in a variety of creatures, including birds.
  • In addition the magnetism in each cell was tens to hundreds of times stronger than researchers had hypothesized
  • The fish may be able to detect small differences in magnetic field strength that can give them more detailed information about their precise latitude and longitude
  • Of Note
  • When analyzed between one and four cells rotated in turn with the rotating magnetic field
  • The team has now transferred the rotating cells to individual glass slides to study them further under the microscope.
  • Multimedia
  • Magnetite cells (white) found in the noses of rainbow trout, clustered near the cell’s membrane and not near the cell’s nucleus (blue). Image Credit: H. Cadiou
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • A Big Magnet in a Small Fish | ScienceMag.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Plutonian system grows

  • The low down
  • On July 11, almost almost exactly one year after Hubble spotted Pluto’s fourth moon, it discovered a fifth moon orbiting Pluto half as bright as the last moon discovered
  • Image sets were taken on 5 separate occasions in June and July
  • The Plutonian System
  • Pluto – 1433 mi [2,306 km] across : discovered in 1930 : orbiting 39 times farther than Earth
  • Charon – 648 mi [1,043 km] across : discovered in 1978
  • Nix – 20–70 mi [32–113 km] across : discovered in 2005
  • Hydra – 20–70 mi [32–113 km] across : discovered in 2005
  • P4 – 8–21 mi [13–34 km] across : discovered in 2011
  • P5 – 6–15 mi [10–24 km] across : discovered in 2012
  • Of Note
  • The New Horizons missions team is working closely with Hubble to try to find the safest route through the system
  • Multimedia
  • Image: Pluto’s fourth moon, temporarily dubbed P4 Credit: NASA/ESA/M.Showalter
  • Image : Newly discovered moon, designated P5, as photographed by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on July 7. Credit: NASA/ESA/M. Showalter
  • Social Media
  • NewHorizons2015 @NewHorizons2015
  • Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) twitter anouncement ‏@AlanStern
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Fifth Moon Found Around Pluto | UniverseToday
  • Pluto Has a Fifth Moon, Hubble Telescope Reveals | Space.com
  • Hubble Space Telescope detects fifth moon of Pluto (Update) | Phys.org

Lunar X Prize

  • The low down
  • The Google Lunar X Prize, is a $30 million international challenge to land a robot on the lunar surface, have it travel at least 1,650 feet (500 meters) and send data and images back to Earth.
  • First prize will receive the $20 million grand prize
  • An additional $10 million is set aside for second place and various special accomplishments, such as detecting water, bringing the prizes total purse to $30 million.
  • Significance
  • The engineering director for the Google Books project, Jimi Crawford, has now signed on with Moon Express
  • He will serve as chief technology officer and software architect for a company competing in the Google Lunar X Prize, private race to the moon.
  • Of Note
  • The competition will end whenever all prizes are claimed or the end of 2015, whichever comes first
  • Multimedia
  • How Moon Express envisions its lunar lander can be used on future missions. Image CREDIT: Moon Express
  • YouTube Moon 2.0: Join the Revolution – HD High Definition | GoogleLunarXPRIZE
  • YouTube Channel Google Lunar X PRIZE
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Google Lunar X Prize
  • Ex-Google VIP Joins Private Moon Race Team | Space.com

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

Expedition 32



Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov | YouTube channel : NASATelevision

  • The low down
  • On July 14, three veteran space travelers from three different countries went to the International Space Station as part of the space station’s Expedition 32
  • Significance
  • NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide are due to stay for about four months.
  • They will be joining space station: commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, his cosmonaut colleague Sergei Revin, and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who have all been in space since May.
  • Of Note
  • Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, is a colonel in the Russian Air Force and will command the Soyuz spacecraft for Russia’s Federal Space Agency. He is making his third trip, his first long-duration spaceflight was aboard Russia’s Mir space station.
  • NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, is a U.S. Navy captain making her second long-duration spaceflight. She also currently holds the world record for most spacewalks by a woman (four) and the most time in space by a female astronaut (195 days)
  • Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide is making his second spaceflight. His first mission involved the delivery of Japan’s huge Kibo laboratory module to the International Space Station.
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube Warm Greetings for New ISS Residents | NASAtelevision
  • Photos: Space Station’s Expedition 32 Mission | Space.com
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Veteran Space Station Crew to Launch Into Orbit Tonight | Space.com

The next chapter in the Dragon spacecraft

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • July 21, 1969 | 43 years ago | That’s one small step … | In 1969, Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon after 21 1/2 hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins. The Lunar module was comprised of two stages. The descent stage had the landing gear, and was used as a launch pad for the ascent stage. The ascent stage was mainly the cabin, and had a fixed thrust engine (15,500-Newton-thrust) to propel it to 2000 m/s in Lunar orbit for docking. The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
  • YouTube “One small step for man, …”
  • TimeLine
  • Launched from Earth | July 16, 1969 [9:32am EST / 13:32:00 UTC]
  • Landing on the Moon | July 20, 1969 [ 4:17pm EST/ 20:17:40 UTC]
  • First Step on the Moon | July 20, 1969 [ 10:56pm EST / 02:56 UTC]
  • EVA Time | 2 h 36 m 40 s
  • Total time on Surface | 21 h 36 m 21 s
  • Launched from Moon | July 21 [ 13:54 pm EST / 17:54 UTC]
  • Landing on Earth | July 24, 1969, [ 12:50 pm EST / 16:50:35 UTC]
  • Left on the Moon
  • Patch from Apollo 1 [Virgil “Gus” Ivan Grissom, Edward Higgins White, Roger Bruce Chaffee]
  • Medals commemorating pioneering Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, who had died in flight
  • Goodwill messages from 73 world leaders
  • A small gold pin shaped like an olive branch, a symbol of peace.
  • Further Reading and Resources
  • Nixon Greets Astronauts in Quarantine
  • Interactive of Dec 1969 Vinyl supplement of National Geographic magazine
  • Apollo 11 Image Gallery | history.nasa.gov
  • Apollo 11 | nasa.gov
  • The Moon Is Toxic | UniverseToday.com

Looking up this week

The post Apollo 11 & Spinning Diagnostics | SciByte 54 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> Talking Robots & Voyager 1 | SciByte 51 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/20738/talking-robots-voyager-1-scibyte-51/ Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:44:05 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=20738 We take a look at what robots teach us about language, helping find exoplanets, Chinese space program, space telescopes, Voyager 1 and more!

The post Talking Robots & Voyager 1 | SciByte 51 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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We take a look at what robots teach us about language, helping find exoplanets, emergency stretchers, Chinese space program, sugar powered implants, space telescopes, the pitcher plant, Voyager 1 and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

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Support the Show:

   

Teaching a robot to talk



Credit: Professor Chrystopher Nehaniv and Dr Joe Saunders

  • The low down
  • In an attempt to replicate the early experiences of infants, researchers in England have created a robot that can learn simple words in minutes just by having a conversation with a human.
  • The robot named DeeChee is three-feet-tall [1 m] knew no words at the start of the study but was built with the ability to pronounce and syllable in the English language
  • The programming was built to put together those syllables and store them in memory
  • It was also designed to recognize words of encouragement, like “good” and “well done”
  • Significance
  • Human volunteers were used to try and teach DeeChee simple shapes and colors,
  • The words that were learned were ranked by how often they came up in conversation
  • The feedback from the volunteers helped transform the robot’s babble into coherent words, sometimes in as little as two minutes.
  • Words that form the connective tissue of our language – words like “at,” “with” and “of” – are spoken in hundreds of different ways, making them difficult for newbies to recognize
  • While more concrete words like “house” or “blue” tend to be spoken in the same way nearly every time
  • Of Note
  • DeeChee was programmed to smile when it was ready to pay attention to its teacher and to stop smiling and blink when it needed a break
  • Although it was designed to have a gender-neutral appearance, humans tended to treat it as a boy
  • There is a theory on how comfortable humans are with the realism of robots
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube | robotcan learn simple words by conversing with humans | NhanTech12
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • British researchers create robot that can learn simple words by conversing with humans (w/ Video) | phys.org
  • Uncanny Valley robots essay resurfaces 42 years later | phys.org
  • Uncanny valley | wikipedia.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Eye spy an exoplanet

  • The low down
  • One of the ways exoplanets are detected is by repeating dips in the light of a star
  • Trying to identify these scientists have acquired huge amounts of data to process
  • A research team at Yale University is using over 150,000 volunteers to help sort through the publicly released data from Kepler
  • Significance
  • The project has led to the discovery of several new planets while also confirming many findings made by Kepler scientists
  • Earlier this year they announced two new exoplanet candidates that NASA’s computer data crunching failed to detect
  • While some updated programs are getting better at detecting the dips in light, scientists still view the citizen volunteers’ contributions invaluable
  • Of Note
  • Volunteers are very good at identifying large potential exoplanets
  • Algorithms are still better at finding tiny dips in light from smaller planets when visual detection isn’t sensitive enough.
  • Social Media
  • The Zooniverse @the_zooniverse
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Planet Hunters
  • Participate in Science | Zooniverse
  • Zooniverse
  • Amateur scientists find niche in locating new planets | phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Student Design : Emergency Stretcher

  • The low down
  • A student working on a final year Product Design has created a Rapid Evacuation Stretcher (RES) device made of the same heat resistant materials the fire services use
  • The prototype stretcher, rolls up so that it could be strapped up alongside the firefighter’s breathing apparatus
  • Unrolled the RES could be strapped to an injured person, then carry handles could be used to move them
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Student’s ‘emergency stretcher’ invention could prove a lifesaver | phys.org

Chinese Space Program

  • The low down
  • China sent its first person into space in 2003
  • Significance
  • June 16, 2012 china launched its fourth manned space mission from the Gobi desert (NW china)
  • They docked two spaceships in orbit for the first time Monday, June 18
  • On board are 3 taikonauts , 1 who has been to space twice and China’s first female astronaut, a fighter pilot
  • The mission will last 13 days and perform a manual space docking the Chinese Spacelab Tiangong–1 which was launched late last year
  • Of Note
  • China hopes to have its own space station in orbit in 2020
  • Multimedia
  • YouTube : [[China] Launch of Manned Shenzhou 9 Spacecraft on Long March 2F Rocket | SpaceVidsNet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvwKB2jblwk)
  • YouTube : [[China] Crew Enter Tiangong–1 Space Lab | SpaceVidsNet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDJCr–5T1U)
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • China sends its first woman astronaut into space (Update) | phys.org
  • Shenzhou 9 Launches With First Chinese Woman | UniverseToday.com
  • China Successfully Docks Manned Space Capsule at Orbiting Module | space.com

Sugar to power medical implants!?

  • The low down
  • MIT engineers have developed a fuel cell that runs on glucose, the same sugar that powers human cells
  • The silicon wafer consists of glucose fuel cells of varying sizes; the largest is 64 by 64 mm
  • Significance
  • This glucose fuel cell could be used to drive highly efficient brain implants of the future, which could help paralyzed patients move their arms and legs again
  • So far, the fuel cell can generate up to hundreds of microwatts — enough to power an ultra-low-power and clinically useful neural implant.
  • In the 1970s, scientists showed they could power a pacemaker with a glucose fuel cell, but the idea was abandoned in favor of lithium-ion batteries, which could provide significantly more power per unit area than glucose fuel cells
  • Glucose fuel cells also utilized enzymes that proved to be impractical for long-term implantation in the body, since they eventually ceased to function efficiently
  • The new twist is that it is fabricated from silicon, using the same technology used to make semiconductor electronic chips
  • These new silicon chips have no biological components, that consists of a platinum catalyst that strips electrons from glucose
  • Of Note
  • The work is a good step toward developing implantable medical devices that don’t require external power sources.
  • New ultra-low-power electronics, have pioneered such designs for cochlear implants and brain implants
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • New energy source for future medical implants: sugar | phys.org

Space Telescope Donations

  • The low down
  • A pair of space telescopes that were donated to NASA from the secretive National Reconnaissance Office could be repurposed for a wide variety of science missions
  • The two spy satellite telescopes were originally built but they were never used and are currently being stored in Rochester, N.Y., in facilities belonging to the hardware’s manufacturer
  • Significance
  • Given budget projections for the next several years it will likely be years before the agency’s budget can accommodate them.
  • The cost to keep them in storage is about $70,000 a year, which is not insignificant, but it’s not something that’s unmanageable
  • NASA does not anticipate being able to dedicate any funding to the newly acquired telescopes until the James Webb Space Telescope successfully launches
  • The two telescopes have main mirrors that measure nearly 8 feet wide (2.4 meters), making them comparable to the veteran Hubble Space Telescope
  • Of Note
  • In the meantime, NASA is investigating different uses for the telescopes, and hopes to have input from the scientific community to guide the decision-making process
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Spy Satellite Telescopes Donated to NASA ‘Came Out of the Blue’ | Space.com

Pitcher plants capturing their food

  • The low down
  • Pitcher plants (Nepenthes) rely on insects as a source of nutrients, enabling them to colonise nutrient-poor habitats where other plants struggle to grow
  • Prey is captured in specialised pitcher-shaped leaves with slippery surfaces on the upper rim and inner wall similar to the ‘aquaplaning’ effect of a car tire on a wet road.
  • If an insect tries to walk on the wet surface, its adhesive pads (the ‘soles’ of its feet) are prevented from making contact with the surface and instead slip
  • Significance
  • Scientists simulated ‘rain’ with a hospital drip and recorded its effect on a captive colony of ants that was foraging on the nectar under the lid
  • During heavy rain, the lid of the pitchers acts like a springboard, catapulting insects that seek shelter on its underside directly into the fluid-filled pitcher
  • Further research revealed that the lower lid surface of the N. gracilis pitcher is covered with highly specialised wax crystals
  • The surface seems to provide just the right level of slipperiness to enable insects to walk on the surface under ‘calm’ conditions but lose their footing when the lid is disturbed (in most cases, by rain drops).
  • Further Reading / In the News
  • Pitcher plant uses power of the rain to trap prey (w/ Video) | phys.org

SPACECRAFT UPDATE

Voyager 1 takes one step closer to interstellar space



Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

  • June 21, 1893 : 119 years agg : Ferris wheel : The first Ferris wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, America’s third world’s fair. It was invented by George Washington Ferris, a Pittsburgh bridge builder, for the purpose of creating an attraction like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Each of the 36 cars carried 60 passengers, making a full passenger load of 150 tons. Ferris didn’t use rigid spokes: instead, he used a web of taut cables, like a bicycle wheel. Supported by two 140 foot steel towers, its 45 foot axle was the largest single piece of forged steel at the time in the world. The highest point of the wheel was 264 feet. The wheel and cars weighed 2100 tons, with another 2200 tons of associated levers and machinery.
  • June 22, 1978 : 34 years ago : Charon discovered : Evidence of the first moon of Pluto was discovered by astronomer James W. Christy of the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. when he obtained a photograph of Pluto that showed the orb to be distinctly elongated.. Furthermore, the elongations appeared to change position with respect to the stars over time. After eliminating the possibility that the elongations were produced by plate defects and background stars, the only plausible explanation was that they were caused by a previously unknown moon orbiting Pluto at a distance of about 19,600 kilometers (12,100 miles) with a period of 6.4 days. The moon was named Charon, after the boatman in Greek mythology who took the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Pluto’s underworld.

Looking up this week

  • Keep an eye out for …
  • Wed, June 20 : Summer Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. Longest Day and Shortest Night; sun reaches its most Northern point in the sky. While the Southern Hemisphere winter begins [shortest day/longest night]
  • Thurs. June 21 : Mercury is very low in the East-Northeast as twilight starts. It looks like a bright star to the upper right of the crescent Moon, but will be hard to spot because of its short distance to the horizon.
  • Fri. June 22 : Venus is visible low in the Eastern sky at early dawn, with Jupiter to its upper right. The coming weeks will bring both higher in the sky.
  • Fri. June 22 : At twilight will be a slender crescent Moon, with Mercury to the West
  • Sat. June 23 : Mercury will still be barely visible in the W horizon, it will be left (S) of a a pair of bright stars Castor and Pollux.
  • Sat. June 23 : By the moon will be the star Regulus 1 fist-width to the E/SE and Mars is 2 hand-spans to the SE, another 2 hand-spans will get you to Spica and Saturn

The post Talking Robots & Voyager 1 | SciByte 51 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

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