Show Notes

Pavement Temperatures

• New ‘Cool pavement’ technology could make parking lots cool, literally
• The low down
• In a typical city, pavements account for 35 to 50 percent of surface area, half is comprised of streets and about 40 percent of exposed parking lots
• Pavements reflect as much as 30 to 50 percent of the sun’s energy, compared to only 5 percent for new asphalt (and 10 to 20 percent for aged asphalt)
• Most of these are constructed with dark materials
• Dark pavements absorb almost all of the sun’s energy, the pavement surface heats up, which in turn also warm the local air
• Significance
• Berkeley Lab scientists have been studying “cool pavement” technologies
• Like cool roofs, which are lighter-colored roofs that keep the air both inside and outside the building cooler by reflecting more of the sun’s energy
• Cool pavements can either be made from traditional pavement materials that are lighter in color such as cement concrete or it can consist of cool-colored coatings or surface treatments for asphalt surfaces
• An ideal design goal would be a pavement with solar reflectance of at least 35 percent
• Sealcoats are a common maintenance practice for parking lots and schoolyards since the asphalt pavement structure degrades over time
• scientists will be collecting data from the exhibit to see how the coatings fare over time and at some point they will reach an equilibrium at which the solar reflectance won’t degrade much anymore
• They are very interested to see what happens when it rains, which may help the coatings self-clean and restore higher reflectance
• Cool pavement coatings can be used in lieu of a sealcoat, and is a good strategy for cities looking to introduce cool pavement technologies
• Across an entire city, small changes in air temperature could be a huge benefit as it can slow the formation of smog
• And just a couple of degrees can also reduce peak power demand, by reducing the energy load from air-conditioning
• In addition more reflective parking lots could allow building owners and cities to save on energy needed to illuminate streets and parking lots
• Chicago has already reported energy savings from using solar-reflective pavements in its alleys
• More field studies are needed however to verify and quantify the results as many of these benefits have been confirmed by scientific models
• Heat Island Group has converted a portion of a new temporary parking lot at Berkeley Lab into a cool pavement exhibit that will also allow them to evaluate the products over time
• The exhibit provides an opportunity to feature cool pavement coatings that are applied directly to existing paved surfaces
• It features six coatings donated by two manufacturers [Emerald Cities Cool Pavement and StreetBond]
• The team will closely monitor the solar reflectance values and temperatures of 20 x 24 square-foot pavement sections of six different materials on a residential street on the UC Davis campus
• Scientists hope to better understand how changes in solar reflectance over time affect heat transfer throughout the pavement structure
• Of Note
• These studies may assist policymakers and pavement professionals in making informed decisions regarding cool pavement requirements for building codes and project specifications
• One hurdle is that the benefits of cool pavements are more for the public rather than the building owner as benefits are less immediately tangible than for cool roofs
• The initial cost premium can potentially be offset over the lifespan of the product with increased durability and less need for ongoing maintenance
• Cool pavements come in different hues, including green, blue and yellow, and their solar reflectance value depends on both color and material
• Some colors that look dark but are actually more reflective in the near infrared spectrum
• Schoolyards are a particular target because of the negative health implications of hot blacktops for schoolchildren
• Further Reading / In the News
• Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• ‘Cool pavement’ technologies studied to address hot urban surfaces | Phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

Let it snow dry-ice on Mars

• Spacecraft orbiting Mars has detected carbon dioxide snow falling on the Red Planet, making it the only body in the solar system known to show this weather phenomenon
• The low down
• Data was gathered by MRO’s Mars Climate Sounder instrument during the Red Planet’s southern winter in 2006–2007
• The instrument measures brightness in nine different wavelengths of visible and infrared light, allowing scientists to learn key characteristics of the particles and gases in the Martian atmosphere, such as their sizes and concentrations.
• One large cloud was 300 miles (500 kilometers) wide
• Significance
• One line of evidence for snow is that the carbon-dioxide ice particles in the clouds are large enough to fall to the ground during the lifespan of the clouds
• Another comes from observations when the instrument is pointed toward the horizon
• The infrared spectra signature of the clouds viewed from an angle clearly showed carbon-dioxide ice particles, and they extend to the surface
• The snow on Mars fell from clouds around the planet’s south pole during the Martian winter spanning 2006 and 2007
• The Martian south pole hosts a frozen carbon dioxide – or “dry ice” – cap year-round
• This new discovery may help explain how it formed and persists, researchers
• These observations were also the first definitive detections of carbon-dioxide snow clouds
• The clouds were composed of carbon dioxide, flakes of Martian air, and they are thick enough to result in snowfall accumulation at the surface.
• Of Note
• Astronomers still aren’t entirely sure how the dry ice sustaining Mars’ south polar cap – the only place where frozen carbon dioxide exists year-round on the planet’s surface – is deposited.
• It could come from snowfall, or the stuff may freeze out of the air at ground level, researchers said.
• The finding of snowfall could mean that the type of deposition (snow or frost) is somehow linked to the year-to-year preservation of the residual carbon dioxide polar cap
• Dry ice requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius) to fall, reinforcing just how cold the Martian surface is.
• In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix lander observed water-ice snow, this find means Mars hosts two different kinds of snowfall
• Further Reading / In the News
• Snow on Mars: ‘Dry Ice’ Snowflakes Discovered by NASA Probe | Space.com

Atlantis Volcano Active?

• The island that was created 3,600 years ago when a volcano erupted that was the second-largest blast in human history is swelling with lava
• The low down
• The eruption that created the island of Santorini may have destroyed the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete, which may have started the myth of Atlantis
• Santorini locals began to suspect last year that something was afoot with the volcano under their Greek island group
• Wine glasses occasionally vibrated and clinked in cafes, suggesting tiny tremors, and tour guides smelled strange gasses.
• Beginning in the January 2011 data, there were more than a thousand small quakes, most of them imperceptible
• Satellite radar technology has revealed the source of the symptoms
• A rush of molten rock swelled the magma chamber under the volcano by some 351–702 million cubic ft [13 to 26 million cubic yards] or about 15 times the volume of London’s Olympic Stadium between January 2011 and April 2012
• This has forced parts of the island’s surface to rise upward and outward by 3 to 5.5 inches [8–14 cm, ) confirmed with satellite radar images and GPS receivers
• Significance
• The earthquake activity and the rate of bulging have both slowed right down in the last few months
• Even with these events the volcano has been quiet for 60 years and recent events don’t indicate an imminent eruption
• It is quite likely that it could remain quiet for another few years or decades.
• Since scientists don’t know enough about the lifecycle of large volcanoes in between eruptions to be certain
• Catastrophic eruptions on Santorini, which produce mostly pumice rather than lava, appear to occur here about 20,000 years apart
• The last one, in 1950, oozed enough lava to cover a few tennis courts
• Despite its relative quiet, Santorini is an ideal location to learn more about processes like the magma chamber’s rapid inflation
• While satellite evidence of swelling magma chambers has rarely been available for an active volcano, the processes the data represent may not be all that unusual
• Some large volcanoes like Santorini and Yellowstone spend hundreds or thousands of years in a state of what you’d call dormancy and often have these little restless patches
• These types of phenomena are likely to be common, but you need the right instruments and technology to detect what are usually rather small changes in behavior.
• Of Note
• We aren’t any closer to knowing if, or when, the next lava eruption might happen
• Scientist are comparing the recent events to to someone blowing a big breath into an invisible balloon when you don’t know how small or big the balloon is, and don’t know whether just one more breath will be enough for it to pop or not
• Further Reading / In the News
• Santorini Bulges as Magma Balloons Underneath | news.nationalgeographic.com

Painless shots

• A new laser-based system blasts microscopic jets of drugs into the skin could soon make getting a shot as painless as being hit with a puff of air
• The low down
• In previous studies, researchers used a laser wavelength that was not well absorbed by the water of the driving liquid which caused the formation of tiny shock waves that dissipated energy and hampered the formation of the vapor bub
• The laser with a wavelength of 2,940 nanometers, which is readily absorbed by water. This allows the formation of a larger and more stable vapor bubble
• Hypodermic needles are still the first choice for ease-of-use, precision, and control
• Significance
• This type of laser is commonly used by dermatologists, particularly for facial esthetic treatments
• The laser is combined with a small adaptor that contains the drug to be delivered, in liquid form, plus a chamber containing water that acts as a “driving” fluid
• A flexible membrane separates these two liquids
• Each laser pulse, which lasts just 250 millionths of a second, generates a vapor bubble inside the driving fluid.
• The pressure of that bubble puts elastic strain on the membrane
• The impacting jet pressure is higher than the skin tensile strength and thus causes the jet to smoothly penetrate into the targeted depth underneath the skin
• The drug to be forcefully ejected from a miniature nozzle in a narrow jet a mere 150 millionths of a meter (micrometers) in diameter or a little larger than the width of a human hair
• To test the effectiveness of the drug delivery system, a special gel is used to mimic the behavior of human skin
• Tests on guinea pig skin show that the drug-laden jet can penetrate up to several millimeters beneath the skin surface, with no damage to the tissue
• Because of the narrowness and quickness of the jet, it should cause little or no pain and the region of the skin has no nerve endings, so the method "will be completely pain-free
• Of Note
• Researchers are now working with a company to produce low-cost replaceable injectors for clinical use
• Further work would be necessary to adopt it for scenarios like mass vaccine injections for children
• Multimedia
• YouTube Laser-powered ‘Needle’ Promises Pain-free Injections | BusinessWire
• Further Reading / In the News
• Laser-powered ‘needle’ promises pain-free injections | Phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Tooth protection

• Japanese scientists have created a microscopically thin film [0.00016 in/0.004 mm]that can coat individual teeth to prevent decay or to make them appear whiter, the chief researcher said
• The film is a hard-wearing and ultra-flexible material
• It is made from hydroxyapatite, the main mineral in tooth enamel
• It could be five or more years before it could be used in practical dental treatment such as covering exposed dentin, the sensitive layer underneath enamel, but it could be used cosmetically within three years
• Further Reading / In the News
• Japan tooth patch could be end of decay | https://medicalxpress.com

— UPDATES—

Higgs-Boson

• The announcement two months ago that physicists have discovered a particle consistent with the famous Higgs boson has cleared a formal hurdle with publication in a peer-reviewed journal
• Although CERN’s announcement was never doubted, it still had to be vetted by peers and then published in an established journal to meet benchmarks of accuracy and openness.
• Further work is being carried out to confirm whether the new particle is the famous Higgs
• Further Reading / In the News
• Higgs boson: landmark announcement clears key hurdle | Phys.org

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

Shuttle Endeavour

• There have been a few weather delays so the schedule continues to change so watch my twitter feed and #SpotTheShuttle for the latest updates
• JB Mars Base
• [#spottheshuttle](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23spottheshuttle)

Expedition 32

• The low down
• Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American spaceflyer (Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba) has landed safely back on Earth
• They landed at 02:54 UTC on Monday, September 17 (8:53 a.m. Kazakhstan time Monday, 10:53 p.m. EDT Sunday, September 16
• The Mission
• The Soyuz crew was in good health and spirits
• The three signed their Soyuz spacecraft, which is destined for a Russian museum
• Their 125-day spaceflight began in mid-May and included three spacewalks and several robotic cargo ship arrivals
• The three spaceflyers were originally slated to blast off in March, but a pressure test incident cracked their first Soyuz capsule, causing a six-week delay while another spacecraft was readied.
• They finally launched on May 14 and just eight days later, SpaceX’s robotic Dragon capsule docked with the station on a historic demonstration mission, becoming the first private vehicle ever to do so.
• on Sep. 5, crewmates Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide performed an extra spacewalk – the third for the mission
• They replace a vital power unit on the station’s backbone-like truss. Using improvised tools such as spare parts and a toothbrush to remove a stuck bolt that had delayed the fix a week earlier
• Expedition 33
• Expedition 33 is now underway as Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko continue their stay until Nov. 12
• They will have the station to themselves until mid-October, when three more astronauts will float through the hatch and bring the expedition up to its full complement of six crewmembers.
• Multimedia
• YouTube [[ISS] Expedition 32 Safely Landed | SpaceVidsNet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lN-nUBwCWs&t=30s)
• Further Reading / In the News
• Touchdown! Soyuz Spacecraft Lands Safely with Russian-US Crew | Space.com
• Expedition 32 Lands Safely in Kazakhstan | UniverseToday.com

Opportunity is still finding new things

• A strange picture of odd, spherical rock formations on Mars from NASA’s Opportunity rover has scientists wondering what exactly they’re looking at.
• The low down
• Opportunity is currently exploring a location known as Cape York along the western rim of a giant Martian crater called Endeavour
• A recent photo by Opportunity shows a close-up of a rock outcrop covered in blister-like bumps that mission scientists can’t yet explain
• The rock, called Kirkwood, is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects
• Significance
• The photo is actually a mosaic of four images taken by a microscope-like imager on its robotic arm
• At first the formations appear similar to so-called Martian “blueberries”, iron-rich spherical formations first seen by Opportunity in 2004
• “Blueberries” are actually concretions created by minerals in water that settled into sedimentary rock, they were first spotted by Opportunity soon after its landing in 2004 and has seen them at many of its science site
• However they actually differ in several key ways, and scientists have never seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars
• In this new photo, many of the strange features are broken, revealing odd concentric circles inside that seem to be seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle
• These bumpy, spherical formations on the Kirkwood rock represent something new
• The accumulations are different in concentration, structure, composition and in distribution
• The science team have several theories, but none that truly stand out as the best explanation
• Making this one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission, showing that Opportunity is still pumping out new discoveries after more than eight years on Mars.
• Of Note
• As the spring equinox is approaching on Mars, ensuring increasing levels of sunshine for Opportunity’s solar arrays and are currently at production levels comparable to what they were a full Martian year ago
• The Kirkwood outcrop is just one science pit stop at Cape York for Opportunity
• Mission scientists have already picked out another interesting rock outcrop nearby, a pale patch that may contain tantalizing clay minerals, for possibly study after Opportunity completes its current analysis.
• Social Media
• Spirit and Oppy ‏ @MarsRovers
• Further Reading / In the News
• Strange Mystery Spheres on Mars Baffle Scientists | Space.com

–CURIOSITY UPDATE–

• Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer [APXS] which is used to analyze mineralogy of samples was also tested
• There is new panorama from Mars where you can zoom in and you can see actual rocks
• Curiosity has nearly finished robotic arm tests. Once complete, the rover will be able to touch and examine its first Mars rock
• It will drive some more and try to find the right rock to begin doing contact science with the arm
• There is also a look ahead to the terrain to get to the foothill of Aeolis Mons, or Mount Sharp where there appear to be big dunes
• Multimedia
• YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (Sept. 13, 2012) | JPLNews
• Image Gallery Mars Science Laboratory
• Social Media
• Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
• Further Reading / In the News
• Say Ahhh to Mars | UniverseToday.com
• [Drive Time: Curiosity Rover Ready to Roll toward First Martian Destination: Scientific American Gallery

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

• September 23, 1846 : 166 years ago : Neptune discovered : The German astronomer Johan G. Galle discovered Neptune after only an hour of searching, within one degree of the position that had been computed by Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier. Independently of the English astronomer John C. Adams, Le Verrier had calculated the size and position of a previously unknown planet, which he assumed influenced the irregular orbit of Uranus, and he asked Galle to look for it.

Looking up this week

• Keep an eye out for …

• Wed | Sep 19 | Twilight | Just to the right of Mars you can see Mars. Mars will be very close to the moon, in fact in parts of central and Southern America the moon will actually occult (cover) Mars before sunset

• Thurs | Sep 20 | Evening | Tonight it will be the star Antares to the lower-left of the Moon

• Sat | Sep 22 | Autumn officially begins in the Northern hemisphere (Spring n the Southern hemisphere) As the center of the Sun crosses the Equator to the South

• Venus | ~2 hours before Dawn | Venus will rise in the E-NE moving high in the East by dawn

• Mars Saturn | Sunset | Will be low in the SW/Mid-SW about 20* () apart

• Jupiter | Around 11pm dst | Rises in the E-NE with Aldebaran to it’s right as it clears the horizon. By dawn they will be to the S

• Further Reading and Resources

• Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast – September 17–23, 2012 | UniverseToday.com

• 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

Catch SciByte LIVE:

• Video: https://jblive.tv
• Audio: https://jblive.info
• Time: 7:30pm Pacific / 10:30pm Eastern / 2:30am UTC

The post Cool Pavement & Martian Snow | SciByte 63 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/24496/stradivarius-tigers-scibyte-62/ Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:37:43 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=24496 We take a look at Stradivarius violins, tiger time-sharing, asteroids, hydrogel, running robots, disintegrating planets, Mars rover updates and more!

The post Stradivarius & Tigers | SciByte 62 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]>

We take a look at Stradivarius violins, tiger time-sharing, asteroids, hydrogel, running robots, disintegrating planets, spacecraft updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Download | Ogg Download | Video | YouTube

RSS Feeds:

MP3 Feed | Ogg Feed | iTunes Feed | Video Feed

Support the Show:

[asa]B0083SBJXS[/asa]
[asa]0195218507[/asa]

Purchase anything at Amazon.com Purchase anything at Think Geek using this link Grab our Audible.com Pick: Star Wars: Dark Force Rising: The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 2

   

Show Notes

Tiger Timeshare’s

_{Credit: Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University | Credit:Sue Nichols, Michigan State University}

• While tigers typically move around at all times of the day and night it has been discovered that the tigers around Chitwan National Park in Nepal, have become creatures of the night
• The low down
• Tigers need to use the same space as people if they are to have a viable long-term future and in Chitwan they seem to be adapting to make it work
• Analyses show that tigers were more likely to be found at sites away from human settlement
• The local human population collects firewood, soldiers patrol forest roads to deter poachers and other criminals, and a growing number of eco-tourists visit the area each year
• People in Nepal generally avoid the forests at night
• Significance
• Research from January through May—during the dry season before the monsoon rains began—in both 2010 and 2011, deployed at least 75 camera traps spaced no more than 1 kilometer apart.
• It was found that the tigers in and around Chitwan park were much more likely to be active at night than tigers living elsewhere
• Analysis of the thousands of images show that people and tigers are walking the same paths, albeit at different times
• In addition the overall tiger numbers in the park didn’t drop when more humans were around
• In 2010, the team estimates, the area hosted about 4.4 tigers per 100 square kilometers.
• The next year, that number jumped by about 40%—even though the number of humans measured by the “camera traps” rose by 55%.
• Of Note
• From this discovery there appears to be a middle ground where you might actually be able to protect the species at high densities and give people access to forest goods they need to live
• Timesharing the environment might not work well with many threatened species or in many areas
• However the notion of humans and endangered animals sharing the same terrain by shifting their behavior—and particularly by shifting when each species uses the habitat—should be incorporated into conservation plans when it makes sense
• Further Reading / In the News
• Humans and Tigers Can Timeshare Territory | news.ScienceMag.org
• Study: Tigers take the night shift to coexist with people | Phys.org

— NEWS BYTE —

New Stradivarius?

• A Swiss wood researcher has succeeded in modifying the wood for a violin through treatment with special fungi making it sound indistinguishably similar to a Stradivarius
• On September 7, 2012 he reported on his research and gave a preview of what his wood treatment method could mean, particularly for young violinists
• The low down
• A good violin depends not only on the expertise of the violin maker, but also on the quality of the wood that is used.
• Low density, high speed of sound and a high modulus of elasticity – these qualities are essential for ideal violin tone wood.
• Significance
• Research has shown that the chemicals used in the varnish at that time contributed to the sound quality of the instruments
• Recent research indicates that the wood itself may indeed be a part of the equation as well
• In the late 17th and early 18th century the famous violin maker Antonio Stradivari used a special wood that had grown in the cold period between 1645 and 1715
• Long winters and the cool summers, the wood grew especially slowly and evenly, creating low density and a high modulus of elasticity
• While normally fungi reduce the density of the wood, unfortunately at the same time they reduce the speed with which the sound waves travel through the wood
• Swiss wood researcher Professor Francis W. M. R. Schwarze discovered two species of fungi which decay Norway spruce and sycamore – the two important kinds of wood used for violin making – to such an extent that their tonal quality is improved
• The unique feature of these fungi is that they gradually degrade the cell walls, thus inducing a thinning of the walls
• A stiff scaffold structure remains via which the sound waves can still travel directly the wood remains just as resistant to strain as before the fungal treatment
• Before the, mycowood or treated with wood decay fungi, wood is further processed to a violin, it is treated with ethylene oxide gas so that no fungus survive
• Of Note
• In 2009 the violins were played in a blind, behind-the-curtain test versus a genuine Stradivarius from 1711
• Both the jury of experts and the majority of the audience thought that the mycowood violin that Schwarze had treated with fungi for nine months was the actual Strad
• Currently Professor Schwarze is working on an interdisciplinary project to develop a quality-controlled treatment for violin wood, with successful, reliable and reproducible results
• Further Reading / In the News
• Treatment with fungi makes a modern violin sound like a Stradiavarius | Phys.org
• ‘Biotech violin’ outdoes Stradivarius | Phys.org

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Name that Asteroid

_{YouTube Channel: NASAexplorer | Credit: planetary.org}

• NASA and the Planetary Society are giving students worldwide the opportunity to name an asteroid that an upcoming NASA mission will return samples of this asteroid to Earth
• The low down
• The asteroid was discovered in 1999 and received its designation of (101955) 1999 RQ36 from the Minor Planet Center, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• An upcoming sample-return mission [Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx)] will be heading to an asteroid, currently named (101955) 1999 RQ36
• The sample return mission is scheduled to launch in 2016, NASA also is planning a crewed mission to an asteroid by 2025
• Significance
• The competition is open to students under age 18 from anywhere in the world
• Each contestant can submit one name, up to 16 characters long and must include a short explanation and rationale for the name
• Submissions must be made by an adult on behalf of the student. The contest deadline is Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012
• Of Note
• The contest is sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington; and the University of Arizona in Tucson
• A panel will review proposed asteroid names. First prize will be awarded to the student who recommends a name that is approved by the International Astronomical Union Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature
• Multimedia
• YouTube NASA | Name That Asteroid!| NASAexplorer
• Simulated asteroid image – topography overlaid on radar imagery of 1999 RQ36 | Credit: NASA/GSFC/UA
• Social Media
• NASA Goddard @NASAGoddard
• Further Reading / In the News
• Planetary Society Contest Page
• Students: Asteroid 1999 RQ36 Needs a New Name! | UniverseToday.com

Tough Hydrogel

• The low down
• A hydrogel is a network of polymers that soaks up lots of water to form a jelly-like material.
• Researchers have already tried to make them autonomous self-healers, ready to repair themselves when they break but what if they just didn’t break at all under strain
• Toughness is a major plus for hydrogels, some of the toughest hydrogels are used to make soft contact lenses
• Significance
• This particular hydrogel comes from Harvard University materials engineer team who created the gel from two polymers: alginate and polyacrylamide
• The ionic bonds of the alginate molecules break and reform under pressure, spreading the energy of an impact over a wider area
• The alginate molecules protect the covalent bonds in the polyacrylamide molecules, which hold the gel together
• Of Note
• This process protects the covalent bonds in the polyacrylamide molecules, which hold the gel together
• Which makes this hydrogel as tough as rubber that can stretch 20 times its normal length / thickness
• Multimedia
• YouTube Ball bouncing off stretchy jelly | Nature Newsteam
• Further Reading / In the News
• A Ball of Metal Bounces Off a Thin Sheet of Super-Tough Hydrogel | PopSci.com
• Super-stretchy jelly can take a hit | Nature.com

— Updates —

Boston-Dynamics Robot’s

• Last time on SciByte
• Neutrinos & Leap Year | SciByte 35 – Legged Squad Support System (LS3) [February 28, 2012]
• Alpha Dog
• AlphaDog is the mechanical pack mule and descendant of the original Big Dog built for DARPA
• It is now able to follow a soldier without assistance
• The current version is bulkier and likely heavier than a horse, able to carry up to 400 pounds of gear and now able to walk for twenty miles before needing a recharge.
• Soldiers however typically move at seven to ten miles per hour, however, currently AlphaDog can walk at a pace of just a few miles an hour or trot at up to five
• The next goal for the engineers is to increase up that speed without sacrificing distance between recharges
• Cheetah
• Boston Dynamics’ Cheetah is the fastest a robot had ever run, 18 mph [29 kph] previously, up to a 28.3 mph [45.5 mph]
• In comparison Usain Bolt’s peak speed during the 100-meter dash was 27.78 mph [44.71 kph]
• For now, it remains tethered to an external power supply, and runs on an indoor treadmill.
• However next year Boston Dynamics plans to finish the “Wildcat,” a Cheetah that’s designed to run untethered.
• Multimedia
• YouTube Cheetah Robot runs 28.3 mph; a bit faster than Usain Bolt | BostonDynamics
• YouTube LS3 – Legged Squad Support System | BostonDynamics
• YouTube DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3) | BostonDynamics
• YouTube BigDog Evolution | BostonDynamics
• YouTube BigDog Overview (Updated March 2010) |BostonDynamics
• YouTube BigDog Beach’n | BostonDynamics
• YouTube BigDog robot | BostonDynamics
• Social Media
• Boston Dynamics @BostonDynamics
• Further Reading / In the News
• BostonDynamics.com
• Boston Dynamics shows off latest abilities of AlphaDog | Phys.org
• Cheetah Robot Sets a New Land Speed Record | PopSci.com

Disintegrating planet

• In May, researchers announced the detection of a possibly disintegrating exoplanet, a roughly Mercury-size world being boiled away by the intense heat of its parent star now a different team has found strong evidence in support of the find
• The low down
• Astronomers have found a dusty tail streaming off a faraway alien planet, suggesting that the tiny, scorching-hot world is indeed falling apart.
• Both studies used observations from NASA’s Kepler space telescope
• Surface temperatures estimated to be around 3,600 F (1,982 C) and it completes an orbit every 15 hours
• It is predicted that the planet is likely surrounded by a huge veil of dust and gas
• In the new study, a different team found clear signals that light is being scattered and absorbed by large amounts of dust.
• By observing the dust clouds in different colors, something Kepler cannot do, researchers could determine the amount and the composition of the dust and estimate its lifetime
• Further Reading / In the News
• Disintegrating Alien Planet Has Comet-Like Tail | Space.com

– SPACECRAFT UPDATE –

Shuttle Shuffle comes to an end

_{YouTube Channel: NASATelevision | YouTube Channel: spacearium}

• Endeavour (OV–105) was the last shuttle orbiter to be constructed for NASA. Endeavour completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles.
• Endeavour, mounted atop NASA’s modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), will become the last Space Shuttle orbiter to soar aloft when it departs Monday, Sept. 17, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a three-day flight to Los Angeles International Airport.
• Last time on SciByte
• Mining Asteroids & Shuttle Discovery | SciByte 44 – The Shuttle Shuffle Continues [May 1, 2012]
• Martian Dust Devils & The Shuttles | SciByte 43 – The Shuttle Shuffle [April 24, 2012]
• The low down
• The SCA is scheduled to conduct low-level flyovers at about 1,500 ft (457 m)above many locations along the planned flight path
• Flyover include : Cape Canaveral, NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., and Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Sacramento, San Francisco,
• Low passes are also planned over areas around Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston in Texas before making a landing at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
• The planned landing at LAX on the 20th
• The Trip Itinerary
• The trip is set to begin on Sept. 17, weather permitting, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and culminate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sept. 20
• The carrier aircraft will arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 11
• Three days later, the orbiter will be rolled out to meet the SCA at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), where Endeavour returned to Earth for its 25th and final time in the early morning hours of June 1, 2011
• Endeavour will be hoisted off the ground by crane, then be lowered onto the SCA’s back and secured for flight
• Weather permitting, the SCA and Endeavour will remain at Ellington for the remainder of the day and all day on Sept. 18, providing Johnson employees and the Houston public an ample opportunity to see the shuttle.
• It will then take to the air again at sunrise on Sept. 19, and after a brief refueling stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas
• Finally on the morning of Sept. 20, Endeavour, still on top of the SCA, will take off one last time, departing Dryden to fly over Northern California, passing above NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field and various landmarks in multiple cities, including San Francisco and Sacramento, the state’s capitol
• The orbiter then will travel through Inglewood and Los Angeles city streets on a 12-mile journey from the airport to the California Science Center, arriving on the evening of Oct. 13
• Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on permanent display in the science center’s Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion
• Of Note
• According to NASA, some of the flyovers or layovers that are planned could be delayed or cancelled as a result
• Multimedia
• Mission 26: The Big Endeavour – Google Maps
• YouTube Part 1 – NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905 Arrival At Kennedy Space Center For Endeavour Departure | spacearium
• YouTube Endeavour Lifts Off on its Last Mission | NASATelevision
• Social Media
• Twitter [#spottheshuttle](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23spottheshuttle)
• Twitter [#OV105](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23OV105)
• Further Reading / In the News
• Endeavour to Take to the Skies One Last Time | UniverseToday.com
• NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour to Depart on Cross-Country Flight for Display | Space.com

– CURIOSITY UPDATE –

_{Credit: | Credit: NASA/GSFC/UA}

• Curiosity Rover Report
• YouTube Curiosity Rover Report (Sept. 6, 2012) | JPLnews
• EVENT
• Curiosity has started testing the arm capabilities and instruments including, vibration testing,
• The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) did preliminary calibration readings
• The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument, used to check whether the ground under the rover holds hydrated minerals, was sent commands for a six-hour reading
• Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images the wheels and undercarriage of the rover to test maneuverability
• Image Panorama of Curiosity’s Belly Check | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
• The Curiosity’s tracks are visible from the MRO A Rover’s Journey Begins | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
• Multimedia
• Image Gallery Mars Rover Curiosity’s 1st Month in Pictures | Space.com
• Social Media
• Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
• Further Reading / In the News
• Mars Rover Curiosity Snaps Amazing Hi-Res Self Portraits

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

• Sep 17, 1822 : 190 years ago : Rosetta Stone Decyphered : French Academie Royale des Inscriptions, Jean-François Champollion read a paper, Lettre a M. Dacier, describing his solution to the mystery of the triple inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone which had been unearthed July of 1799, by Napoleon’s army near the Rosetta branch of the Nile. (Baron Joseph Dacier, to whom he addressed the letter, was Secretary of the Academie.) Champollion’s work to decipher the hieroglyphics had began in 1808. Thomas Young did some preliminary fragmentary work, but otherwise it was Champollion’s major accomplishment. In 1823 he gave more details in a series of memoirs read at the Institute, published the following year as Precis du systeme hieroglyphique des anciens Egyptiens
• The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek.

–Viewer Submitted–

• Wesley Magyar | Linked some images he took of Jupiter September 8th around 2am Pacific
• Through a Celestron C8 Telescope using a 25MM lens
• Taken with a Samsung Galaxy S2 Camera
• Google Plus Image Gallery
• @JB_Mars_Base Identification
• Jupiter Impact?
• The amateur who observed the flash was Dan Petersen, from Oregon, who made the observation at approximately 11:35 UTC on September 10
• An amateur astronomer in Dallas Texas, George Hall captured the impact flash in his webcam at about 6:30 am on Sept. 10, 2012.
• Viewing Alert: Jupiter May Have Been Impacted by a Fireball |UniverseToday.com

Looking up this week

• Keep an eye out for …

• Venus | 2–3 hours before sunrise | Rise in the E-NE and by dawn it will be high high in the ern sky

• Mars and Saturn | Right after twilight | Low in the W and W-SW, widening to be roughly the distance between your pointer and pinky finger extended at arms length [ 13–17 ]

• Jupiter | ~ midnight | Rising in the E-NE, when it’s above the horizon you can see the faint orange star Aldebaran about 4 fingers width to it’s right [ 7* ]

• Further Reading and Resources

• Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: September 10–16, 2012 | UniverseToday.com

• 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 Stradivarius & Tigers | SciByte 62 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/13951/brains-light-scibyte-21/ Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:51:47 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=13951 We take a look at memory, flexible brain implant, supernova's, light absorption, a new space station crew, the latest news on Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission!

The post Brains & Light | SciByte 21 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]>

Hello everyone and welcome back to SciByte!

We take a look at memory, flexible brain implant, supernova’s, light absorption, a new space station crew, the latest news on Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission and take another peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

Direct Download:

MP3 Download | Ogg Download

RSS Feeds:

MP3 Feed | Ogg Feed | iTunes Feed

Grab a book to support the show, this week’s pick:

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

• Audible
• Amazon
  Previous picks in the Jupiter Broadcasting Store

   

Show Notes:

SciByte 20 Correction

• One letter can make a world of difference …
• Today’s power plants use fission to generate heat and do useful work. The creation of the first man-made fission reactor, known as Chicago Pile–1, achieved criticality on December 2, 1942. Fusion differs from the fission reactions used in current nuclear power plants for it occurs when light nuclei travelling at high speed combine, without radioactive waste as a byproduct.

Feedback

• What’s the deal with Ceres?
  

• The low down

• Ceres is also the largest Main Belt asteroid, comprising about a third of the mass of the asteroid belt

• Discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, it was the first asteroid to be identified

• surface is probably a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clays, and may even harbour an ocean of liquid water under its surface

• Significance

• International Astronomical Union (IAU) gathered at the second General Assembly on August 24, 2006 and voted on an official definition of planet

• There is now a new category of planets designated as “dwarf planets,” including Pluto, Charon (its moon), and Ceres

• * Of Note*

• Ceres was almost the 5th planet, but the definition to planet requires the orbit to be ‘cleared’

• The 2006 IAU decision that classified Ceres as a dwarf planet never addressed whether it is or is not an asteroid

• The IAU has never defined the word ‘asteroid’

• NASA continues to refer to Ceres as an asteroid, saying in a 2011 press announcement that “Dawn will orbit two of the largest asteroids in the Main Belt”,as do various academic textbooks

• Social Media

• NASA’s Dawn Mission @NASA_Dawn

• Further Reading / In the News

• Ceres: Overview @ NASA.gov

• Ceres Designated a ‘Dwarf Planet’ @ Dawn Spacecraft

• Ceres and Pluto: Dwarf Planets as a New Way of Thinking about an Old Solar System @ NASA.gov

• Dawn Mission: Dawn – Home Page – NASA

• International Astronomical Union

*— UPDATES — *

Phobos-Grunt Update

• The low down
• Phobos-Ground was Russia’s first interplanetary mission since a botched 1996 robotic mission to Mars, which failed when the probe crashed shortly after the launch due to an engine failure
• It successfully launched by a Zenit–2 booster rocket just after midnight Moscow time Wednesday , separated from the booster about 11 minutes later and was to fire its engines twice to set out on its path to the Red Planet, but never did
• Scientists had hoped that studies of Phobos’ surface could help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system.
• About seven tons of nitrogen teroxide and hydrazine are on board
• Also a small amount of cobalt–57 onboard the spacecraft, which is intended as a gamma ray source for the probe’s soil spectrometers. Cobalt–57 has a half life of about 270 days / ~ 9 months
• Significance
• With conflicting news reports as to how long the Russians have before the spacecraft’s batteries run out, ranging from two days to two weeks, it hasn’t been the easiest to get an accurate picture of the situation
• encountered problems with either computer software or the propulsion system
• What should have happened is that two and a half hours after launch, the first burn should have put the spacecraft into an higher orbit around Earth, and a second burn should have occurred 126 minutes later, which would have sent it the spacecraft to Mars. Neither occurred
• * Of Note*
• Amateur astronomers were the first to spot the trouble when they detected that the spacecraft was stuck in an Earth orbit
• Phobos-Grunt is in a, so-called parking orbit, at about 1/2 the height of the Space Station and there is little danger of it colliding with other spacecraft or satellites
• The U.S. Space Surveillance Network is tracking without difficulty both the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and its associated Zenit 2 second stage
• On Nov 11 NORAD was putting a Nov. 26 reentry date on Phobos-Grunt.
• The head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency said on the 14th estimated that the Phobos-Grunt would fly until January, and to make it perform its mission it would still have time until the beginning of December
• Some of the reason for the change in date is that the spacecraft surprised everyone by maneuvering on its own, raising its orbit. Due to this, the estimated reentry date was moved back from late November to mid January
• the Mars departure window closes in early December
• One problem is that tracking stations are slow [that is, they cannot turn fast enough to track a fast-moving spacecraft on a low-Earth orbit] and Phobos-Grunt is on an unplanned trajectory, hence the communication session lasts for only 7 minutes
• It’s also possible their radio stations may be having a hard time broadcasting quietly enough not to harm the spacecraft
• Multimedia
• VIDEO : Will Phobos-Grunt fall to Earth @ Space.com
• The Phobos-Grunt mission profile @UniverseToday.com
• Social Media
• Twitter Results for [#PhobosGrunt](https://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23PhobosGrunt)
• Further Reading / In the News
• Russia Races to Save Mars Moon Probe from Space Junk Fate @Space.com
• Trouble for the Phobos-Grunt Mission @UniverseToday
• Russian probe fails to set course to Mars – Roscosmos @ Rian.ru
• Russians desperately try to save Mars moon probe (Update) @PhysOrg.com
• Outlook Grim for Stranded Russian Mars Moon Probe @Space.com
• Chance of Russia Mars probe rescue ‘very small’ @PhysOrg.com
• Russia’s attempts to save Mars probe unsuccessful (Update) @Physorg.com
• Phobos-Grunt: a legal analysis of potential liability and options for mitigation @ The Space Review
• Cosmic Fail! Getting into Space Is Still Really, Really Hard @Space.com
• Russia Still Trying to Contact Stranded Mars Moon Probe @Space.com
• Phobos-Grunt status, launch plus six days @ The Planetary Society @ Planetary.org
• [Update on Phobos-Grunt: Might the LIFE Experiment be Recovered? @ UniverseToday.com]https://www.universetoday.com/90985/update-on-phobos-grunt-might-the-life-experiment-be-recovered/()

*— NEWS BYTE — *

Memory and your brain

• The low down
• Scientists have long studied people with memory deficits, but there haven’t been many studies on people with exceptional memories
• some real-life people can remember every day of their lives in detail
• Those superrememberers have more bulk in certain parts of their brains, possibly explaining the remarkable ability to recall minutiae from decades ago
• The reserachers fund 11 people who scored off the charts for autobiographical memory. These people could effortlessly remember, for instance, what they were doing on November 2, 1989, and could also tell you that it was a Thursday
• Significance
• Using brain scans, researchers found that people with supermemories had larger brain regions associated with memory, specifically a brain structure called the lentiform nucleus, a cone-shaped mass in the core of the brain, was bigger in people with exceptional memories
• Brain region involved in such incredible recall has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder
• OCD and superior memory might have a common architecture in the brain
• The subjects haven’t been clinically evaluated for OCD, but LePort says that there are some similarities
• The ability to organize their memories by dates seems to relieve anxiety
• Though no genetic tests have been performed, some of the volunteers have reported that family members share extraordinary powers of recall
• The volunteers are now keeping detailed diaries, so that the scientists can test whether particular kinds of memories are better suited to recollection. People might be better at remembering emotional memories, for instance
• Social Media
• UC Irvine @UCIrvine
• Further Reading / In the News
• Society for Neurosciencce
• Exceptional memory linked to bulked-up parts of brain @ ScienceNews.com
• Enlarged Brain Parts Linked to Extraordinary Memory @TopNews.us

Flexible Brain Implant for Seizures

• The low down
• The brain contains billions of interconnected neurons that normally transmit electrical pulses
• During a seizure, these pulses occur in abnormal, synchronized, rapid-fire bursts that can cause convulsions, loss of consciousness and other symptoms
• Significance
• Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a flexible brain implant that could one day be used to treat epileptic seizures
• In an animal model, the researchers saw spiral waves of brain activity not previously observed during a seizure
• Similar waves are known to ripple through cardiac muscle during a type of life-threatening heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.
• Someday, these flexible arrays could be used to pinpoint where seizures start in the brain and perhaps to shut them down
• A stimulating electrode array might one day be designed to suppress seizure activity, working like a pacemaker for the brain
• These flexible electrode arrays could significantly expand surgical options for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
• the array could be rolled into a tube and delivered into the brain through a small hole rather than by opening the skull
• * Of Note*
• The implant is a type of electrode array that conforms to the brain’s surface – to take an unprecedented look at the brain activity underlying seizures
• is made of a pliable material that is only about one quarter the thickness of a human hair
• It contains 720 silicon nanomembrane transistors in a multiplexed 360-channel array, which allow for minimal wiring and dense packing of the electrodes
• The flexibility of the array allows it to conform to the brain’s complex shape, even reaching into grooves that are inaccessible to conventional arrays
• The researchers tested the flexible array on cats. Although mice and rats are used for most neuroscience research, cats have larger brains that are anatomically more like the human brain, with simplified folds and grooves
• Social Media
• The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) @SfNtweets
• Penn Medicine Media @PennMedMedia
• NIH for Health @NIHforHealth
• Further Reading / In the News
• Society for NeuroScience
• Nature Neuroscience
• National Institutes of Health
• Ultrathin flexible brain implant offers unique look at seizures @ MedicalXPress.com
• Flexible Brain Implant Could Treat Epilepsy @ DiscoveryNews.com
• Brain implant ‘could be used to treat epilepsy’ @ EpilepsyResearch.ork.uk

Did a supernova kick start our solar system?

• The low down
• Scientists think the sun and surrounding planets were born from a churning disk of gas and dust, but what precisely caused the stuff to condense and form these bodies has been a mystery
• New computer simulations support the supernova scenario
• cold cloud of gas, and set it 15 light-years from an exploding supernova. Stun the cloud with the supernova’s shockwave. Incubate, and watch as the solar system begins to take shape
• Significance
• Understanding how the local solar neighborhood grew up is crucial for learning how other planetary systems are born
• Some clues to the solar systems origin appear in radioactive elements that were injected into and swam around the presolar cloud
• Today, they are embedded in objects such as asteroids, and are thought to mark the first solid bodies that emerged after the cloud’s collapse
• aluminum–26, has helped scientists determine that the solar system was born a little more than 4.5 billion years ago
• All of it appears to have enriched the cloud within roughly 20,000 years, much faster than most simulations can explain
• The team ruled out solar wind from a nearby star or enrichment occurring from within the cold cloud itself, because the key elements would have been delivered too slowly or in the wrong quantities
• approached the problem differently, by calculating in three dimensions rather than two, but also concluded that shocking the embryonic solar system would simultaneously trigger the cloud’s collapse and quickly inject the required radioactive elements
• Social Media
• Carnegie Institution @carnegiescience
• Further Reading / In the News
• Supernova may have kicked off solar system @ Science News
• Astrophysical Journal
• Carnegie Institution for Science

Nano shag-carpet absorbs light

• The low down
• Black paint only absorbs about 90 percent of the light that hits it
• in the cold dark of space, black paint takes on a silvery hue
• other nanomaterials and metamaterials that can absorb nearly all light in some wavelengths
• these require special fabrication processes to work in whichever wavelength researchers want
• Significance
• The new material is made of carbon nanotubes and can be grown on a variety of space-friendly substrates, from silicon to titanium to stainless steel
• absorbs an average 99 percent of all the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared light that hits it
• collecting and trapping light inside tiny gaps between the nanotubes, which are arranged in vertical fibrous strands
• * Of Note*
• It could also help scientists examine small spots in high-contrast areas, like planets orbiting other stars, and even look at the Earth, where weak light signals of interest to atmospheric scientists are washed out by the atmosphere’s reflectivity
• Social Media
• NASA Goddard @NASAGoddard
• Results for #SPIEDigitalLibrary](https://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23SPIEDigitalLibrary)
• Further Reading / In the News
• New Super-Black Material Absorbs 99 Percent of All Light That Dares to Strike It @PopSci
• New ‘super-black’ material absorbs light across multiple wavelength bands @ PhysOrg.com
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• SPIE Optics and Photonics

An ancient horse of a different color … or spots

• The low down
• Previous genetic studies had suggested that horses were either bay or black before domestication, and more elaborate patterns emerged as a result of breeding selection imposed by humans
• In new study published show that some prehistoric horses really did sport spots
• Significance
• A new analysis of DNA from the remains of 31 horses found in Europe and Siberia suggests that prehistoric horses came in bay, black and leopard-spotted at least 16,000 years ago
• Of the 31 horses studied, 18 were bay, seven were black and six carried genetic variants that produce a leopard spotting pattern
• Further Reading / In the News
• Prehistoric horses came in leopard print @ScienceNews.com

A new crew for the Space Station Arrives

• The low down
• A Russian rocket successfully lifted off from snowy Central Asia on Nov. 13, carrying a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station
• Despite intense snowfall at the launch site, the winds remained calm, which enabled Russian controllers to proceed with the scheduled liftoff
• The temperature was about 24 F, roughly 6 inches (15 cm) of snow had accumulated on the ground at launch time and moderate wind gusts partially obscured the view.
• The spaceflyers are expected to arrive at the space station on Wednesday (Nov. 16) after a two day journey
• Significance
• NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, they will be joined in December by the next trio to round out Expedition 30
• Burbank previously visited the space station in 2000 and 2006, on missions aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. This will be his first long-duration stint at the massive orbiting laboratory. Shkaplerov and Ivanishin are both conducting their first spaceflight.
• The station’s Expedition 29 crew, which currently consists of commander Mike Fossum of NASA, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov.
• Commander Fossum and his two crewmates have been living and working aboard the station since June. They are scheduled to return to Earth on Nov. 21. Before his departure, Fossum will hand over command of the station to Burbank, who will lead the station’s new Expedition 30 mission for the duration of his stay
• * Of Note*
• The Expedition 30 crew could also be present for the test flights of two robotic commercial vehicle during their stay at the station
• SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter are tentatively scheduled to carry out demonstration flights of their spacecraft in the new year
• The three newest station residents will remain at the massive orbiting complex until March 2012
• Multimedia
• Launch Video
• Russian Spacecraft Going to Space Station @YouTube.com
• Expedition 29 Crew Gets Final Approval for Launch @ YouTube.com
• Social Media
• NASA Astronauts @NASA_Astronauts
• Results for [#SpaceX](https://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23SpaceX)
• Further Reading / In the News
• New Space Station Crew Launches in Spectacular Snowy Display @ Space.com
• New Crewmembers to Arrive at Space Station Early Wednesday @ Space.com
• Soyuz Launches to Station amid Swirling Snowy Spectacular @ UniverseToday
• SpaceX’s Dragon capsule
• International Space Station
• NASA Astronauts

The last 14miles for the Endeavour

• The low down
• After travelling over 122 million miles the Space Shuttle Endeavour will make it’s final 14 miles from LAX to the California Science Center
• the options for moving a nearly six story, 180-thousand pound spacecraft, with a 78-foot wing span are limited
• The Randy’s Donuts sign was an absolute no, no to touch
• Further Reading / In the News
• How to Drive Space Shuttle Endeavour Down the Streets of Los Angeles @UniverseToday.com

SCIENCE CALENDER

Looking back this week

• Nov 22, 1809 : 202 years ago – The Pen : The first patent was issued in the U.S. for a metallic writing pen was issued to Peregrine Williamson a jeweller of Baltimore, Maryland. Williamson’s pens were made of steel rolled from wire, a sort of steel quill that would never need cutting to sharpen the nib. There are references to steel pens being used in Britain before this patent.
• Nov 19, 1872 : 139 years ago – Adding Machine : the first U.S. patent for an adding machine capable of printing totals and subtotals, called a “calculating machine,” was issued to E.D. Barbour of Boston, Mass. However, it was not practical. (No. 133,188)
• Nov 21, 1877 : 134 years ago – Edison’s phonograph : Thomas Edison announced his invention of his “talking machine” – the tin-foil cylinder recorder that preceeded the phonograph. The indented tin foil, however, would survive only a few playings. By the first public showing of a phonograph, which took place in New York City in early Feb 1878, its practical applications had not yet been realized.
• Nov 19, 1895 : 116 years ago – Paper Pencil : the first U.S. patent for a paper pencil was issued was issued to Fredrick E. Blaisdell of Philadelphia, Pa. (No. 549,952)
• Nov 17, 1970 : 41 years ago – Mouse Patent : a U.S. patent was issued for the computer mouse – an “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System” (No. 3541541). The first mouse was a simple hollowed-out wooden block, with a single push button on top. Engelbart had designed this as a tool to select text, move it around, and otherwise manipulate it.
• Nov 16, 1972 : 39 years ago – Skylab III : Skylab III, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 84-day mission that remained the longest American space flight for over two decades
• Nov 20, 1998 : 13 years ago – International Space Station : the first module of the International Space Station was launched on a Russian Proton rocket. It was followed two weeks later by the Unity connecting module from the U.S. The project, initiated by NASA in 1983, also involved Canada, Japan and the 11 members of the European Space Agency. After the Cold War, the Russians had been invited to participate, not merely as an exercise in international cooperation, but also to employ Russian scientists who might have otherwise sold their expertise to renegade countries.

Looking up this week

• Coronal Mass Ejections

• It ejected from the sun on Nov 11th

• Went past Mercury on Nov. 13th was predicted to hit Venus on the 14th. (above left)

• astronomers around the world have been monitoring a dark filament of magnetism sprawled more than 1,000,000 kilometers across the face of the sun

• On Nov. 14th the filament snapped and flung a fraction of itself into space and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action (above right)

• Keep an eye out for …

• Thursday, Nov 17 : Leonid meteor shower will peak, but will be contending with the last-quarter moon so only a few “shooting stars” will shine through the lunar glow

• Friday, Nov 14 : Last-quarter Moon (exact at 10:09 a.m. EST). The Moon shines near Mars and Regulus this morning and tomorrow morning

• Saturday Nov. 19 : Mars is visible to the upper left of the Moon at first light this morning

• Saturday Nov. 19 : Venus is low in the southwest in the early evening with Mercury below it, although you may need binoculars to see it.

• Tuesday, Nov 22 : Look to the southeast at first light for Saturn and the star Spica near the crescent Moon. Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, is close to the left of the Moon, with fainter Saturn a little farther to the left of Spica.

• More on whats in the sky this week

• Sky&Telescope

• AstronomyNow

• SpaceWeather.com

• HeavensAbove

• StarDate.org

The post Brains & Light | SciByte 21 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]>