Science News

I haven't yet seen this posted on the forums here, so apologies if its already been posted. Google recently launched a 'virtual tour' of the galaxy as a workshop experiment. I thought it was quite neat, so here's the link for you guys- http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

From: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/09/health/artificial-dna-life/index.html?hpt=hp_c4 The paper was published in Nature just this past week. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13314.html It's interesting that they were able to add completely synthetic genteic information and get that information to pass stably from one generation to the next via reproduction of the organism. I'm more excited about the posibilities this opens up for expanding our definition of what counts as life, especially in terms of space exploration.

If we have not heard from ET because AI is a threat to biological life forms, then why have we not heard from AI Moreover, why is it that an alien AI has not invaded Earth and destroyed us? I realize that a super AI would have the capability to destroy us, but it seems as likely we would threaten them as animals threaten us. Once a nuclear powered replicator gets into space, it should be able to find all the resources it needs to survive, thrive, and be safe. Thus, what reason would they have to destroy us?

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, my "it seems too good to be true" alarm keeps going off but if it's real I see no reason why individuals couldn't make their own kerosene at home... http://interestingengineering.com/water-carbon-dioxide-solar-power-solar-jet-fuel/

Latest today 8th May 2014 Link http://www.space.com/13142-complete-universe-simulation-visualized-3d.html Mike

http://www.nature.com/news/cosmic-light-could-close-quantum-weirdness-loophole-1.14771 "Do you ever feel like the Universe is plotting against you? Strange as it may sound, physicists are planning to test whether a cosmic conspiracy could lie behind one of the weirdest phenomena in quantum physics, in which particles appear to influence each other, no matter how far they are separated. The experiment, proposed in a paper due to be published in Physical Review Letters1, would use light from distant quasars to verify that this 'entanglement' is real. The test could also help cosmologists to distinguish between rival models of the early Universe."

This sounds like a tall tale. But, if reported in Biology, it should be true.

They aren't very big, but will provide shelter to people who have none, for example after an Earthquake. It seems reasonable that bigger houses are possible to print, too--just change the design and printing instructions.

New research into the development of life seems to favor the metabolism first crowd. Various organic compounds made by modern cells could have formed directly in the archean seas. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140425075235.htm

Samsung has found a way of growing large mono molecular sheets of graphene without any grain boundaries on Germanium doped silicon wafers. http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-graphene-364824/ So allot of those amazing graphene discoveries and products that have been flooding the tech news the past six years now become more likely to be manufactured.

Sooner or later a city will be hit.

Bananas are a comfort food, because they "contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier." No wonder I like them.

Will this work, or will there be health issues, such as blood cooled as it passes your wrist being more prone to clot because it is cooler.

The missing link is what to do with the CO2.

Hummus is a complete protein; thus, a substitute for meat that provides protein and cholesterol protection.

* To Moderator: I didn't put this in science news, because it is a technology development. I did not find a technology forum; thus, it is in the lounge--if wrong please move. This development is really good for people whose vocation take them off-road, for example wild life biologists. Thus, I posted it here. I'm wondering how well the camera lens is protected to prevent the camera from being blinded by mud. Perhaps a bottle of windscreen washer and a wiper blade will be provided. Although, a high pressure blast of washing solution might be better, as a wiper blade might be torn off from being hit by things that pass under the vehicle. In any case it is a bright …

Physics: QBism puts the scientist back into science N. David Mermin 26 March 2014 A participatory view of science resolves quantum paradoxes and finds room in classical physics for 'the Now', says N. David Mermin.http://www.nature.com/news/physics-qbism-puts-the-scientist-back-into-science-1.14912 Now in Nature: Quantum Bayes in the Brain: enjoy. Article tools

These charts show where we are headed and which areas of human activity are creating the most greenhouse gases.

Since this is a game I will break a personal rule and post a link from HuffPost, who has the most amusing article. The game is linked inside the HuffPost article. Be warned, the author says his site has been overwhelmed, so there may be performance problems. The game is called "Super Planet Crash" and it's actually a training application for real exoplanet detection systems. Other astronomers have made humorous accusations that he is sabotaging everyone else's research in order to steal all the prizes. Reportedly, when he first released it at his university for beta testing all work stopped at the site for the afternoon. I think it goes without saying it's add…

I believe that we planet earth are a tiny crust on a turtles shell, the shell in this case the universe.

23 pounds, delivered at Mach 7 a hundred miles away. This explodes like a nuclear weapon, without the radiation or the fallout. No explosives. It's just the kinetic energy of the slug. All heat nothing more. Iron is presumably the best material. It's highly magnetic and therefore ideal for railgun acceleration. http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/04/07/watch_the_navy_s_futuristic_star_wars_railgun_blow_things_up This article is from my favorite foreign affairs site. You will have to register, but you will be able to view ten free articles every month, and comment on them. If you don't want to register, then here is the direct Vimeo link: Bea…

No idea what one will cost, but it will apparently be manufactured for sale. It is only a 2 seater, but the MPG is astonishing.

See http://time.com/54684/star-trek-kate-mulgrew-the-principle-film/?hpt=hp_t3 for more. Seriously, in this day and age, people still think the Earth is the center of the solar system and the sun orbits us? This is the kind of ridiculous "science" content that moves us backwards, not forwards. According to the article a couple of people involved with the production are now speaking out against it.

In this recent paper from Michael Mann, the recent so-called "global warming slowdown" is shown to be indistinguishable from the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, or AMO, previously called the "NAO" or "North Atlantic Oscillation" before its full character had been measured. Dr. Mann's original "Hockey Stick" paper was based on study of the NAO, so this is familiar data territory for him. Mann says, So another denial falls by the wayside, and global warming wins again. Full details are available here and I will be fairly available for questions unless ajb takes up all my available CPU cycles.

This is a measure of the expansion of the universe at high redshifts (z > 2) to unprecedented accuracy: circa 2%. This is using the new Baryon Acoustic Oscillation method pioneered by BOSS, this time with three times as many individual objects measured as previously to get the original high resolution results. The current measurements use over 150,000 quasars, as opposed to the last results which used 48,000 and the original survey results which used only 16,000 quasars. http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2014/04/07/boss-quasars-measure-expansion/ This approach obviously is one of the most effective possible, and it's good to see astronomers sta…