By DENNIS OVERBYE
A new movie about Stephen Hawking’s life brings the man to life, but leaves viewers in the dark about what his science means.
Published: October 27, 2014 at 08:00PM
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
A 32,000-ton arch that will end up costing $1.5 billion is being built in Chernobyl, Ukraine, to all but eliminate the risk of further contamination at the site of the 1986 nuclear reactor explosion.
Published: April 27, 2014 at 08:00PM
By JOHN GRADY
In late 1864, Confederate saboteurs sank a Union transport ship, almost killing three of the North’s highest-ranking officers.
Published: November 28, 2014 at 02:00PM
from NYT Opinion http://ift.tt/1ymzykH
via IFTTT
A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.
How Big Are Black Holes?
Black holes can be big or small. Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain. Mass is the amount of matter, or “stuff,” in an object.
More information on black holes.
Artwork Credit: NASA, and M. Weiss (Chandra X -ray Center) via NASA http://ift.tt/1xZVGT3
By BENEDICT CAREY
The broader significance of the report is that societies collectively forget according to the same formula as, say, a student who has studied a list of words.
Published: November 27, 2014 at 07:00PM
This image of the printer, with the Microgravity Science Glovebox Engineering Unit in the background, was taken in April 2014 during flight certification and acceptance testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, prior to its launch to the station aboard a SpaceX commercial resupply mission. The first objects built in space will be returned to Earth in 2015 for detailed analysis and comparison to the identical ground control samples made on the flight printer prior to launch. The goal of this analysis is to verify that the 3-D printing process works the same in microgravity as it does on Earth.
The printer works by extruding heated plastic, which then builds layer upon layer to create three-dimensional objects. Testing this on the station is the first step toward creating a working “machine shop” in space. This capability may decrease cost and risk on the station, which will be critical when space explorers venture far from Earth and will create an on-demand supply chain for needed tools and parts. Long-term missions would benefit greatly from onboard manufacturing capabilities. Data and experience gathered in this demonstration will improve future 3-D manufacturing technology and equipment for the space program, allowing a greater degree of autonomy and flexibility for astronauts.
Image Credit: NASA/Emmett Given via NASA http://ift.tt/1rkkxQS
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
Fish that have white flesh are generally those that are resting or mostly inactive throughout their lives, while red-fleshed fish are usually long-distance swimmers.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By JASCHA HOFFMAN
An auditory scientist plans to help a New York audience make the most of some very minimal music and human sexual behavior is the focus of a yearlong show at London’s museum of medicine and art.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By CARL ZIMMER
A new study suggests that Toxoplasma can turn its host’s genes on and off, influencing behavior.
Published: August 27, 2014 at 08:00PM
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Recommending the toughest federal alert would have signaled to doctors that the risks of use outweighed any potential therapeutic benefit for patients.
Published: November 25, 2014 at 07:00PM
By CARL ZIMMER
Scientists are dusting off old insect collections in museums in an effort to learn what has happened to bee populations.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By EDWARD FRENKEL
To say Alexander Grothendieck was the No. 1 mathematician of the second half of the 20th century cannot begin to do justice to him or his body of work.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
Tiny, jelly-clad crustaceans known as Holopedium are thriving in some Canadian lakes after years of acid rain, threatening the food chain and “jellifying” the waters, biologists say.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By JUSTIN GILLIS
A new paper based on top climate models says that by about 2047, average temperatures across the globe will be higher than any highs recorded previously, with tropics hit earlier.
Published: October 9, 2013 at 08:00PM
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
A doctor who is considered a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine has denied carrying out innovative operations without ethical approvals.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D.
Does a girl who enters adolescence with a big woman’s body have a harder time socially than most teenagers? How about a boy whose fat conjures up female stereotypes?
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By JAMES GORMAN
The lizard and, well, Spider-Man, have ideal tools for scaling slippery surfaces. Engineers have copied the gecko’s clingy foot pads.
Published: November 23, 2014 at 07:00PM
By JOHN MARKOFF
More than 100 years after it was found, and more than 2,000 years after it was believed to have been built, the Antikythera Mechanism continues to raise questions and provide answers.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By KENNETH CHANG
After having a Scotch years ago, a photographer saw beauty at the bottom. Then he got interested in the science behind the patterns.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By RICHARD MORIN
A quick-grow laboratory technique, called microfragmenting, may make it possible to mass-produce reef-building corals for transplanting onto dead or dying reefs that took centuries to develop.
Published: November 24, 2014 at 07:00PM
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
A study of ancient life on the Tibetan Plateau indicates it was the ability to grow barley that allowed humans to establish permanent settlements at very high altitudes.
Published: November 19, 2014 at 07:00PM
By RONI CARYN RABIN
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a long-acting opioid painkiller that contains pure hydrocodone, which some addiction experts fear will be abused.
Published: November 20, 2014 at 07:00PM
By Unknown Author
The creator of Kryptos, a sculpture that contains an 865-character encrypted message, has released a second clue for the final unsolved section.
Published: November 20, 2014 at 07:00PM
David Fratantoni’s Latest Post:
Therapy dogs are one of the most useful tools when it comes to helping people deal with stress and traumatic events in the past. There have been countless articles and papers published talking about how incredible therapy dogs are at helping people, ranging from soldiers who suffer from PTSD to abuse victims, come to terms with past events and move forward in the healing process. As the usefulness of therapy dogs becomes more and more apparent, their use is becoming more common in areas where you wouldn’t expect them. One of these unexpected locations where you can no find therapy dogs (though it also makes total sense when you think about it) is airports. Some airports around the country now have roving teams of therapy dogs that are there to help calm passengers and relieve some of the stress and anxiety that travel frequently causes.
After 9/11, a volunteer interfaith chaplain at Mineta San Jose Airport (SJC) brought her certified therapy dog to help people relax when facing the prospect of returning to the skies. It was a huge success and SJC was the first airport to start a therapy dog program that others have used as inspiration. All of the dogs used across the country have been vetted by Therapy Dogs International to make sure they’re non-aggressive and ok with the sounds and chaos of airports. The dogs and their handlers wander around the airport terminal all 7 days a week and are available to all who would like some comforting before boarding their plane.
As of now, there are 27 airports around the country that have adopted using therapy dogs to console and comfort passengers. The dogs are of all sizes and breed so that there’s one for every type of canine preference. Hilariously enough, cats were also originally used but were quickly dropped. They, surprising no cat owners anywhere, were usually far less affectionate and accepting of strangers and so they were replaced with more friendly animals.
If you’d like to read more, the link is here.
from David Fratantoni and World Travel http://ift.tt/1r1B8mQ
The Japanese have always been on the cutting edge of technological innovation, especially when it comes to living. The Japanese islands aren’t very big and there isn’t all that much livable area due to the topography. Because of these difficulties, the Japanese have been ingenious when it comes to maximizing the amount of livable space on the islands while making sure that their houses and apartments still have all the trappings and luxuries that come with living in a wealthy and technologically advanced country. Now, a Japanese construction firm has announced that the technology needed to build underwater cities will be developed within 15 years and that the first of these cities could be appearing within the next few decades.
Japan’s Shimizu Corp, which is known for these sorts of outlandish ideas, already has artistic renderings of what the underwater structure (known as Ocean Spiral) would look like and how it would function. They claim that once the technology is available, the structures could be built in 5 years for a cost of 3 trillion yen and could house up to 5,000 people. The city would draw power from the seabed at the bottom of the ocean using “earth factories” on the ocean floor that would use little micro-organisms to turn carbon dioxide into methane. Along with those factories, there would be power generators located on the Spiral that would use the differences in ocean water temperature to create additional energy using a process called ocean thermal energy conversion.
While the project might seem a little ludicrous, there is some serious thought and science behind it and it’s gaining traction. Already experts from Tokyo University, governmental ministries, and energy firms are looking into the project to see if it can be turned into reality. If the firm manages to get funding from both private and governmental sources, the only thing preventing this undertaking from starting is waiting for the necessary technologies to be available. This could very well be the future, especially if we continue to face climate-change and rising oceans.
If you’d like to read more, the link is here.
from David Fratantoni Oceanography http://ift.tt/1F5aRud
Astronomers at NASA and Pennsylvania State University used Swift to create the most detailed ultraviolet light surveys ever of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two closest major galaxies. Nearly a million ultraviolet sources appear in this mosaic of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which was assembled from 2,200 images taken by Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and released on June 3, 2013. The 160-megapixel image required a cumulative exposure of 5.4 days. The image includes light from 1,600 to 3,300 angstroms — UV wavelengths largely blocked by Earth’s atmosphere — and has an angular resolution of 2.5 arcseconds at full size. The Large Magellanic Cloud is about 14,000 light-years across.
Viewing in the ultraviolet allows astronomers to suppress the light of normal stars like the sun, which are not very bright at such higher energies, and provides a clearer picture of the hottest stars and star-formation regions. No telescope other than UVOT can produce such high-resolution wide-field multicolor surveys in the ultraviolet.
Pennsylvania State University manages the Swift Mission Operations Center, which controls Swift’s science and flight operations. Goddard manages Swift, which was launched in November 2004. The satellite is operated in collaboration with Penn State, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va. International collaborators are in the United Kingdom and Italy, and the mission includes contributions from Germany and Japan.
Image Credit: NASA/Swift/S. Immler (Goddard) and M. Siegel (Penn State) via NASA http://ift.tt/1xWOvuu
