STUDENT'S VIEW AND REVIEW

Infosys always has next level of leadership: V Balakrishnan

2011-08-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

Juno sets off for Jupiter

2011-08-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

NASA's Juno spacecraft launches to Jupiter

2011-08-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily (2011-08-05) -- NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 5, 2011 to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars. for more visit ScienceDaily

NASA: Evidence of water on Mars

2011-08-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ninety-six star clusters discovered hidden behind dust of Milky Way

2011-08-05T02:39:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily (2011-08-04) -- Astronomers have discovered 96 new open star clusters hidden by the dust in the Milky Way. These tiny and faint objects were invisible to previous surveys, but they could not escape the sensitive infrared detectors of the world's largest survey telescope, which can peer through the dust. This is the first time so many faint and small clusters have been found at once.for more click here

Engineers solve longstanding problem in photonic chip technology: Findings help pave way for next generation of computer chips

2011-08-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily (2011-08-04) -- Stretching for thousands of miles beneath oceans, optical fibers now connect every continent except for Antarctica. But although optical fibers are increasingly replacing copper wires, carrying information via photons instead of electrons, today's computer technology still relies on electronic chips. Now, researchers are paving the way for the next generation of computer-chip technology: photonic chips.for more click here

Breaking News Editor: Murdochs appolized to UK parliament over phone ha...

2011-07-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Breaking News Editor: Murdochs appolized to UK parliament over phone ha...: "Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch appeared before the UK parliamentary committee for the allegations phone hacking scandal of thei..."

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Gadgets : 35 per cent of smartphone owners annoy partners by doing work at home

2011-07-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Gadgets : 35 per cent of smartphone owners annoy partners by doing work at home

The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Counselling: girls outnumber boys in ECE, CSE, IT streams

2011-07-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Counselling: girls outnumber boys in ECE, CSE, IT streams

The Hindu : Education : The changing face of IT recruitment

2011-07-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Hindu : Education : The changing face of IT recruitment

Prospects for finding new Earths boosted by brand new planet-finding technique

2010-07-11T23:24:00.001-07:00

Astronomers from Germany, Bulgaria and Poland have used a completely new technique to find an exotic extrasolar planet. The same approach is sensitive enough to find planets as small as the Earth in orbit around other stars. The group used Transit Timing Variation to detect a planet with 15 times the mass of the Earth in the system WASP-3, 700 light years from the Sun in the constellation of Lyra.

'Galactic archaeologists' find origin of Milky Way's ancient stars

2010-06-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

Many of the Milky Way's ancient stars are remnants of other smaller galaxies torn apart by violent galactic collisions around five billion years ago, according to researchers.[...]

Depressed Mice Could Aid Research on Drug-Resistant Depression in Humans

2010-06-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

New research shows that a unique strain of laboratory mice has behavioral, hormonal, and neurochemical characteristics that are similar to those of human patients with drug-resistant forms of depression. The mice -- which have a defect in a gene -- are expected to be useful as a new model organism in the effort to develop more effective medications for specific forms of depression.[...]

How well do scientists understand how changes in Earth's orbit affect long-term natural climate trends?

2010-02-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

The notion that scientists understand how changes in Earth's orbit affect climate well enough for estimating long-term natural climate trends that underlie any anthropogenic climate change is challenged by new research findings.The new research was conducted by a team led by Professor Eelco Rohling of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science hosted at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.[....]

More Posts from The Modern Trends in Chemsitry

Astronomers find rare beast by new means :Astronomers have found an example of the rare type of supernova thought to produce Gamma Ray Bursts, but through radio.......
Toward safer plastics that lock in potentially harmful plasticizers :Scientists have published the first report on a new way of preventing potentially harmful plasticizers ........
Computers that use light instead of electricity? First germanium laser created :Researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can emit wavelengths of ..........

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a demographic

2010-02-06T04:51:00.001-08:00

A major hurdle in the ambitious quest to design and construct a radically new kind of quantum computer has been finding a way to manipulate the single electrons that very likely will constitute the new machines' processing components or "qubits." Now, a physicist has discovered how to do just that -- demonstrating a method that alters the properties of a lone electron without disturbing the trillions of electrons in its immediate surroundings. The feat is essential to the development of future varieties of superfast computers with near-limitless capacities for data.[....]

More Related Posts from Modern Trends in Chemistry
Toward safer plastics that lock in potentially harmful plasticizers :Scientists have published the first report on a new way of preventing potentially harmful plasticizers ........
Computers that use light instead of electricity? First germanium laser created Researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can emit wavelengths of light useful for optical........
Where did today's spiral galaxies come from? Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a demographic census of galaxy types and shapes from a time ..........

Applied electric field can significantly improve hydrogen storage properties

2010-02-06T04:37:00.001-08:00

An international team of researchers has identified a new theoretical approach that may one day make the synthesis of hydrogen fuel storage materials less complicated and improve the thermodynamics and reversibility of the system.[....]

More posts from Modern Trends in Chemsitry

T owar d saf er plastics that lock in potentially harmful plasticizers :Scientists have published the first report on a new way of preventing potentially harmful plasticizers Scientists have published the first report on a new way of preventing potentially harmful plasticizers.......

Computers that use light instead of electricity? First germanium laser created :Researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can emit wavelengths ........

Wher e d id today's spiral galaxies come from? :Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a demographic ............

Nano imagining takes turn for the better: Photothermal technique provides new way to track nanoparticles

2010-02-06T04:20:00.000-08:00

Scientists researching how nanomaterials align have found a way to use gold nanorods as orientation seScientists researching how nanomaterials align have found a way to use gold nanorods as orientation sensors by combining their plasmonic properties with polarization imaging techniques.nsors by combining their plasmonic properties with polarization imaging techniques.[....]

Related posts from News Chemistry

Scientists demonstrate world's fastest graphene transistor; holds promise for imp r ov ing performance of transistors IBM researchers have demonstrated a radio-frequency graphene transistor with the highest cut-off frequency achieved so far for any graphene ......

2. Ultra-cold chemistry: First direct observation of exchange process in quantu m g a s Considerable progresses made in controlling quantum gases open up a new avenue to study chemical processes..........

Fog discovered on Saturn's largest moon, Titan

2009-12-22T00:38:00.000-08:00

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system -- aside from our home planet, Earth -- with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. According to a planetary astronomer Earth and Titan share yet another feature, which is inextricably linked with that surface liquid: common fog.[...]

Black holes in star clusters stir up time and space

2009-12-22T00:35:00.000-08:00

Within a decade scientists could be able to detect the merger of tens of pairs of black holes every year, according astronomers. By modeling the behavior of stars in clusters, the team finds that they are ideal environments for black holes to coalesce. These merger events produce ripples in time and space (gravitational waves) that could be detected by instruments from as early as 2015.[...]

Mathematical model of simple circuit in chicken brain raises fundamental questions about neural circuitry

2009-12-09T02:22:00.001-08:00

Neural microcircuits consisting of a few neurons and their interconnections are small enough to be understood more completely than larger neural structures, whose complexity quickly becomes overwhelming. Researchers recently tackled a simple circuit in the visual processing area of a chicken's brain that detects motion in its field of view -- with surprising results.[...]

Super cool atom thermometer: New, reliable ways of measuring extreme low temperatures

2009-12-09T02:19:00.001-08:00

Physicists have devised a thermometer that can potentially measure temperatures as low as tens of trillionths of a degree above absolute zero.[...]

Social scientists build case for 'survival of the kindest'

2009-12-09T02:17:00.001-08:00

Researchers are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive.[...]

Brightness variations of sun-like stars: The mystery deepens

2009-12-09T02:15:00.001-08:00

An extensive study made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope deepens a long-standing mystery in the study of stars similar to the Sun. Unusual year-long variations in the brightness of about one third of all Sun-like stars during the latter stages of their lives still remain unexplained. Over the past few decades, astronomers have offered many possible explanations, but the new, painstaking observations contradict them all and only deepen the mystery. The search for a suitable interpretation is on.[...]

Towards Other Earths: 32 New Exoplanets Found

2009-10-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Astronomers are reporting the incredible discovery of some 32 new exoplanets, using the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, better known as HARPS -- the spectrograph of the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope. The result increases the number of known low-mass planets by an impressive 30 percent.[...]

Are Humans Still Evolving? Absolutely, Says A New Analysis Of A Long-term Survey Of Human Health

2009-10-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Although advances in medical care have improved standards of living over time, humans aren't entirely sheltered from the forces of natural selection, a new study shows. Researchers decided to find out if natural selection is still at work in humans today. The result? Humans are still evolving. In fact, we're likely to evolve at roughly the same rates as other living things, findings suggest.[...]

Global Surface Temperature Was Second Warmest For September

2009-10-18T21:13:00.001-07:00

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the second warmest September on record, according to NOAA. Scientists also reported that the average land surface temperature for September was the second warmest on record, behind 2005. Additionally, the global ocean surface temperature was tied for the fifth warmest on record for September.[...]

New View Of The Heliosphere: Cassini Helps Redraw Shape Of Solar System

2009-10-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

The solar system, as defined by the heliosphere, the region of the sun's influence, may have a quite different shape than scientists had thought.[...]

Seeing Blue: Fish Vision Discovery Makes Waves In Evolutionary Biology

2009-10-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Researchers have identified the first fish known to have switched from ultraviolet vision to violet vision, or the ability to see blue light. The discovery is also the first example of an animal deleting a molecule to change its visual spectrum. The findings on scabbardfish link molecular evolution to functional changes and the possible environmental factors driving them.[...]

Why do other people hear our voice differently than we do?

2009-09-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

We probably all had this experience. We listen to a tape recording of ourselves taken with some friends. We insist that the tape doesn't sound at all like our voice, but everyone else's sounds reasonably accurate. According to speech therapist Dr. Mike D'Asaro, there is a universal pattern of rejection of own voice. Is there a scientific explanation?Yes the speech begins at the larynx, where the vibration emanates. Part of vibration is conducted through the air – i.e. what your friends (and the tape recorder) hear when you speak. Another part of the vibration is directed through the fluids and solids of our head. Our inner and middle ears are part of caverns hollowed out by bone-the hardest bone of the skull. The inner ear contains fluid, the middle ear contains air and the two press against each other. The larynx is also surrounded by soft tissues full of liquid. Sound transmits differently through air than through solids and liquids, and this account for almost all of the tonal differences we hear on a recording of our own voices.When we speak we are not hearing our voices solely with our ears, but also through internal hearing, mostly liquid transmission through a series of body organs. During an electric guitar solo, who hears the "real' sound? The audience, the guitarist or a tape recorder located inside the guitar? The question is moot. There are three different sounds being made by a guitarist, and the principle is same for the human voice. We can't say that either the tape recorder or the person who speaks hear the "right" voice, only that the voices are indeed different.

Dr. D'Asaro points out that we have internal memory of our voice in our brain, and the memory is richer than what we hear in a tape playback. Listening to a recording of our own voice is like listening to a symphony on a bad transistor radio-the sound is recognizable but a pale imitation.

Glorious Orion: Chaotic And Overcrowded Stellar Nursery

2009-04-22T01:06:00.001-07:00

Astronomers have completed the most wide-ranging census ever produced of dynamical star formation in and around the well-known Great Nebula of Orion. They have found this stellar nursery to be a lively and somewhat overcrowded place, with young stars emitting gas jets in all directions, creating quite a chaotic picture and demonstrating there is much more going on in Orion than previously thought.[...]

Lightest Exoplanet Yet Discovered

2009-04-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

Exoplanet researchers have discovered the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, "e", in the famous system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of our Earth. The team also refined the orbit of the planet Gliese 581 d, first discovered in 2007, placing it well within the habitable zone, where liquid water oceans could exist. These amazing discoveries are the outcome of more than four years of observations using the most successful low-mass-exoplanet hunter in the world, the HARPS spectrograph attached to the 3.6-metre ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile.[...]

Metaphysics: A review with videos

2009-04-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Metaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world.Someone who studies metaphysics can be called either a "metaphysician" or a "metaphysicist".
The word derives from the Greek words μετά (metá) (meaning "beyond" or "after") and φυσικά (physiká) (meaning "physical"), "physical" referring to those works on matter by Aristotle in antiquity. The prefix meta- ("beyond") was attached to the chapters in Aristotle's work that physically followed after the chapters on "physics", in

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), by

Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome)

posthumously edited collections. Aristotle himself did not call these works Metaphysics. Aristotle called some of the subjects treated there "first philosophy".
A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into what types of things there are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. The metaphysician also attempts to clarify the notions by which people understand the world, including existence, objecthood, property, space, time, causality, and possibility.
Before the development of modern science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as "natural philosophy"; the term "science" itself meant "knowledge" of epistemological origin. The scientific method, however, made natural philosophy an empirical and experimental activity unlike the rest of philosophy, and by the end of the eighteenth century it had begun to be called "science" in order to distinguish it from philosophy. Thereafter, metaphysics became the philosophical enquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence. Thus the original situation of metaphysics being integral with (Aristotelian) physics and science, has, in the West, become reversed so that scientists often consider metaphysics antithetical to the empirical sciences.[...]

Thomas Campbell, Discusses the nature of reality in terms of consciousness -- this video logically and scientifically explains the normal and the paranormal......

Metaphysics Explained (2) *Human Light Body, Healing, & Consciousness* video

Metaphysics Explained (3) *The Human Chakra and its Functions* a video:

The Human Body Energy Centers, Beautiful! a video:

Flexible, Transparent Supercapacitors Could Pave Way To E-Paper

2009-04-07T20:10:00.001-07:00

A prototype high-performance device uses a novel architecture of carbon nanotubes and metal nanowires set in indium oxide films to temporarily store large amounts of electrical energy for release when needed.[...]

Mathematicians Provide New Insight Into Tsunamis

2009-04-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

A new mathematical formula that could be used to give advance warning of where a tsunami is likely to hit and how destructive it will be has been worked out by scientists at Newcastle University. The research was prompted by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami disaster which devastated coastal communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.[...]

Sleep May Help Clear Brain For New Learning

2009-04-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

A new theory about sleep's benefits for the brain gets a boost from fruit flies in this week's Science. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found evidence that sleep, already recognized as a promoter of long-term memories, also helps clear room in the brain for new learning.[...]

100 Hours Of Astronomy: Worldwide Astronomy Marathon Set To Break Records

2009-04-04T01:11:00.001-07:00

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 Cornerstone project, 100 Hours of Astronomy, is on track to be the largest single science public outreach event ever. More than 1500 events have been registered in over 130 countries and this number is increasing every day. 100 Hours of Astronomy is a truly global project; an event on a scale never attempted before, with more than one million people expected to participate.[...]

How Low Can It Go? Sun Plunges Into The Quietest Solar Minimum In A Century

2009-04-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. The year 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73 percent). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008.[...]

One Of Brightest Gamma-Ray Bursts Ever Seen

2009-04-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

Europe's Integral satellite has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine's magnetic field into space.[...]

Solar Activity And Climate Change: New Sun-Watching Satellite To Monitor Sunlight Fluctuations

2009-03-30T00:35:00.000-07:00

During the Maunder Minimum, a period of diminished solar activity between 1645 and 1715, sunspots were rare on the face of the sun, sometimes disappearing entirely for months to years. At the same time, Earth experienced a bitter cold period known as the "Little Ice Age." Were the events connected? Scientists cannot say for sure, but it's quite likely.[...]

Software Fits Flexible Components

2009-03-26T23:44:00.001-07:00

Can the newly designed dashboard be easily installed? What paths should the assembly robot take so that the cables do not hit against the car body? A new software program simulates assembly paths and also factors in the pliability of components.[...]

Forget It! A Biochemical Pathway For Blocking Your Worst Fears?

2009-03-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

A receptor for glutamate, the most prominent neurotransmitter in the brain, plays a key role in the process of "unlearning," report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their findings could eventually help scientists develop new drug therapies to treat a variety of disorders, including phobias and anxiety disorders, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.[...]

Erratic Black Hole Regulates Itself

2009-03-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a major advance in explaining how a special class of black holes may shut off the high-speed jets they produce. These results suggest that these black holes have a mechanism for regulating the rate at which they grow.[...]

'Ice That Burns' May Yield Clean, Sustainable Bridge To Global Energy Future

2009-03-24T22:58:00.001-07:00

In the future, natural gas derived from chunks of ice that workers collect from beneath the ocean floor and beneath the arctic permafrost may fuel cars, heat homes, and power factories. Government researchers are reporting that these so-called "gas hydrates," a frozen form of natural gas, show increasing promise as an abundant, untapped source of clean, sustainable energy.[...]

Virtual globe

2009-03-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

Virtual globe:A virtual globe is a 3D software model or representation of the Earth or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and position. Compared to a conventional globe, virtual globes have the additional capability of representing many different views on the surface of the Earth. These views may be of geographical features, man-made features such as roads and buildings, or abstract representations of demographic quantities such as population.
In 1998, Microsoft released a popular offline virtual globe in the form of Encarta Virtual Globe 98. The first widely publicized online virtual globe was Google Earth.

Types:

Virtual globes may be used for study or navigation (by connecting to a GPS device) and their design varies considerably according to their purpose. Those wishing to portray a visually accurate representation of the Earth often use satellite image servers and are capable not only of rotation but also zooming and sometimes horizon tilting. Very often such virtual globes aim to provide as true a representation of the world as is possible with worldwide coverage up to a very detailed level. When this is the case the interface often has the option of providing simplified graphical overlays to highlight man-made features since these are not necessarily obvious from a photographic aerial view. The other issue raised by such detail available is that of security with some governments having raised concerns about the ease of access to detailed views of sensitive locations such as airports and military bases.
Another type of virtual globe exists whose aim is not the accurate representation of the planet but instead a simplified graphical depiction. Most early computerized atlases were of this type and, while displaying less detail, these simplified interfaces are still widespread since they are faster to use because of the reduced graphics content and the speed with which the user can understand the display.
Online virtual globes:

As more and more high-resolution satellite imagery and aerial photography become accessible for free, many of the latest online virtual globes are built to fetch and display these images. They include:

NASA World Wind, USGS topographic maps and several satellite and aerial image datasets, the first popular virtual globe along with Google Earth. World Wind is open source software.
Google Earth, satellite & aerial photos dataset (including commercial DigitalGlobe images) with international road dataset, the first popular virtual globe along with NASA World Wind.
Microsoft Virtual Earth, 3D interface for Live Search Maps, runs inside Internet Explorer and Firefox, and uses Nasa Blue Marble Next Generation.
Marble, part of the K Desktop Environment, with data provided by OpenStreetMap, as well as Nasa Blue Marble Next Generation and others. Marble is open source software.
ArcGIS Explorer a lightweight client for ArcGIS Server, supports WMS and many other GIS file formats.
EarthBrowser, A Flash / Adobe AIR based virtual globe with real-time weather forecasts, earthquakes, volcanoes, and webcams.
Software MacKiev's 3D Weather Globe & Atlas, 3D views based on the Blue Marble imagery, near-real-time cloud coverage and weather forecast from CustomWeather, time zones, day/night views.
Earth3D, a program that visualizes the earth in a realtime 3D view. It uses data from NASA, USGS, the CIA and the city of Osnabrück. Earth3D is open source software.

As well as the availability of satellite imagery, online public domain factual databases such as the CIA world factbook have been incorporated into virtual globes.[...]

The Helix Nebula: A small Review

2009-03-05T00:14:00.000-08:00

The Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula, also known as The Helix or NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation of Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.[6] The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years. It is similar in appearance to the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.[2] The Helix has often been referred to as the 'Eye of God' on the Internet, since about 2003.General information:The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula, or 'planetary' formed at the end of a star's evolution. Gases from the star in the surrounding space appear, from our vantage point, as if we are looking down a helix structure. The remnant central stellar core, known as a planetary nebula nucleus or PNN, is destined to become a white dwarf star. The observed glow of the central star is so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly fluoresce.
The Helix Nebula in the constellation of Aquarius lies about 700 light-years away, spanning about 0.8 parsec or 2.5 light-years. Recent images by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Helix Nebula are a composite of newly released images from the ACS instrument and the wide-angle images from the Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Structure:

The Helix Nebula is thought to be shaped like a prolate spheroid with strong density concentrations toward the filled disk along the equatorial plane, whose major axis is inclined about 21° to 37° from our vantage point. The size of the inner disk is 8×19 arcmin in diameter (0.52 pc); the outer torus is 12×22 arcmin in diameter (0.77 pc); and the outer-most ring is about 25 arcmin in diameter (1.76 pc). We see the outer-most ring as flattened on one side due to its colliding with the ambient interstellar medium.
Expansion of the whole planetary nebula structure is estimated to have occurred in the last 6,560 years, and 12,100 years for the inner disk. Spectroscopically, the outer ring's expansion rate is 40 km·s-1, and about 32 km·s-1 for the inner disk.
Knots

The Helix Nebula was the first planetary nebula discovered to contain knots. Its main ring contains knots of nebulosity, which have now been detected in many nearby planetaries. These knots are highly radially symmetric (from the PNN) and are described as "cometary", each containing bright cusps (local photoionization fronts) and tails. All extend away from the PNN in a radial direction. Excluding the tails, they are (very approximately) the size of the Solar system, while each of the cusp knots are optically thick due to Lyc photons from the (PNN). There are more than 20,000 cometary knots estimated to be in the Helix Nebula.
The excitation temperature varies across the Helix nebula.The rotational-vibrational temperature ranges from 1800 K in a cometary knot located in the inner region of the nebula are about 2.5′ (arcmin) from the central PNN, calculated at about 900 K in the outer region at the distance of 5.6′.[....]

Into The Eye Of The Helix:A deep new image of the magnificent Helix planetary nebula has been obtained using the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory. The image shows a rich background of distant galaxies, usually not seen in other images of this object.[...]

nuclear energy and reactor: A review

2009-02-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

BY:TARA PRASAD SETHI
ADITYA KUMAR MISHRA
1st Year,B.Tech,I.T.E.R.,

S ’O’ A UNIVERSITY

There are over 400 nuclear power reactors that are up and running on the planet, and believe it or not, the number is growing. The whole process of converting uranium into nuclear power is complex, but it all starts off with a mining operation to extract uranium ore. Believe it or not, uranium is not hard to find, it is actually a pretty common element, more common than gold.
Many people don’t realize that our own body houses trace amounts of uranium! Canada’s actually taken advantage of this relatively abundant resource and is so far the number one uranium producer in the world.

NUCLEAR REACTOR
Can nuclear provide the energy we need? It already generates about 20% of the world's electricity, including 50% in Western Europe and 80% in France. It is reliable, having high "load factors" - typically more than 90% - with nearly all of the remaining time spent on planned maintenance. Its long-term costs are similar to those of coal. It has little harmful effect on the environment and it is safer than all other sources, apart from natural gas.
Nuclear power only differs from other energy sources in that it emits nuclear radiations. The interior of a nuclear reactor is highly radioactive, and the spent fuel has to be removed periodically for reprocessing. However, the techniques for doing this are well developed and can be carried out safely. The relatively small volumes of highly radioactive residues (nuclear waste) are first stored above ground for several decades to allow the short-lived isotopes to decay, the rest being fused into a insoluble ceramic blocks, encased in stainless-steel containers and buried far below ground in a stable geological formation.
Nuclear reactors can also be improved. While current "thermal reactors" burn only uranium-235, which accounts for just 0.7% of natural uranium, so-called "fast reactors" can burn the remaining 99.3% of the uranium. One reason why fast reactors are not used is because they are more difficult to build, but they will become more economic as uranium becomes more expensive - and could eventually take over from thermal reactors.
Before then, other reactor designs may become available. A particularly promising line of research, which is being pioneered by the Nobel-prize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia and others, is into reactors that depend on spallation neutrons from a proton accelerator. The protons hit a target of a heavy metal, such as tungsten, producing a shower of neutrons that go into a sub-critical reactor assembly. This makes the reactor go critical, thereby generating power. Such reactors are easily controlled because the reaction stops as soon as the accelerator is switched off. The neutron fluxes are also so high that the radioactive wastes can be burnt inside the reactor. These are both highly desirable environmental features. "Pebble-bed" reactors are another promising development.
In the longer term, I have high hopes that fusion energy will ultimately become available. Intensive work is in progress on several possible designs for a fusion reactor. These reactors need deuterium, which is present in water in the proportion of about one part in five thousand. The energy available from fusion reactors is therefore practically limitless.
It is indeed fortunate that, just as other major energy sources are becoming exhausted or are recognized as seriously polluting, a new energy source - nuclear power - has become available to meet our needs.
FOR AND AGAINST
Our civilization and our standard of living depend on an adequate supply of energy. Without energy, we would not be able to heat our homes or cook our food. Long-distance travel and communication would become impossible, and our factories could no longer produce the goods that we need.
A century ago the world's energy came almost wholly from coal and "traditional" sources, such as wood, crop residues and animal dung. These are still major sources of energy, particularly in developing countries, where 2 billion people are without access to, or cannot afford, modern energy forms. Wood and dung are estimated to provide an amount of energy equivalent to 1 billion tonnes of oil each year; it is sobering to realize that this is 1.6 times more energy than is provided worldwide by nuclear power, and is about the same as the amount of energy provided by coal in Europe and the US combined
During the 20th century, the world's commercial output and population increased more rapidly than ever before, as did energy consumption, which rose more than tenfold, with a major shift towards oil and gas fuels, and to hydroelectricity and nuclear power. Most of the growth was in industrial nations, where the per capita consumption of commercial fuels is about 10 times that in the developing world.
Energy markets in the industrial countries are maturing, and may even peak and decline with continued improvements in energy efficiency. The last two centuries saw energy efficiency increase enormously - in motive power, electricity generation, lighting, in the use and conservation of heat, and in an array of other applications. There is no evidence that further gains will not be achieved in the future - for example through the use of fuel cells for transport, which could lead to a two- or threefold increase in fuel efficiency relative to that of the internal combustion engine, and through distributed sources of combined heat and power.
The situation is different in developing countries, where billions of people have hardly enough energy to survive, let alone enough to increase their living standards. If they are to achieve prosperity, their energy needs - which are doubling every 15 years - will have to be met. Moreover, their population will soon be 7-10 times greater than that of the industrial world, and (with the sad exception of several African countries) economic growth is much higher than it is for industrial nations.
If we assume that, after allowing for gains in energy efficiency, the developing world eventually uses only half of the energy per capita consumed by industrial nations today, then the world's energy consumption will still rise more than threefold. Developing nations will therefore need about 5 x 106 MW of new electricity-generating capacity in the coming decades, compared with the 1 x 106 MW they have today and the 2 x 106 MW in the industrial nations. (Electricity generation accounts for only about one-fifth of our final energy consumption - the rest mainly being for transport and heating.)
Our common ground in debating the question "Do we need nuclear power?" is therefore the fact that the world is likely to need yet more energy, despite the immense amount of energy consumed today. The environmental problems associated with energy production and use will also need to be addressed, including local and regional pollution, and the much-discussed problem of global warming.

Gravitational Lensing: Astronomers Harness Einstein’s Telescope

2009-02-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Scientists are harnessing the cosmos as a scientific "instrument" in their quest to determine the makeup of the universe. Long ago Einstein recognized the potential existence of gravitational lensing, a consequence of his theory of general relativity. According to general relativity, celestial objects create dimples in space-time that bend the light traveling from behind.[...]

Watching Venus Glow In The Dark

2009-02-26T00:27:00.000-08:00

ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has observed an eerie glow in the night-time atmosphere of Venus. This infrared light comes from nitric oxide and is showing scientists that the atmosphere of Earth's nearest neighbour is a temperamental place of high winds and turbulence.[...]

Turbulence May Promote Birth Of Massive Stars

2009-02-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

When it comes to the theory of how massive stars form, the devil is in the details. We know the basics: a cloud of cosmic gas draws itself together, growing denser and hotter until nuclear fusion ignites. But how does massive star formation begin? What determines how many stars form from a single cloud? New data from the Submillimeter Array is helping to answer these questions.[...]

Satellite Collisions: What Can Be Done To Prevent Them In The Future?

2009-02-18T00:00:00.001-08:00

The recent collision involving an active U.S. commercial Iridium satellite and an inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite in low Earth orbit has demonstrated an urgent need to establish a civil space traffic control system.[...]

Carina Nebula: Astronomers Capture Intricate Structures Of One Of Brightest Nebulae In Sky

2009-02-17T23:57:00.001-08:00

Astronomers have captured amazing detail in the intricate structures of one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), where strong winds and powerful radiation from an armada of massive stars are creating havoc in the large cloud of dust and gas from which the stars were born.[...]

Hydrogen Fuel From Woodchips And Other Non-food Sources

2009-02-17T23:54:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen. Researchers have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees.[...]

Could Nanotechnology Make An Average Donut Into Health Food?

2009-02-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

European food companies already use nanotechnology in consumer products, but few voluntarily inform consumers. "The promise of nanotechnology," a Dutch scientist said, "is that it could allow re-engineering ingredients to bring healthy nutrients more efficiently to the body while allowing less-desirable components to pass on through."[...]

Climate Change Likely To Be More Devastating Than Experts Predicted, Warns Top IPCC Scientist

2009-02-15T23:15:00.001-08:00

Without decisive action, global warming is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, says Stanford scientist Chris Field, a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Field warns that higher temperatures could ignite tropical forests and melt the Arctic tundra, releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gas that could raise temperatures even more -- a vicious cycle that could spiral out of control.[...]

Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond

2009-02-14T01:45:00.000-08:00

Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond

(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) has a greater indentation strength than diamond. The scientists also calculated that another material, lonsdaleite (also called hexagonal diamond, since it’s made of carbon and is similar to diamond), is even stronger than w-BN and 58 percent stronger than diamond, setting a new record.

Astronomers Unveiling Life's Cosmic Origins

2009-02-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

The foundations for life on Earth were laid by the processes of star and planet formation, and the production of complex, prebiotic molecules in interstellar space. Those processes are yielding their secrets to astronomers with powerful research tools and better tools are on the way.[...]

Expect Miracles: What Do You Have To Lose? by Timothy Aaron Whiston

2009-02-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

Expect Miracles: What Do You Have To Lose? by Timothy Aaron Whiston

There is a perverse notion in modern society that suggests you "should not get your hopes up", lest you be let down. What a sorry way to live!
I suggest that you should not only get your hopes up, but you should keep them up beyond reason and go through life expecting absolute miracles to happen for you on a daily basis. How might your life change for the better if you decided to demand the most amazing outcomes from every endeavor?
The fact is, you have nothing substantial to lose by engaging this practice. Let's for a moment (and only for a moment!) go along with the idea that you'll be let down if your hopes are high and the results don't live up.
So what? What's the big deal even if this were to happen?
Are you really so fragile and weak that you can't withstand a little disappointment? Honestly even if your high hopes are dashed routinely you'll benefit by developing a "tougher chin" and a reliable ability to absorb a little defeat with minimal loss of stride.
But the truth is if you were to expect amazing outcomes to every effort from here forward you would not be met with disappointment every time. Even if we pretend positive thinking and the law of attraction have no impact, the mathematical odds of losing every time are minimal.
And since we both know there is real power in positive thinking we understand that your new attitude would produce a winning outcome more and more often. Also since we both understand that law of attraction is every bit as real as gravity, it's clear that expecting miracles as the norm would shift you into a reality where your wildest dreams become your daily experience.

Because humans are predisposed to negative thinking, rarely do we consider the idea of expecting miracles as daily practice. We tend to reserve this level of thought vibration for big goals and major accomplishments.

But isn't every moment of life the biggest and best possible experience? The present is all we really have, and it takes the entire universe to manifest this here and now which we often take for granted.

In truth there is no "mundane". There is only our desire to create "normal" and mediocre experiences so we can hide from our true greatness.
The strange truth about humanity is that it's not our potential powerlessness that frightens us when we are alone with our thoughts; not by a long shot. What really shakes us up is the intuitive knowledge that we are actually powerful beyond comprehension!

I challenge you to set this fear aside and embrace your higher self. Stop hiding your face in the bland norm of struggle and failure, indulging the novelty of triumph from time to time.

Choose now to live from your creative source and allow miracles to flow into your life as the moment-by-moment reality you deserve. You'll feel the change instantly in your belly, in your chest, in the palms of your hands and in the air around you.

Life is a great journey. Let's not squander the joy by playing safe with our expectations.

You can begin to manifest abundance and truly become master of your world with the amazing power of positive thinking. Visit our blogs now for more empowering information.
Article Source: ArticleRich.com

Personal Growth through Sacrifice and Discipline by Nicky Pilkington

2009-02-09T03:27:00.000-08:00

Personal Growth through Sacrifice and Discipline by Nicky Pilkington
Sacrifice of self to self. What does it mean? It means letting go of the old self for a new and better self. This is a hard thing to do as we get comfortable with whom and what we are. Our old self is familiar, seems safe, and is relatively effortless to maintain.
Change takes us beyond our boundaries, challenges us to what is not familiar, and forces us to give up well-worn habits. It requires effort and sacrifice of things we have learned to enjoy. Those are things that are pleasant but stand in the way of highest good.
We think we are a mind and a body and do what we can to satisfy the desires of mind and body. Seldom do we step beyond. Being stuck in a limited perception, the selfish do not sacrifice.
Do you want to live forever? Well, maybe you do live forever, but not as you are now. Death means new beginning. Sometimes we are not ready for it. Other times we feel stagnant and embrace it.
What does it mean to die daily? It means sacrificing your immediate wants to affect a future result or metamorphosis. Actually sacrificing of self to self, quite often to the benefit of others as well. Totally surrender your self and you will find your true self.
Giving is a virtue. You've no doubt heard that it is better to give than to receive. But oh, how we all like to receive! Receiving is good too. Exchange cannot take place without both present. One cannot take place without the other, and it is not just a one-way exchange.
There is a law of compensation. If you give, you get. We do not live in a vacuum. Our actions always bring results of one kind or another, whether we immediately realize it or not.
What I am saying is do not ever feel frustration when trying to improve your self. Any efforts you make do not go wasted; so do not think there is such a thing as wasted effort. You are creating ripples and building a store of experience that will eventually bear fruit.
Do a big thing, or do any little thing many times toward your goal. Know that fulfillment will happen through persistence. If you give up and stop persisting then simply start again.
There may be something you want to have or something you want to be. That is your goal. You've no doubt thought about it and how to obtain it. Let's go further and write the goal down on paper to give you more focus. Put it at the top of the page in pen.
Grab a red marker and draw an arrow pointing up toward your goal. Now go back to your pen and write along the line of the arrow. Write things you can do to work toward achieving the goal and how you can make arrangements to put in the work.
Review this paper often. This is your action plan. It has one direction and one intention - your goal. You are the archer with your bow drawn and arrow pointing toward your target. Now let go the string.
Your new self is the you that has attained the goal. The old self may try to stand in the way of reaching it. You sacrifice your old self by keeping discipline, for discipline is what sacrifices require. Goal achievement often is a process of personal growth.
Sometimes discipline means not trying to get the whole thing at once. Anxiousness and impatience are not qualities of discipline, and neither is selfishness. You may have to put in effort a little at a time over a long period. Don't worry about it, worry destroys discipline.
Don't get angry about it either, but if you do get angry, then be happy. Why? Because having anger means you have lots of energy. Channel that energy toward your goal rather than just blowing off steam and maybe you just might get the whole thing at once.
Discipline makes the difference. It means you have an ideal that you are willing to sacrifice for.
Got Discipline? Just keep regularity in your efforts and you will find that discipline builds from there.
Find out more about Mental Health at healthandfinesse.com
Article Source: ArticleRich.com

Seeing Sounds Or Hearing Colors: Scientists Narrow Search For Genes Associated With Synesthesia

2009-02-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

A new study identifies specific chromosomal regions linked to auditory visual synesthesia, a neurological condition characterized by seeing colors in response to sounds. The research makes major strides towards identifying the genes that underlie

synesthesia and may eventually lead to improved understanding of typical and atypical cognitive development.[...]

Beaming New Light On Life: From Beetles To Aircraft, Nanoparticles Aid Microscope Views

2009-02-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Physicists and chemists developed a new method that uses a mirror of tiny silver "nanoparticles" so microscopes can reveal the internal structure of nearly opaque biological materials like bone, tumor cells and the iridescent green scales of the so-called "photonic beetle." The method also might be used for detecting fatigue in materials used to build the latest generation of aircraft fuselages, tails and wings.[....]

Quasar Brightness

2009-02-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

What is A quasar? A quasar (contraction of QUAsi-StellAr Radio source) is an extremely powerful and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies.While there was initially some controversy over the nature of these objects — as recently as the 1980s, there was no clear consensus as to their nature — there is now a scientific consensus that a quasar is a compact region 10-10,000 Schwarzschild radii across surrounding the central supermassive black hole of a galaxy, powered by its accretion disc.[...]

Mystery Of Twin Quasar Brightness Revealed:Variations in the brightness of the Q0957+561 quasar, also known as the "twin quasar" due to its duplicated image on Earth, are intrinsic to the entity itself and not caused by the gravitational effects of possible planets or stars from a far away galaxy. This is the conclusion of a new study resolving a mystery that has intrigued astronomers for the past 30 years.[...]

Astronomers Discover Link Between Supermassive Black Holes And Galaxy Formation

2009-02-03T20:59:00.001-08:00

Despite its invisible interior, a black hole may reveal its presence through interaction with matter orbiting the event horizon. For example, a black hole may be perceived by tracking the movement of a group of stars that orbit its center. Alternatively, one may observe gas (from a nearby star, for instance) that has been drawn into the black hole. The gas spirals inward, heating up to very high temperatures and emitting large amounts of radiation that can be detected from earthbound and earth-orbiting telescopes.Such observations have resulted in the general scientific consensus that—barring a breakdown in our understanding of nature—black holes do exist in our universe.[....]
Astronomers Discover Link Between Supermassive Black Holes And Galaxy Formation:Astronomers have used many telescopes around the world to uncover new evidence that the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe and the supermassive black holes at their hearts grew together over time.[...]

What Happens When A Stone Impacts Water? Amazing Close-up View

2009-02-02T22:26:00.001-08:00

Researchers have explained the formation and behavior of the very fast water jet that is formed when an object impacts on a water surface. They have observed precisely what happens using a super-fast camera and have made a computer simulation of the process. This shows how the jet is forced upwards, layer by layer, by the surrounding water pressure. These results are not only of academic significance as jets on the impact of an object on a liquid are frequent occurrences in nature and industry.[...]

Mathematical Distribution Links Open Source Software And Literature

2009-02-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

The frequency of words in texts, the size of companies and the linking together of components in Linux software distributions show approximately the same mathematical distribution: they obey Zipf’s law. Researchers have tested how this happens in Linux programs.[...]

Vision Explained: Scientists Finally Capture Elusive Signaling Device Our Retinas Use To Tell Us What We See

2009-02-02T22:19:00.001-08:00

Scientists have known for more than 200 years that vision begins with a series of chemical reactions when light strikes the retina, but the specific processes have been a mystery. Scientists have shed new light on this process by "capturing" this chemical communication for future study.[...]

Geoengineering Projects That Could Offset Global Warming

2009-01-28T00:21:00.000-08:00

Geoengineering is an instance of planetary engineering. Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale "to suit human needs and promote habitability". Typically, the term is used to describe attempts to counter the effects of human-induced climate change. However, others define it more narrowly as focusing only on the mineralogy and hydrology of the Earth. The term geoengineering is distinct from environmental damage and accidental anthropogenic climate change, which are side-effects of human activity, rather than an intended consequence. Definitions of the term are not universally accepted.Some large scale water management and hydraulic engineering projects unrelated to tackling climate change could be considered to be hydraulic geoengineering, in that they involve changing the hydrological processes of an entire region, or using weather modification for hydraulic engineering purposes.[...]
Geoengineering Projects That Could Offset Global Warming: The first comprehensive assessment of the climate cooling potential of different geoengineering schemes has been carried out.[1]

Crystal Clear View Of Chalk Formation

2009-01-28T00:04:00.000-08:00

Chalk crystallizes differently from the way we once thought it did. This discovery will allow the development of new scale inhibitors and other materials, and has also consequences for climate change.[...]

Smallest Quantum Dots Ever Created

2009-01-27T23:52:00.000-08:00

Single atom quantum dots make possible a new level of control over individual electrons, a development that suddenly brings quantum dot-based devices within reach. Composed of a single atom of silicon and measuring less than one nanometer in diameter, these are the smallest quantum dots ever created.[...]

Climate Change Largely Irreversible For Next 1,000 Years, NOAA Reports

2009-01-27T23:44:00.001-08:00

A new scientific study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reaches a powerful conclusion about the climate change caused by future increases of carbon dioxide: to a large extent, there's no going back.[...]

Daily School Recess Improves Classroom Behavior

2009-01-27T23:42:00.001-08:00

All work and no play may impede learning, health and social development. A large study of shows that school children who receive more recess behave better and are likely to learn more.[...]

Mind Out Of Balance, Body Out Of Balance

2009-01-27T02:32:00.000-08:00

Many of the 40 million American adults who suffer from anxiety disorders also have problems with balance. As increasing numbers of children are diagnosed with anxiety, Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that the link between balance and anxiety can be assessed at an early age and that something can be done about it before it becomes a problem.[...]

Virtual Reality in Surgery

2009-01-23T02:48:00.000-08:00

Recent developments in Virtual Reality towards Surgery:

Virtual Reality: Keyhole Surgeons Training Could Help Meet European Working Time Directives: Trainee surgeons who add virtual-reality training to standard "apprenticeship" training in key-hole surgery learn more quickly, work with greater accuracy and have less errors than those with no virtual-reality training, and perform as well as those who use additional video training. The finding is important because training surgeons is time-consuming and costly, and surgeons have to develop new skills while working within the hour limits set by European legislation.[1]
Virtual Reality Becomes Reality For Plastic Surgeons: High-tech virtual reality training tools may soon be available to build and enhance plastic surgeons; skills, according to a study to be presented at the 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (ASPRS), October 3-7 in Boston.[2]

New Virtual Reality Surgery Simulator Hones Surgeons' Skills, Improves Patient Safety: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine recently acquired a new high-fidelity simulation device that enables surgeons to practice complex operative tasks before entering the operating room, improving patient safety in Oregon and beyond.[3]
Virtual Surgery’ Simulations Help Train Tomorrow’s Surgeons: The rigors of medical school teach the information required to become a physician, but when it comes to surgery, the greatest teacher is experience. Traditional surgical training is done through a type of immersive apprenticeship, with experienced surgeons teaching residents in the operating room over a period of years.[4]

Graphene is a revolutionary material in the area of Nanotechnology

2009-01-22T02:41:00.000-08:00

What is Graphene ?

Graphene is a one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. It can be viewed as an atomic-scale chicken wire made of carbon atoms and their bonds. The name comes from GRAPHITE + -ENE; graphite itself consists of many graphene sheets stacked together.The carbon-carbon bond length in graphene is approximately 0.142 nm. Graphene is the basic structural element of some carbon allotropes including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. It can also be considered as an infinitely large aromatic molecule, the limiting case of the family of flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons called graphemes[…]
Recent Developments in Nanotechnology using Graphene

Light-speed Nanotechnology: Controlling The Nature Of Graphene: Researchers have discovered a new method for controlling the nature of graphene, bringing chip manufacturers one step closer to realizing the mass production of graphene-based nanoelectronics. The chemistry of the surface on which graphene is deposited plays a key role in shaping the material's conductive properties: results show that when deposited on a surface treated with oxygen, graphene exhibits semiconductor properties. When deposited on material treated with hydrogen, graphene exhibits metallic properties.[1]
Speed Bumps Less Important Than Potholes For Graphene: Researchers have created detailed maps of electron interference patterns in graphene to understand how defects in the two-dimensional carbon crystal affect charge flow through the material. The results have implications for the design of graphene-based nanoelectronics.[2]
The Perfect Nanoballoon: How Ultrathin 'Graphene' Carbon Sheets Keep Everything Inside: Airtight containers are not always so airtight. As any child will discover the day after a birthday party, even a tightly tied helium balloon will leak its gas out over the course of many hours. Now scientists have come up with a supremely efficient barrier that lets nothing in or out.[3]
Graphene Used To Create World's Smallest Transistor: Researchers have used the world's thinnest material to create the world's smallest transistor, one atom thick and ten atoms wide. The smaller the size of their transistors the better they perform, say the Manchester researchers.[4]
Graphene Holds Promise For Spintronics: Graphene is a nanomaterial combining very simple atomic structure with intriguingly complex and largely unexplored physics. Since its first isolation about four years ago researchers suggested a large number of applications for this material in anticipation of future technological revolutions. In particular, graphene is considered as a potential candidate for replacing silicon in future electronic devices.[5]

Human is Responsible for Global Warming !

2009-01-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 100 years ending in 2005.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of the temperature increase since the mid-twentieth century is "very likely" due to the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. Natural phenomena such as solar variation and volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward. These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. While individual scientists have voiced disagreement with these findings,the overwhelming majority of scientists working on climate change agree with the IPCC's main conclusions.[…]
Scientists Agree Human-induced Global Warming Is Real, Survey Says: A broad poll of experts taken by earth scientists finds that the vast majority of climatologists and other earth scientists believe in global warming and think human activity is a factor for the temperature rise. This survey dispels lingering doubts by some of a consensus among the scientists.[1]
Apparent Problem With Global Warming Climate Models Resolved: Yale University scientists may have resolved a controversial glitch in models of global warming: A key part of the atmosphere didn't seem to be warming as expected. Computer models and basic principles predict atmospheric temperatures should rise slightly faster than, not lag, increases in surface temperatures. Also, the models predict the fastest warming should occur at the Tropics at an altitude between eight and 12 kilometers. However, temperature readings taken from weather balloons and satellites have, according to most analysts, shown little if any warming there compared to the surface.[2]

Ancient and Simple Methods To Curb Global Warming:

2009-01-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Ancient Soil Replenishment Technique Helps In Battle Against Global Warming: Former inhabitants of the Amazon Basin enriched their fields with charred organic materials-biochar-and transformed one of the earth's most infertile soils into one of the most productive. These early conservationists disappeared 500 years ago, but centuries later, their soil is still rich in organic matter and nutrients. Now, scientists, environmental groups and policymakers forging the next world climate agreement see biochar not only as an important tool for replenishing soils, but as a powerful tool for combating global warming.[1]
Simpler Way To Counter Global Warming Explained: Lock Up Carbon In Soil And Use Bioenergy Exhaust Gases For Energy: Writing in the journal Nature, a Cornell biogeochemist describes an economical and efficient way to help offset global warming: Pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by charring, or partially burning, trees, grasses or crop residues without the use of oxygen. When bioenergy is produced by pyrolysis (low-temperature burning without oxygen), it produces biochar, which has twice as much carbon in its residue than that from other sources. This makes bioenergy carbon-negative and improves soil health.[2]
Ancient Method, 'Black Gold Agriculture' May Revolutionize Farming, Curb Global Warming: Fifteen hundred years ago, tribes people from the central Amazon basin mixed their soil with charcoal derived from animal bone and tree bark. Today, at the site of this charcoal deposit, scientists have found some of the richest, most fertile soil in the world. Now this ancient, remarkably simple farming technique seems far ahead of the curve, holding promise as a carbon-negative strategy to rein in world hunger as well as greenhouse gases.[3]

Cloaks of invisibility: A small Review

2009-01-20T01:53:00.000-08:00

What is invisibility Cloak ?
A cloak of invisibility is a theme that has occurred in fiction, and is a device which is under some scientific inquiry.On October 19, 2006, a joint effort between scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States of America produced a cloak that routed microwaves of a particular frequency around a copper cylinder in a way that made them emerge almost as if there were nothing there. The cloak was made from metamaterials. It cast a small shadow, which the designers hope to fix.The device works only in two dimensions and only at a particular microwave frequency. Work on achieving similar results with visible light is in progress.David R. Smith, Augustine Scholar and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University which demonstrated the first working "invisibility cloak" makes reference to a fundamental problem with these devices as "invisibility cloaks":[…]
Recent Studies on Cloaks of invisibility:

Invisibility Cloak And Ultra-powerful Microscopes: New Research Field Promises Radical Advances In Optical Technologies: A new research field called transformation optics may usher in a host of radical advances including a cloak of invisibility and ultra-powerful microscopes and computers by harnessing nanotechnology and "metamaterials."[1]
Invisibility Undone: Chinese Scientists Demonstrate How To Uncloak An Invisible Object: Harry Potter beware! A team of Chinese scientists has developed a way to unmask your invisibility cloak. According to a new paper in Optics Express certain materials underneath an invisibility cloak would allow invisible objects be seen again.[2]
Tsunami Invisibility Cloak Could Make Structures 'Disappear': Rather than building stronger ocean-based structures to withstand tsunamis, it might be easier to simply make the structures disappear.[3]
3D 'Invisibility Cloak' For Sound?: Contrary to earlier predictions, Duke University engineers have found that a three-dimensional sound cloak is possible, at least in theory. Such an acoustic veil would do for sound what the "invisibility cloak" previously demonstrated by the research team does for microwaves -- allowing sound waves to travel seamlessly around it and emerge on the other side without distortion.[4]
2-D Invisibility Cloak For Visible Light Created: Scientists have used plasmon technology to create the world's first invisibility cloak for visible light. The engineers have applied the same technology to build a revolutionary superlens microscope that allows scientists to see details of previously undetectable nanoscale objects.[5]

Stars Forming Just Beyond Black Hole's Grasp At Galactic Center

2009-01-20T01:17:00.000-08:00

The center of the Milky Way presents astronomers with a paradox: It holds young stars, but no one is sure how those stars got there. The galactic center is wracked with powerful gravitational tides stirred by a 4 million solar-mass black hole. Those tides should rip apart molecular clouds that act as stellar nurseries, preventing stars from forming in place. Yet the alternative -- stars falling inward after forming elsewhere -- should be a rare occurrence.[...]

Active Galaxies Are Different Near And Far, Swift Spacecraft Shows

2009-01-20T01:04:00.000-08:00

An ongoing X-ray survey undertaken by NASA's Swift spacecraft is revealing differences between nearby active galaxies and those located about halfway across the universe. Understanding these differences will help clarify the relationship between a galaxy and its central black hole.[...]

Related Stories Form Modern Trends in Chemostry:

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs): A small review

2009-01-19T02:30:00.000-08:00

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a nanostructure that can have a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 10,000,000 and as high as 40,000,000 as of 2004. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Their final usage, however, may be limited by their potential toxicity. Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family, which also includes the spherical buckyballs. The cylindrical nanotube usually has at least one end capped with a hemisphere of the buckyball structure. Their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is in the order of a few nanometers (approximately 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair), while they can be up to several millimeters in length (as of 2008). Nanotubes are categorized as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs). The nature of the bonding of a nanotube is described by applied quantum chemistry, specifically, orbital hybridization. The chemical bonding of nanotubes is composed entirely of sp2 bonds, similar to those of graphite. This bonding structure, which is stronger than the sp3 bonds found in diamonds, provides the molecules with their unique strength. Nanotubes naturally align themselves into "ropes" held together by Van der Waals forces. Under high pressure, nanotubes can merge together, trading some sp² bonds for sp³ bonds, giving the possibility of producing strong, unlimited-length wires through high-pressure nanotube linking.[…]

Recent Developments on Carbon nanotubes:

Lack Of Thermoelectric Effect Is Cool Feature In Carbon Nanotubes: Metallic carbon nanotubes have been proposed as interconnects in future electronic devices packed with high-density nanoscale circuits. But can they stand up to the heat?[1]
Cautionary Note In Use Of Carbon Nanotubes As Interconnects: Researchers have used scanning tunneling microscopy to confirm remarkable changes in the fundamental electronic behavior when double-walled carbon nanotubes are subject to radial deformations and torsional strain. The work reported in Nano Letters reveals that squashing and twisting a double-walled nanotube opens an electronic band gap in an otherwise metallic system, which has major ramifications on the use of carbon nanotubes for electronic and NEMS applications.[2]
Breakthrough In Production Of Double-walled Carbon Nanotubes: In recent years, the possible applications for double-walled carbon nanotubes have excited scientists and engineers, particularly those working on developing renewable energy technologies. These tiny tubes, just two carbon atoms thick, are thin enough to be transparent, yet can still conduct electricity. This combination makes them well-suited for advanced solar panels, sensors and a host of other applications[3]

A small review on Brown dwarfs

2009-01-19T02:17:00.001-08:00

Recent Developments on Brown dwarfs: Brown Dwarfs Really Do Form Like Stars: Astronomers have uncovered strong evidence that brown dwarfs form like stars. Using the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array, they detected molecules of carbon monoxide shooting outward from the object known as ISO-Oph 102. Such molecular outflows typically are seen coming from young stars or protostars. However, this object has an estimated mass of 60 Jupiters, meaning it is too small to be a star. Astronomers have classified it as a brown dwarf.[1]

Newborn Brown Dwarfs Stir Up The Neighborhood: Astronomers have found a clutch of jets from newborn brown dwarfs, bringing the total of these intriguing objects found to 4. New stars form in cold clouds of gas and dust. These so-called stellar nurseries are not only home to forming stars (protostars) but also harbour forming brown dwarfs.[2]

Stellar Stillbirths: Brown Dwarfs Revealed As Third Class Of Celestial Bodies After Stars And Planets: Brown dwarfs need to be treated as a separate class of celestial body in addition to stars and planets, researchers have found. Until now, brown dwarfs had been merely regarded as stars which were below normal size. However, they may well be stellar 'miscarriages.'[3]

What is Brown dwarfs ?

Brown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects with a mass below that necessary to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but which have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth. Brown dwarfs occupy the mass range between that of large gas giant planets and the lowest mass stars; this upper limit is between 75[1] and 80 Jupiter masses (MJ). Currently there is some debate as to what criterion to use to define the separation between a brown dwarf from a giant planet at very low brown dwarf masses (~13 MJ ), and whether brown dwarfs are required to have experienced fusion at some point in their history. In any event, brown dwarfs heavier than 13 MJ do fuse deuterium and those above ~65 MJ also fuse lithium. The only planets known to orbit brown dwarfs are 2M1207b and MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb.[…]

Mars May Still Be A Living Planet, Methane In Atmosphere Reveals

2009-01-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Scientists has achieved the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery indicates the planet is either biologically or geologically active. If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface where it is warm enough for liquid water to exist.[...]

Videos on sprituality by J. Krishnamurti 1970 Public Talk Part 1 of 6

A small review on Quantum Dots

2009-01-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

What is a Quantum dot ?
A quantum dot is a semiconductor whose excitons are confined in all three spatial dimensions. The term "Quantum Dot" was coined by Mark Reed at Texas Instruments. As a result, they have properties that are between those of bulk semiconductors and those of discrete molecules.Researchers have studied quantum dots in transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and diode lasers. They have also investigated quantum dots as agents for medical imaging and hope to use them as qubits. Some quantum dots are commercially available.[…]

Recent Developments on Quantum Dots:

Light Touch: Controlling The Behavior Of Quantum Dots: Researchers from NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute have reported a new way to fine-tune the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers. Their technique could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of entangled photons for applications in quantum information technologies.[1]
Quantum Dots Deliver Photons One At A Time: A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientist has demonstrated efficient production of single photons---the smallest pulses of light---at the highest temperatures reported for the photon source used.[2]
New Quantum Dot Transistor Counts Individual Photons: Researchers have designed and demonstrated a transistor containing quantum dots that can count individual photons. The semiconductor device could be integrated easily into electronics for applications such as quantum key distribution for 'unbreakable' encryption using single photons.[3]
Problem Of Quantum Dot 'Blinking' Solved: Scientists have found one possible way to induce quantum dots to emit photons faster and more consistently, without their characteristic blinking. The advance could make quantum dots more sensitive as fluorescent tags in biomedical tests and single-molecule studies and steadier sources of single photons for quantum encryption.[4]
What Makes Quantum Dots Blink?: In order to learn more about the origins of quantum dot blinking, researchers have developed a method to characterize it on faster time scales than have previously been accessed. Nanocrystals of semiconductor material, also known as quantum dots, are being intensively investigated for applications such as light-emitting diodes, solid-state lighting, lasers, and solar cells.[5]

Black Holes Lead Galaxy Growth says Sciencedaily

2009-01-08T01:03:00.000-08:00

Peering deep into the early universe, astronomers may have solved a longstanding cosmic chicken-and-egg problem -- which forms first -- galaxies or the black holes at their cores?[...]

Related Articles:

Wave Energy as an Alternate Source of Energy ?

2009-01-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work — for example for electricity generation, desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs). Wave power is a renewable energy source.Though often co-mingled, wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave power generation is not currently a widely employed commercial technology although there have been attempts at using it since at least 1890. The world's first commercial wave farm is based in Portugal,at the Aguçadora Wave Park, which consists of three 750 kilowatt Pelamis devices.[...]
Some developments on Wave Energy:

Wave Energy: New System Captures Significantly More Wave Energy Than Existing Systems: Scientists have designed a pilot-scale device that will capture significantly more of the energy in ocean waves than existing systems, and have used it to power an electricity-generating turbine.[1]
Wave Power Facility Successful in Sweden: A wave energy plant located in the sea outside Lysekil, Sweden has been quite successful. For nearly three years, a wave power plant has stood on the bottom of the ocean a couple of kilometers off the west coast of Sweden, near Lysekil. The station is uniquely durable and maintenance-free because of its simple mechanical construction.[2]
Wave Energy Potential Warrants Further Research And Development, Says EPRI: A new report from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) suggests that generation of electricity from wave energy may be economically feasible in the near future. The study was carried out by EPRI in collaboration with the DOE. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and energy agencies and utilities from six states.[3]
Oregon May Lead Future Of Wave Energy: Significant advances in university research and other studies in the past two years are pointing toward Oregon as the possible epicenter of wave energy development in the United States. This may lead to a major initiative to expand a technology that is now in its engineering infancy, and tap the constant heave of the oceans for a new era of clean, affordable and renewable electrical power.[4]

Black Hole and related Recent Stories

2009-01-06T22:56:00.000-08:00

General relativity describes a black hole as a region of empty space with a point-like singularity at the center and an event horizon at the outer edge, the description changes when the effects of quantum mechanics are taken into account. Research indicates that, rather than holding captured matter forever, black holes may slowly leak a form of thermal energy called Hawking radiation and may well have a finite life. The as yet unknown theory of quantum gravity is believed to give the fully correct description of black holes.[…]

Astronomers Provide New Insights Into Massive Black Hole At Center Of The Milky Way And Surrounding Region: UCLA astronomers can determine, for the first time, orbits of massive young stars located a few light months from the enormous black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy; stars that hold an imprint of how they were born. The origin of young stars at the center of our galaxy has puzzled astronomers, but the orbits may be the key to unlocking the mystery, UCLA astronomy graduate student Jessica Lu reported today at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C.[1]
Astronomers Find Evidence For Tens Of Thousands Of Black Holes: UCLA astronomers present the first evidence that tens of thousands of black holes are orbiting the monstrous black hole at the center of the Milky Way, 26,000 light years away.[2]
Chandra Sees Remarkable Eclipse Of Black Hole: A remarkable eclipse of a supermassive black hole and the hot gas disk around it has been observed with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This eclipse has allowed two key predictions about the effects of supermassive black holes to be tested.[3]
Stars Forming Just Beyond Black Hole's Grasp At Galactic Center: The center of the Milky Way presents astronomers with a paradox: It holds young stars, but no one is sure how those stars got there. The galactic center is wracked with powerful gravitational tides stirred by a 4 million solar-mass black hole. Those tides should rip apart molecular clouds that act as stellar nurseries, preventing stars from forming in place. Yet the alternative -- stars falling inward after forming elsewhere -- should be a rare occurrence.[4]

Einstein's Theory Of Relativity follows interesting findings

2009-01-06T00:41:00.001-08:00

The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, generally refers specifically to two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word "relativity" is sometimes used in reference to Galilean relativity.The term "theory of relativity" was coined by Max Planck in 1908 to emphasize how special relativity (and later, general relativity) uses the principle of relativity.[…]

Einstein's Theory Of Relativity still attracts many Scientists

Possible Abnormality In Fundamental Building Block Of: Physicists have developed a promising new way to identify a possible abnormality in a fundamental building block of Einstein's theory of relativity known as "Lorentz invariance." If confirmed, the abnormality would disprove the basic tenet that the laws of physics remain the same for any two objects traveling at a constant speed or rotated relative to one another.[1]
Einstein In Need Of Update? Calculations Show The Speed Of Light Might Change: In 1905, Einstein made major changes to laws of physics when he established his theory of relativity. Now Einstein’s laws might also undergo significant changes. Physicists at Texas A&M University and elsewhere have concluded that the speed of light, instead of being the constant value of 186,282 miles per second, might change.[2]
Einstein's Relativity Theory Proven With The 'Lead' Of A Pencil: Scientists at The University of Manchester have discovered a new way to test Einstein's theory of relativity using the 'lead' of a pencil.Until now it was only possible to test the theory by building expensive machinery or by studying stars in distant galaxies, but a team of British, Russian and Dutch scientists has now proven it can be done in the lab using an ultra-thin material called Graphene.[3]
Einstein's Relativity Survives Neutrino Test: Physicists working to disprove "Lorentz invariance" -- Einstein's prediction that matter and massless particles will behave the same no matter how they're turned or how fast they go -- won't get that satisfaction from muon neutrinos, at least for the time being, says a consortium of scientists.[4]

A normal star similar to the Sun

2009-01-05T01:50:00.000-08:00

First Picture Of Likely Planet Around Sun-like Star: Astronomers have unveiled what is likely the first picture of a planet around a normal star similar to the Sun. Scientists used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i to take images of the young star, which lies about 500 light-years from Earth, and a candidate companion of that star. They also obtained spectra to confirm the nature of the companion, which has a mass about eight times that of Jupiter, and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-Sun distance away from its star. The parent star is similar in mass to the Sun, but is much younger.[1]
Young Active Star Resembles The Sun When It Was Young: Astronomers recently observed a star analogous to the young Sun at an age of approximately 500 million years, named CoRoTExo-2a. This star is accompanied by a giant planet orbiting around it in only 1.7 days.[2]

What we still dont know: A Small video

2009-01-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Dark Matter Mystery: A video

2009-01-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Dark Matter as seen by the COSMOS project: A video

2009-01-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Nuclear Fusion As an Energy Source with Recent Trends

2009-01-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple like-charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy. Iron and nickel nuclei have the largest binding energies per nucleon of all nuclei. The fusion of two nuclei with lower mass than iron generally releases energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than iron absorbs energy; vice-versa for the reverse process, nuclear fission.

New Insights On Fusion Power: Research carried out at MIT's Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor may have brought the promise of fusion as a future power source a bit closer to reality, though scientists caution that a practical fusion powerplant is still decades away. Fusion, the reaction that produces the sun's energy, is thought to have enormous potential for future power generation because fusion plant operation produces no emissions, fuel sources are potentially abundant, and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste. But it still faces great hurdles.[1]
Simple Sandpile Model Helps Solve Problems Of Fusion Power: A team of physicists from the University of Warwick, and the EURATOM/UKAEA fusion research programme at the Culham Science Centre, have found a new simple and elegant way of using the science of;sandpiles; to achieve a clear model of how a fusion plasma ;self organises; itself into a superstable state - a crucial key to power generation from fusion plasma.[2]
Fusion In Our Future: Nuclear fusion, the same reaction that fuels the sun, holds the potential for providing humankind with a clean and limitless supply of energy. To reign in the awesome power of this reaction, numerous research teams throughout the world seek to produce fusion in a controlled manner.[3]
A Step Toward Fusion Energy: A new project has come one step closer to making fusion energy possible. Plasma is very hot, ionized gas that can conduct electricity - essentially, it's what stars are made of. If heated to the point of ignition, hydrogen ions could fuse into helium, the same reaction that powers the sun. This fusion could be a clean, sustainable and limitless energy source.[4]
Reactor Upgrades Help Researchers Study Nuclear Fusion As Energy Source: For about six months of the year, bursts of a hot, electrically charged gas, or plasma, swirl around a donut-shaped tube in a special MIT reactor, helping scientists learn more about a potential future energy source: nuclear fusion. During downtimes when the reactor is offline, as it is right now, engineers make upgrades that will help them achieve their goal of making fusion a viable energy source--a long-standing mission that will likely continue for decades.[5]

Einstein ring due to Albert Einstein's theory of General relativity

2009-01-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

In observational astronomy an Einstein ring is the deformation of the light from a source (such as a galaxy or star) into a ring through gravitational lensing of the source's light by an object with an extremely large mass (such as another galaxy, or a black hole). This occurs when the source, lens and observer are all aligned. The first complete Einstein ring, designated B1938+666, was discovered by collaboration between astronomers at the University of Manchester and Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in 1998.[Gravitational lensing is predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of General relativity. Instead of light from a source traveling in a straight line (in three dimensions), it is bent by the presence of a massive body, which distorts spacetime. An Einstein Ring is a special case of gravitational lensing, caused by the exact alignment of the source, lens and observer. This results in a symmetry around the lens, causing a ring-like structure.[…]
Recent works about Einstein ring:

Einstein Rings -- Astronomers Discover Eight New Gravitational Lenses with Hubble Telescope: Images from the Hubble telescope reveal eight new Einstein rings, joining only three others previously known. Einstein rings are pairs of galaxies, with a foreground galaxy bending the light of a background galaxy into a ring by gravitational effects. The ring helps astronomers precisely estimate the mass of the foreground galaxy.[1]
Hubble Finds Double Einstein Ring: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a never-before-seen optical alignment in space: a pair of glowing rings, one nestled inside the other like a bull's-eye pattern. The double-ring pattern is caused by the complex bending of light from two distant galaxies strung directly behind a foreground massive galaxy, like three beads on a string.[2]
Hubble, Sloan Quadruple Number Of Known Optical Einstein Rings: Astronomers have combined two powerful astronomical assets, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, to identify 19 new "gravitationally lensed" galaxies. Among these 19, they have found eight new so-called "Einstein rings," which are perhaps the most elegant manifestation of the lensing phenomenon. Only three such rings had previously been seen in visible light.[3]

Chronobiology and body clock

2008-12-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Chronobiology is a field of science that examines periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar and lunar related rhythms. These cycles are known as biological rhythms. "Chrono" pertains to time and "biology" pertains to the study, or science, of life. The related terms chronomics and chronome have been used in some cases to describe either the molecular mechanisms involved in chronobiological phenomena or the more quantitative aspects of chronobiology, particularly where comparison of cycles between organisms is required.Chronobiological studies include but are not limited to comparative anatomy, physiology, genetics, molecular biology and behavior of organisms within biological rhythms mechanics.Other aspects include development, reproduction, ecology and evolution.[...]

Another Reason To Avoid High-fat Diet: It Can Disrupt Our Biological Clock, Say Researchers: Indulgence in a high-fat diet can not only lead to overweight because of excessive calorie intake, but also can affect the balance of circadian rhythms -- everyone's 24-hour biological clock, researchers have shown.[1]
High-fat Diet Disrupts Body Clock: Overeating alters the core mechanism of the body clock, throwing off the timing of internal signals, including appetite control, critical for good health, according to new research. Animals on a high-fat diet gained weight and suddenly exhibited a disruption in their circadian clocks, eating extra calories during the time they should have been asleep or at rest.[2]
Changing Our Clocks: New Research Explores How Our Bodies Keep Time: Our alarm clocks may spring forward on March 9, but our biological clocks may take longer to adjust. That's because our internal clocks are so tightly wound to many physiological and behavioral processes. Researchers have learned that circadian rhythms--the 24-hour cycles that keep our bodies on time--are involved in sleep, weight gain, mood disorders, and a variety of diseases. Now, they've made remarkable strides in identifying genes and neural pathways involved in regulating our internal clocks. Building on this bed of research could lead to new treatments for insomnia, jet lag, depression, obesity, and other disorders.[3]

Understand Supersolidity with a review and video

2008-12-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

A supersolid is a spatially ordered material (that is, a solid or crystal) with superfluid properties. Superfluidity is a special quantum state of matter in which a substance flows with zero viscosity (or resistance to flow). Liquid helium-4 has long been known (since the work of Peter Kapitza, John F. Allen, and Don Misener, published in 1938 the Journal Nature 141, 74 and 75) to exhibit this property when it is cooled below a characteristic transition temperature called the lambda point Tλ. Also superfluidity is observed when superconductors are cooled below a critical temperature Tc. However, before the recent observation of supersolid-like behavior in solid helium-4, superfluidity was considered to only be a property of electron fluids, such as in superconductors; gases, such as dilute alkali gases; or liquids, such as liquid helium-4 or liquid helium-3 at very low temperature.Superfluidity in helium arose from the normal liquid by a second-order phase transition ("lambda transition"). In a dilute gas of Bose particles it comes about by a phase transition that belongs to the universality class of the spherical model. In thin liquid helium films it arises from the normal liquid by a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.[...]

How Helium Can Be Solid And Perfect Liquid At Same Time, Now Explained By Computer-assisted Physics: At very low temperatures, helium can be solid and a perfect liquid at the same time. Theoreticians, though, have incorrectly explained the phenomenon for a long time. Computer simulations have now shown that only impurities can make this effect possible.[1]
Major Physics Breakthrough In Understanding Supersolidity: Physicists are reporting a major advance in the understanding of what appears to be a new state of matter -- supersolidity. Physicists have been manipulating solid helium so they can study its unusual behavior.[2]

Watch a video on Rotating supersolid helium

When Is A Supersolid Not Quite So Super? Brown University physicist Humphrey Maris and colleagues Satoshi Sasaki and Sebastien Balibar of the l'Ecole Normale Supérieure have narrowed the field of possible explanations for the weird behavior of supersolid helium. Their simple but extremely revealing experiment suggests that movement along grain boundaries is a more plausible explanation than Bose-Einstein condensates.[3]
Probable Discovery Of A New, Supersolid, Phase Of Matter: In the 15 January 2004 issue of the journal Nature, two physicists from Penn State University will announce their discovery of a new phase of matter, a "supersolid" form of helium-4 with the extraordinary frictionless-flow properties of a superfluid.[4]
Supersolids -- Can Atoms Unify And Flow Without Resistance?: Imagine you have an orchestra together, but everyone is playing their own tune, until they begin to follow a conductor. In a normal solid, every atom has its own behavior until very close to absolute zero. Then quantum mechanics takes over and dictates everyone to play the same tune.[5]

Metallic Glass: A small review

2008-12-29T02:02:00.000-08:00

An amorphous metal is a metallic material with a disordered atomic-scale structure. In contrast to most metals, which are crystalline and therefore have a highly ordered arrangement of atoms, amorphous alloys are non-crystalline. Materials in which such a disordered structure is produced directly from the liquid state during cooling are called "glasses", and so amorphous metals are commonly referred to as "metallic glasses" or "glassy metals". However, there are several other ways in which amorphous metals can be produced, including physical vapor deposition, solid-state reaction, ion irradiation, melt spinning, and mechanical alloying. Amorphous metals produced by these techniques are, strictly speaking, not glasses; however, materials scientists commonly consider amorphous alloys to be a single class of materials, regardless of how they are prepared.In the past, small batches of amorphous metals have been produced through a variety of quick-cooling methods. For instance, amorphous metal wires have been produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk. The rapid cooling, on the order of millions of degrees a second, is too fast for crystals to form and the material is "locked in" a glassy state. More recently a number of alloys with critical cooling rates low enough to allow formation of amorphous structure in thick layers (over 1 millimeter) had been produced, these are known as bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Liquidmetal sells a number of titanium-based BMGs, developed in studies originally carried out at Caltech. More recently, batches of amorphous steel have been produced that demonstrate strengths much greater than conventional steel alloys.[....]

Recent Developments on Metallic Glass:

Solving The Mysteries Of Metallic Glass: Researchers have made significant progress in understanding a class of materials that has resisted analysis for decades. Their findings could lead to the rapid discovery of a variety of useful new kinds of glass made of metallic alloys with potentially significant mechanical, chemical and magnetic applications.[1]
Metallic Glass: Material Of The Future?: Say "glass" and most people think of window panes. But metals can also form glasses, materials that can be useful in electric transformers, golf clubs and many other products. A Johns Hopkins researcher is developing new metallic glasses with superior strength, elasticity and magnetic properties.[2]
Mystery Of Metallic Glass Is Cracked By Johns Hopkins Engineers: Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how atoms pack themselves in unusual materials known as metallic glasses. Their findings should help scientists better understand the atomic scale structure of this material, which is used to make sports equipment, cell phone cases, armor-piercing projectiles and other products.[3]
Sparks Fly As Novel Metallic Glass Throws Off Fireworks: Many materials can heat up somewhat when they are bent or broken, but few throw off showers of sparks as hot as those emitted when a new kind of metallic glass is shattered. For the first time, a team of researchers in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Materials Sciences Divison has measured the extremely high temperature of particles ejected when this unusual amorphous metal is fractured. [4]

Aroma or odour depends on the shape of molecules !

2008-12-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

An odor or odour is a volatilized chemical compound, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also called smells, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors. The terms fragrance, scent, and aroma are used primarily by the food and cosmetic industry to describe a pleasant odor, and are sometimes used to refer to perfumes. In contrast, malodorous, stench, reek, and stink are used specifically to describe unpleasant odors.[...]

Intersting Studies on odour or Aroma

Shape Changes In Aroma-producing Molecules Determine The Fragrances We Detect: Shakespeare wrote "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But would it if the molecules that generate its fragrance were to change their shape?[1]
Coffee's Aroma Kick-starts Genes In The Brain: Drink coffee to send a wake-up call to the brain? Or just smell its rich, warm aroma? An international group of scientists is reporting some of the first evidence that simply inhaling coffee aroma alters the activity of genes in the brain.[2]
How The Nose Knows: Research On Smell Boosted: In the ancient oceans of early earth, three billion years ago, a single-celled creature dropped organic chemicals as it went about its daily business. Unnoticed by the tiny animal, its lost chemicals left a trail that was sensed by a predator. The predator stalked, attacked and ingested its hapless prey -- and the faculty of smell began its long evolutionary development. The sense of smell, notes LSU biology professor John Caprio, originally evolved to detect water-soluble chemicals like amino acids. The ability to detect volatiles in air is an adaptation of the original mechanism.[3]

Dark Energy is realy exits or it is simply coined ?

2008-12-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

In the late 1990s astronomers made a revolutionary discovery: the expansion of our Universe is accelerating. One of today's greatest scientific challenges is to understand what is causing this acceleration. Lacking any deep understanding of this mysterious force, and without the ability to probe it directly with existing technology, physicists coined the generic term "dark energy" to describe it. Whatever dark energy actually is, detailed measurements from independent techniques reveal that it comprises a whopping 74% of our Universe's total mass-energy.[…]

Watch the video on: The Theory of Cosmos Dark Energy

Recent Studies on the Dark Energy:

Earth Not Center Of The Universe, Surrounded By 'Dark Energy': Earth's location in the universe is utterly unremarkable, despite recent theories that propose toppling a foundation of modern cosmology, according to a team of University of British Columbia researchers.[1]
Dark Energy May Be Vacuum: Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute have brought us one step closer to understanding what the universe is made of. The new data shows that vacuum energy is the most likely cause and the expansion history of the universe can be explained by simply adding this constant background of acceleration into the normal theory of gravity.[2]
Einstein's Biggest Blunder? Dark Energy May Be Consistent With Cosmological Constant: Einstein's self-proclaimed "biggest blunder" -- his postulation of a cosmological constant (a force that opposes gravity and keeps the universe from collapsing) -- may not be such a blunder after all, according to the research of an international team of scientists.[3]
Einstein's Dark Energy Accelerates The Universe: The genius of Albert Einstein, who added a "cosmological constant" to his equation for the expansion of the universe but later retracted it, may be vindicated by new research published today in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.[4]
Einstein's 'Biggest Blunder'? New Supernovae Study Offers Tantalyzing Clues About Dark Energy: The genius of Albert Einstein, who added a "cosmological constant" to his equation for the expansion of the universe but later retracted it, may be vindicated by new research. The enigmatic dark energy that drives the accelerating expansion of the universe behaves just like Einstein's famed cosmological constant, according to the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS). The observations reveal that the dark energy behaves like Einstein's cosmological constant to a precision of 10 per cent.[5]
New Clues About The Nature Of Dark Energy: Einstein May Have Been Right After All: A strange form of energy called "dark energy" is looking a little more like the repulsive force Einstein theorized in an attempt to balance the universe against its own gravity. Even if Einstein turns out to be wrong, the universe's dark energy probably won't destroy the universe any sooner than about 30 billion years from now, say Hubble researchers.[6]

“Unwanted Memories is Erasable” Says Scientist

2008-12-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

Dear friends we want memory but not all the memory. We like those memories which give happiness or a good feeling. There are memories stored in our brain, which we don’t like to recall because they don’t give a sense of happiness, or good feeling, such unwanted memory is difficult to erase. In psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain and recall information. But you must be happy because the following studies show that the unwanted memories might be erasable.

Spotless Mind? Unwanted Memories Might Be Erasable Without Harming Other Brain Functions: A molecule known to preserve memories -- PKMzeta -- specifically stores complex, high-quality memories that provide detailed information about an animal's location, fears and actions, but does not control the ability to process or express this information. This finding suggests that PKMzeta erasure that is designed to target specific debilitating memories could be effective against the offending memory while sparing the computational function of brain.[1]
Process For Storing And Erasing Long-term Memories Discovered: Are memories recorded in a stable physical change, like writing permanently on a clay tablet? Scientists recently discovered that the process of storing long-term memories might involve a miniature molecular machine that must run constantly to keep memories going. When they "jammed" this machine -- a protein -- in mouse brains, they succeeded in erasing specific memories.[2]
Scientists Discover Memory Molecule: Scientists have succeeded in erasing memory in animal models. These findings may be useful for the treatment of disorders characterized by the pathological over-strengthening of synaptic connections, such as neuropathic pain, phantom limb syndrome, dystonia and post-traumatic stress.[3]
Scientists Show Hippocampus's Role In Long Term Memory: The formation of new memories and the retrieval of older memories are both evidenced in the hippocampus region of the brain, according to recent research by NYU neuroscientists.[4]
Scientists Uncover How Brain Retrieves And Stores Older Memories: Scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) and UCLA have pinpointed for the first time a region of the brain responsible for storing and retrieving distant memories.[5]

Energy in various contexts since the beginning of the universe

2008-12-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

The concept of energy and its transformations is useful in explaining and predicting most natural phenomena. The direction of transformations in energy (what kind of energy is transformed to what other kind) is often described by entropy (equal energy spread among all available degrees of freedom) considerations, since in practice all energy transformations are permitted on a small scale, but certain larger transformations are not permitted because it is statistically unlikely that energy or matter will randomly move into more concentrated forms or smaller spaces.[...]
The concept of energy is widespread in all sciences.

In biology, energy is an attribute of all biological systems from the biosphere to the smallest living process. In an individual organism it is responsible for growth and development of a biological cell or an organelle of a biological organism. Energy is thus often said to be stored by cells in the structures of molecules of substances such as carbohydrates (including sugars) and lipids, which release energy when reacted with oxygen. In human terms, the human equivalent (H-e) indicates, for a given amount of energy expenditure, the relative quantity of energy needed for human metabolism, assuming an average human energy expenditure of 12,500 kJ per day and a basal metabolic rate of 80 watts. The human equivalent assists understanding of energy flows in physical and biological systems by expressing energy units in human terms: it provides a “feel” for the use of a given amount of energy. A professional cyclist can maintain a rate of energy use of 400 watts, or 5 H-e, for a prolonged period.
In chemistry, energy is an attribute of a substance as a consequence of its atomic, molecular or aggregate structure. Since a chemical transformation is accompanied by a change in one or more of these kinds of structure, it is invariably accompanied by an increase or decrease of energy of the substances involved.
In geology, continental drift, mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes are phenomena that can be explained in terms of energy transformations in the Earth's interior. While meteorological phenomena like wind, rain, hail, snow, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes, are all a result of energy transformations brought about by solar energy on the planet Earth.
In cosmology and astronomy the phenomena of stars, nova, supernova, quasars and gamma ray bursts are the universe's highest-output energy transformations of matter. All stellar phenomena (including solar activity) are driven by various kinds of energy transformations.

Energy in such transformations is either from gravitational collapse of matter (usually molecular hydrogen) into various classes of astronomical objects (stars, black holes, etc.), or from nuclear fusion (of lighter elements, primarily hydrogen). Energy transformations in the universe over time are characterized by various kinds of potential energy which has been available since the Big Bang, later being "released" (transformed to more active types of energy such as kinetic or radiant energy), when a triggering mechanism is available.[...]

'Seeing' The Quantum World: How A Quantum Computer Would Work

2008-12-22T18:14:00.001-08:00

Barry Sanders, director of the University of Calgary's Institute for Quantum Information Science, is hoping computer animation can help the public better understand quantum physics. Videos are published for the first time in the New Journal of Physics. For the first time, a detailed description on the making of Sanders' animation -- Solid State Quantum Computer in Silicon -- was published this month in the New Journal of Physics.[...]