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Your Very Own R2-D2 Is Right Around The Corner!

Posted by William Hayashi on June 1, 2016 at 8:22pm

The Taiwanese electronics manufacture Asus has unveiled a home robot called Zenbo that can talk, control your home and provide assistance when needed – all for the cost of a top-end smartphone.

The $599 (£410) robot rolls around on two wheels in the shape of a vacuum cleaner ball with cameras an oblong head extruding from the top with a colour touchscreen displaying a face with emotions. It is capable of independent movement, can respond to voice commands and has both entertainment protocols for keeping kids amused and home care systems to help look after older people.

Click here for the rest of the story

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INDYCON 2

Posted by Slim Jim Longfoot on June 1, 2016 at 3:00pm

IndyCon 2 is coming!!!! The second convention formed by Urban Axis (a combined effort of Urbangod Ink Studios and Infinite Axis Comix) will be held July 23-24 2016. Scheduled to appear at this time are Kevin Chapman (creator of Afro Avenger), Terminus Media (Route 3; The Gilded Age), Vincent Allen (Fore Runner Comics), Raymond Sanders (Fantasy Art Comics) and more!! Vendors get your submission form on the website urbanaxisindycon.com.

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Fifth Force...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 31, 2016 at 5:15am
Credit: Avariel Falcon/Flickr, CC BY 2.0


Topics: Experimental Physics, Particle Physics, Radiation, Theoretical Physics


The Four (currently well-known) Forces: The Strong Force, the Electromagnetic Force, the Weak Force and Gravity. See: this link, which includes a brief primer on each and Feynman Diagrams on the strong and weak forces. Debate is going on now whether the new Force is evidence of Dark Energy, Dark Matter; a "Dark Photon" at 17 MeV, or what they refer to in the article as a "protophobic X (Greek letter Chi) boson." As with all reporting of scientific investigations, this is in its preliminary stages.

A laboratory experiment in Hungary has spotted an anomaly in radioactive decay that could be the signature of a previously unknown fifth fundamental force of nature, physicists say—if the finding holds up.

Attila Krasznahorkay at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’s Institute for Nuclear Research in Debrecen, Hungary, and his colleagues reported their surprising result in 2015 on the arXiv preprint server, and this January in the journal Physical Review Letters. But the report – which posited the existence of a new, light boson only 34 times heavier than the electron—was largely overlooked.

Then, on April 25, a group of US theoretical physicists brought the finding to wider attention by publishing its own analysis of the result on arXiv. The theorists showed that the data didn’t conflict with any previous experiments—and concluded that it could be evidence for a fifth fundamental force. “We brought it out from relative obscurity,” says Jonathan Feng, at the University of California, Irvine, the lead author of the arXiv report.

Four days later, two of Feng's colleagues discussed the finding at a workshop at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Researchers there were sceptical but excited about the idea, says Bogdan Wojtsekhowski, a physicist at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. “Many participants in the workshop are thinking about different ways to check it,” he says. Groups in Europe and the United States say that they should be able to confirm or rebut the Hungarian experimental results within about a year.

Scientific American:
Some theorists say a radioactive decay anomaly could imply a fundamental new force
Edwin Cartlidge

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Two For The Price Of One...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 30, 2016 at 12:18pm
Researchers have created a two-mode "Schrödinger's cat state" for the first time. (Courtesy: Michael S Helfenbein/Yale University)

Topics: Experimental Physics, Modern Physics, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics, Schrödinger’s cat (s)

Schrödinger's cat now has a second box to play in, thanks to an international team of physicists that has created a two-mode "Schrödinger's cat state" for the first time. The experiment brings together two purely quantum properties, in that the "cat" (i.e. the photons) is simultaneously "alive and dead" (in a superposition of states) while also in two locations at once (the two boxes are entangled with one another).

The experiment is a step towards creating the larger and more sophisticated quantum states that are necessary to make quantum computing a reality. The team says that the work also demonstrates a two-logical-qubit system with in-built quantum error correction, making it a great resource for quantum metrology and quantum-communication networks.

Physics World: Schrödinger's cat lives and dies in two boxes at once
Tushna Commissariat

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Black Holes and Dark Matter...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 27, 2016 at 5:55am
After masking out all known stars, galaxies and artifacts and enhancing what's left, an irregular background glow appears. This is the cosmic infrared background (CIB); lighter colors indicate brighter areas. The CIB glow is more irregular than can be explained by distant unresolved galaxies, and this excess structure is thought to be light emitted when the universe was less than a billion years old. Scientists say it likely originated from the first luminous objects to form in the universe, which includes both the first stars and black holes.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (Goddard)


Topics: Astrophysics, Black Holes, Dark Matter, Physics Humor


I'll admit to being a fan of The Flash, but an informed one. For instance, speed in physics - along with mass (that's "us") is associated with momentum; acceleration and mass is associated with force. Every time I hear "speed force," I cringe. There was the memorable episode where Barry "talked" to the speed force (who looked like Joe, Iris, his mom and dad; a wraith that looked like him), which the writers obligatorily associated with Dark Energy, Dark Matter and the Big Bang. Barry had one memorable line that sounded kinda "science-y" when conversing with said speed deities: "this is like talking to gravity, or light," which as a part of nature, are not typically conversant. This of course is the fanciful departure of Hollywood cartoon physics, and as I allude at the link provided: don't take me to your Sci-Fi movie night!

The following is rather exciting, a hypothesis that will have to stand up to relentless peer review. Even though I'm a fan of superhero comic shows, I look forward to the coming published scientific conversations that will eventually (hopefully) hash this out.

Dark matter is a mysterious substance composing most of the material universe, now widely thought to be some form of massive exotic particle. An intriguing alternative view is that dark matter is made of black holes formed during the first second of our universe's existence, known as primordial black holes. Now a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, suggests that this interpretation aligns with our knowledge of cosmic infrared and X-ray background glows and may explain the unexpectedly high masses of merging black holes detected last year.

"This study is an effort to bring together a broad set of ideas and observations to test how well they fit, and the fit is surprisingly good," said Alexander Kashlinsky, an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard. "If this is correct, then all galaxies, including our own, are embedded within a vast sphere of black holes each about 30 times the sun's mass."

In 2005, Kashlinsky led a team of astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to explore the background glow of infrared light in one part of the sky. The researchers reported excessive patchiness in the glow and concluded it was likely caused by the aggregate light of the first sources to illuminate the universe more than 13 billion years ago. Follow-up studies confirmed that this cosmic infrared background (CIB) showed similar unexpected structure in other parts of the sky.

NASA Scientist Suggests Possible Link Between Primordial Black Holes and Dark Matter
Francis Reddy

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Finitistic, Infinitistic...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 26, 2016 at 5:37am
Image Credit: Wylie Beckert for Quanta Magazine


Topics: Computer Science, Logic, Mathematical Models, Mathematical Physics


With a surprising new proof, two young mathematicians have found a bridge across the finite-infinite divide, helping at the same time to map this strange boundary.

The boundary does not pass between some huge finite number and the next, infinitely large one. Rather, it separates two kinds of mathematical statements: “finitistic” ones, which can be proved without invoking the concept of infinity, and “infinitistic” ones, which rest on the assumption — not evident in nature — that infinite objects exist.

Mapping and understanding this division is “at the heart of mathematical logic,” said Theodore Slaman, a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. This endeavor leads directly to questions of mathematical objectivity, the meaning of infinity and the relationship between mathematics and physical reality.

Quanta Magazine: Mathematicians Bridge Finite-Infinite Divide, Natalie Wolchover

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Directed Evolution...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 25, 2016 at 5:56am
© AP The prize was awarded on Tuesday in Helsinki


Topics: Biology, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Engineering, Research, Women in Science


US engineer Frances Arnold has won the Millennium Technology Prize for pioneering "directed evolution".

By driving a sped-up version of natural selection in the lab, the method has created new enzymes for industrial catalysts, household detergents, and even to make rocket fuel from sugar.

The €1m (£0.8m) prize is awarded biennially and Prof Arnold is the first female winner in its 12-year history.

It recognises developments that "change people's lives for the better".

The Technology Academy Finland, which presents the prize, said the deliberations began in November 2015 but that "there was only one outstanding candidate".

Prof Arnold, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), spoke to the BBC before travelling to Helsinki for Tuesday's ceremony.

She said the "basic concept" of using evolution to create better enzymes emerged from her laboratory more than 20 years ago.

BBC News: Evolutionary engineer wins tech prize, Jonathan Webb

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Physics Identities...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 23, 2016 at 4:46am
Image Source: Physics Today home page


Topics: Commentary, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Mark G. Raizen, Women in Science


This was an article that gave me a slight chuckle (the obvious double entendre of superhero secret identities and by inference of the topic trigonometric identities we all used to have to memorize). I can personally attest there are four major epochs (my reference) one goes through in the field:

"I major in physics";

"I 'majored' in physics";

"I work in a 'physics-related' field" also "my physics background helps me in my current field";

"I am a physicist."

Mark G. Raizen, one of the smartest physicist I know doing cutting edge research in atomic physics and quantum optics, was once a theoretical physics grad student under Steven Weinberg before he changed focus to being an experimental physicist. (Trivia: he even has a Wiki page on WOW.com). Mark once wished me a happy birthday on Facebook, referring to me as a "fellow physicist." I was at the time pursuing my Graduate Certificate in Microelectronics and Photonics from Stevens University I've since completed. I start again with the graduate physics department in the fall, as I only have 18 hours to a full Masters degree. With this background and my current industry focus on Implant, I hope to go as far as my preparation takes me.

I admit, I was flattered and honored, thinking my diversions - the military, industry, selling home security systems (long story) and high school physics teacher wasn't a "pure" path, and thus I bounced quite liberally between #2 and #3. Though he said it quite casually, it did knock me for a loop and change my own self-perceptions. Mark and Alicia Raizen's friendship has been inspirational (I met Alicia on an appointment with the aforementioned security company; then Mark who took me on a tour of his laboratory with his graduate students at UT Austin). I admit some evolution had to take place for me to get to and accept the fourth epoch. From that point and ever since, I have been referring to myself publicly, and proudly... as a physicist.

A series of interviews with undergraduates yields some surprising insights into how the students come to think of themselves as physicists.

Are you a physicist? How did you become a physicist? The answers to those questions are not as straightforward as one might think. The routes into physics are as diverse as physicists themselves. The sources of our early affinities for physics range from childhood fascinations with the universe to that introductory physics class that made you ask more questions than you could answer.

Acquiring a professional identity is a fundamental part of any student’s development.1 Students are significantly more likely to persist with a program in physics—or any other discipline—when they identify themselves as students of that discipline.2 However, developing an identity as a professional physicist and member of the physics community is a complicated process that can take a long time and involve overcoming multiple barriers.

To examine how identities change over time, we studied the experiences of 20 undergraduate physics students (3 women and 17 men) at Kansas State University over six semesters beginning with their modern physics class. Seven of the students remained in the study until the end. We interviewed each student several times, focusing on their developing experiences with physics and their perceptions of what it means to be a physicist. Our methods are described in the box on page 48.

We tracked changes in their perceptions over time as they engaged in more physics practices, such as upper-division coursework and undergraduate research. Students’ experiences with different authentic physics practices changed their perceptions of what it means to be a physicist. We used those changing perceptions as a starting point to investigate the students’ evolving physics identities.

Physics Today: Developing Physics Identities, Paul W. Irving and Eleanor C. Sayre

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Say Goodbye To Encryption As We Know It - Has the age of quantum computing arrived?

Posted by William Hayashi on May 22, 2016 at 4:40pm

the 1830s, computer science has been trying very hard to race ahead of its time. Particularly over the last 75 years, there have been many astounding developments – the first electronic programmable computer, the first integrated circuit computer, the first microprocessor. But the next anticipated step may be the most revolutionary of all.

Click here for the rest of the story

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Happy Ending

Posted by G.H. Wright on May 21, 2016 at 12:01am

Sinead O'Connor found safe after going missing.  Turns out she was with friends.  A happy ending save that there was no sad beginning. Unless you count the number of adults concerning themselves with the whereabouts of a celebrity, which we probably should.  

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A Discussion on The Future of Black Sci Fi

Posted by Kimani Ali on May 13, 2016 at 6:00pm

I wrote a short essay today briefly discussing my thoughts on the paradigm of Black Sci Fi, specifically dealing with technology and future speculation. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

http://kimaniali.com/my-writings/destruction-brilliance-paradigm-black-sci-fi/

DESTRUCTION AND BRILLIANCE: THE PARADIGM OF BLACK SCI-FI

 May 13, 2016   Comments 6 Comments

Disclaimer

My statements will often be in conflict with popular scientific opinions (which is not the same as the latest scientific research). Because this essay is not geared toward the academia crowd, I will make several claims without providing sources. This is because I have already done my research and I believe in your ability to do yours. It would also make this essay very long. However, please feel free to ask me for sources or debate points.

I also do not believe that Western physical science is the pinnacle of what has or can be achieved and I have no reason to, according to official peer-reviewed research. I believe that ancient science surpassed Western physical science. More specifically, I believe that Westernscience has not surpassed Melanoid (people with significant melanocytes [darker skin colors] and neuromelanin) science. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s talk about Science Fiction.

Two Types of Sci-Fi

Devastation

Western science is aggressive toward life.

I do not feel the need for in-depth discussion of the definition of Sci-Fi. Let us focus on the element of futuristic speculation. What is the future as depicted by the paradigm of Western science? Devastation. There are only a handfull of scenarios foreseen for Western White civilization: dystopia, the end of humans on Earth, or the former plus planetary colonization. And the fourth option is the perpetual recycle of the first and third scenarios.

If I really wanted to talk about the causes for the eventual end of humans on a particular planet, this essay would be several pages long. However everyone should be familiar with at least four: belligerent A.I., mutually assured nuclear destruction, ecosystem annihilation, and plague.

These scenarios all are caused by the progression of Western science. It aims to control and subvert–even destroy–nature. The air quality continuously drops. The world’s waters become increasingly inhabitable and unconsumable. The ecosystems’ balance is imbalanced. Humans’ suffer unnatural sickness directly because of it. Western science is aggressive toward life. And the Western world has no intention of changing its course, as this Yale University “Atmosphere, Ocean & Environmental Change” course snapshot clearly shows. Reduce human populations and slow 3rd World Economic Growth?! Obviously, they feel that some people are gonna have to stop polluting and it’s not going to be the Western world.

My question is this: why does the future necessitate bleakness? The answer is that it doesn’t.

Brilliance

I went to college to be a historian. I did not complete that degree path, but I never lost the love for history or the knowledge of how to research. In my three-and-a-half semesters in college, and even more years of independent research, I have never seen evidence of the fear or reality of a dystopian Melanoid (remember that word from the disclaimer?) civilization.Melanoid science has never been found to be aggressive toward life.

If you look at the records, Melanoid architecture was not rife with rife toxic materials. It used the natural materials in the surrounding area. Large-scale cities did not produce air pollution, ecological imbalance or chemical-related sicknesses. What Melanoid science did do was explore the workings of the universe and successfully ensure healthy futures for the next generations.

Feats of Melanoid Science

Megalithic Structures

I would like to begin winding down this essay, so I will briefly showcase some examples of Melanoid science. The most commonly known is that of megalithic structures (which Western science cannot currently reproduce). Take the Giza Pyramid complex. These massive structures were built without mortar–very important. They contained several standard, yet complex, mathematical measurements such as the Meter and Pi. They harnessed energy. How these structures were built is not known in the popular narrative of Western science. However, many including myself believe a gravity-manipulating sound technology was used. As the pictures below show, megalithic structures are global.

Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Sunhttp://i1.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/TeotiHuacan.jpg?resize=1024%2C589 1024w, http://i1.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/TeotiHuacan.jpg?resize=469%2C270 469w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" width="294" height="170" />Teotihuacan Pyramid of the SunAngkor WatAngkor Wat

The Cosmos

Melanoid Science has long had expansive knowledge of the cosmos. Many people are familiar with the fact that the Dogon people were aware of the Sirius Star System (invisible star in there) for ages before Western science could even conceptualize its existence. We also did things like build cities and spiritual building complexes in line with the stars. I do not know why at the time.

Dogon Ritual Dancerhttp://i1.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Dogon-Ritual-Dance.jpg?w=1024 1024w, http://i1.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Dogon-Ritual-Dance.jpg?resize=360%2C270 360w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" width="294" height="221" />Dogon Ritual Dancer

Unified Perspective On Science

One of the most crucial features of Melanoid science is the successful realization that the physical realm is not the only realm. Melanoid science took a unified approach: the physical and metaphyical/spiritual realms were intertwined and not mutually exclusive. That is why in Melanoid civilizations the priests would be the scientists, would be the doctors, would be the physicists, would be the astronomers.

Walking On Water

In India an 30-mile long bridge accross 250px-Adams_Bridge_aerialhttp://i0.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/250px-Adams_Bridge_aerial.jpg?resize=203%2C270 203w, http://i0.wp.com/kimaniali.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/250px-Adams_Bridge_aerial.jpg?w=250 250w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" width="225" height="300" />ïthe water to Sri Lanka was built about 1.7 million years ago. It was crossable until a hurricane destroyed it in the 1400s.

Tying Into Sci-Fi Afrofuturism

In conclusion, I believe that Black Sci-Fi creators should be aware of an alternate to Western futuristic speculation and science and accordingly create worlds with these alternate elements. For one, it is directly relevant to our Melanoid lineage. Second, if nothing else, it would provide interesting new-ish narratives and could become a defining mark of Black Sci-Fi.

Please share your thoughts in the comments. If you want sources or more information and examples, feel free to ask. I apologize if this seemed long-winded. That is the historian in me coming out.

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More Terrifying Than Foreigners...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 13, 2016 at 5:41am
Image Source: CarloAlberto.org


Topics: Calculus, Differential Equations, Diversity, Politics


I think someone created a meme on Facebook from this incident. A little poking around the Internet revealed this WaPo article:

On Thursday evening, a 40-year-old man — with dark, curly hair, olive skin and an exotic foreign accent — boarded a plane. It was a regional jet making a short, uneventful hop from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse.

Or so dozens of unsuspecting passengers thought.

The curly-haired man tried to keep to himself, intently if inscrutably scribbling on a notepad he’d brought aboard. His seatmate, a blond-haired, 30-something woman sporting flip-flops and a red tote bag, looked him over. He was wearing navy Diesel jeans and a red Lacoste sweater – a look he would later describe as “simple elegance” – but something about him didn’t seem right to her.

She decided to try out some small talk.

Is Syracuse home? She asked.

No, he replied curtly.

He similarly deflected further questions. He appeared laser-focused — perhaps too laser-focused — on the task at hand, those strange scribblings.

Skipping further into the article:

And then the big reveal: The woman wasn’t really sick at all! Instead this quick-thinking traveler had Seen Something, and so she had Said Something.

That Something she’d seen had been her seatmate’s cryptic notes, scrawled in a script she didn’t recognize. Maybe it was code, or some foreign lettering, possibly the details of a plot to destroy the dozens of innocent lives aboard American Airlines Flight 3950. She may have felt it her duty to alert the authorities just to be safe. The curly-haired man was, the agent informed him politely, suspected of terrorism.

The curly-haired man laughed.

He laughed because those scribbles weren’t Arabic, or another foreign language, or even some special secret terrorist code. They were math.

Yes, math. A differential equation, to be exact.

Had the crew or security members perhaps quickly googled this good-natured, bespectacled passenger before waylaying everyone for several hours, they might have learned that he — Guido Menzio — is a young but decorated Ivy League economist. And that he’s best known for his relatively technical work on search theory, which helped earn him a tenured associate professorship at the University of Pennsylvania as well as stints at Princeton and Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

Guido Menzio is a recipient of the prestigious Carlo Alberto medal, given to the best Italian economist under 40.

Did I mention he's Italian (not Arab/Near Eastern)? There are myriad other ethnic groups with "swarthy" complexions on the planet. Besides, here in the US, the threat of terrorism statistically may be of the homegrown and non-swarthy variety.

Majoring in a STEM field yields more than its own stereotypes: dorky, nerdy, socially awkward (I'm talking to you, "Big Bang Theory"), unattractive, but TERRORIST? I admit, the course we all affectionately called "DIFFY Qs" was daunting, but it didn't rewire any of us for violence. Have we gotten this addled in the brain?

So, in the era of not wanting actual experts in government or well, ANYTHING; in the era of racism, xenophobia, bombast, blatant lying, homophobia and misogyny as crass, carnival-barking political tactics (applicable when you've subordinated the processes a republic uses selecting its leaders into "reality TV," from a public caricature having more in common with "A Pimp Named Slickback") appealing to our lesser angels, we are SHOCKED that mathematics has literally become "Thoughtcrime"? Instead of a "shining city on a hill," we've become a dung heap infested with maggots in a junkyard - a joke! "Idiocracy" as a comedy was placed 500 years hence. That Apocalypse is now. All the hand-wringing about this being a strange election cycle is now solved. After telling Gorbachev to "tear down that wall," we're apparently intent on building another more lasting monument in the thick mortar paste of breathtaking stupidity. Sadly, the minions of this effort are PROUD of who and what they DON'T know. For them, ignorance is not just bliss: it's a belief system. And, you cannot explain science, mathematics, history, the economy or climate change... to a cult.

Rising xenophobia stoked by the presidential campaign, he (Guido) suggested, may soon make things worse for people who happen to look a little other-ish.

Washington Post:
Ivy League economist ethnically profiled, interrogated for doing math on American Airlines flight
Catherine Rampell

Blog break for ten days. Back on 23 May.

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OverWatch: A Game that's worth the money.

Posted by Russell A. Mebane on May 10, 2016 at 4:47pm

Today is the last day of beta testing for the video game "Overwatch".  If you're a gamer, you've probably seen the ads.  It's a first person shooter, like Call of Duty, but this one is set in a different, more colorful world, without the cookie-cutter military characters.  The idea is that you're on a six-man team and you have to choose a character from 4 different types: offensive, defensive, support, and tank heroes.  Offensive characters are quick with strong close-combat abilities.  Defense characters are better at longer ranges.  Support characters offer healing, shields, armor, and status effects.  Think white mages from the Final Fantasy franchise.  The tank heroes are built like, well, tanks.  They can absorb lots of damage and deal out the hurt.  They're also slow for the most part.

After playing the Beta for the past 2 weeks, I can tell you that the gameplay is phenomenally smooth.  Even for a game that's purely multiplayer.  That's right.  It's nothing but multiplayer, and Blizzard (the company behind it) does its level best to cater to the player.  If somebody drops out while you're in the lobby, the game will let you fool around and wander the map until the server finds another player.  You can even shoot at your opponents and feel each other out.  As you level up, you don't get new abilities, but you do get to customize your favorite characters' colors, style, quips, victory poses, highlight intros and graffiti tags.  Yes, you can spray graffiti in this game.  You can only tag one spot though.  I usually do it in the homebase.  Every character has they're own feel and strategy behind using them, from sneaking around to full frontal assaults. 

Overall, the game is HIGHLY addictive and I do not recommend getting this game if you have a full schedule of work, school, and family.  You will end up eschewing those three things.  They encourage a team play dynamic and even incorporate signals you can give to your teammates without having to put in a microphone and deal with all the racism and obnoxious comments.  Oh, and as far as diversity goes, they have a Black character, an Indian character, an Egyptian, a Brit, a fat guy, a dwarf, a gunslinger, a ninja, a samurai, several cyborgs, and two robots.  Yes, it's that kind of game.  You'll love it.  It launches May 24th on XBox One, PS4, and PC

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ExoMars...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 12, 2016 at 5:09am
ExoMars 2016 liftoff - ESA


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, ESA, Mars, Planetary Science


This was obviously in March, but we're five months from the actual encounter with the red planet. I'll keep up with any updates and note progress and hopefully, a successful planetary landing.

The first of two joint European Space Agency (ESA)-Roscosmos missions to Mars has begun a seven-month journey to the Red Planet, where it will address unsolved mysteries of the planet’s atmosphere that could indicate present-day geological — or even biological — activity.

The Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli entry, descent, and landing demonstrator lifted off on a Proton-M rocket operated by Russia’s Roscosmos at 05:31 a.m. EDT (09:31 GMT) March 14 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

The payload fairing was released following separation of Proton’s first and second stages. The third stage separated nearly 10 minutes after liftoff.

The Breeze-M upper stage, with ExoMars attached, then completed a series of four burns before the spacecraft was released at 4:13 p.m. EDT (20:13 GMT).

Signals from the spacecraft, received at ESA’s control center in Darmstadt, Germany via the Malindi ground tracking station in Africa at 5:29 p.m. EDT (21:29 GMT), confirmed that the launch was fully successful and the spacecraft is in good health.

The orbiter’s solar wings have also now unfolded and the craft is on its way to Mars.

Astronomy: ExoMars sets off to solve the Red Planet’s mysteries

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Nano Thermometer...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on May 11, 2016 at 5:15am
Alexis Vallée-Bélisle and his research team have developed DNA-based thermometers that allow the measurement of temperature at the nanoscale. Design: Kotkoa.


Topics: Biology, DNA, Nanotechnology


Researchers have known for more than 60 years now that DNA molecules unfold when heated and refold when cooleddown again. More recently they also discovered that living organisms employ biomolecules such as proteins or RNA (a molecule similar to DNA) as nanothermometers thanks to this unfolding and folding. “Inspired by these natural nanothermometers, we have now created various DNA structures that can fold and unfold at specifically defined temperatures,” explains team leader Alexis Vallée-Bélisle.

The team used the simple Watson–Crick base pair code of DNA and the so-called Hoogsteen interactions to create their DNA structures. The good thing about DNA is that its chemistry is relatively simple and programmable, says team member David Garreau. “DNA is made from four different nucleotide molecules, A, C, G and T. Nucleotide A binds weakly to nucleotide T, whereas nucleotide C binds strongly to nucleotide G. Using these simple rules, we were able to create DNA structures that can be programmed to fold and unfold at specific temperatures.”

Nanotech Web: DNA makes tiny thermometer, Belle Dumé

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