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| Image Source: Technology Review |
Topics: 3-D Objects, Algorithm, Biology, Computer Science, Molecular Biology
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: One of the great challenges in molecular biology is to determine the three-dimensional structure of large biomolecules such as proteins. But this is a famously difficult and time-consuming task.
The standard technique is x-ray crystallography, which involves analyzing the x-ray diffraction pattern from a crystal of the molecule under investigation. That works well for molecules that form crystals easily.
But many proteins, perhaps most, do not form crystals easily. And even when they do, they often take on unnatural configurations that do not resemble their natural shape.
So finding another reliable way of determining the 3-D structure of large biomolecules would be a huge breakthrough. Today, Marcus Brubaker and a couple of pals at the University of Toronto in Canada say they have found a way to dramatically improve a 3-D imaging technique that has never quite matched the utility of x-ray crystallography.
The new technique is based on an imaging process called electron cryomicroscopy. This begins with a purified solution of the target molecule that is frozen into a thin film just a single molecule thick.
This film is then photographed using a process known as transmission electron microscopy—it is bombarded with electrons and those that pass through are recorded. Essentially, this produces two-dimensional “shadowgrams” of the molecules in the film. Researchers then pick out each shadowgram and use them to work out the three-dimensional structure of the target molecule.
Abstract
Discovering the 3D atomic structure of molecules such as proteins and viruses is a fundamental research problem in biology and medicine. Electron Cryomicroscopy (Cryo-EM) is a promising vision-based technique for structure estimation which attempts to reconstruct 3D structures from 2D images. This paper addresses the challenging problem of 3D reconstruction from 2D Cryo-EM images. A new framework for estimation is introduced which relies on modern stochastic optimization techniques to scale to large datasets. We also introduce a novel technique which reduces the cost of evaluating the objective function during optimization by over five orders or magnitude. The net result is an approach capable of estimating 3D molecular structure from large scale datasets in about a day on a single workstation.
Physics arXiv:
Building Proteins in a Day: Efficient 3D Molecular Reconstruction
Marcus A. Brubaker, Ali Punjani, David J. Fleet
Going through my digital achieves (purging), I recovered a file I created of a number of contemporary African artists whom I draw inspiration, conceptualizations and graphic design trysts from. One of these artist is OLALEKAN JEYIFO. His Bio on his website reads like this:
"I am a Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based artist and designer. In May of 2000 I received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Cornell University where my focus of study was primarily on investigating the relevant potential for a variety of computer software within the fields of art, design and architecture. After graduating I enjoyed a 4 year tenure as a senior designer at the inimitable dbox before continuing on to pursue my creative compulsions full-time. Since then I have been fortunate enough to exhibit my artwork in venues throughout the world as well as create beautiful visuals for a variety of amazing clients. I love what I do and I hope you do too."
And personally I DO as I share with BSFS just a few of HIS futurist visions in Illustrations, Computer and Digital Graphics, Architectural CAD drawings and 3D Printings.... Enjoy.
</p?
His Website with sooo much more is:
http://vigilism.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/vigilismdesign
Tumblr:
http://vigilism.tumblr.com/
Instagram:
http://iconosquare.com/kidcadaver
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| Image Source |
Topics: Aliens, Astrophysics, Biology, Exoplanets, Heliophysics, NASA, SETI
L’infini est infiniment infini: "The infinite is infinitely infinite."
The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, or “NExSS”, hopes to better understand the various components of an exoplanet, as well as how the planet stars and neighbor planets interact to support life.
“This interdisciplinary endeavor connects top research teams and provides a synthesized approach in the search for planets with the greatest potential for signs of life,” says Jim Green, NASA’s Director of Planetary Science. “The hunt for exoplanets is not only a priority for astronomers, it’s of keen interest to planetary and climate scientists as well.”
NExSS will tap into the collective expertise from each of the science communities supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate:
-Earth scientists develop a systems science approach by studying our home planet.
-Planetary scientists apply systems science to a wide variety of worlds within our solar system.
-Heliophysicists add another layer to this systems science approach, looking in detail at how the Sun interacts with orbiting planets.
-Astrophysicists provide data on the exoplanets and host stars for the application of this systems science framework.
NExSS will bring together these prominent research communities in an unprecedented collaboration, to share their perspectives, research results, and approaches in the pursuit of one of humanity’s deepest questions: Are we alone?
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
I posited a thought experiment, the post title inspired by the last two words of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's quote above.
Honestly, I saw this on my Facebook news feed and shared it. I then looked for the official NASA write up I italicize above.
I am prepared to review the data once its published, read also the papers and look at the presentations if they find things like (I'm assuming), spectrographic analysis of alien atmospheres and evidence of water; the telltale wobble of planets orbiting distant suns. I am looking forward to how this exploration will have application to our own planet. On that, I am hopeful.
I am also sadly, bracing for the kind of backlash that claimed Giordano Bruno*, though a bit of license was taken in presenting his story in the Cosmos reboot. I am prepared for the denialist, the conspiracy theorist; the flat earthers cum universe birthers. As I've gotten older, the hope of an expanding enlightenment has been snuffed by present darkness authoritarians that want others to grope in their caves; rammed down our collective throats.
* In 1584 Giordano wrote a thesis entitled "On the Infinite Universe and Worlds." Bruno argued that if a person believes it logical that even one other world likely exists, that it reasonably follows that all other worlds exist.
NASA: NASA’s NExSS Coalition to Lead Search for Life on Distant Worlds
The marketing done with this franchise is what I am striving for with ALL of Abyssinia Media Group® productions. This is not science fiction but the SOUTH AFRICAN production studio Strika Entertainment and Canadian Audio marketeers DACAPO Productions have a REAL diverse and multicultural, family friendly hit based around a SA soccer team and organization. Been out since 2008, so check it out and get at me about your thoughts on their style, and unified animation, comics and marketing strategy. I find interesting how the Strika Entertainment Production company gets conglomerates like KFC, Neslie's MILO, Golden Penny Noodles, Chevron, Caltex, Texaco and First Bank to sponsor their website and Facebook page. I count Season One with 39 animated episodes all started with a South African Comic that now is a part a Pan African Culture.... Enjoy
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| Image Source - Starts at Sixty: How the Jetson's Predicted the Future |
Topics: Consumer Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Humor, Technology
The first television I remember my family owning was black and white, and so largely was society's views of social interaction, equality, etc. It used cathode ray tube technology, and as I recall looking in with my father, a lot of vacuum tubes - if they blew, you had to replace them - precursors to integrated circuits now, their usage in the space program fostered by NASA's need to reduce launch payload size into space (tubes are also quite heavy). They are not extinct, and do still have their specialized uses. We needed "rabbit ear" antennas to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal on the television; a large antenna connected by an analog cable usually on the roof. To attenuate a signal properly for my parents, sometimes I had to hold the ears and stand - absolutely still - next to the set while Walter Cronkite delivered after the sound of teletype actual NEWS completely devoid of theme songs, bombast and "infotainment," because as voiced by his signature line: "that's the way it was." I was also the resident channel surfer, AKA the analog remote control and sometimes dishwasher. Absolutely NO ONE looked at television during a lightning storm (and, really shouldn't now), but surge and electrical fire during the age of fuses was a far more prevalent danger back then before better power distribution schemes and GFCI. There was ABC, CBS, NBC and maybe a few local UHF channels if you were lucky. Television played the Pledge of Allegiance, and went OFF at midnight to a pattern, or static snow.
However, it was Saturday morning cartoons where I saw my first flat screen. Jane, Judy, Elroy, George, Rosie the robot maid and Astro the dog: The Jetsons got a lot of things right about the future - as the link below the picture above attests. There's a lot going on in that image: a video chat with a doctor (we call Skype, among others now); a hint of 3-D technology - the doctor "leaning out" of the screen - and nanotechnology (though I'm dubious on the article's claim: Secret Squirrel did the same trick, after all). And since I'm not too far from my sixth decade, I'm very fortunate to find out it won't be over for me. Sadly though, with the advent of 24-hour news closely followed by hundreds (thousands?) of 24-hour cable channels with appropriate-age cartoon channels, I've noticed a casualty of this advance in technology: one of the very mediums that probably started a lot of future designers, engineers and scientists dreaming up how to bring about what was artists' imaginations to pass...
...Saturday morning cartoons! May they rest in peace (and syndication).
Institute of Physics: Flat Screen Displays (PDF); Television (History)
The Royal Society:
Flat-panel electronic displays: a triumph of physics, chemistry and engineering, Cyril Hilsum
Post script: I will be moving to new apartments for this reason, apparently legal, but unfortunate nonetheless. I have a few posts "in the hopper" that can auto-post, but because I will be packing, I may take a blog-break if the boxes prove overwhelming. I'll let you know how it goes.
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| International Space Station - Facts and Figures Page |
Topics: International Space Station, NASA, Space, Space Exploration
Growing up in the Apollo era, spaceflight and space exploration were "big deals" that stopped traffic, ensued water cooler conversations and dominated - at least in nerd culture - deep thoughts regarding where we were heading. It wasn't until the Space Shuttle Program that spaceflight became humdrum; routine. We'd pause when Challenger or Columbia tragedies dominated the news cycle, briefly reflect, give heartfelt condolences and go back to our technology-centered lives. My sincere hope is going forward we don't lose our need to explore and sense of wonder, nor suppress it with fear, propaganda, empty talking points and arrogant convictions. My optimism is many of our future leaders - in high school and college now - get to experience the "overlook effect" and maybe this cooperation will become a little more widespread, and sanguinely for out continuance, quite routine.
Since 1998, humanity’s had a permanent presence in space with the International Space Station. The ISS, which circles the Earth once every 90 minutes, is a model of global cooperation: A joint cooperation among five national space agencies, crewed by astronauts from more than 15 countries. Take an inside look at the daily life and science that goes on inside the space station whizzing by at more than 200 miles above our heads.
World Science Festival Staff
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| An electron in a magnetic field will turn circles and emit radiation. Adrian Cho - Science Mag |
Topics: Cyclotron, Electromagnetism, Neutrinos, Particle Physics, Radiation
Physicists have long known that charged particles like electrons will spiral in a magnetic field and give off radiation. But nobody had ever detected the radio waves emanating from a single whirling electron—until now. The striking new technique researchers used to do it might someday help particle physicists answer a question that has vexed them for decades: How much does a ghostly particle called the neutrino weigh?
"This is a great achievement on its own, and we're really looking forward to seeing this technology develop over time," says Guido Drexlin, an astroparticle physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany who was not involved in the work.
To understand the experiment, suppose an electron flies horizontally through a vertical magnetic field. It will experience a sideways force that is proportional to both its velocity and the strength of the field. That constant sideways shove will cause the electron to run in circles (see diagram). But that turning will also cause the electron to radiate electromagnetic waves, much as a wet dishcloth will fling off drops of water if you whirl it above your head. Of course, the radiation will sap the electron's energy, so that it will gradually spiral inward.
This effect has been understood for a century. It's used to generate x-ray beams by sending electrons racing around circular particle accelerators known as synchrotrons. Such radiation also emanates from swirling particles in interstellar space. Now, 27 physicists with Project 8, an experiment based at the University of Washington, Seattle, have detected radiation from a single electron. "I thought surely somebody must have done this," says Brent VanDevender, a nuclear physicist and team member from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. "I looked and looked and looked in the literature and couldn't find anything."
Science Mag: Physicists detect radio waves from a single electron, Adrian Cho
Black Science Fiction Society PEEPS click the link below and support a brother. Assist me to move forward with my comic THE ADIGUN OGUNSANWO™ donate at least $5.00 per month for the BEST Entertainment with YOU N' MIND! ABYSSINIA MEDIA GROUP®.
In this electron micrograph of the energy-harvesting device, the lower quantum dot is the red blob at the top of the red triangle. The upper quantum dot is the blue blob at the tip of the blue triangle. The image shows an area that is about 2 μm wide. (Courtesy: F Hartmann et al.)
Topics: Coupled Quantum Dots, Electronics, Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics
Two quantum dots have been used to generate an electrical current from voltage noise. The device was created by physicists in Germany, who say that it could lead to the development of systems that convert waste heat into useful energy.
Electronic devices generate large amounts of excess heat that must be dissipated. Instead of simply discarding this energy, using it to do useful work could revolutionize the electronics industry, and make it possible to create more efficient devices. Indeed, for more than a decade, physicists have been thinking up ways to convert this heat into electrical currents that can do work, such as power electronic devices.
Now, Lukas Worschech and colleagues at the University of Würzburg in Germany have verified experimentally that random voltage fluctuations can be rectified to drive a direct current. The experiment uses voltage noise to mimic the hot and cold spots of waste heat, and is therefore not a direct demonstration of waste heat being converted into work. However, team member Fabian Hartmann explains that it shows that small voltage fluctuations can drive a current: "A device derived from our sample might be able to provide the necessary power to drive autonomous and self-powered systems."
Physics World: Physicists generate electrical currents from noise,
Katherine Kornei
Click here to support this project
My name is Christopher Love and I am the creator of the Flying Bullet.
The concept of the photo novel came about due to my love for the old black and white sci-fi serials and films of 40s, 50s and 60s like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, King of the Rocket Men and Son of Ingagi.
WHAT IF!!! there was a black and white photo novel starring an African American hero. I imagine the hero would be based on real African American heroes of that era. The Tuskegee Airmen were heroes of the highest caliber who fought discrimination and the right to defend a country that didn't always defend them.
So now I have my hero, LT Curt Masters, a Tuskegee Airman, who is kidnapped by a UFO and goes on the high octane sci-fi adventure and exploring what it is to be a man and a human being. The graphic novel will be drawn in Black and White to keep with its inspirational roots.
The reason I write and produce stories featuring ethnically diverse characters is because their are very little heroes in mainstream media that look like the rest of us. So I am creating a graphic novel called "The Flying Bullet" which will be a SCI-FI adventure dealing with a Tuskegee Airman being transported billions of mile away from Earth in 1945. This photo novel is a 100% classic science fiction story. I took the rich history of african americans and combined it with the science fiction genre. The story deals with the struggles of african americans to be counted as full citizens of the United States in defense of their country during WWII. Curt Master soons discovers that the planet Earth is entangled in a bigger intergalactic struggle.
Soon Heroes Like Me Entertainment will produce original, low-budget, short films in the action, adventure and sci-fi genre starring everyone. I'm not asking for a hand-out but an opportunity to market the films to cable companies like TV-One, BET, SCI-FI Channel, Nickelodeon, and others networks or distribute by DVD and Video download.
Check out my website at heroeslikeme.com where you can see my other published work and content. If you have any further questions please email me at chris@heroeslikeme.com
I believe that everyone deserves heroes that look like them.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-flying-bullet-a-sci-fi-action-photonovel/x/6107318
This Hubble Space Telescope image of four colliding galaxies in the Abell 3827 cluster shows the telltale signature of gravitational lensing--the bending of light's path by matter--in the form of blue arcs. The image suggests that dark matter in the cluster may interact with itself through some "dark force."
Credit: ESO
Topics: Astrophysics, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Gravitational Lensing, Humor
Title note: with Episode VII coming out Christmas, I couldn't resist!
After decades of studying dark matter scientists have repeatedly found evidence of what it cannot be but very few signs of what it is. That might have just changed. A study of four colliding galaxies for the first time suggests that the dark matter in them may be interacting with itself through some unknown force other than gravity that has no effect on ordinary matter. The finding could be a significant clue as to what comprises the invisible stuff that is thought to contribute 24 percent of the universe.
“This result, if confirmed, could upend our understanding of dark matter,” says physicist Don Lincoln of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, who was not involved in the research. So-called “self-interacting dark matter” has been suggested for some time but it has generally been considered unorthodox. The simplest model of dark matter portrays it as a single particle—one that happens to interact with others of its kind and normal matter very little or not at all. Physicists favor the most basic explanations that fit the bill and add extra complications only when necessary, so this scenario tends to be the most popular. For dark matter to interact with itself requires not only dark matter particles but also a dark force to govern their interactions and dark boson particles to carry this force. This more complex picture mirrors our understanding of normal matter particles, which interact through force-carrying particles. For example, protons interact through the electromagnetic force, which is carried by particles called photons (particles of light).
Scientific American:
Dark Matter May Feel a “Dark Force” That the Rest of the Universe Does Not,
Clara Moskowitz
Thought I would share the art of CIP. Los Angeles dred Christopher Willingham share his visions of a Cyberphunk Future, west coast style. Check out more at the following links:
Speaking from my own perspective, the type of writer's block I am addressing is not trauma bases, where there is a death in the family, but rather the common persistent ones, which sprout up at the most inconvenient times. But ask yourself:
"Is this type of writer's block a hurdle in the road, Or perhaps what you have currently stored within your subconscious, the unformed, is a better idea than what you, the conscious, is working with?"
A concept which came to me over time. Once I accepted this reality I no longer fought my blocks. I listen to music, stream the web, watch netflix, my dvds; whatever to get my mid off the 'here and now.' Once my body relaxes the hidden thoughts flow through me. I may from different periods, while engaging these deliberate distractions, pause to jot down notes in the document; as a way of guiding my process.
This exercises continues till nothing from the ether comes forth. After such, I organize the jumble lines to a workable paragraph, or passage. Polish it to a satisfactory result, and move forward.
How long does this process last? The results vary, but at least you'll be on a progressive track. Within time the gap between then and now is less.
NASA's spacecraft to an asteroid – the OSIRIS-REx mission — is being readied for a 2016 liftoff. Gary Napier, Lockheed Martin spokesman (left) and reporter Leonard David (right) stand in front of spacecraft build-up on April 6, 2015 as technicians work on the probe for launch next year. Credit: Leonard David
Topics: Asteroids, Bennu, Clean Room, NASA, Space Exploration, STEM
Ahem: in a lot of STEM fields that are "stimulating" (pun intended), you'll find yourselves in apparel like this, affectionately known as "bunny suits." You can find a brief history of the clean room here and here.
DENVER, Colorado – A fact-filled and incredible day at Lockheed Martin on April 6, visiting ultra-clean room facilities in which NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is coming together for a September 2016 liftoff.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) probe is headed for asteroid Bennu, a carbon-rich body that could hold clues to the origin of the solar system and host organic molecules that may have seeded life on Earth.
The spacecraft will collect and return samples of the asteroid, returning the specimens gathered back to Earth for detailed analysis.
Lofted spaceward next year, the probe will reach asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023.
In protective garb, this reporter saw assembly, test and launch operations (ATLO) phase technicians hard at work in a critical stage of the program.
Over the next several months, spacecraft handlers will install on the OSIRIS-REx structure its many subsystems, including avionics, power, telecomm, mechanisms, thermal systems, and guidance, navigation and control.
The Bennu is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the sun, creation, and rebirth. It may have been the inspiration for the phoenix in Greek mythology. Wikipedia
Space.com:
A Reporter's View: NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Mission Taking Shape, Leonard David
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| Image Source: Unraveling Fire II Boy - Art on Fire |
Topics: Domestic Terrorism, Oklahoma Bombing, Timothy McVeigh, Xenophobia
According to this online calendar, today was Wednesday 20 years ago.
I remember the boys were with me (my wife was working) and I was off with them, making PB&J sandwiches for lunch. They were 12 and 2 then. The news of the Oklahoma City Bombing sickened me and horrified my oldest son. He wept over the thought some as young as his brother had died; I wept over both of them, and about the world that was coming. [1]
I remember the helplessness I felt when the wreckage of the Alfred P. Murrah building was broadcast on all stations across the world. We were a few months from the midterms and Newton Gingrich's "Contract With (or, some would say on) America." We were a year from the Internet using something we all take for granted now - search engines, first on home pages like AOL and Yahoo; then the very title of it becoming both a noun and verb: Bing and Google. Star Trek Voyager, Boy Meets World, Seinfeld, Friends and X-Files were our national obsessions. We were six years from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Peace Dividend we've never managed to cash in on.
The seeds of our unraveling/detachment from reality can be found here. As a nation, we've always been prone to fabricating "tall tales," but with the Internet it has made the loudmouth an expert, whether they completed a college degree, or have a wit of evident expertise in anything. The prerequisite seems to be willing to shout "fire" in crowded theaters or the public commons; babble incoherently and be misconstrued as "passionate" instead of insane. When the initial suspects were announced, every authority began looking for [initially] Arabic men; "false flag" became the excuse Du jour for everything we could not initially explain, then and now. Perhaps looking on this quick leap to accusation and judgment inspired a former US-backed Mujaheddin warrior we'd come to know infamously as Osama Bin Laden. Since they didn't care about vilification or leaps of illogical speculations, they literally had "nothing to lose."
Ominously, McVeigh was executed after waving further appeals June 11, 2001, three months to the DAY on the World Trade Center attacks of 9-11. [2]
"And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army." Rev 19:19 ESV
This has sadly been used by forces that would overthrow our democratic republic and establish a dangerous form of theocracy known as dominionism. (Note: all forms of theocratic governance are antithetical to democratic republican ideals.) Whether this is perceived as a literal or figurative event, perhaps it is a realization that peace isn't in our human natures. We have made cartoons and superheros of WWII and the "greatest generation," not having cultural memory of how hard life was here and on the war front, whitewashing what would become the Civil Rights movement as internal struggle from collective memory. "Here be dragons," and if none available, our determined imaginations will manufacture some in our need to slay them.
It was lastly, also the world of black helicopters, "jack-booted thugs" in black camouflage; "New World Order" - first in an address by President George Herbert Walker Bush, then neurosis by conspiracy theorists that would by steady osmosis - find its way into the mainstream. It was two years to the day from the Waco, Texas standoff between the ATF and the Branch Davidians and one day from Adolf Hitler's birthday (also used by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in their violent attack on Columbine High School in Colorado. In Timothy McVeigh's conspiracy-here-be-dragons literature found at the scene, a guide written sadly by a physics apostate: The Turner Diaries. William Luther Pierce may have earned a PhD in physics, but that did not inoculate him from irrational stances and daft thoughts. His lineage in the Confederacy; his alliance with the John Birch Society (founded by the patriarch of the Koch brothers), his anti-Semitic/anti-gay worldview were the seeds that filled his ink before he put pen to paper; before the Internet was a commercial entity. Hate does not require low IQ's or high tech: simple xenophobia and smoke signals will do. It is a legacy we're still inheriting, like dandelion seeds in the wind.
1. Today: 20 years later, TODAY looks back at the Oklahoma City bombing
2. History.com: Oklahoma City Bombing
http://www.amazingabilities.com/amaze6a.html
Check it out!
