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Mars Base

Japanese Cargo Ship Launches to Space Station - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ship-launches-to-space-station

scibyte55 iss japanese

shared by Mars Base on 21 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Japanese resupply ship, the HTV-3 “Kountouri” (White Stork) launched Saturday
  • at 02:06 UTC.
  • contains supplies such as food, clothing and equipment for experiments
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • should reach the ISS on July 27,
Mars Base

Bio-Retina Implant Could Give Laser-Powered Sight to the Blind | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...d-give-sight-blind-laser-power

Scibyte55 RestoringVision

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • The near-infrared laser beam, gentle enough to shine harmlessly through the eye onto the implant, provides up to three milliwatts of power to a photovoltaic cell on the eye implant
  • Six hundred needle electrodes (wrapped in biocompatible silicon and sapphire to prevent the formation of scar tissue) penetrate the retina
Mars Base

Bionic retina runs on laser power - 0 views

optics.org/1

Scibyte55 RestoringVision

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • tiny implant that is inserted into the eye and attached to the retina in a minimally invasive procedure no more complicated than conventional cataract surgery
  • consists of photodetectors, microelectrodes and electronic circuitry that act together to replace the eye’s natural photoreceptors that have been damaged by AMD and feed visual information to the brain
  • photoreceptors in a healthy retina convert light into a series of electrical signals which are transmitted to the brain via complex neural pathways
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • AMD, the photoreceptors do not function, which prevents the brain from receiving these signals from the eyes
  • bio-retina implant is essentially a combined imaging circuit and neural interface which is glued rather than sutured to a patient’s macula
  • area of the retina responsible for high-resolution central vision
  • Measuring 3 x 4 mm and 1 mm thick, the implant is designed to capture light through the normal optical track of the eyeball and stimulate neurons to transmit information to the brain, essentially restoring the function of the damaged photoreceptors
  • Light incident on the implant is collected by an array of CMOS pixels
  • first-generation bio-retina will use an array of 600 pixels, although the aim is to increase this to 5000 pixels in future generations
  • Nano Retina has dedicated a substantial amount of time developing a proprietary algorithm that translates the received visual information and image into the neuron language
  • translating circuitry that discriminates 100 gray-scale levels and responds to varying light levels. It is a sophisticated process
  • implant uses an array of micro-electrodes that first penetrate into the retina, then connect closely to the neurons and thereafter transmit the information. The goal is that every pixel will connect to a neuron, so that every pixel in the array would use a micro-electrode
  • neurons must be stimulated electrically
  • the bio-retina implant also requires a source of electrical power
  • Patients who undergo surgery to implant a bio-retina will need to wear a special set of glasses
  • glasses feature a built-in battery and an infrared diode laser. “The infrared laser light is transmitted into the eye and captured by a miniature photovoltaic cell on the bio-retina
  • harvests the energy, which in turn powers the electronic circuitry. Our goal is for the imager and the electronics to consume no more than 1mW
Mars Base

Eye implants make vision-restoring progress - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...implants-vision-restoring.html

Scibyte55 RestoringVision

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Second Sight’s Argus II, a retinal prosthesis already on the market in Europe
  • Bio-Retina from NanoRetina, which is to start clinical trials next year
  • Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System was developed to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to induce visual perception
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • system includes an antenna, an electronics case, and electrode array
  • designed to bypass damaged photoreceptors altogether
  • video camera in the glasses captures a scene
  • video is sent to a small patient-worn computer VPU where it is processed and transformed into instructions sent back to the glasses via a cable
  • transmitted wirelessly to the antenna in the implant
  • signals are sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity. The pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina’s remaining
  • Users of the Argus II bionic eye say that they can see rough shapes and track the movement of objects; they can slowly read large writing.
  • Anticipation is high, meanwhile, for a bionic retina that has been designed to restore sight at less cost and with a different technique
  • Bio-Retina developed by Nano Retina does not make use of an external camera
  • vision-restoring sensor is placed inside the eye, on top of the damaged retina
  • 24×24-resolution (576-pixel) sensor atop the damaged retina. The device generates a grayscale image
  • implant is inserted through an incision in the eye
  • procedure takes 30 minutes and requires only local anesthesia
  • transforms naturally received light into an electrical signal that stimulates the neurons, which send the pictures received by Bio-Retina to the brain
  • rechargeable, battery-powered mini-laser on a pair of eyeglasses powers the implant wirelessly
  • anticipated recover time is up to one week
  • patients able to distinguish faces and to be able to look from side to side with their eyes rather than needing to turn their heads
Mars Base

Alzheimer's: A Ray of Hope? Just Perhaps Maybe | Talking back, Scientific American Blog... - 0 views

blogs.scientificamerican.com/...ray-of-hope-just-perhaps-maybe

scibyte55 Alzheimer

shared by Mars Base on 19 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • pharmaceutical company Baxter International reported
  • a drug that, if it works in larger clinical trials now under way, might actually stabilize patients and stop disease progression
  • Gammagard, or intravenous immunoglobulin, a soup of antibodies extracted from blood donors and already approved for some immune disorders, halted for three years  any decline in cognition and in the ability to perform everyday tasks for four patients who received  the highest dose
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Four patients
  • may be nothing
  • for sure
  • the drug may falter and go by the wayside as it makes its way through the clinical trials pipeline
  • results still intrigued some in the research community
  • Results from late-stage clinical trials next year will show whether these four were patients who just happened to have plateaued for a while during their inevitable decline
  • initial findings are encouraging, they are extremely preliminary
  • Until the results of the larger double-blind Phase 3 results demonstrate a significant benefit, intravenous immunoglobulin’s role in the treatment of AD is unproven
  • If later trials succeed, the results would give credence to the idea that Alzheimer’s usual suspect—a toxic peptide called amyloid-beta—is, in fact, the major heavy in the neurodegeneration
  • positive Phase III trial next year will mean, though, that the real work lies ahead
  • The drug, not covered by insurers, is already used off-label to treat Alzheimer’s by some rich patients who can afford to shell out $50,000 a year from their own pockets
  • If one day insurers were to cover Gammagard, not enough supply would exist for the donor-based drug—and shortages would make life difficult for  patients already using it for immune conditions
  • promising outcome for the drug trial may serve more as a proof of principle
Mars Base

Egg In Tiny Doses Curbs Allergy - Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...gg_in_tiny_doses_curbs_allergy

scibyte55 AllergyTreatment

shared by Mars Base on 19 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Exposure to increasing amounts of egg every day over two years can seemingly rid some children of an egg allergy
  • gradual introduction into the diet appears to re-train the immune system
  • Many other children in the study developed an ability to cope with small amounts of egg without a serious reaction — but only while being treated
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • interest in providing protection from an accidental reaction” than in having the child gain a new food group
  • 55 children ages 5 to 11 with egg allergies, confirmed by skin-prick tests, medical history and the presence of antibodies to egg protein
  • All of them got an unmarked powder added to their food daily
  • Forty kids were randomly assigned to receive the egg treatment and 15 got cornstarch as a control
  • treatment amounted to a few grains of powdered egg white on the first day and gradually grew to the equivalent of one-third of an egg
  • After 22 months, 30 of the 40 children getting the treatment were able to consume 10 grams of powdered egg white without having a visible reaction
  • Five of the 40 did have a reaction to the egg test, as did all children in the placebo group
  • Another five children who had allergic reactions to the initial treatment dropped out of the study early on
  • Four to six weeks after stopping treatment, the children who didn’t react to the egg test got tested again
  • with 10 grams of egg white powder plus a cooked egg
  • Eleven passed that test. A year later, 10 of them were eating eggs at will
  • remaining challenges will be to identify beforehand which children are the most likely to benefit from the treatment
  • predictions may emerge from tests of their immune cells and proteins
  • blood tests of kids whose treatment succeeded showed an accumulation of positive immune changes during treatment
  • reaction. Whether those changes are permanent is unknown
  • about 10 percent of children given this type of oral treatment for egg, peanut or milk allergies — including roughly that fraction in this study — have reactions early and drop out, Burks says. “For a small group of kids, this isn’t the right therapy
  • Don’t try this at home. The Food and Drug Administration would need to approve an oral treatment for clinical use.
Mars Base

Spitzer Finds Possible Exoplanet Smaller than Earth - NASA Spitzer Space Telescope - 0 views

www.spitzer.caltech.edu/...e-Exoplanet-Smaller-than-Earth

scibyte55 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is a planet two-thirds the size of Earth. The exoplanet candidate, called UCF-1.01, is located a mere 33 light-years away, making it possibly the nearest world to our solar system that is smaller than our home planet. 
  • strong evidence for a very small, very hot and very near planet
  • new-planet candidate was found unexpectedly
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • studying the Neptune-sized exoplanet GJ 436b, already known to exist around the red-dwarf star GJ 436
  • In the Spitzer data, the astronomers noticed slight dips in the amount of infrared light streaming from the star, separate from the dips caused by GJ 436b
  • review of Spitzer archival data showed the dips were periodic, suggesting a second planet might be orbiting the star and blocking out a small fraction of the star's light. 
  • diameter would be approximately 5,200 miles (8,400 kilometers), or two-thirds that of Earth
  • revolve
  • about seven times the distance of Earth from the moon, with its "year" lasting only 1.4 Earth days
  • the exoplanet's surface temperature would be more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 600 degrees Celsius
  • might therefore resemble a cratered, mostly geologically dead world like Mercury
  • another possibility; that the extreme heat of orbiting so close to GJ 436 has melted the exoplanet's surface
  • colleagues noticed hints of a third planet
  • Spitzer has observed evidence of the two new planets several times each
  • even the most sensitive instruments are unable to measure exoplanet masses as small
  • mass is required for confirming a discovery
  • cautiously calling both bodies exoplanet candidates for now.
  • 1,800 stars identified by NASA' Kepler space telescope as candidates for having planetary systems, just three are verified to contain sub-Earth-sized exoplanets
  • only one exoplanet is thought to be smaller than the Spitzer candidates
Mars Base

Alien Planet Smaller Than Earth Covered in Lava | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/-lava-world-smaller-earth.html

scibyte55 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Spitzer may be able to discover exoplanets as small as Mars
  • Even after almost nine years in space, Spitzer's observations continue to take us in new and important scientific directions
Mars Base

Daytime Lightning on Saturn Spotted by Cassini Spacecraft | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/lightning-cassini-picture.html

scibyte55 SaturnLightning cassini

shared by Mars Base on 18 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Cassini orbiter captured the daytime lightning on Saturn as bright blue spots inside a giant storm that raged on the planet last year
  • NASA unveiled the new Saturn lightning photos Wednesday (July 18), adding that the images came as a big surprise
  • The fact that Cassini was able to detect the lightning means that it was very intense."
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • blue filter on the spacecraft's main camera recorded the lightning flashes
  • scientists then exaggerated the blue tint in order to pin down the lightning's location and size
  • analysis of the new images revealed that the energy from the visible lightning flashes alone could have spiked up to 3 billion watts over one second
  • on par with some of the strongest lightning flashes on Earth.  
  • the lightning on Saturn was spotted across a region 100 miles (160 kilometers
  • Cassini spotted eight daytime lightning flashes on Saturn, five in one part of the storm and three in an another
  • storm wrapped completely around Saturn at its peak and is the longest-lived storm ever seen on the ringed planet. It began in December 2010 and lasted about 200 days, finally sputtering out in late June 2011
  • mystery that remains is why the daytime Saturn lightning only turned up in Cassini's blue imaging filter
  • Scientists aren't sure if that means the lightning is actually blue in color, or if it's due to a short exposure time of the camera that helps the camera filter detect the lightning
Mars Base

Storm Scents: It's True, You Can Smell Oncoming Summer Rain: Scientific American - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm

scibyte55 SmellStorm

shared by Mars Base on 19 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • When people say they can smell a storm coming, they're right
  • Weather patterns produce distinctive odors that sensitive noses sniff out.
  • Before the rain begins, one of the first odors you may notice
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • is a sweet, pungent zing in your nostrils
  • fresh aroma of ozone
  • Petrichor
  • occurs when airborne molecules from decomposing plant or animal matter become attached to mineral or clay surfaces
  • when the rains came, the redolent combination of fatty acids, alcohols and hydrocarbons is released
  • Petrichor potpourri
  • Falling water disturbs and displaces odoriferous molecules on surfaces, particularly on dry ones, and carry them into the
  • happen to be near vegetation, these molecules may come from plants and trees
  • rise up from concrete and asphalt
  • Damp earth
  • After a storm has moved through
  • aroma of geosmin, a metabolic by-product of bacteria or blue-green algae
  • Microbiologist Keith Chater at the John Innes Center in England has proposed that geosmin's fragrance may be a beacon, helping camels find their way to desert oases
Mars Base

600-year-old linen bras found in Austrian castle - 0 views

phys.org/...inen-bras-austrian-castle.html

scibyte55 OldestBra

shared by Mars Base on 20 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • The bra is commonly thought to be little more than 100 years old as corseted women abandoned rigid fashions and opted for the more natural look
  • timeline is about to be revised with the discovery of four brassieres from the Middle Ages in a debris-filled vault of an Austrian castle
  • formally announced Wednesday July 18, 2012
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • archeologists found four linen bras dating from the Middle Ages in an Austrian castle
  • find as surprising because the bra had commonly been thought to be only little more than 100 years old as women abandoned the tight corset.
  • One specimen in particular "looks exactly like a (modern) brassiere
  • unearthed in 2008, they did not make news until now
  • carbon dating them to make sure they were genuine took some time
  • delivered a lecture on them last year but the information stayed within academic circles until a recent article in the BBC History Magazine.
  • the four bras were among more than 2,700 textile fragments
  • found intermixed with dirt, wood, straw and pieces of leather
  • intricately decorated with lace and other ornamentation
  • Women started experimenting with bra-like garments in the late 1800s and the first modern brassiere was patented in the early 19th century
Mars Base

Space Shuttle Enterprise Opens to Public in NYC | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/le-enterprise-exhibit-nyc.html

scibyte55 enterprise

shared by Mars Base on 20 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • On Thursday (July 19), the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Manhattan's west side opened its new "Space Shuttle Pavilion" to the public
  • NASA Administrator Charles Bolden joined a dozen of his fellow shuttle-era astronauts — including three of the four pilots who flew Enterprise during its atmospheric approach and landing test program in 1977
  • Enterprise, which never flew in space, is presented in a darkened display with dramatic blue lighting, evoking the atmosphere of flight
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • raised platform at the front of the vehicle allows guests to come nose-to-nose with the Enterprise, as well as look into its crew cabin's windows and down the length of the 122 foot (37 meter) prototype spacecraft
  • During the opening ceremony, Marenoff-Zausner, together with Mosler and Fisher, presented the Enterprise veterans with plaques commemorating that their names would be displayed alongside the shuttle in the form of star-shaped displays
  • Also on hand
  • Karol "Bo" Bobko, who served as prime chase plane pilot for Enterprise's approach and landing test (ALT) program
  • The entire Intrepid team is working hard to raise the funds and develop a plan for the permanent home for Enterprise, on the grounds of this museum but not on the flight deck
Mars Base

DARPA puts out fires with sound and science | Geek.com - 0 views

www.geek.com/...ith-sound-and-science-20120716

Scibyte55 SoundFireExtinguisher

shared by Mars Base on 17 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • first video shows fire being extinguished with two speakers blasting out sounds at a specific frequency
  • sound creates an acoustic field that increases air velocity and fuel vaporization, disrupting the flame by spreading its heat over a larger area
  • both demonstrations are only at the proof-of-concept stage
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • isn’t sure whether either can be scaled up to work inside a military vehicle
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