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Mars Base

Big Meteorite Discovered in Antarctica | Meteorites & Antarctica | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/eteorite-found-antarctica.html

scibyte84 meteorite

shared by Mars Base on 01 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • 40-pound (18 kilogram)
  • Initial tests show it is an ordinary chondrite, the most common type of meteorite found on Earth
  • This is the biggest meteorite found in East Antarctica for 25 years
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • More than 38,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica, but only 30 bigger than 40 pounds (18 kg).
  • The Russian meteor that burst into fragments above the Chelyabinsk region on Feb. 15 is also an ordinary chondrite
  • charred black crust stands out
  • in the
  • snow, and the cold, dry climate helps preserve any organic chemicals inside the rocks
  • The expedition collected 425 meteorites in 40 days, with a total weight of 165 pounds (75 kg).
  • they may have found one Mars meteorite and one piece of the asteroid Vesta among the many discoveries.
  • A team from Belgium and Japan discovered the
  • meteorite as the members drove across the East Antarctic plateau on snowmobiles
Mars Base

SpaceX's capsule arrives at ISS - 0 views

phys.org/...013-03-spacex-capsule-iss.html

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • 5:31 am EST (1031 GMT)
  • The capsule named Dragon was captured
  • The craft,
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • will now be inspected via cameras, brought to the Earth-facing port of the ISS's Harmony module and bolted into place by commands from mission control
  • SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned—both NASA missions and commercial flights—totaling about $4 billion in contracts
  • NASA also has a $1.9 billion resupply contract for the station with Orbital Sciences Corporation, which will launch the first test flight of its Antares rocket from a base in Virginia in the coming weeks
Mars Base

Private Groups Set Sights on Deep Space | Mars, the Moon & Asteroids | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ht-deep-space-exploration.html

scibyte84 PrivateSpaceTravel

shared by Mars Base on 28 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation announced
  • (Feb. 27) that it aims to launch two people on a 501-day Mars flyby mission in January 2018
  • main goals are to generate excitement about space travel and test out technologies that will be needed to put boots on Mars in the future
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • mission would combine a commercial space capsule and inflatable module into a single spacecraft that will carry a man and a woman, possibly a married couple, to Mars and back. 
  • A number of companies and nonprofit organizations are developing plans to visit Mars, the moon and asteroids, for a variety of purposes
Mars Base

Researchers describe first 'functional HIV cure' in an infant - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...-03-functional-hiv-infant.html

scibyte84 HIVTreatment

shared by Mars Base on 04 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center
  • describe the first case of a so-called "functional cure" in an HIV-infected infant
  • The infant described in the report underwent remission of HIV infection after receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 30 hours of birth
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • investigators
  • investigators say the prompt administration of antiviral treatment likely led to this infant's cure by halting the formation of hard-to-treat viral reservoirs
  • Prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure may help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without lifelong treatment by preventing such viral hideouts from forming in the first place
  • dormant cells responsible for reigniting the infection in most HIV patients within weeks of stopping therapy
  • researchers say they believe this is precisely what happened in the child described in the report
  • "functionally cured," a condition that occurs when a patient achieves and maintains long-term viral remission without lifelong treatment and standard clinical tests fail to detect HIV replication in the blood
  • a sterilizing cure—a complete eradication of all viral traces from the body
  • a functional cure occurs when viral presence is so minimal, it remains undetectable by standard clinical tests, yet discernible by ultrasensitive methods
  • The child described
  • was born to an HIV-infected mother and received combination antiretroviral treatment beginning 30 hours after birth.
  • A series of tests showed progressively diminishing viral presence in the infant's blood, until it reached undetectable levels 29 days after birth
  • The infant remained on antivirals until 18 months of age, at which point the child was lost to follow-up for a while
  • Ten months after discontinuation of treatment, the child underwent repeated standard blood tests, none of which detected HIV presence in the blood
  • Test for HIV-specific antibodies—the standard clinical indicator of HIV infection—also remained negative
  • Currently, high-risk newborns—those born to mothers with poorly controlled infections or whose mothers' HIV status is discovered around the time of delivery—receive a combination of antivirals at prophylactic doses to prevent infection for six weeks and start therapeutic doses if and once infection is diagnosed
  • this particular case
  • may change the current practice because it highlights the curative potential of very early ART
  • natural viral suppression without treatment is an exceedingly rare phenomenon observed in less than half a percent of HIV-infected adults
  • HIV experts have long sought a way to help all HIV patients achieve elite-controller status
  • "elite controllers," whose immune systems are able to rein in viral replication and keep the virus at clinically undetectable levels
  • investigators caution they don't have enough data to recommend change right now to the current practice of treating high-risk infants
  • but the infant's case provides the rationale to start proof-of-principle studies in all high-risk newborns
  • next step is to find out if this is a highly unusual response to very early antiretroviral therapy or something we can actually replicate in other high-risk newborns
  • A single case of sterilizing cure has been reported so far
  • in an HIV-positive man treated with a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. The bone marrow cells came from a donor with a rare genetic mutation of the white blood cells that renders some people resistant to HIV
  • Such a complex treatment approach, however, HIV experts agree, is neither feasible nor practical for the 33 million people worldwide infected with HIV
  • researchers say preventing mother-to-child transmission remains the primary goal
  • Prevention really is the best cure, and we already have proven strategies that can prevent 98 percent of newborn infections by identifying and treating HIV-positive pregnant women
Mars Base

SpaceX company fixes Dragon capsule problem - 0 views

phys.org/...ny-dragon-capsule-problem.html

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 02 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The problem may have been caused by a stuck valve or a line blockage
  • An hour later, the Dragon was raised with the thrusters to a safe altitude.
  • It was the first serious trouble to strike a Dragon in orbit.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • None of the four previous unmanned flights had any thruster issues
  • appeared to be a glitch versus a major concern.
  • Engineers for both SpaceX and NASA plan an exhaustive study before allowing the rendezvous to take place.
  • fresh fruit as well for the six station astronauts
  • Falcon 9 rocket performed "really perfectly" and that the thruster problem was isolated to the Dragon
  • On the previous flight in October, one of nine first-stage engines on the Falcon rocket shut down too soon
  • The capsule is designed to return to Earth with just two good sets of thrusters and, in "a super worst case situation," conceivably just one although it would be "a bit of a wobbly trip."
  • The newest Dragon is scheduled to spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose by the crew
  • SpaceX plans to launch its next Dragon to the station in late fall.
Mars Base

SpaceX Dragon Recovers from Frightening Propulsion System Failure - Sunday Docking Set - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...tem-failure-sunday-docking-set

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • By late Saturday afternoon sufficient recovery work had been accomplished to warrant NASA, ISS and SpaceX managers to give the go-ahead for the Dragon to rendezvous with the station early Sunday morning, March 3.
  • despite the one-day docking delay, the Dragon unberthing and parachute assisted return to Earth will still be the same day as originally planned on March 25.
  • There are numerous docking opportunities available in the coming days if SpaceX and NASA determined that more time was needed to gain confidence that Dragon could safely carry out an attempt.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • the Dragon could stay on orbit for several additional months if needed
Mars Base

Children with autism show increased positive social behaviors when animals are present - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...positive-social-behaviors.html

scibyte84

shared by Mars Base on 28 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • authors compared how 5-13 year old children with ASD interacted with adults and typically-developing peers in the presence of two guinea pigs compared to toys
  • The presence of an animal can significantly increase positive social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
  • in the presence of animals, children with ASD demonstrated more social behaviors like talking, looking at faces and making physical contact
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • also more receptive to social advances from their peers in the presence of the animals than they were when playing with toys
  • also increased instances of smiling and laughing, and reduced frowning, whining and crying behaviors in children with ASD more than having toys did.
  • Previous studies have shown that people are more likely to receive overtures of friendship from strangers when walking a dog than when walking alone
  • similar effects have been observed for people holding smaller animals like rabbits or turtles
  • authors suggest that this 'social lubricant' effect of animals on human social interactions can be particularly important for individuals with socio-emotional disabilities
  • the ability of an animal to help children with ASD connect to adults may help foster interactions with therapists, teachers or other adult figures
  • animal-assisted interventions may have applications in the classroom as well,
  • For children with ASD, the school classroom can be a stressful and overwhelming environment
  • If an animal can reduce this stress or artificially change children's perception
  • then a child with ASD may feel more at ease and open to social approach behaviors
Mars Base

Mars Rover Curiosity Has First Big Malfunction - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...unction-science-space-nasa-jpl

scibyte84 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 02 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • hoped Curiosity would resume science work in about a week.
  • similar problems were caused by high-energy solar and cosmic ray strikes
  • On other space missions
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Curiosity has protections against such high-energy disruptions, but the problem was compounded by what appears to have been the location of the strike—in the directory, or "table of contents," of the computer's memory
  • appears to have caused the computer to get stuck in an endless loop.
  • previous rovers experienced many so-called "anomalies" during the early part of their treks
  • Even if the rover is fully operational again in a week, the amount of science it can perform is limited.
  • the sun comes between Mars and the Earth in early April, partially blocking the path for radio commands for an entire month
  • The Curiosity team had planned to send back science data from Mars during that period—called "solar conjunction"—but had decided not to send up any commands.
Mars Base

SpaceX rocket launched, but problem with thrusters (Update 3) - 0 views

phys.org/...cket-flight-space-station.html

scibyte84 dragon

shared by Mars Base on 02 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The problem cropped up immediately following Dragon's separation from the rocket upper stage, nine minutes into the flight.
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte84 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 01 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • 02.28.2013
  • The ground team for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer in response to a memory issue on the computer that had been active
  • intentional swap at about 2:30 a.m. PST today (Thursday, Feb. 28) put the rover
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • "safe mode."
  • , into
  • safe mode to operational status over the next few days and is troubleshooting the condition that affected operations
  • The condition is related to a glitch in flash memory linked to the other, now-inactive, computer.
  • switched computers to get to a standard state from which to begin restoring routine operations
  • Like many spacecraft
  • Curiosity carries a pair of redundant main computers in order to have a backup available if one fails
  • Each of the computers, A-side and B-side, also has other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer
  • Curiosity is now operating on its B-side, as it did during part of the flight from Earth to Mars. It operated on its A-side from before the August 2012 landing through Wednesday.
  • While
  • resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup
  • The spacecraft remained in communications at all scheduled communication windows on Wednesday, but it did not send recorded data, only current status information.
  • status information revealed that the computer had not switched to the usual daily "sleep" mode when planned
  • Diagnostic work in a testing simulation at JPL indicates the situation involved corrupted memory at an A-side memory location used for addressing memory files
  • Scientific investigations by the rover were suspended Wednesday
  • Resumption of science investigations is anticipated within several days
Mars Base

Reseachers develop holographic technique for bionic vision - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...c-technique-bionic-vision.html

scibyte84 BionicEye

shared by Mars Base on 27 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Researchers
  • are testing the power of holography to artificially stimulate cells in the eye, with hopes of developing a new strategy for bionic vision restoration
  • optogenetics
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins to damaged retinal nerve cells
  • The basic idea of optogenetics is to take a light-sensitive protein from another organism, typically from algae or bacteria, and insert it into a target cell, and that photosensitizes the cell
  • Intense pulses of light can activate nerve cells newly sensitized by this gene therapy approach
  • researchers around the world are still searching for the best way to deliver the light patterns so that the retina "sees" or responds in a nearly normal way
  • The plan is to someday develop a prosthetic headset or eyepiece that a person could wear to translate visual scenes into patterns of light that stimulate the genetically altered cells.
  • The key, they say, is to use a light stimulus that is intense, precise, and can trigger activity across a variety of cells all at once.
  • The researchers turned to holography after exploring other options, including laser deflectors and digital displays
  • Digital light displays can stimulate many nerve cells at once, "but they have low light intensity and very low light efficiency
  • The genetically repaired cells are less sensitive to light than normal healthy retinal cells, so they preferably need a bright light source like a laser to be activated
  • Lasers give intensity, but they can't give the parallel projection
  • needed to see a complete picture
  • researchers have tested the potential of holographic stimulation in retinal cells in the lab
  • done some preliminary work with the technology in living mice with damaged retinal cells
  • The experiments show that holography can provide reliable and simultaneous stimulation of multiple cells at millisecond speeds.
  • implementing a holographic prosthesis in humans is far in the future
  • holography itself "also provides a very interesting path toward three-dimensional stimulation
Mars Base

Big Meteorite Chunk Found in Russia's Ural Mountains - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ound-in-russias-ural-mountains

scibyte84 RussianMeteor

shared by Mars Base on 27 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • More than 100 fragments have been found so far that appear to be from the space rock
  • now scientists
  • have discovered the biggest chunk so far, a meteorite fragment weighing more than one kilogram (2.2 lbs).
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Fragments of the meteorite have been found along a 50 kilometer (30 mile) trail under the meteorite’s flight path
  • Small meteorites have also been found in an eight-meter (25 feet) wide crater in the region’s Lake Chebarkul
  • believes there are more to be found, including a possible biggest chunk that he says may lie at the bottom of Lake Chebarkul. It could be up to 60cm in diameter
  • This video from NASA explains more
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