SciByte

by extension, the solar system.

received an honorable mention in the 2012 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge

When they look at the moon, players are seeing what actually created those features

It makes moon observations more meaningful

Named for the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene works in two parts

In the first round, players aim asteroids of varying sizes, densities, and radiations so that they collide with one an

Too much force, and the rocks ricochet off one another

even if you overshoot your target, the gravity of the growing moon may tug just enough to pull the new piece into the pack

participants a chance to watch accretion in action

developing moon is constantly compared to the real-life one, and players strive to make as close a match as possible

After all of the small asteroids have melted together to form a smooth new moon, it's time to scratch up the surface

Players can aim asteroids of varying sizes at the body, and select areas where lava breaks through the crust

Because the accretion and surface-sculpting processes for the moon echo that of the rest of the planets, players also develop an understanding of how the early solar system formed

kids ages nine and up engage in the game, they build concrete knowledge that can be applied into any learning environment that they later experience, a process that serves to make learning more intuitive

Though the game is effective for high school and college students, and slanted to match the national standards for those age ranges

was more attractive to middle school students

One of the primary goals of Selene is to allow

team to analyze the learning process

means the game requires a login, and for minors, parental permission must be given.

analyzation takes time

able to provide a quick overview of my game play

can tell from looking at your data what your experiences were

That under-the-hood ability to study learning is why the project was so attractive in terms of funding to NASA and the National Science Foundation

d a prototype of the game was developed by CyGaMEs in May of 2007.

first version was released in 2010. But the game is constantly being improved as the understanding of the learning process grows

also looking at expanding it to mobile platforms in the near future.

recognition is of course a great honor and encouragement — but more importantly, may drive more players to the website so that we can collect more data

More players, of course, means more information that can be gathered about how participants learn

At the same time, more people can learn about how the moon formed, growing their understanding of the nearest celestial body.

http://selene.cet.edu/

. Earlier studies in people suggested that a particular breed of nerve fibers detects a caress and carries that signal to the brain

scientists hadn’t been able to directly link this type of neuron to good feelings, either in people or in animals.

Directly linking these neurons with pleasure clarifies the importance of touch

The new study relied on mice genetically engineered so that a select population of nerve cells would glow when they sensed a caress

These neurons,

possessed the attributes of massage sensors, but they stubbornly refused to respond to touch in experiments in lab dishes

by touching the genetically engineered animals’ skin, the researchers were able to study these cells in live mice.

A harsher poke, with a more focused point of pressure, didn’t elicit a reaction from the cells

These neurons, which all carry a protein called MRGPRB4, seem tuned to detect a steady stroke

the researchers tested whether this stroke felt good to mice

the scientists used a different kind of genetically engineered mouse, one with caress-sensitive neurons that a drug could activate

When the researchers dispensed the drug in a particular room, the mice soon learned to prefer that room over others

associating it with the presumably enjoyable sensation of being stroked

not yet clear whether the nerve fibers in the mice have exact analogs in humans,

new view of caress detection

offers a deeper understanding of touch.

Engineers spun the wheels down to zero speed, hoping the break would redistribute lubricant and bring the friction back down to normal

That phase is now over and Kepler is back in action, though it will take time to determine if the problem is solved

"During the 10-day resting safe mode, daily health and status checks with the spacecraft using NASA's Deep Space Network were normal."

When Kepler launched in March 2009, it had four reaction wheels — three for immediate use, and one spare

one wheel (known as number two) failed in July 2012, so a major problem with the currently glitchy wheel (called number four) could spell the end of the $600 million Kepler mission.

Over the next month, the engineering team will review the performance of reaction wheel #4 before, during and after the safe mode to determine the efficacy of the rest operation

The wheel has acted up before without causing serious problems

with a variety of friction signatures, none of which look like reaction wheel #2, and all of which disappeared on their own after a time

The new technique could lead to more efficient medical testing, such as in the examination of blood samples

The team

discovered a technique which will allow them to provide 'negative' force acting upon minuscule particles

Normally when matter and light interact the solid object is pushed by the light and carried away in the stream of photons

Such radiation force was first identified by Johanes Kepler when observing that tails of comets point away from the sun

Over recent years researchers have realised that while this is the case for most of the optical fields, there is a space of parameters when this force reverses.

scientists

have now demonstrated the first experimental realisation of this concept together with a number of exciting applications for bio-medical photonics and other disciplines

The exciting aspect is that the occurrence of negative force is very specific to the properties of the object, such as size and composition

allows optical sorting of micro-objects in a simple and inexpensive device

optical fractionation has been identified as one of the most promising bio-medical applications of optical manipulation allowing

scientists identified certain conditions, in which objects held by the "tractor" beam force-field, re-arranged themselves to form a structure which made the beam even stronger

Curiosity’s high resolution robotic arm camera has just snapped the 1st set of night time images of a Martian rock of the now 5 1/2 month long mission – using illumination from ultraviolet and white light emitting LED’s.

the close-up images of a rock target named “Sayunei” on Jan. 22 (Sol 165), located near the front-left wheel after the rover had driven over and scuffed the area to break up rocks in an effort to try and expose fresh material, free of obscuring dust

image of a Martian rock illuminated by ultraviolet LEDs

is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the MAHLI camera on the robotic arm.

It covers an area about 1.3 inches by 1 inch (3.4 by 2.5 centimeters).

The purpose of acquiring observations under ultraviolet illumination was to look for fluorescent minerals

If something looked green, yellow, orange or red under the ultraviolet illumination, that’d be a more clear-cut indicator of fluorescence

The people who are most likely to multitask harbor the illusion they are better than average at it, when in fact they are no better than average and often worse

The study ran 310 undergraduate psychology students through a battery of tests and questionnaires to measure actual multitasking ability, perceived multitasking ability, cell phone use while driving, use of a wide array of electronic media, and personality traits such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking.

people who score high on a test of actual multitasking ability tend not to multitask because they are better able to focus attention on the task at hand

70 percent of participants thought they were above average at multitasking, which is statistically impossible

The more people multitask by talking on cell phones while driving or by using multiple media at once, the more they lack the actual ability to multitask, and their perceived multitasking ability "was found to be significantly inflated

People with high levels of impulsivity and sensation-seeking reported more multitasking

there was an exception: People who talk on cell phones while driving tend not to be impulsive, indicating that cell phone use is a deliberate choice

research suggests that people who engage in multitasking often do so not because they have the ability, but "because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task

The study participants were 310 University of Utah psychology undergraduates – 176 female and 134 male with a median age of 21 – who volunteered for their department's subject pool in exchange for extra course credit.

To measure actual multitasking ability, participants performed a test named Operation Span, or OSPAN.

The test involves two tasks: memorization and math computation

Participants must remember two to seven letters, each separated by a math equation that they must identify as true or false

A simple example of a question: "is 2+4=6?, g, is 3-2=2?, a, is 4x3=12." Answer: true, g, false, a, true.

Participants also ranked their perceptions of their own multitasking ability by giving themselves a score ranging from zero to 100, with 50 percent meaning average.

Study subjects reported how often they used a cell phone while driving, and what percentage of the time they are on the phone while driving

also completed a survey of how often and for how many hours they use which media, including printed material, television and video, computer video, music, nonmusic audio, video games, phone, instant and text messaging, e-mail, the Web and other computer software such as word processing

researchers looked for significant correlations among results of the various tests and questionnaires

people who multitask the most tend to be impulsive, sensation-seeking, overconfident of their multitasking abilities, and they tend to be less capable of multitasking

25 percent of the people who performed best on the OSPAN test of multitasking ability "are the people who are least likely to multitask and are most likely to do one thing at a time

70 percent of participants said they were above-average at multitasking, and they were more likely to multitask

Media multitasking – except cell phone use while driving – correlated significantly with impulsivity, particularly the inability to concentrate and acting without thinking.

Multitasking, including cell phone use while driving, correlated significantly with sensation-seeking, indicating some people multitask because it is more stimulating, interesting and challenging, and less boring – even if it may hurt their overall performance

is working on a car airbag that deploys outside the vehicle to reduce bicyclist injuries

Upon impact, the airbag, housed under the hood, inflates to cover parts of the windshield and cushion a biker

In tests last November, engineers drove a track-guided car into a dummy on a bike at 25 mph, the average speed of a crash

Accelerometers in the dummy’s head and neck and pressure sensors embedded in its limbs indicated brain damage and broken bones

Dummies in collisions with the airbag had fewer and less severe injuries up to 45 percent of the time

the two researchers enlisted the assistance of 199 undergraduate students – each was given four versions of an already graded essay by an unknown instructor

graded remarks were deemed as high or low in quality with some written in red, others in blue

students were asked to read the essay and the remarks given by the instructor and then to rate how they felt about what the instructor had written and to suggest what grade they would have given the essay

also asked how they felt about the instructor that had written the original remarks

After they'd finished with their opinions, each was also given a questionnaire designed to provide the researchers with more concrete data.

the researchers found that the student volunteers didn't seem to be impacted one way or another by pen color when they agreed with the instructor's comments and grade

But when they disagreed, there were definitely some differences – mainly negative

When the instructors' comments were written in red versus blue the volunteers judged them more harshly and as a result, rated them lower in "bedside manner."

the volunteers didn't seem to judge the quality of the comments any differently – their negative feelings were aimed at the person that had written the remarks when they wrote in red ink

theorize that red ink is akin to using all caps when writing e-mail or text messages – it's like shouting at a person

those on the other end quite naturally feel a little bit abused and respond by growing angry or sad, which, they note, doesn't really promote the learning process

suggest instructors stop using red pens and go with a shade of blue instead

Scientists studying how people make decisions regarding work have over time devised theories of cost versus benefit scenarios to describe what causes people to engage in work activities, or to not

Not so well studied is how people come to decide when it's time to take a break

researchers enlisted the aid of 39 participants who were asked to squeeze a spring-loaded handgrip over and over as they underwent fMRI scans

Each was promised a monetary reward for doing so based on a sliding scale. The longer they squeezed, the better the reward would be

In analyzing the fMRI images, the researchers discovered that activity in a part of the brain called the posterior insula (normally associated with pain perception), built over time as the volunteers continued squeezing – a signal of sorts

grew during effort, and then faded during rest times – peaking just before resting

researchers suggest that when a certain peak is reached, the rest of the brain is alerted to the need to take a break

The team also found that increasing the difficulty of the squeezing led to the signal increasing at a faster rate, but slowed when a bigger reward was offered despite the increased workload

They also found that bumping up the reward during a rest period caused the lowest signal point to come more quickly, indicating that rest time was up sooner than it would have been otherwise

suggest that their observations indicate that they brain is constantly engaged in a struggle to maximize reward, while simultaneously minimizing the amount of work needed to get that reward, and uses rests stops to help it get there in a manner best suited to the work at hand.

one day before the announcement at Tevatron, and three days before the official announcement from CERN on 4th July.

research shows that rumours started to spread on Twitter firstly in the USA, UK, Spain, Canada, Australia, as well as Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany, all countries with strong scientific connections to the experiments at the LHC.

Other researchers on the project are also interested in how information spreads on social media

how messages can be placed and controlled. 'If you can understand the dynamics of an event, you can try to control it, and keep the interest in the topic going

This is really useful for practical applications such as marketing

For example if you want to run a global marketing campaign you can identify key people on social media to help you to spread your message

Once you have identified these key advocates, you can change and steer the message in a different direction, potentially modifying opinions of millions of people

Videos of the rumours spreading

is NASA's Apollo 17 moon rover, which was driven by astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972

22.3 miles (35.89 km) during their mission, which was the last moon landing of NASA's Apollo program.

bronze medal for space driving goes to NASA's Mars rover Opportunity,

driving across the plains of Meridiani Planum on the Red Planet since 2004

Opportunity has driven more than 22.03 miles (35.46 km) and is still going today.

The latest to enter the race is Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, which is just getting started with only 0.4 mile (0.7 km) traveled so far.

Spirit and Opportunity were originally supposed to spend three months searching for evidence of past water activity on the Red Planet

The golf-cart-size robots found plenty of such signs at their separate landing sites, showing that Mars was not always the cold and arid planet we know today

in 2007 Spirit uncovered an ancient hydrothermal system in Gusev Crater, suggesting that two key ingredients for life as we know it — liquid water and an energy source — were both present in some parts of Mars long ago

Opportunity is currently inspecting clay deposits along the rim of Mars' huge Endeavour Crater. Clays form in relatively neutral (as opposed to acidic or basic) water, so the area may once have been capable of supporting primitive microbial life

Spirit finally stopped communicating with Earth in March 2010, after getting mired in soft sand and failing to maneuver into a position that would allow it to slant its solar panels toward the sun over the 2009-2010 Martian winter. NASA declared the rover dead in 2011

Opportunity keeps chugging along. It has put 22.03 miles (35.46 kilometers) on its odometer since landing on Mars

just 1 mile (1.6 km) off the all-time record for most ground covered on the surface of another world

Soviet Union's unmanned Lunokhod 2 rover holds that mark, traveling 23 miles (37 km) on the moon back in 1973