SciByte

stacked on top of each other as thicker samples are made

selenium-selenium bonds between the units are weak

overall material to flex durably without being damaged

researchers made and tested samples of a compound in which sheets of bismuth and selenium, each just one atom thick, alternate to form five-layer units. The bonds between the units are weak, allowing the overall material to flex while retaining its durability

topological insulator

the material conducts electricity only on its surface while its interior remains insulating

it is an exceptionally good electrical conductor – as good as gold

bismuth selenide is transparent to infrared light, which we know as heat

about half the solar energy that hits the Earth comes in the form of  infrared light, few of today’s solar cells are able to collect it

transparent electrodes on the surfaces of most cells are either too fragile or not transparent or conducting enough

experiments also showed that bismuth selenide does not degrade significantly in humid environments or when exposed to oxygen treatments that are common in manufacturing.

bismuth selenide may be useful in communications devices. This material could also improve infrared sensors common in scientific equipment and aerospace systems.”

More than 21,700 images taken by HiRISE are available for viewing on the instrument team's website: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu .  

can reveal features as small as a desk

there is still a lot we don’t know about the Moon says Zuber, like why the near side is flooded with magma and smooth and the back side is not smooth and completely different.

formation-flying spacecraft will make detailed science measurements from lunar orbit with unparalleled precision to within 1 micron – the width of a human red blood cell

MoonKAMs on both Ebb and Flow were turned on Monday, March 5, and all appears well

Bozeman 4th graders will have the opportunity to target the first images a week after our science operations begin

due to the orientation of the CME and Earth's magnetic fields

"If it's oriented more southward, which is opposite to Earth, then we expect a stronger storm, but it appears that this one was very much north oriented

orientation of the magnetic field in the CME is a big determining factor for how strong or weak the event is going to be

coronal mass ejection has a cloud of particles, but also embedded in that is a magnetic field structure

while it hasn't packed much of a punch so far, this ongoing solar storm is the largest one scientists have seen in more than five years

fossilized plumage, which had hues of black and blue like a crow

earliest record of iridescent feather color

Although its anatomy is very similar to birds, Mircroraptor is considered a non-avian dinosaur

placed in the group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs that includes Velociraptor

color displayed by many modern birds is produced partially by arrays of pigment-bearing organelles called melanosomes

t a hundred of which can fit across a human ha

melanosome's structure is constant for a given color

imaging power of scanning electron microscopes, paleontologists recently started analyzing the shape of melanosomes in well-preserved fossilized feather imprints

comparing these patterns to those in living birds, scientists can infer the color of dinosaurs that lived many millions of years ago

Iridescence is widespread in modern birds and is frequently used in displays

Statistical analysis of the data predicts that Microraptor was completely black with a glossy, weakly iridescent blue sheen.

researchers also made predictions about the purpose of the dinosaur's tail

Once thought to be a broad, teardrop-shaped surface meant to help with flight

researchers think that the tail feather was ornamental and likely evolved for courtship and other social interactions, not for aerodynamics

actually much narrower with two elongate feathers

findings also contradict previous interpretations that Microraptor was a nocturnal animal because dark glossy plumage is not a trait found in modern nighttime birds.

Apollo 12 and 14, which allowed for more time on the surface

sonar imaging and more than 100,000 photos taken from underwater robots to create the map

Explorers of the Titanic

have known for more than 25 years where the bow and stern landed

previous maps of the floor around the wreckage were incomplete

mapping took place in the summer of 2010 during an expedition to the Titanic led by RMS Titanic Inc., the legal custodian of the wreck

joined by other groups, as well as the cable History channel

Details on the new findings

are not being revealed yet

the network will air them in a two-hour documentary on April 15, exactly 100 years after the Titanic sank

high-resolution photos - 130,000 of them in all

self-controlled robots known

along the ocean bottom day and night

moving at a little more than 3 miles per hour as they traversed back and forth in a grid along the bottom

photos were stitched together on a computer to provide a detailed photo mosaic of the debris

layout of the wreck site and where the pieces landed provide new clues on exactly what happened

Computer simulations will re-enact the sinking in reverse, bringing the wreckage debris back to the surface and reassembled

Previous experiments confirmed that femtosecond laser could produce ultrashort filaments of ionized gas that act like electrical guide

Further studies revealed that these filaments could function over long distances, potentially greater than 50 meters.

of new experiments

research team sent a laser beam skimming past a spherical electrode to an oppositely charged planar electrode

laser stripped away the outer electrons from the atoms along its path

a plasma filament that channeled an electrical discharge from the planar electrode to the spherical one

researchers added a longer, pointed electrode to their experiment

Without the laser, the discharge obeyed this rule and always struck the taller, pointed electrode

With the laser, however, the discharge was redirected, following the filaments and striking the spherical electrode instead

even after the initial path of the discharge began to form

Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into creating human stem cells was found in 2006 to have been faked

Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, in 2005, has been verified by experts

Sooam said it would launch research this year if the Russian university can ship the remains. The Beijing Genomics Institute will also take part in the project

South Korean foundation said it would transfer technology to the Russian university

first and hardest mission is to restore mammoth cells

scientists in trying to find well-preserved tissue with an undamaged gene

replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's somatic cells,

embryos with mammoth DNA could be produced and planted into elephant wombs for delivery

Sooam will use an Indian elephant for its somatic cell nucleus transfer

South Korean experts have previously cloned animals including a cow, a cat, dogs, a pig and a wolf

researchers were able to view the wall behind the Vasari mural and obtain samples for analysis

data from chemical analysis, while not conclusive, suggest the possibility that the da Vinci painting, long assumed to have been destroyed in the mid-16th century when the Hall of the 500 was completely remodeled, might exist behind the Vasari.

Although we are still in the preliminary stages

data are very encouraging

still a lot of work to be done to solve this mystery

evidence does suggest that we are searching in the right place."

team report four lines of evidence supporting the hypothesis that the lost Leonardo painting is located behind the Vasari mural

sample containing a black material was analyzed with SEM-EDX

scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy), which identifies the chemical elements present in a sample

material found behind the Vasari wall shows a chemical composition similar to black pigment found in brown glazes on Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" and "St. John the Baptist," identified in a recently published scientific paper by the Louvre, which analyzed all the da Vinci paintings in its collection.

Flakes of red material were found

these samples seems to identify them as organic material, which could be associated with red lake (lacquer). This type of material is unlikely to be present in an ordinary plastered wall.

research team confirmed the existence of an air gap, originally identified through radar scans conducted of the Hall, between the brick wall on which Vasari painted his mural and the wall located behind

finding suggests that Vasari may have preserved da Vinci's masterpiece by building a wall in front of it at this location. No other location in the Hall presented this type of air gap.

opportunity to conduct an endoscopic investigation through the Vasari wall

identified 14 areas to be explored

six points of entry were ultimately implemented

chosen by the restorers of the Opificio delle Peitre Dure in areas free of original Vasari paint

including cracked or previously restored areas, to ensure that drilling would not cause any damage to the original Vasari mural

Testing on those samples was conducted with portable instruments on the scaffolding itself

The painting commemorated the 1440 victory of the battle on the plain of Anghiari between Milan and the Italian League led by the Republic of Florence

1503, da Vinci was commissioned

to paint the "The Battle of Anghiari"

capturing such energy could lead to cheap, clean ways to sanitize a small container of water, for example, or to run a simple lab bench reaction

Scientists knew that bonds can break when mechanical force is applied to a polymer

breakage can generate free radicals, atoms with unpaired electrons that are eager to engage in further reactions

new work shows that when a polymer is squeezed in water, the free radicals migrate and react with the water, generating enough hydrogen peroxide to spur other reactions.

When the scientists added gold and silver metal salts to a PDMS tube filled with water, squeezing the tube powered reactions that generated gold and silver nanoparticles

also injected the sole of a Nike LeBron sneaker with water and a compound that fluoresces when it is cleaved

Half an hour of walking applied force to the polymers in the sneaker’s sole, and the resulting free radicals made enough hydrogen peroxide to cleave the fluorescing compound and make the sole glow. 

capturing and converting the mechanical energy of polymer squeezing into energy for driving reactions can be as efficient as 30 percent

comparable to some power plants that use coal.

PDMS is used in some medical devices such as catheters, and in some breast implants, raising the issue that normal wear in the body might generate free radicals that could cause inflammation and other problems

adding an antioxidant such as vitamin E, which latches onto free radicals, to the implant ingredients might be a quick and easy way to

Some of the body’s immune cells, though, generate well more hydrogen peroxide than that generated by the polymers

the fact that enough free radicals are generated to drive reactions — which might even contribute to the breakdown of medical devices — is interesting, Tang says. “I don’t know how unique it is or material-specific, but it could have potential importance.”

According to Raul, he and his father traveled to Germany to launch the balloon, since that country's regulations on this sort of project are more relaxed than those in Romania

launch took place on December 31, and the balloon with its Lego cargo flew to an altitude of about 35,000 meters (that's roughly 114,800 feet for those of us in the US).

Check out Raul's blog for the full story, and a list of the equipment he used to carry out the launch

hundreds of tips and have been searching for bits of meteorites

identified the rock as a rare type of breccia meteorite, which is a conglomerate of smaller fragments of minerals

1.3 pound (585 gram) stone was found split in two

Space rocks rarely fall in populated areas, and such a find in Norway is exceedingly special

According to Views and News from Norway, only 14 meteorites have been found in the Scandinavian country since 1848.

Anne Margrethe Thomassen

automatic script-face mapping algorithm that identifies the speaking character in scenes with multiple characters, automatic generation of comic panels of different sizes, positioning word balloons, and rendering movie frames in a cartoon style.

used the new method to transform 15 movie clips into comic strips

varied in length from 2 to 7 minutes

Titanic,” “Sherlock Holmes,” and “The Message

sometimes put word bubbles next to the faces of incorrect characters

script-face mapping algorithm had an accuracy of 85%, which the researchers hope to improve.

technique is capable of performing all steps automatically

researchers noted that involving some human effort could lead to even better results

software would provide recommendations for each step of the transformation process, and humans could manually adjust the results much more quickly and efficiently than in pure manual methods

two future plans

improve the performance of each component, such as script-face mapping, and hope we can generate perfect clips without user interaction

integrate speech recognition technology to generalize the software, such that we can generate comics without movie scripts

Astronomers have known for some time that the earliest galaxies were much smaller than the impressive spiral and elliptical galaxies that now fill the Universe

employing the state-of-the-art instruments on ESO's Very Large Telescope an international team is unravelling what really happened

more than one hundred hours of observations the team has collected the biggest ever set of detailed observations of gas-rich galaxies at this early stage of their development.

Two different ways of growing galaxies are competing

violent merging events when larger galaxies eat smaller ones

smoother and continuous flow of gas onto galaxies

zoom sequence starts

Smooth gas flow (eso1040) seems to have been a big factor in the building of galaxies in the very young Universe, whereas mergers became more important later.

measurements from the NASA SOHO spacecraft and the University of Michigan's Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury

creator is Robert Alexander, a design science doctoral student at the University of Michigan and NASA fellow.

a composer with a NASA fellowship to study how representing information as sound could aid in data mining.

raw information to an audio waveform

To sonify the data

in its original sampling rate of 44,100 hertz, it played back in less than a quarter of a second

benefits of sonifying data. You can zip through days' worth of information in an instant

Sonification is the process of translating information into sound

used in Geiger counter radiation detectors, which emit clicks in the presence of high-energy particles

not typically used to pick out patterns in information, but scientists on the U-M Solar and Heliospheric Research Group are exploring its potential in that realm. They're looking to Alexander to make it possible.

used to looking at wiggly-line plots and graphs, but humans are very good at hearing things. We wonder if there's a way to find things in the data that are difficult to see."

his approach led to a new discovery

a particular ratio of carbon atoms that scientists had not previously keyed in to can reveal more about the source of the solar wind than the ratios of elements they currently rely on. The solar wind is a squall of hot plasma, or charged particles, continuously emanating from the sun.

hopes to build a bridge between science and art.

movies were silent and people just accepted that that's the way it

this high res footage of what's happening on the surface of the sun, and it's silent. I'm creating a soundtrack