SciByte

technicians at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida have attached the world’s largest heat shield to a pathfinding version of NASA’s Orion crew capsule

test flight later this Fall on a crucial mission dubbed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1)

One of the primary goals of NASA’s eagerly anticipated Orion EFT-1 uncrewed test flight is to test the efficacy of the heat shield in protecting the vehicle – and future human astronauts

In 30 years of studying diseases revealed in the fossil record, the scientist has documented the ancient presence of such diseases as malaria, leishmania, and others.

Lyme disease

can cause problems with joints, the heart and central nervous system

Lyme disease is a stealthy, often misdiagnosed disease that was only recognized about 40 years ago

new discoveries of ticks fossilized in amber show that the bacteria which cause it may have been lurking around for 15 million years

The findings were made

The team successfully established contact that afternoon — notwithstanding a minor earthquake in the area — at a heart-thumping transmission rate of 512 bits per second.

approval from NASA to attempt contact, and that go-ahead came on May 29th

The vehicle holds seats for 7 passengers, and includes an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that provides a comfortable environment for crewmembers

Dragon V2’s robust thermal protection system is capable of lunar missions, in addition to flights to and from Earth orbit

the previous version of the Dragon capsule was flightworthy enough to deliver supplies, its life support system wasn’t reliable for human passengers

Dragon V2, on the other hand, will be able to carry seven astronauts for seven days.

When the capsule reaches the ISS, it will dock with the station autonomously. Unlike its predecessor, it won’t need the ISS’s robotic arm to reach out and grab it

Ultrasound article

In 1958, a seminal article that launched the widespread use of ultrasound in medical diagnosis was published in The Lancet by Ian Donald, an English physician. After a few years developing the experimental use of ultrasound, Donald had applied it to treat patients in his hospital. In the Lancet article, Investigation of Abdominal Masses by Pulsed Ultrasound, he described how he was able to make the life-saving diagnosis of a huge, easily removable, ovarian cyst in a woman who had been diagnosed by others as having inoperable stomach cancer. Donald knew about sonar from his service in WW II, and industrial use of reflected ultrasound waves for flaw detection in materials, and with help from others, he launched its use in medicine

Heart defect detection

In 1961, the success of a mass-screening field-test for the detection of heart defects in children was announced by the American Heart Association. A child's tape-recorded heart sounds were amplified and filtered, so distinctive murmers and abnormal sounds could be recognized. The system “permits a relatively few trained cardiologists to rapidly screen large numbers of children” and “finds heart disease with an accuracy of 91 percent,” reported the New York Times the next day. From Apr 1959 to Jul 1960, with equipment housed in a trailer and moved between Chicago schools, 33,026 children were recorded. Of these 506 were indentified for further examination, and 64 of those were followed up, some with corrective surgery. Such ailments as rheumatic disease and inborn defects are best treated in childhood.

Students at Brigham Young University recently launched the "Signglasses"

project in an attempt to develop a better system of sign language for narration through several types of glasses, including Google Glass.

Two of professor

Scientists have now demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control -- with astonishing accuracy

first breakthrough

succeeded in demonstrating that brain-controlled flight is indeed possible -- with amazing precision

materials tend to cover elementary classroom wall

new research from Carnegie Mellon University shows that too much

may end up disrupting attention and learning in young children

“Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm that the spot is now just under  10,250 miles (16,500 km) across, the smallest diameter we’ve ever measured,” said Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Cente

Using historic sketches and photos from the late 1800s, astronomers determined the spot’s diameter then at 25,475 miles (41,000 km) across

Amateur observations starting in 2012 revealed a noticeable increase in the spot’s shrinkage rate

Wednesday, May 28

New Moon

(exact at 2:40 p.m. EDT)

Einstein's relativity theory proved

In 1919, a solar eclipse permitted observation of the bending of starlight passing through the sun's gravitational field, as predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Separate expeditions of the Royal Astronomical Society travelled to Brazil and off the west coast of Africa. Both made measurements of the position of stars visible close to the sun during a solar eclipse. These observations showed that, indeed, the light of stars was bent as it passed through the gravitational field of the sun. This was a key prediction of Albert Einstein's theory that gravity affected energy as in addition to the familiar effect on matter. The verification of predictions of Einstein's theory, proved during the solar eclipse was a dramatic landmark scientific event.

Donati comet

In 1858, the Donati Comet was first seen and named after its discoverer, Giovanni Battista Donati, at Florence. It was the second-brightest comet of the nineteenth century It reached perihelion on 30 Sep 1858. When nearest the earth on 9 Oct 1858, it was about 0.5 AU away, and had developed a scimitar-shaped triple tail. At that time, its very prominent dust tail had with an apparent length of 50°, more than half the distance from the horizon to the zenith, a linear distance of over 72 million km (about 45 million mi). It was the first comet to be photographed. With an orbital period estimated at more than 2000 years, it will not return until about the year 4000. An astronomical unit, AU, equals 93 million miles, the Sun-Earth distance.

Mars probe

In 1971, the U.S. Mars space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. It carried cameras, infrared spectrometer and radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, radio occultation and celestial mechanics instruments. On 13 Nov 1971, it entered orbit as the first artificial satellite of Mars. After waiting for a month-long planet-wide dust storm to clear, it began compiling a global mosaic of high-quality images for 100% of the Martian surface. The photos showed gigantic volcanoes, a grand canyon stretching 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) and relics of ancient riverbeds that were carved in the landscape of this seemingly dry and dusty planet. It also sent the first closeup pictures of the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Mars landing

In 1971, the U.S.S.R. Mars 3 was launched. It arrived at Mars on December 2, 1971. The lander was released from the Mars 3 orbiter and became the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars. It failed after relaying 20 seconds of video data to the orbiter. The Mars 3 orbiter returned data until Aug 1972, sending measurements of surface temperature and atmospheric composition. The first USSR Mars probe was launched 10 Oct 1960, but it failed to reach earth orbit. The next four USSR probes, including Mars 1, also failed. The USA Mariner 3 Mars Flyby attempt in 1964 failed when its solar panels did not open. USA's Mariners 4, 6, and 7 successfully returned Mars photos. Also in 1971, the USSR Mars 2 lander crashed.

Animals in space

Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the rock target "Windjana" and its immediate surroundings after inspection of the site by the rover

The drilling of a test hole and a sample collection hole produced the mounds of drill cuttings that are markedly less red than the other visible surfaces

The open hole from sample collection is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter. It was drilled on Sol 621 (May 5, 2014).