Skip to main content

Home/ Groups/ SciByte
Rss Feed
Sort By: Most Recent | Popular Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Mars Base

NASA - Curiosity Rover Gives Mars the Brush-Off - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...curiosity20130110.html

scibyte77

shared by Mars Base on 15 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • the team downloaded as much data as possible from Curiosity to free up the onboard data storage space to give her a fresh start to the New Year.
  • started off with a small 3-meter drive to an interesting feature called Snake River.
  • Over time, dust accumulated on all the rocks and it hides features, such as fissures, inclusions or pits that are of interest.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The tool has a set of spinning metallic brushes and this allows for the features to be exposed for unobstructed APXS or ChemCam observations
  • he team selected a rock for the first time use of the dust removal tool.
  • the team is searching for a suitable rock to test out the rotary-percussive drill.
  • it will be the first time that we will be drilling into a rock, acquire sample from deep within the rock, and also sort and transport it to the science instruments on board Curiosit
Mars Base

NASA Buys Private Inflatable Room for Space Station | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/inflatable-module-bigelow.html

scibyte77 BigelowAerospace

shared by Mars Base on 12 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • NASA officials have said that BEAM could be on orbit about two years after getting an official go-ahead
  • The module will likely be launched by one of the agency's commerical cargo suppliers, California-based SpaceX or Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp
  • The company wants to launch and link up several of its larger expandable modules to create private space stations, which could be used by a variety of clients.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Bigelow is also eyeing a possible outpost on the moon, for which the company envisions using its BA-330 modules (so named because they offer 330 cubic meters of usable internal volume).
  • Several BA-330 habitats, along with propulsion tanks and power units, would be joined together in space and then flown down to the lunar surface.
  • Lunar dirt would be piled over the modules to protect against radiation, thermal extremes and micrometeorite strikes.
Mars Base

Bigelow Inflatable Module Will be Added to Space Station - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...will-be-added-to-space-station

scibyte77 BigelowAerospace

shared by Mars Base on 12 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • The next addition to the International Space Station will likely be an inflatable module from Bigelow Aerospace
  • NASA announced today they have awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow to provide a new module for the ISS
  • This would be the first privately built module to be added to the space station
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • previous reports have indicated the inflatable module would be used for adding additional storage and workspace, and the module would be certified to remain on-orbit for two years
  • In 2006 Bigelow launched their Genesis I inflatable test module into orbit and according to their website, it is still functioning and “continuing to produce invaluable images, videos and data for Bigelow Aerospace
  • A second Genesis module was launched in 2007 and it, too, is still functioning in orbit.
  • even though the outer shell of their module is soft, as opposed to the rigid outer shell of current modules at the ISS, Bigelow’s inflatable modules are more resistant to micrometeoroid or orbital debris strikes
  • uses multiple layers of Vectran, a material which is twice as strong as Kevlar
Mars Base

Biggest Thing in Universe Found-Defies Scientific Theory - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...iverse-science-space-evolution

scibyte77 LQG

shared by Mars Base on 13 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an international team of researchers has discovered a record-breaking cluster of quasars—young active galaxies
  • the Milky Way, is just a hundred thousand light-years across
  • the local supercluster of galaxies in which it's located, the Virgo Cluster, is only a hundred million light-years wide
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • "It could mean that our mathematical description of the universe has been oversimplified-and that would represent a serious difficulty and a serious increase in complexity,"
Mars Base

Astronomers discover the largest structure in the universe - 0 views

phys.org/...ronomers-largest-universe.html

scibyte77 LQG

shared by Mars Base on 13 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • The large quasar group (LQG) is so large that it would take a vehicle travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it.
  • Quasars are the nuclei of galaxies from the early days of the universe that undergo brief periods of extremely high brightness that make them visible across huge distances.
  • 'brief' in astrophysics terms but actually last 10-100 million years.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Since 1982 it has been known that quasars tend to group together in clumps or 'structures' of surprisingly large sizes, forming large quasar groups or LQGs.
  • the LQG which is so significant in size it also challenges the Cosmological Principle: the assumption that the universe, when viewed at a sufficiently large scale, looks the same no matter where you are observing it from.
  • The modern theory of cosmology is based on the work of Albert Einstein, and depends on the assumption of the Cosmological Principle
  • he Principle is assumed but has never been demonstrated observationally 'beyond reasonable doubt'.
  • the Milky Way, is separated from its nearest neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy, by about 0.75 Megaparsecs (Mpc) or 2.5 million light-years.
  • Whole clusters of galaxies can be 2-3 Mpc
  • LQGs can be 200 Mpc or more across.
  • Based on the Cosmological Principle and the modern theory of cosmology, calculations suggest that astrophysicists should not be able to find a structure larger than 370 Mpc.
  • newly discovered LQG however has a typical dimension of 500 Mpc.
  • it is elongated, its longest dimension is 1200 Mpc (or 4 billion light years)
  • some 1600 times larger than the distance from the Milky Way to Andromed
Mars Base

Breath Test Could Sniff Out Infections in Minutes | Observations, Scientific American B... - 0 views

blogs.scientificamerican.com/...niff-out-infections-in-minutes

scibyte77 MedicalDevice

shared by Mars Base on 12 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Researchers have developed a test that can detect the presence of common infectious bacteria based just on the breath
  • The test picks up signature volatile organic compound (VOC)—particles emitted in gasses—profiles that the bacteria produce that are distinct those that the body—or other bacteria—give off
  • researchers
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • conducted the studies in lab mice that were infected with different types of common bacteria
  • two different strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause pneumonia, and one strain of Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause respiratory infections
  • The next day, the researchers tested the animals’ breath by ionizing breath samples then shooting them through a mass spectrometer to analyze concentrations of various VOCs in a process called secondary electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
  • The test detected the different bacterial infections as well as differentiated between healthy and infected
  • also located the difference between the two strains of P. aeruginosa
  • technique will have to be tested in large human trials before it makes an appearance in the clinic
  • the rapidity of the test is appealing. And it could at least make it a good first step in detecting bacterial infections, with a follow-up culture coming later if deemed necessary—to detect drug-resistant TB, for example
  • suspect that we will also be able to distinguish between bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lung
  • Similar breath tests have also been studied for detecting other ailments, such as diabetes and cancer
Mars Base

Drug Enables Deafened Mice to Hear Again - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...ables-deafened-mice-to-he.html

scibyte77

shared by Mars Base on 10 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • The treatment isn't anywhere near ready for use in humans
  • hair cells in the inner ear, so named for their bristlelike appearance, keep the process humming along, converting mechanical vibrations caused by sound waves into nerve impulses.
  • The drug prompted supporting cells in the inner ear to become hair cells, and the treated mice regained some hearing
Mars Base

Sensory hair cells regenerated, hearing restored in mammal ear - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...-cells-regenerated-mammal.html

scibyte77

shared by Mars Base on 10 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common form and is caused by the loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea.
  • Hair cell loss results from a variety of factors including noise exposure, aging, toxins, infections, and certain antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs
  • there are no known treatments to restore hearing
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Medical School researchers demonstrate for the first time that hair cells can be regenerated in an adult mammalian ear by using a drug to stimulate resident cells to become new hair cells
  • resulting in partial recovery of hearing in mouse ears damaged by noise trauma
  • This finding holds great potential for future therapeutic application that may someday reverse deafness in humans.
  • This is the first demonstration of hair cell regeneration in an adult mammal
Mars Base

Huge Asteroid Apophis Won't Hit Earth in 2036 | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/d-apophis-earth-safe-2036.html

scibyte77 Apophis

shared by Mars Base on 11 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Mars Base on 11 Jan 13
     
    Apophis
Mars Base

Another tiny miracle: Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste - 0 views

phys.org/...raphene-oxide-radioactive.html

scibyte77

shared by Mars Base on 09 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Graphene oxide has a remarkable ability to quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water
  • A collaborative effort by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour and the Moscow lab of chemist Stepan Kalmykov
  • microscopic, atom-thick flakes of graphene oxide bind quickly to natural and human-made radionuclides and condense them into solids
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • flakes are soluble in liquids and easily produced in bulk
  • The discovery
  • could be a boon in the cleanup of contaminated sites like the Fukushima nuclear plants
  • could also cut the cost of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for oil and gas recovery and help reboot American mining of rare earth metals
  • Graphene oxide's large surface area defines its capacity to adsorb toxins
  • high retention properties are not surprising
  • What is astonishing is the very fast kinetics of sorption, which is key
  • the collaboration took root when
  • a graduate student
  • graduate student in Kalmykov's group, met at a conference several years ago.
  • researchers focused on removing radioactive isotopes of the actinides and lanthanides – the 30 rare earth elements in the periodic table – from liquids, rather than solids or gases
  • Naturally occurring radionuclides are also unwelcome in fracking fluids that bring them to the surface in drilling operations
  • When groundwater comes out of a well and it's radioactive above a certain level, they can't put it back into the ground
  • Companies have to ship contaminated water to repository sites around the country at very large expense
  • The ability to quickly filter out contaminants on-site would save a great deal of money
  • even greater potential benefits for the mining industry
  • Environmental requirements have "essentially shut down U.S. mining of rare earth metals, which are needed for cell phones
  • China owns the market because they're not subject to the same environmental standards
  • this technology offers the chance to revive mining here, it could be huge
  • capturing radionuclides does not make them less radioactive, just easier to handle
  • Where you have huge pools of radioactive material, like at Fukushima, you add graphene oxide and get back a solid material from what were just ions in a solution
  • Then you can skim it off and burn it
  • Graphene oxide burns very rapidly and leaves a cake of radioactive material you can then reuse
  • The low cost and biodegradable qualities of graphene oxide should make it appropriate for use in permeable reactive barriers, a fairly new technology for in situ groundwater remediation,
« First ‹ Previous 1101 - 1120 of 2613 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page