OK so it’s not a new gadget or consumer electronic but so what? Something pretty incredible happened to Jupiter between 3 and 9am PST on July 20th (OK.. I can’t help but think of this as “something wonderful” right now – yes, I’m a 2001/2010 fan). A new dark “scar” appeared near the south polar region which appears to have been caused by some sort of object impacting on Jupiter.

The scar was first noticed by amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, who then notified NASA about the finding. The above picture was taken using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, Hawaii,

And yes.. there’s a part of me that can’t help but think of thousands and thousands of monoliths…

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: NASA, Jupiter impact

Happy Earth Day everyone! Do something green today?

In commemoration of this day, NASA released the results of a week long online voting survey of the top accomplishments the agency has performed with Earth observations from space. The overall winner with 3280 votes? “Finding your way with GPS”. Here’s NASA’s description of this accomplishment:

“Behind the power of today’s GPS units to get you where you need to go is a huge body of scientific knowledge about our spinning, shifting Earth. We live on an active planet where every piece of real estate moves relative to each other. Precise navigation with GPS satellites would be impossible without ultra-precise knowledge of Earth’s shape and how it rotates. NASA pioneered much of this work with a global network of laser ranging satellites and super-charged GPS receivers to monitor daily changes in Earth’s surface. Oh, and there are side benefits like tracking the movement of tectonic faults, measuring sea level rise, and making air travel safer.”

The above picture is of the Laser Geodynamics Satellite (LAGEOS I), which was launched back in 1976.

The other winners (ordered by votes) were:

2. Diagnosing Our Ailing Ozone Layer (2408)
3. From Storm-Spotting to Next Week’s Weather (2313)
4. Warming and Rising Seas (1443)
5. Global Reach of Air Pollution (1321)
6. Ice Sheets on the Move (1151)
7. It’s a Big Green World (1102)
8. Predicting Feast or Famine (856)
9. A Lively Water World (631)
10. Ultimate Home Energy Audit (543)

[Check it out via News.com]

Technorati Tags: NASA, Earth Day

Sigh.. every time I hear or read the words “Intel Science Talent Search”, I can’t help but think back to my old high school days in New York City and how nearly every one of us felt compelled to enter the competition (which was known back then as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search). Of course most of us decided to go this route simply to prop up our extracurricular activities in the hopes of getting into a good college of some sort. I lasted all of 3 months in my HS research program before deciding that I’d rather play HS baseball than do some research project for a competition I didn’t think I had a chance of winning or even placing… Ahhh the memories.

Oh yes.. why am I even writing about the Talent Search you might ask? Intel officially announced the Science Talent Search 2009 winners today with the top prize (a $100,000 scholarship) going to Eric Larson of Eugene, Oregon, who won with a research project on “classifying mathematical objects called fusion categories” (um.. yeah ok).

The other top honors are as follows (via Intel press release):

“Second Place: William Sun, 17, of Chesterfield, Mo., received a $75,000 scholarship for his biochemistry project that studied the effects of a recently discovered molecule that could potentially help efforts to treat bacterial infections or prevent neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Third Place: Philip Streich, 18, of Platteville, Wis., received a $50,000 scholarship for his chemistry project on carbon nanotubes that may lead to the development of ultra-strong materials and ultra-fast nano-electronics. Philip’s work has resulted in five provisional patent filings.

Fourth Place: Narendra Tallapragada, 17, of Burke, Va., received a $25,000 scholarship for his project to find ways to simplify complex models of atomic and molecular interactions. His goal is to one day create “mini-computers” that can be used, for instance, to create automatic insulin pumps inside diabetic patients or intelligent clothing that responds to temperature.

Fifth Place: Chelsea Jurman, 17, of Roslyn, N.Y., received a $25,000 scholarship for studying underage drinking behavior and how it is tied to teen perceptions of parental drinking and parenting behaviors.

Sixth Place: Noah Arbesfeld, 17, of Lexington, Mass., received a $25,000 scholarship for his work seeking to understand a fundamental structure underlying all of algebra, with potential impact for string theory.

Seventh Place: Alexander Kim, 17, of Fairfax, Va., received a $20,000 scholarship for researching the variation and diversification in populations of the Giant American River Prawn, the largest freshwater invertebrate in North America. His research furthers understanding of how species evolve and has implications for the future of ecosystems.

Eighth Place: Preya Shah, 17, of Setauket, N.Y., received a $20,000 scholarship for designing and synthesizing a tumor-targeting drug for cancer treatment that represents a new approach to delivery of chemotherapy agents and possibly treatment of multi-drug resistant cancer without causing significant side effects.

Ninth Place: Nilesh Tripuraneni, 18, of Fresno, Calif., received a $20,000 scholarship for formulating a set of hydrodynamic equations that may provide a potential method to better understand the first movements of the universe and could aid in the development of a quantum theory of gravity.

Tenth Place: Gabriela Farfan, 18, of Madison, Wis., received a $20,000 scholarship for her project investigating Oregon Sunstones, which contain one of the most common rock forming minerals in the world. She determined that these sunstones have unique micro-inclusions that allow them to look one color from one angle and another from a different angle. “

30 other finalists each received $5000 scholarships as well as new laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo on the inside. Not bad! Congrats to these kids – they’ve achieved a great thing and they’ve also sealed their tickets to some top 20 university as a result.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Intel Science Talent Search 2009

A U.S. and Russian satellite collided over Siberia yesterday in what is being described as the first ever crash involving these kinds of objects at orbital speeds (approximately 17,500 miles per hour). According to this Bloomberg report, the collision occurred at 11:55am EST above Siberia and involved a defunct Russian Comos 2251 satellite and an Iridium Satellite LLC communications satellite.

The crash created a debris field of between 200 and 300 objects. However, Russia’s space agency stated that the debris field posed no threat to the International Space Station which orbits at around 220 miles above the Earth. An upcoming shuttle mission to the space station will also not be affected by this incident. However, NASA is concerned with the Earth Observing Satellites which orbit closer to the crash zone at an altitude of 439 miles.

Iridium, which uses 66 satellites to provide wireless phone and data services, stated that customers might experience “limited disruptions” as a result of the collision in space. The company will replace the satellite in 30 days with a spare that is already in orbit.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Space, Satellite collision, Iridium satellite

Want to be the next CSI? Take a step in that direction by arming yourself with a USB microscope. This 200x microscope connects to your computer’s USB port and provides a resolution of up to 1600 x 1200. You can record videos in AVI format and capture still images in either JPG or BMP file formats. If you’re interested in it, go ahead and pick one up at www.iwantoneofthose.com for £49.95 (or around $92 U.S. dollars).

[Check it out via TechFresh]

Technorati Tags: USB Microscope

It took a bit longer this morning for me to get out of bed but alas.. I’m here at the Los Angeles Convention Center for Day Three of the Microsoft PDC. It looks like today is a focus on Microsoft Research with Rick Rashid giving the keynote,

We’re about to start… again forgive the initial typos. I’m typing as I listen to the keynote here.

(more…)

Technorati Tags: Microsoft PDC, Day Three, Microsoft Research Keynote

Because it’s Friday and because it’s the opening night for “X-Files, I Want to Believe” (which didn’t get very good reviews unfortunately), I thought it would be appropriate to post a link to this story entitled “Apollo Astronaut Says Gov. Is Covering Up UFOs.”  Yup – that’s right. Apollo 14 veteran, Edgar Mitchell, believes the U.S. government has been covering up the truth about UFOs for more than 50 years. The ironic thing is – if these comments were being made by your average Joe, no one would care.. but because this is coming from a man who made a mark on history by spending nine hours and 17 minutes walking on the moon, it’s certainly raising eyebrows.

According to Mitchell, the “deception began after the alleged alien landing in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. Mitchell states “Unfortunately, you the press show no interest whatsoever. The giggle factor has been too high. But the science behind it and the research behind it, among the people I know, is accepted. It’s real,”

Now whether I believe him or not – it certainly does not matter. I think it’s important for us to continue exploring.. to wonder what is both here on Earth and what is out there.. and to be open about what we find. It’s also important to consider.. that perhaps… just perhaps.. we are not alone out there and that we’re not as important as we think we are.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Edgar Mitchell

If you or your kids are into astronomy, then you’ll definitely want to check out the new public beta of Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope web application. WorldWide Telescope stitches images together from a variety of sources including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope and others. Users can even choose which telescope they want to look through! The application itself utilizes Microsoft’s Visual Experience Engine which provides “seamless panning and zooming around the heavens with rich image environments.” 

I took the application for a spin and I must say, it’s a pretty nifty app. I loved the Guided Tours section of the application which as the name implies provides a guided visual learning experience of the heavens above. Perhaps the best part is simply taking the application for a spin on your own. Pan across the sky, zoom in on a section of space and discover what’s there.

Also – make sure to check out Ars Technica’s first look at the WorldWide Telescope application here on their website. They had this to say:

The greatly expanded catalog of objects to look at, along with the guided tours, makes the WorldWide Telescope much more along the lines of what I was looking for in a Google Earth/Virtual Earth equivalent of the entire universe. Kudos to Microsoft Research for a compelling product.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, WorldWide Telescope,

Know anyone really into astronomy? You might want to show them Living World’s 3D model of our very own Milky Way Galaxy. Yes.. this is our very own galaxy “suspended” in a glass cube. Around 80,000 stars were etched using a laser based off of three-dimensional data collected by Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory.

The cube measures 12 cm square and is available for 80,000 Yen. Very cool stuff if you ask me.. and certain to raise eyebrows if it’s sitting on your desk.

[Check it out via DVICE.com]

Technorati Tags: Living World, Milky Way Galaxy

This is absolutely ridiculous (and hilarious at  the same time). Researchers at  Gyeongsang National University in South Korea have managed to create cats that glow. Yes.. glow. You heard me right. As if cats weren’t already evil enough.. now they have to glow in the dark too!! (Ok.. cats aren’t truly evil.. I just think they are!)

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Glowing Cats, Cats