The Shores of a Cosmic Ocean

This molecular model shows the parts of the Ebola virus scientists are studying in the hopes of finding drugs that will slow the spread of the disease. -a creepy disease by the way-

Source: Why Ebola is so dangerous (BBC)

Ebola virus disease at World Health Organization

For nearly 60 years, humans have ventured where no other known organism in the cosmos has dared go: into space. Right now, we have an impressive array of machines strategically placed throughout the solar system exploring, taking in information on our behalf, and a small collection of humans in orbit testing the galactic waters. Granted, our reach right now is small compare to the scale of the universe. This is, however, only the most humble of beginnings. These machines and astronauts are illuminating a bold future path ahead of us. 

The solar system is ours to explore, to inhabit. Those humans or nations who engage in that exploration will be rewarded with untold riches, new innovative technologies and chance to secure the future of humanity. 

And for those individuals who encourage this activity, you understand better than most the long-term consequences of inaction. We must go. Our economies and our survival depend on it. 

Toadstools, mushrooms, Fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American Fungi; how to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonous, with full botanic descriptions, by Charles McIlvaine … and Robert K. Macadam. on Flickr.

Theorem of a Supernova - The NuSTAR Mission

NuSTAR has provided the first observational evidence in support of a theory that says exploding stars slosh around before detonating. That theory, referred to as mild asymmetries, is shown here in a simulation by Christian Ott of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

In this simulation, a supernova explosion is already underway. The small circle in the center represents the material that will form the dense star at the center of a supernova remnant, called a neutron star. The bright ring surrounding it is the shock wave created in the explosion. The colors represent temperature fluctuations. When the movie starts, the explosion has “stalled out,” because the material falling back onto the neutron star has backed up, like too many cars on the freeway, blocking the shock wave from progressing.

As the explosion continues, material starts to slosh around, reenergized by particles called neutrinos. The neutrinos heat up the material more and more, causing the hot regions to rise into the cooler regions and form large bubbles in the material. Once the bubbles break through the surrounding material, it’s as if the top of a pressure cooker blows off. There’s nothing holding back the shock wave any more and the star explodes.

MRI for a quantum simulation

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is the medical application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is a powerful diagnostic tool. MRI works by resonantly exciting hydrogen atoms and measuring the relaxation time—different materials return to equilibrium at different rates; this is how contrast develops (i.e. between soft and hard tissue). By comparing the measurements to a known spectrum of relaxation times, medical professionals can determine whether the imaged tissue is muscle, bone, or even a cancerous growth. At its heart, MRI operates by quantum principles, and the underlying spectroscopic techniques translate to other quantum systems.

Recently physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute* led by JQI Fellow Christopher Monroe have executed an MRI-like diagnostic on a crystal of interacting quantum spins. The technique reveals many features of their system, such as the spin-spin interaction strengths and the energies of various spin configurations. The protocol was published recently in the journal Science. Previously, such methods existed for an array of only three spins—here, the JQI team performed proof-of-principle experiments with up to 18 spins. They predict that their method is scalable and may be useful for validating experiments with much larger ensembles of interacting spins.

Lasiurus cinereus - Hoary bat

Scale of the universe

Scroll to your hearts content from the Planck length to the diameter of the observable universe - click on any object and it will open an info box - I can’t imagine how much work must have gone into this. A few surprising things: Pluto has a smaller diameter than the width of the USA and Vatican city can fit in central park multiple times.

New Device Allows Brain to Bypass Spinal Cord and Move Paralyzed Limbs

Read the full article New Device Allows Brain to Bypass Spinal Cord and Move Paralyzed Limbs at NeuroscienceNews.com.

For the first time ever, a paralyzed man can move his fingers and hand with his own thoughts thanks to an innovative partnership between The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Battelle.

Favourite Moments from Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (1/?)

- From Episode 13: Unafraid of the Dark

Laurell K. Hamilton, Obsidian Butterfly (via simply-quotes)

How I live my life

A demonstration of the VeinViewer - a device which allows you to see through the skin. The VeinViewer uses near-infrared light to detect vessels and blood up to 10mm beneath the surface, and projects a picture onto the skin to reveal vessel structure and blood flow in real time.

Jack Pritchard (via whats-out-there)

Location, location, location.

Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It’s called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can’t explain why.

Shawyer’s engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by “bouncing microwaves around in a closed container.” The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is necessary, which means that this thrusters can work forever unless a hardware failure occurs. If real, this would be a major breakthrough in space propulsion technology.

Obviously, the entire thing sounded preposterous to everyone. In theory, this thing shouldn’t work at all. So people laughed and laughed and ignored him. Everyone except a team of Chinese scientists. They built one in 2009 and it worked: They were able to produce 720 millinewton, which is reportedly enough to build a satellite thruster. And still, nobody else believed it.

Now, American scientist Guido Fetta and a team at NASA Eagleworks—the advanced propulsion skunkworks led by Dr Harold “Sonny” White at the Johnson Space Center—have published a new paper that demonstrates that a similar engine working on the same principles does indeed produce thrust. Their model, however, produces much less thrust—just 30 to 50 micronewtons. But it works, which is amazing on its own. They haven’t explained why their engine works, but it does work:

Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. The entire idea that we have found something that seems to go against the the principle of conservation of momentum just seems crazy to me. But the fact that it has worked for two independent parties can’t be denied. That’s the laboratory speaking. Then again, perhaps both labs made a mistake. I’m sure this will be tested by the Russians and the Europeans too, but at least I’m glad we are working on it.

But the fact that we may be witnessing something completely new, something that may push us forward into sci-fi territory once again, is very exciting.