Home

ITER fusion reactor enters key construction phase.

The $20bn fusion reactor has entered it's first key phase of construction which involves pouring 15,000 cubic metres of concrete into a hole on the site in the south of France. The plan for ITER was born in 1985 at the Geneva Superpower Summit, the idea was to develop fusion energy for peaceful purposes because it's benefits are so great.

Why hasn't Jupiter's Great Red Spot disappeared?

From scientist's understanding of fluid dynamics, Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot should have disappeared many centuries ago. It has been losing energy by radiating heat and experiences much turbulence which drains the energy of the spot's winds. So why has it survived for so long?

Pedram Hassanzadeh who is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and Philip Marcus, a professor of fluid dynamics at the University of California have built their own model to try and explain why, and according to their research, the secret lies in the vertical motion of the Red Spot: "As the vortex loses energy, the vertical flow transports hot gases from above and cold gases from below the vortex toward its center, restoring part of its lost energy." (phys.org, 13th Nov 2013)

Both scientists are aware that their model is not complete and cannot completely explain the life of the spot however "they believe the occasional absorption of smaller vortices, consistent with observation, may provide the extra energy needed for hundreds of years of life. They have begun modifying their computer model to test this thesis." (phys.org, 13th Nov 2013)

2nd American to orbit the earth passes away

US astronaut Scott carpenter, has died in a hospice at the age of 88, leaving 92 year old John Glenn as the last surviving member NASA's Mercury 7. Carpenter was the fourth American in space and spent most of his 4 hours and 56 minutes addled with technical difficulties, leaving most to believe he was dead following his capsule hitting the Caribbean ocean, 250 miles from it's intended landing point.

Sun Eruption Provides Insight into How Stars Grow

On June 7th 2011, our sun erupted, blasting plasma into space, some of which splashed back down onto the sun's surface, causing flashes of ultraviolet light. This event was observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

 "We're getting beautiful observations of the Sun. And we get such high spatial resolution and high cadence that we can see things that weren't obvious before," said CfA astronomer Paola Testa.

It is these observation's by NASA's observatory which watches the sun 24 hours a day that have helped conclude an argument on how to measure the acceleration of growing stars. The team working on this discovered that the ultraviolet flashes came from the sun's own material falling back on itself. If the same is true for more distant stars, then by analysing the ultraviolet rays emitted, they can learn about the types of material they are accreting. 

Bionic' Ear Combines Electronics and Biology

Scientists at Princeton University have used conventional printing tools to create an ear that is able to "hear" frequencies far beyond the range of human hearing. The purpose was to find an effective way to merge electronics with tissue. They used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by a cell culture to combine a coil antenna with cartilage, creating a 'bionic ear' 

"In general, there are mechanical and thermal challenges with interfacing electronic materials with biological materials,"  said Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and the lead researcher. "Previously, researchers have suggested some strategies to tailor the electronics so that this merger is less awkward. That typically happens between a 2D sheet of electronics and a surface of the tissue. However, our work suggests a new approach -- to build and grow the biology up with the electronics synergistically and in a 3D interwoven format."

Technically, YOU are the centre of the universe.

There is no centre of the universe!  According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 thousand million years ago and has been expanding ever since.  Yet there is no centre to the expansion; it is the same everywhere.  The Big Bang should not be visualised as an ordinary explosion.  The universe is not expanding out from a centre into space; rather, the whole universe is expanding and it is doing so equally at all places, as far as we can tell.

Herschel's journey in space comes to an end

  Three days ago, on April 30th 2013, the life of the Herschel observatory came to an end after running out of liquid coolant. The European Space Agency mission was launched four years ago and gave scientists the ability to see much cooler regions of the universe.

"Herschel gave us the opportunity to peer into the dark and cold regions of the universe that are invisible to other telescopes," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. "This successful mission demonstrates how NASA and ESA can work together to tackle unsolved mysteries in astronomy."

Herschel launched in May 2009, and in its almost four year lifespan Herschel definitively detected oxygen molecules in space, opened up new views on distant galaxies, and with  NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, Herschel discovered an asteroid belt around the star Vega.

New studies further prove that new drugs may be able to extend human and animal lifespan significantly

Scientists in the US have found a biological command center responsible for the ageing process in a lump of brain the size of a brazil nut. The team identified the mechanism hidden deep inside the hypothalamus, and showed that they could manipulate it to increase or decrease the lifespan of animals.

In an official experiment, the researches found that they could extend the lives of mice by 1/5th without suffering from muscle weakness, bone loss, or memory problems. Not only does this raise the fantastical idea of a hobbit sized lifetime, but raises the prospect of realistically being able to produce drugs on a mass scale to prevent age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Dongsheng Cai at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine New York says - ”We’re very excited about this! It supports the idea that ageing is more than a passive deterioration of different tissues. It is under control, and can be manipulated”

Cultured Whales?

"The phrase “monkey see, monkey do” applies to humpback whales. Vervet monkeys and humpback whales both copy behaviors from their neighbors, researchers report April 25 in Science. The two studies suggest that, like humans, some wild animals pick up new habits from each other. "

Milky Way's Youngest Black Hole Was Formed By Doomed Rotating Star 

  Nasa may have discovered the youngest black hole in our solar system. There is a highly distorted cloud of gas and material which is all that is left of a supernova which occurred 1,000 years ago. It is located 26,000 light years away and the black hole at its centre is thought to be the youngest in our galaxy.

It is unusual in that the supernova was not symmetrical. Instead material near the poles of the doomed rotating star was ejected faster than that at its equator.