October 2007 - Posts
Richard Wiseman / Univ. of Hertfordshire |
POP QUIZ: These views are from Mary King's Close in Edinburgh, Scotland. One
room is said to be haunted, the other is not. Which is which? Click on the image
to take the quiz and find out if you chose the purportedly haunted room.
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When things go bump in the night, is it actually our brain that's bumping? Or is there something truly spooky behind some of those Halloween ghost stories?
In a recent poll, more than a third of those surveyed said they believed in ghosts - and almost a quarter said they had been in the presence of a ghost. Our unscientific Live Vote is even more gung-ho on ghosts.
Scientists have enlisted the tools of their trade - ranging from brain scanners and electrodes to virtual reality - to unravel the neurological roots of such phenomena. Some of the weird stuff we perceive is merely the result of our propensity for pattern recognition, they say. If we're in the right setting for a scare, it doesn't take much to set off our perception of the paranormal. (Our pop quiz serves as one simple example you can try for yourself.)
Other phenomena are weirder, but still of natural rather than supernatural origin. One research group used electrical stimulation to create that creepy feeling of being haunted. Other experimenters simulated an out-of-body experience. Still other scientists have linked near-death experiences and sleep disorders, or concluded that alien-abduction experiences are related to sleep paralysis.
Will all our spooky experiences be reduced to neural flashes inside our brains? Some of those who cover the paranormal beat say that's the way we're heading - but others say there are some things that just can't be explained away with a brain scan.
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NASA / ESA / STScI / AURA |
A stellar tendril from the galaxy NGC 3808, at right, twists around the smaller
galaxy NGC3808A in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
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If galaxies were people, the latest image from the Hubble Space Telescope might be rated for mature audiences only. A stream of stars twists seductively from one galaxy to encircle its smaller companion, illustrating how gravitational attraction can set the stellar sparks flying.
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Chris Jonas |
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Armadillo Aerospace's Mod lunar lander prototype
goes up in flames Sunday during a final launch attempt at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. This
photograph was taken from almost a mile away.
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Armadillo Aerospace's yearlong quest to win a NASA-backed prize ended today in a blaze - not exactly a blaze of glory, but a fire that caught the attention of the thousands attending the X Prize Cup air and rocket show here at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The blast marked the second year in a row that the Texas-based Armadillo team and its popular leader, millionaire video-game programmer John Carmack, fell just short of snaring $350,000 of NASA's money in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
No injuries were reported, and Brett Alexander, the X Prize Foundation's executive director for space prizes, said Armadillo's spindly Mod rocket craft did not appear to be totally destroyed. Nevertheless, the fiery end came as a deep disappointment to the Armadillo rocketeers, who thought they were virtually assured of winning something at this year's X Prize Cup.
"Today is officially a bad day," Alexander quoted Carmack as saying.
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The 150-minute clock has started ticking on Armadillo Aerospace's fourth attempt to win $350,000 in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The past attempts to get the Mod rocket craft from Point A to Point B and back, as required to win the prize, have been plagued by rocket engine problems. But Armadillo has come up with yet another twist to address the problems.
"We changed our procedure a little bit to flush out the system," said Armadillo team member Russ Blink. Armadillo has had good luck getting the Mod to Point B - it's the return trip that's been difficult. This time around, the team will take more time to clear residual fuel out of the engine system by letting pressurized helium squirt through the main valves.
Blink thinks that's what led to the damaging hard start during the morning run.
"I looked up in there, and the engine was wet," he told me.
Unfortunately, that engine couldn't be repaired in time, but Armadillo took the same type of rocket engine from its Pixel craft and installed it on the Mod. Will all this do the trick? We'll know in two and a half hours.
Armadillo Aerospace wants to take every opportunity to win $350,000 of NASA's money, even if they have to fly their Mod rocket craft in the dark, according to Brett Alexander, the X Prize Foundation's executive director for space prizes and the X Prize Cup.
Alexander also said Armadillo has been having persistent problems with "hard starts" - that is, having too much propellant in the chamber when the rocket engine lights up. That makes for a rough liftoff and puts stress on the engine.
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The Armadillo Aerospace team is cannibalizing the engine from its last functional rocket, Pixel, to put into the Mod for this afternoon's attempt to win the $350,000 Level 1 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, according to the X Prize Foundation's Will Pomerantz.
To give Armadillo every possible chance, the organizers of the challenge are also talking about scheduling yet another attempt if the next one falls short, according to Pomerantz and Ken Davidian, the program manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges.
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Armadillo Aerospace's Mod rocket craft tried to lift off on its return flight, but the flight failed. During its launch on the first leg of the flight, some observers had remarked about a pop that might have signaled a "hard start," and that may have figured in the failure.
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Armadillo Aerospace's Mod rocket craft has completed the first leg of a round-trip flight that could win the Texas-based team $350,000. Mod was in the air for 91 or 92 seconds.
Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace is set to launch its Mod rocket craft on the launch pad this morning, in its third attempt to win $350,000 of NASA's money here at the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. This time, they're equipped with an extra advantage, thanks to fellow rocketeers from a competing team.
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Chris Jonas |
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Armadillo Aerospace's Mod rocket craft rises from its pad at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., during an attempt to win $350,000 in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
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Armadillo Aerospace provided a fresh demonstration of how alluring rocket science is - and how damnably difficult it can be - on the first day of this year's X Prize Cup at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The alluring part came when the thousands who thronged to the base watched Armadillo's alien-looking "Mod" rocket ship rise into the crisp desert sky on a tongue of flame.
The difficulty was brought home when the Mod tumbled to the ground, missing out on a $350,000 NASA prize by just a few seconds. The prize is one of the goodies up for grabs in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, being run for the second year in a row at the X Prize Cup.
The good news for Armadillo is that the Mod can be overhauled overnight, and that there will be at least two more chances to win NASA's money on Sunday, the second and final day of the X Prize Cup air and rocket expo.
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Armadillo Aerospace missed winning $350,000 of NASA's money in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge this afternoon, most likely because of the same fuel-line problem that cropped up in the morning, according to one of the Armadillo team's members.
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The Module 1 craft came down to the ground, but then tipped over and crashed. That means the Armadillo Aerospace team missed out on the $350,000 NASA prize in its second and last attempt of the day.
Ken Davidian, program manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges, said Module 1 was in the air for 83 seconds - seven seconds short of the required hang time. Also, I'm sure it didn't help that the spindly rocket craft fell on its side when it touched down. However, it doesn't look as if the "Mod" suffered a mortal blow.
Davidian said Armadillo team leader John Carmack has opted for starting fresh on Sunday rather than scrambling to try again today. Will they try for the $350,000 with a repaired Mod, or will they go for the $1 million with its wider, more stable Pixel craft? Stay tuned.
Last updated 4:45 p.m. ET
Armadillo Aerospace's Module 1 rocket prototype is taking off for the second leg of its round trip at the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. If it completes a 90-second hop from its current launch pad to the pad it started from - and gets back to its specified finish line in time - the Texas-based team wins $350,000 of NASA's money in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Launch commentator Miles O'Brien reports that "the problem has been fixed," the fuel line has been cleared, and liquid oxygen is being loaded onto the Module 1 craft in preparation for a 90-second rocket flight that could be worth $350,000 for the Armadillo Aerospace team at the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
The timing could be tight: Armadillo has benefited from some time-outs for air traffic, because this year's X Prize Cup is an air show as well as a rocket show. Nevertheless, even if Module 1 completes the flight successfully, the rocket will have to shut down and be carried back to the official finish line on the runway - probably with just minutes to spare on the 150-minute clock.
The Armadillo team has gotten halfway through the course for the $350,000 Level 1 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, and the Module 1 lunar lander is now being prepared for the return trip. If it makes that trip back and fulfills all the conditions for the competition, the prize is theirs.
Right now, the team is fueling up and checking out the lines. If everything looks OK, the second launch could come within just a few minutes.
The X Prize Cup commentators here at Holloman Air Force Base have been chatting about the newly announced Teachers in Space program and other topics.
Update: Launch commentator Miles O'Brien quotes space boss Joseph Boyle (no relation to me) as saying that the Armadillo team is checking out a "little problem" with the fuel line - similar to the problem encountered this morning.
Armadillo Aerospace's team took off right on time for the launch pad, with its Module 1 rocket ship (and, by the way, its wide-stance Pixel craft) on the back of a flatbed truck. That sets another 150-minute countdown going: In the space of two and a half hours, Armadillo could lay claim to a $350,000 prize from NASA if Module 1 can complete a rocket-powered round trip.
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Alan Boyle / msnbc.com |
Orbital Outfitters today unveiled the first-ever pressure suit made for commercial suborbital spaceflight, after keeping the design under wraps for months. The IS3C suit would be worn by the pilot once XCOR Aerospace gets its two-seater spacecraft working - and Orbital Outfitters' chief executive officer, Jeff Feige, is hoping to sell a lot more.
"We're building suits custom-built for this industry," he told onlookers who watched the impromptu fashion show at Orbital Outfitters' X Prize Cup booth.
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Armadillo Aerospace is planning a rerun of this morning's effort to win the $350,000 Level 1 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Armadillo team member Neil Milburn said he pulled the plug on the attempt because of problems with the Module 1 rocket's ignitor.
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Armadillo Aerospace says it has scrubbed this morning's attempt to win the Level 1 prize, due to problems with ignition (or actually, the lack thereof). They'll try again with the Module 1 craft at 12:45 p.m. MT. That means that Armadillo's bid for the big $1 million Level 2 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, using its Pixel lunar lander prototype, will likely have to wait until Sunday. I'll work on a posting that gives more of the background in just a bit.
My earlier information on the timing for the afternoon Lunar Lander Challenge was incorrect, but I've made a fix ... just as the Armadillo team hopes to do.
Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace has kicked off its first attempt to win $350,000 in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. It's the first big event at the X Prize Cup, here at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
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Space activists took one small step toward bringing more teachers to the final frontier today, by opening up the application process for a privately backed "Teachers in Space" project. Organizers plan to award seats on a suborbital spacecraft to one science/tech teacher and another teacher in any subject area.
Speaking amid the buildup to this weekend's X Prize Cup air and rocket expo, project manager Edward Wright noted that schoolteachers were among the first on the frontier during America's infancy. "We believe that teachers have the right stuff for opening the space frontier and playing the same role today," he told reporters at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
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Virgin Galactic / Foster + Partners |
An artist's conception shows Virgin Galactic's terminal at Spaceport America near Upham in New Mexico's Sierra County.
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If you think the commercial space race is grueling, consider the hurdles that lie ahead for Spaceport America, a 16,600-acre stretch of ranchland that New Mexico hopes will become a world center for space tourism by 2010.
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NASA via AP |
Pictures from on high are documenting the spread of California's wildfires and may help experts figure out how to fight them more efficiently.
NASA's Earth-watching satellites are tracking the lengthening plumes of smoke, as are cameras aboard Bigelow Aerospace's privately funded Genesis 1 orbital module. And today, NASA also sent its remote-controlled Ikhana airplane above the inferno - an experiment that literally serves as a trial by fire for the scientific drone.
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The space shuttle Discovery's flight to the international space station isn't the only NASA-backed mission lifting off this week: In Utah, a laser-powered robot just barely missed winning $500,000, while a lunar lander prototype has gotten the all-clear to go after a chunk of the $2 million that the space agency is putting up at this weekend's X Prize Cup in New Mexico.
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Physicists are closing in on new techniques to put ancient archaeological sites through a cosmic "CT scan" to look for hidden chambers, using showers of subatomic particles known as muons. The idea was first put to the test in an Egyptian pyramid four decades ago - but researchers saw no surprises in that experiment. Now, scientists are hoping to enlist a new generation of muon detectors to solve long-running mysteries of the Maya.
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Delores Hill / LPL-UA |
The scientific verdict is finally in on the fireball that fell last month in Peru: The good news is that it really was a meteorite - and not some sort of underground gas explosion, as skeptics had thought. The bad news is that the Desaguadero Meteorite (to use its proposed new name) is a garden-variety space rock. And for most scientists, that's a cosmic yawner.
"There aren't many scientists who study this kind of meteorite, because they're so common," said Harold Connolly, the expert who analyzed samples recovered from the impact site. And although the collector who provided him with the samples has said the meteorite may have weighed as much as 10 tons, Connolly himself told me "we may never know" what's left of the rock that sparked an international incident.
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Rocketplane Kistler |
An artist's conception shows Rocketplane
Kistler's K-1 rocket blasting off.
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NASA has terminated its agreement with Rocketplane Kistler, one of the winners of a $500 million spaceship competition, and is reopening its competition for the $174.7 million that the company lost out on. The winner of that renewed competition would have to demonstrate the ability to deliver cargo to the international space station, just as Rocketplane Kistler was required to do.
The termination came a month after NASA put Rocketplane Kistler on notice that it was in danger of losing out on further money because it hadn't met the required financial and technical milestones. The company was supposed to raise $500 million in private investment by May, but the company didn't hit that goal - and as a result stopped development work on its K-1 launch vehicle.
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Your genome holds clues to where your ancestors came from – and what medical challenges you might have to deal with as a result. But there are also clues in there for overcoming those challenges. Those are among the lessons from the International HapMap Consortium, which released its second giant batch of data today.
HapMap has documented how evolution is affecting populations from Europe and America, from Asia and from Africa. Looking ahead, one genetic researcher suggests creating a "Genome Commons" that can complement current and future HapMap findings - and even offer new therapies for the genes that ail you.
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NASA / ESA / STScI |
Oscar Wilde’s only published novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," is a gothic tale about a man who stays young while his portrait ages. Now scientists have found a Wildean plot twist in the Hubble Space Telescope's image of the galaxy I Zwicky 18.
The galaxy looks like a youngster, but when astronomers checked its cosmic clocks, they found that it was much older and farther away than they originally thought. As a result, they've dubbed it the "Dorian Gray" galaxy. Fortunately, the galaxy's portrait ends up much nicer-looking than the character in Wilde’s book.
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It's been 10 years since the bus-sized Cassini orbiter began its mission to Saturn - and for scores of scientists and engineers, the birthday is a cause for celebration. But this isn't like most birthday parties: Today, it's the honoree that's providing the presents.
The most treasured goodies include a fresh crop of pictures showing the ringed planet as well as its moons, and videos that show Cassini's recent flyover of the two-toned moon Iapetus as well as the shepherd moon Prometheus' touch-and-go with Saturn's F-ring.
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SETI Institute |
Dishes spread out across a California valley as part of the Allen Telescope Array.
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Searchers for alien signals have just christened a new set of 42 radio eyes - a computer-coordinated array of antennas that is destined to spread even wider across a California valley in the years to come.
The astronomers behind the project plan to use the $50 million Allen Telescope Array to bring the search for extraterrestrial intelligence to a whole new level. But the first picture produced by the array, showing atomic hydrogen in the Andromeda Galaxy, demonstrates that they can do much, much more than just looking for E.T.
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NASA / JPL / Univ. of Ariz. |
A false-color view shows the Martian region of Nili Fossae in blue and orange.
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The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been sending back spy-quality imagery of the Red Planet for almost a year now, but now you'll be seeing the Martian surface as the Blue and Orange Planet as well as the Grayscale Planet.
More than 140 false-color images were released on Wednesday alone, to aid researchers who are scoping out potential landing sites for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, due for launch in 2009.
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Michael Farmer |
Meteorite hunter Michael Farmer kneels at the rim of a crater in Peru.
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It's a story worthy of an "Indiana Jones" sequel: Drawn by outlandish legends, a controversial collector journeys to Peru, purchases pieces of a rare meteorite under shady circumstances, then has to hightail it across the border to Bolivia with police in hot pursuit. Now the plot is nearing its resolution - and the finale could make another meteorite-size splash.
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What happens when you turn college freshmen and sophomores loose to sift through one of the best surveys of the night sky, looking for asteroids? You get lots and lots of sightings, pointing to as many as 1,300 newly discovered mini-worlds.
The project at the University of Washington is helping students learn how to do astronomy even as it contributes to the fast-growing store of knowledge about minor planets. And one of the coolest things about the quest is that the students will be able to name celestial bodies after themselves and hundreds of their best friends.
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Every time we present "Space Shots," our twice-monthly selection of the best images from the cosmos, we get inquiries from folks wondering where they can get those images of galaxies, nebulae and planetary vistas in larger formats, suitable for putting through your inkjet printer or splashing on your computer desktop.
Well, you need wonder no more: Here are pointers to bigger pictures, and in some cases video.
The following Web links will also give you more background about the science behind our latest crop of eye-popping imagery:
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NASA |
A photo taken on the moon frames Apollo 17
astronaut Harrison Schmitt as well as the U.S. flag and Earth in 1972, during Apollo's last lunar mission.
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Will the next Space Age simply retrace the steps of the past 50 years with cooler gizmos, or will we find a way to realize the science-fiction dreams that were floating around even before 1957?
Cheap energy from space … tourists circling the moon … industrial resources on other worlds: Those are some of the promises for the next Space Age. But the debate over China’s anti-satellite test demonstrates that the world’s nations also have to keep peace on the space frontier. That may be the biggest reason for pushing onward - just as it was in 1957.
Today's 50th anniversary of the start of the Space Age provides one of the occasions for looking forward as well as backward.
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NASA |
CLICK FOR SLIDE SHOW
Sputnik was a small
sphere with a big impact.
Click on the image to
relive the start of the
space age in pictures.
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Now I know how post-Apollo kids feel. Just as some folks were born a little too late to remember what the moon landings were like as they happened, I was too young (3 years old, if you must know) to remember the initial impact of the Sputnik launch – an event that kicked off the space age 50 years ago this week.
A fresh batch of books and a couple of new movies can give you a sense of what it was like. But the best way to get that sense of Sputnik is to hear from those of you who remember those Cold War chills and thrills. And even if you’re too young to remember Sputnik – or Apollo, for that matter – you can still share your thoughts on the past and future of space exploration.
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IAA / NASA / ESA / STScI |
Young stars glitter like jewels spread on red-brown velvet in a new picture from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s view of the star-forming nebula NGC 3603 reveals thousands of hot suns, nestled amid dark clouds of dust 20,000 light-years from Earth.
Today’s image is just a foretaste of what you’ll see in the latest installment of "Space Shots."
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Knopf via AP |
Nobel-winning biologist James Watson is still serving up science with a spin at the age of 79: In his newly published book, "Avoid Boring People," Watson looks over his life as brash young researcher, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, science policy adviser and the undisputed gray eminence of genetics. In the process, he distills dozens of lessons about life and rising in the scientific establishment (work on Sundays, for example, and never dye your hair).
During a book-tour stop in Seattle last week, the white-haired Watson talked about the next cases waiting to be cracked in human biology, what’s wrong with the country's current leaders - and what he learned about meeting girls.
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