September 2008 - Posts
Don Davis / NASA |
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The worst-case scenario for cosmic impact: A celestial body slams into Earth.
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Astronauts and other space experts are calling for the formation of new international organizations to monitor a threat that may not be as imminent as the current financial crisis but would be even more catastrophic: a cosmic collision with an asteroid or comet.
Such organizations would make contingency plans to divert threatening near-Earth objects, and recommend how to proceed when those plans actually have to come into play. But the final decision to take action should be left up to the U.N. Security Council, the panel says.
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ESA |
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The unmanned Jules Verne ATV cargo ship breaks up in a spectacular display
during re-entry, as seen on Monday over the Pacific from an observation plane.
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The European Space Agency's first cargo mission to the international space station ended in a spectacular fireworks show today, with the fiery re-entry of the unmanned Jules Verne ATV spaceship over the South Pacific.
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CERN |
A hardhat worker is dwarfed by the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS detector
during construction. Click on the image for a larger version.
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A federal judge in Hawaii today dismissed a lawsuit raising fears about Europe's Large Hadron Collider, on the grounds that she had no jurisdiction over the multibillion-dollar project.
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NASA / JPL / SSI |
Click for slide show: The Cassini spacecraft
looks beyond Saturn toward the icy face of Mimas,
the innermost of the planet's major moons. Click on
the image for other highlights from September.
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The final frontier can be as close as your computer, thanks to a constellation of Web sites jam-packed with dramatic views of the cosmos. We're serving up a tall stack of the latest and greatest in our Month in Space roundup, but there's always at least one shot that comes in just a little too late to make the cut.
This month's last-minute addition is a stunning view of Saturn, with its icy moon Mimas visible as a white pearl beneath the rings. The imagery was captured by the Cassini orbiter on Sept. 4 as it flew past the planet at a distance of 1.7 million miles (2.7 million kilometers). After processing the data, the Cassini team released the natural-color image just today.
It's hard to pick out all the delicious details in space images that are scaled down to fit on a Web browser. Fortunately for photo fans, larger versions are almost always available. For example, the pairing of Mimas and Saturn comes in bigger sizes from NASA's Photojournal. And if you're looking for bigger versions of the photos in the Month in Space slide show, suitable for downloading, here are the places to go:
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J.D. Schiffman, C.L. Schauer / Drexel Univ. |
Click for slide show: See a snapshot of squid
suckers and other images from the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.
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They say a picture is worth 1,000 words - but when it comes to science, one good picture might be worth 104 or 105 words, judging by this year's winners of the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.
Check out our slide show to see a beautiful graphic analysis of the Bible’s interconnectedness, a “Microscopic Wonderland” starring Alice and the Mad Hatter, and a group portrait of the cutest little squid suckers you ever did see.
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Every year, a few science writers are chosen for special recognition by the National Academies, which take in the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. With support from the W.M. Keck Foundation, the National Academies Communication Awards "recognize excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering and medicine to the general public."
This year, I'm honored to be the first-ever recipient of the award in the online/Internet category, for the little ol' Weblog you're reading right now. I'm grateful to be chosen, and I'm humbled when I look at the list of other honorees:
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Justin Knight Photography |
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Nobel-winning physicist Frank Wilczek says reality at its most basic level is best
described as the interplay of energy fields in "empty" space.
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What is the Matrix? It might be more than a cult movie classic, if you side with Nobel-winning physicist Frank Wilczek. In his new book, "The Lightness of Being," Wilczek sets forth the concept that at its most basic level, our universe exists as a vibrant energy field he calls "the Grid." (He says he might have considered calling it the Matrix, "but the sequels tarnished that candidate.")
The way Wilczek sees it, interactions in virtually empty space give rise to the substance of subatomic particles and complex molecules, of everyday objects and distant galaxy clusters. But you shouldn't just take his word for it: He says experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, the particle-smasher that is now under repair far beneath the French-Swiss border, could unlock some of the Grid's biggest mysteries.
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Utilities are starting to think about electrical power the way phone companies think about cellular service, or the way gas companies think about filling stations - and it may not be long before you think that way, too.
The paradigm shift could come when plug-in electric cars (hybrid as well as all-electric) become a significant factor in the automotive market, as described in my Auto Tech story today. Some experts estimate that 19 million plug-in hybrids will be on U.S. roads by 2020 - and if even some of those drivers take their cars to work or go on an overnight trip, they'll probably want to charge up at their destination.
It's one thing to plug your laptop or cell-phone charger into someone else's outlet, but what about plugging in your car?
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CERN |
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The Compact Muon Solenoid, shown here in a head-on view during construction,
is the Large Hadron Collider's most massive detector.
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Like most multibillion-dollar projects, Europe's Large Hadron Collider is having some problems getting started. But lack of interest is definitely not one of those problems. By some accounts, a billion TV viewers tuned in for last week's startup of the LHC. For a day at least, the world's biggest atom-smasher made a bigger celebrity splash than Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse combined.
And that's just the start: The Hollywood Reporter says ABC is close to a deal to turn a science-fiction tale about the Large Hadron Collider into a TV pilot.
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A. Feild / STScI / NASA / ESA |
An artist's conception shows the dwarf planet Haumea
and its two moons, Hi'iaka and Namaka.
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So just how many planets are there in our solar system anyway? Eight? Nine? Thirteen? Or thousands? Far from settling the question, the "Great Planet Debate" has revealed just how complex and interesting the question is.
The planethood question got more interesting this week with the naming of yet another dwarf planet, Haumea. It's traditional to name planets after mythological deities - and Haumea, the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility, follows that formula.
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An African-American chemist's ascent to success, the often-frustrating quest for fertility, the ins and outs of genetic screening and the local effects of global climate change are among the subjects covered in this year's crop of award-winning science sagas, as selected by the National Association of Science Writers.
NASW says its Science in Society Journalism Awards recognize "innovative reporting that goes well beyond the research findings and considers the associated ethical problems and social effects." The winners, who were chosen by a panel of their peers, will be honored on Oct. 26 during the association's annual meeting in Palo Alto, Calif. This year's awards carry a cash prize of $2,500.
I was lucky enough to win one of the 2002 Science in Society awards for my genetic genealogy tale, and since then I've served on the judging committee a couple of times (but not this year). Take a look at this year's stand-outs:
- Books: "Everything Conceivable," by Washington Post Magazine feature writer Liza Mundy, examines assisted reproduction technologies and their often-unexpected ramifications. "Even people who think they are really up to date on these issues are going to be very surprised," one judge said. Another said the book documented trends that are "as baffling as they are unknown."
- Periodicals (magazines and newspapers): "The Match," a five-part series by Newsday reporter Beth Whitehouse, traces the case of a girl suffering from a rare blood disorder - and her family's controversial quest to cure her. The series appeared in the newspaper Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2007. "This is such a wonderful example of what a newspaper can do in a very personal way," one of the judges said. "To take a single story, a single family, and turn it into a symbol of this entire debate over prenatal genetic screening."
- Electronic media (TV, radio, Internet): "Forgotten Genius," a TV documentary that first aired on PBS on Feb. 6, 2007, chronicles the life of Arican-American chemist Percy Julian. Writer/producers Stephen Lyons and Llewellyn M. Smith share the award. One of the judges said the show is "one of the few docudramas that actually blends documentary with the drama and really grips the viewer." In addition to the latest honor, "Forgotten Genius" has won a Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- Honorable mention: NPR's "Climate Connections" is a series of 170 stories that document how humans around the world are addressing - or failing to address - the challenge of global warming. The judges said they were impressed by NPR's "incredible commitment of resources." Editor/correspondents Alison Richards and David Malakoff share the honors.
In all, 155 works were entered in this year's competition.
"I think the quality of all the entries showed that science journalism is alive and well, but we should not take that for granted," one of the judges, Madeleine Jacobs of the American Chemical Society, said in NASW's news release. "In this era of very short attention spans and dwindling resources for journalism, we are blessed that we still have publishers that are willing to commit the resources to ensure that the public learns about these extremely important issues."
NASA file |
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Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders took this picture of Earth above the lunar horizon in
1968. This "Earthrise" has become a symbol of our planet's beauty and fragility.
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Space travelers from around the world are gathering this week to focus on the most precious planet they've ever discovered: Earth.
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Sergei Remezov / Reuters file |
Click for video: Millionaire spaceflier-to-be
Richard Garriott undergoes training at Russia's Star
City cosmonaut complex. Learn more about Garriott's
plan to deliver genetic fingerprints to orbit.
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Space: the final frontier ... for your DNA.
Millionaire game guru Richard Garriott didn't know what to expect when he offered to bring along a collection of digitized genetic fingerprints to the international space station. Even the soon-to-be spaceflier says he was amazed by the response.
This week, what started out as a video-game publicity stunt is getting TV exposure on "The Colbert Report," proving how eager even celebrities are to leave their mark on space.
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Political prediction markets may be technically more accurate than polls, but they can go through the same ups and downs that polls do. Now that the trend line has had a few days to settle down, it looks as if the Republicans as well as the Democrats got a mini-bounce after their respective conventions - but nothing near the swings that the polls recorded.
Whether you're backing the GOP's John McCain or the Democrats' Barack Obama, you can find a fresh prediction that will warm your heart.
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NASA / ESA / STScI / AURA |
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This Hubble image reveals a rare alignment involving a small foreground galaxy
and a larger background galaxy. The smaller galaxy's tentacles of dust are
silhouetted against the bigger galaxy's glow. Click on the image for a larger
version from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
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Two galaxies, one right in front of the other, have put on a rare light show for the Hubble Space Telescope - and the backlighting reveals seldom-seen dust tentacles that may be standard equipment for starry spirals.
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AP |
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Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have responded to a
14-question presidential campaign quiz on science and technology issues.
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GOP presidential candidate John McCain has joined Democrat Barack Obama in providing answers to 14 questions on science and technology. On two of the campaign's biggest science issues - climate change and stem cell research - the rivals aren't all that far apart, at least when you look at the big picture.
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Fabrice Coffini / Pool via AFP - Getty Images |
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Scientists watch the computers at CERN's control center for the Large Hadron
Collider, near Geneva, during Wednesday's "First Beam" startup.
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This week's startup of Europe's Large Hadron Collider didn't generate a big bang or a black hole, but it did generate a big reaction from folks who followed our series on the "Big Bang Machine." More than 40,000 people voiced their opinion by clicking through our unscientific survey or by discussing the issues in online forums.
To my mind, the scariest thing that came up was not the discussion over whether or not the collider might create a cosmic catastrophe (the overwhelming scientific verdict is that it won't), but the mortal fear that the discussion sparked among kids around the world. For those young people - and not-so-young people as well - I have two words of advice, taken straight from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":
DON'T PANIC!
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The world's biggest atom-smasher is a smash hit on the Web: It's only been one day since the Large Hadron Collider's startup, but the device has already generated an explosion of cool stuff online, including black humor about black holes.
We're offering a selection of photographer Peter McCready's 360-degree, zoomable panoramas of the collider's hot spots as part of our special report on the $10 billion project - but if the HD View plug-in doesn't work out, you can still take a Flash-based tour of the LHC on McCready's own Web site.
Read on for more big bangs on the Web:
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CERN |
Theoretical physicist John Ellis writes out equations at
Europe's CERN nuclear research center near Geneva.
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John Ellis juggles the concepts of dark matter and dark energy, supersymmetry and black holes as if they were playthings. The British-born physicist chose his calling 50 years ago, when he was just 12 years old, and he's spent the past 35 years as a theoretician at Europe's CERN particle-physics center near Geneva.
So if you want to know what mysteries the world's largest atom-smasher could crack open, Ellis is your man.
It may sound as if Ellis is one of those long-haired physicists who never has to interface with the real world, but nothing could be further from the truth:
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NASA |
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Atlantis astronaut Mike Massimino practices using the Mini Power Tool to remove
screws from a circuit box for the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrometer. The
screws will be retained in the color-coded, see-through capture plate - a device that is attached over the box and keeps the tiny fasteners from floating away in space.
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Overhauling the Hubble Space Telescope requires much more than astronaut elbow grease in zero-G: More than 60 new tools had to be created in a multimillion-dollar effort that involved trips to the hardware store - and to the toy box.
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Scott Eklund / Seattle Post-Intelligencer file |
University of Washington physicist John Cramer has designed an experiment
in reverse-time causality - and has written a novel about time travel as well.
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Have you heard the one about the physics experiment that created globe-gobbling black holes? Or killer neutrino beams? Or the voice of God? How about antimatter explosives and the boson bomb? There's even a supercollider that set off a crisis so huge that scientists had to be sent back in time to make sure the supercollider was never built in the first place.
All these subatomic nightmares, and more besides, are pure science fiction ... with a bit of science woven in.
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Jae C. Hong / AP |
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Delegates are showered with balloons after John McCain's acceptance speech
during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday.
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Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn't benefit from that big of a bounce today in the post-convention prediction markets. Then again, Democratic rival Barack Obama didn't get much of a bounce from his party's convention last week, either.
In fact, the idea that political conventions produce an upward "bounce" of popularity doesn't really apply to the prediction markets, and economists think they know why.
By the way, McCain's surprise selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate didn't move the markets either, for different reasons.
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As Europe's CERN particle-physics center is counting down to the official startup of the Large Hadron Collider, a report reassuring the public that the world's largest atom-smasher won't destroy the world is getting a second wave of publicity.
The report was prepared by CERN scientists and outside researchers and released in June, updating a 2003 safety study. Now the new study has been published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. CERN used the occasion to emphasize the mainstream view that the collider won't create globe-gobbling black holes or other types of doomsday phenomena that have put folks on edge.
"The LHC will enable us to study in detail what nature is doing all around us," CERN Director Robert Aymar said in today's news release. "The LHC is safe, and any suggestion that it might present a risk is pure fiction."
The report concludes that if the collider could create catastrophes, the much more powerful particle collisions that continually occur in space would have wiped us out long ago. "It points out that nature has already conducted the equivalent of about a hundred thousand LHC experimental programs on Earth - and the planet still exists," said Jos Engelen, CERN's chief scientific officer.
Critics of the collider weren't satisfied when the report first came out in June, and they're not likely to change their mind now that it's been formally published in the scientific literature. The hysteria over the LHC and black-hole boogeymen has been rising with the approach of next Wednesday's low-energy startup, as detailed in this report from The Telegraph.
Update for 7:30 p.m. ET Sept. 6: You might want to give another look to this item about Tuesday's court hearing in Hawaii. I've added some material from a copy of the court transcript.
Past chapters in the doomsday saga:
Alfred A. Knopf |
"Icarus at the Edge of Time" features
text by Brian Greene and images from
the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Physicist Brian Greene usually writes about string theory and other stuff most adults can't understand, but his latest book is a black-hole tale for kids - and he hopes the idea of turning cutting-edge science into gripping tales will catch on.
"If you had fantastic films like 'Star Wars' that were based on real science - where you go into the film, you get excited about the story, but you leave with an appreciation of some real science - that's a wonderful package," the Columbia University string theorist told me this week. "This book is a very first step in that direction."
The book, "Icarus at the Edge of Time," re-imagines the Greek myth of the boy who flew too close to the sun on waxen wings. Greene has updated the tale with a black hole, spaceships and imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, combined in a 34-page cardboard storybook that's built to stand up to the worst a preschooler can dish out.
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Mike D'Angelo / Rocket Racing League ® |
Click for video: Watch the Armadillo-powered
rocket plane take off for a test flight in Oklahoma.
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The Rocket Racing League says it has successfully finished a series of seven test flights for a new type of racing plane that could someday compete on a "racetrack in the sky." Now it's up to the Federal Aviation Administration to decide whether the rocket-powered craft is ready to show off to the public.
As we first reported a week ago, the Armadillo-powered prototype was put through its paces repeatedly at the Oklahoma Spaceport in Burns Flat.
"We are thrilled to have been selected as the facility of choice by the Rocket Racing League for its initial flight test program," Bill Khourie, executive director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, said in a news release issued today.
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Duke |
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This demonstration shows how a cylindrical "invisibility cloak" bends microwaves
moving from left to right around a interior space, concealing the space from view.
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First, scientists developed a real-life invisibility cloak. Now Chinese researchers are working on an anti-invisibility device to see through the cloak.
This may sound like a development that would concern the Romulans in a "Star Trek" episode rather than real people. But the research, published online today on the Optics Express Web site, addresses real-world concerns about the cloaking devices that are being built in labs today.
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Amid all the talk about strangelets that may or may not destroy the earth, there's some real news about strange matter: Researchers at Fermilab's DZero experiment say they have detected a new type of particle that contains two strange quarks as well as a bottom quark, known as the Omega-sub-b (Ωb).
Quarks - the constituents of protons, neutrons and more than 200 other subatomic particles - come in six "flavors": up and down, charm and strange, bottom and top. The proton, for example, has two up quarks and a down quark. When the DZero team went through about 100 trillion proton-antiproton collisions from Fermilab's Tevatron atom-smasher, they found 18 events that carried the signature of the unstable Omega-sub-b. The mass of the particles matched what theorists had predicted (about 6.165 GeV/c2, if you must know).
Fermilab says the Omega-sub-b is a relative of the even stranger Omega-minus, which is made up of three strange quarks and was discovered back in 1964. Finding the strange-strange-bottom combination fills in one more slot in what scientists consider a "periodic table" of quark combinations. It also confirms that one of the scientific world's most successful theories is on the right track, even if scientists don't exactly know why.
For more, check out the DZero Web site and the team's research paper, which has been submitted to Physical Review Letters.
J. Pequenão / CERN / ATLAS |
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This artist's conception simulates the particle tracks that could be left behind by
the creation and decay of a black hole in the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS
detector. The researcher with a hardhat is shown only to give a sense of scale.
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Critics who say the world's largest atom-smasher could destroy the world have brought their claims to courtrooms in Europe and the United States - and although the claims are getting further consideration, neither court will hold up next week's official startup of the Large Hadron Collider.
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