The first science images from Curiosity, including nearby Mt. Sharp.
The first science images from Curiosity, including nearby Mt. Sharp. More here.
The first science images from Curiosity, including nearby Mt. Sharp. More here.
Tag: science
The first science images from Curiosity, including nearby Mt. Sharp.
First high resolution image from Curiosity
The first high resolution image from Curiosity.
This image isn’t that different from the first two, showing one of the rover’s wheels and the horizon. This camera is for guiding the rover’s movement and is not one of the cameras that will used for science. Nonetheless, it reconfirms that Curiosity is functioning as expected.
The first high resolution image from Curiosity.
This image isn’t that different from the first two, showing one of the rover’s wheels and the horizon. This camera is for guiding the rover’s movement and is not one of the cameras that will used for science. Nonetheless, it reconfirms that Curiosity is functioning as expected.
Curiosity has landed safely on Mars.
The United States has done it again: Curiosity has landed safely on Mars. Images have already been received, with the first showing one of the rover’s wheels on the ground. NASA has posted those first images. More here.
The United States has done it again: Curiosity has landed safely on Mars. Images have already been received, with the first showing one of the rover’s wheels on the ground. NASA has posted those first images. More here.
India’s government has okayed the launch of an unmanned probe to Mars.
The competition heats up: India’s government has okayed the launch of an unmanned probe to Mars.
The competition heats up: India’s government has okayed the launch of an unmanned probe to Mars.
Making fire using only Ikea products
An evening pause: What to do when you don’t have matches and all that is left is the nearest Ikea store.
Archeologists are disputing the age of a jawbone found in a cave in England.
The uncertainty of science: Archeologists are disputing the age of a jawbone found in a cave in England.
Both sides of the debate agree that there is a lot riding on the outcome. “What is at stake is the entire [prehistory] of Neandertals and early modern humans in Europe,” Pettitt says. Apart from the Kents Cavern fossil and some 43,000- to 45,000-year-old teeth from Italy whose status as modern human or Neandertal is currently also debated, the oldest undisputed human fossils in Europe are about only 40,000 years old and come from a site in Romania. If modern humans really made it all the way to northwest Europe by 41,500 years ago or even earlier, it would mean that they entered Europe much earlier than once thought and also spread across the continent very rapidly. It would also increase the overlap between modern humans and the Neandertals, who already lived in Europe, and who went extinct sometime between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. What’s more, such an overlap could make it more likely that Neandertals, who made sophisticated ornaments and tools in their last years, copied these techniques from modern humans rather than inventing them on their own.
The uncertainty of science: Archeologists are disputing the age of a jawbone found in a cave in England.
Both sides of the debate agree that there is a lot riding on the outcome. “What is at stake is the entire [prehistory] of Neandertals and early modern humans in Europe,” Pettitt says. Apart from the Kents Cavern fossil and some 43,000- to 45,000-year-old teeth from Italy whose status as modern human or Neandertal is currently also debated, the oldest undisputed human fossils in Europe are about only 40,000 years old and come from a site in Romania. If modern humans really made it all the way to northwest Europe by 41,500 years ago or even earlier, it would mean that they entered Europe much earlier than once thought and also spread across the continent very rapidly. It would also increase the overlap between modern humans and the Neandertals, who already lived in Europe, and who went extinct sometime between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. What’s more, such an overlap could make it more likely that Neandertals, who made sophisticated ornaments and tools in their last years, copied these techniques from modern humans rather than inventing them on their own.
Launching a beer can into space.
Launching a beer can into space. With video! More here.
Launching a beer can into space. With video! More here.
New computer models suggest that the Moon was created when a Mars-sized asteroid hit the Earth in a head-on collision at high speed, not a glancing blow at relatively slow speeds, as previously thought.
New computer models suggest that the Moon was created when a Mars-sized asteroid hit the Earth in a head-on collision at high speed, not a glancing blow at relatively slow speeds, as previously thought.
New computer models suggest that the Moon was created when a Mars-sized asteroid hit the Earth in a head-on collision at high speed, not a glancing blow at relatively slow speeds, as previously thought.
Curiosity’s journey and upcoming landing, a summary.
Curiosity’s journey and upcoming landing, a summary.
Curiosity’s journey and upcoming landing, a summary.
What one supernovae looks like after the boom.
What one supernovae looks like after the boom.
What one supernovae looks like after the boom.
The house of the future, as predicted in 1957
How the federal government has persecuted a scientist for whistling at a whale.
How the federal government has persecuted a scientist for whistling at a whale.
How the federal government has persecuted a scientist for whistling at a whale.
A scientific analysis of a database of over a million songs produced since 1955 has found that modern popular music is louder and has less variety or range than the popular music of the past.
A scientific analysis of a database of over a million songs produced since 1955 has found that modern popular music is louder and has less variety or range than the popular music of the past. Key quote:
Lastly, the researchers detected a trend of homogenization of the timbral palette. Timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. It is essentially the difference between different instruments playing the same note at the same loudness. They found that, after peaking in the mid 60s, timbral variety has continued to narrow.
This confirms a suspicion of many fans of modern popular music, that it is less interesting and shows far less creativity than the popular music of the 1960s. This result might also explain why 1960s music remains so popular.
A scientific analysis of a database of over a million songs produced since 1955 has found that modern popular music is louder and has less variety or range than the popular music of the past. Key quote:
Lastly, the researchers detected a trend of homogenization of the timbral palette. Timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. It is essentially the difference between different instruments playing the same note at the same loudness. They found that, after peaking in the mid 60s, timbral variety has continued to narrow.
This confirms a suspicion of many fans of modern popular music, that it is less interesting and shows far less creativity than the popular music of the 1960s. This result might also explain why 1960s music remains so popular.
A journalist takes objective look at global warming
For the past week there has been a new spat of articles written about human caused global warming, instigated by an op-ed (subscription required) written by scientist Richard Muller in the New York Times, where he wrote:
Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
Not surprisingly, the mainstream press has jumped on this op-ed and the public release of new data by Muller’s team as further proof that the debate over global warming is settled and we should all bow to our governmental overlords and agree to any regulations they propose to save the planet.
Not so fast.
» Read more
China has announced plans to land an unmanned probe on the Moon next year, the first such planned landing since the 1970s.
Back to the Moon: China has announced plans to land an unmanned probe on the Moon next year, the first such planned landing since the 1970s.
Back to the Moon: China has announced plans to land an unmanned probe on the Moon next year, the first such planned landing since the 1970s.
“This extended 180-month period of non-warming was not predicted by a single global climate model – nada, zilch, zero.”
Water Ice in Shackleton Crater?
New results from the radar instrument on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has found evidence of water-ice on the slopes of Shackleton Crater, located at the Moon’s south pole. The paper, published on Saturday in Geophysical Research Letters – Planets, suggested that about 5 to 10 percent of the weight of the material on the slopes of the crater is comprised of water ice, to depths of 6 to 10 feet.
The box on the upper left in the image to the right shows the data from a radar sweep of the crater taken on April 18, 2010, and compares that to five computer models. As you can see, the data here most closely matches the 5% ice model. Two other sweeps showed similar results.
The water-ice, if there, is not in slabs of ice, as sometimes portrayed in the press, but would be mixed into the Moon’s regolith, or “topsoil”, and would have to be processed out like ore to be useful. Or to quote the paper’s conclusion:
The fundamental conclusions made with high resolution, ground based radar of Shackleton remain unaltered — that no large-scale, meters thick ice deposits are evident within the crater. Rather, Mini-RF data are consistent with roughness effects or with a small percentage of water-ice deposits admixed into the uppermost 1-2 meters of silicate regolith within Shackleton, possibly accounting for the observations made by the Clementine bistatic experiment.
Several points:
» Read more
The landslides of Iapetus: longer and more frequent than anywhere else in the solar system.
The landslides of Iapetus: longer and more frequent than anywhere else in the solar system.
The landslides of Iapetus: longer and more frequent than anywhere else in the solar system.
most of the weather stations in the US are so poorly sited that their temperature data is unreliable.
The article describes a new paper which analyzed the reliability of the weather stations in the U.S. and found that NOAA not only favored the data from the more untrustworthy stations — which also happened to have a warming bias — they then adjusted the overall data upward even more.
In other words, any temperature data from the last few decades cannot be trusted.
The full details can be found at Watts Up With That, but I haven’t given that as the main link because the page takes so long to load due to the many comments. You can also go here for additional information.
The article describes a new paper which analyzed the reliability of the weather stations in the U.S. and found that NOAA not only favored the data from the more untrustworthy stations — which also happened to have a warming bias — they then adjusted the overall data upward even more.
In other words, any temperature data from the last few decades cannot be trusted.
The full details can be found at Watts Up With That, but I haven’t given that as the main link because the page takes so long to load due to the many comments. You can also go here for additional information.
A new comparison by scientists of polygon-shaped formations on both the Earth and Mars suggests that both were formed underwater, providing further evidence that Mars once had oceans.
A new comparison by scientists of polygon-shaped formations on both the Earth and Mars suggests that both were formed underwater, providing further evidence that Mars once had oceans.
A new comparison by scientists of polygon-shaped formations on both the Earth and Mars suggests that both were formed underwater, providing further evidence that Mars once had oceans.
Tesla Turret Opera (Cara Mia Addio)
Mars Odyssey has successfully adjusted its orbit so as to provide up-to-the-minute communications when Curiosity lands on August 5.
Good news: Mars Odyssey has successfully adjusted its orbit so as to provide up-to-the-minute communications when Curiosity lands on August 5.
Good news: Mars Odyssey has successfully adjusted its orbit so as to provide up-to-the-minute communications when Curiosity lands on August 5.
Watching a big asteroid zip past the earth, live
Watching a big asteroid zip past the earth, live.
Watching a big asteroid zip past the earth, live.
Water on the Moon? The battle continues
A little over a month ago I reported here on Behind the Black some recent results from the LEND instrument on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that had found significantly less water in the permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles than previously thought. To quote again from that paper’s abstract, which I will henceforth refer to as Sanin, et al:
This means that all [permanently shadowed regions], except those in Shoemaker, Cabeus and Rozhdestvensky U craters, do not contain any significant amount of hydrogen in comparison with sunlit areas around them at the same latitude.
And from the paper’s conclusion:
[E]ven now the data is enough for definite conclusion that [permanently shadowed regions] at both poles are not reservoirs of large deposits of water ice.
Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas and one of the world’s top lunar scientists then commented as follows:
You neglect to mention yet another possibility — that this paper and its conclusions are seriously flawed in almost every respect. The veracity of the LRO collimated neutron data [produced by the LEND instrument] have been questioned on serious scientific grounds. Other data sets (spectral, radar) suggest significant amounts of water at both poles, billions of metric tons in total.
Spudis also discussed this scientific dispute at length on his own blog.
When I read Dr. Spudis’s comment I immediately emailed William Boynton of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, one of the authors of the Sanin et al paper, to get his reaction. Today he sent me the following detailed explanation, describing the basis of the controversy and why he believes the LEND data is valid.
» Read more
This year there will be more cases of whooping cough in fifty years.
Not good: This year there will be the most cases of whooping cough in more than a half century.
The CDC is trying to figure out what’s going on, but Schuchat said a couple of factors are clearly at work. The formulation for the whooping cough vaccine was changed in 1997, and kids hitting age 13 and 14 now are the first to have been fully vaccinated with five doses of the new vaccine. The new formulation causes less of a reaction, but it may also wear off sooner, Schuchat said.
The older vaccine was made using a whole pertussis bacterium. It was very effective, but it did cause swelling in some kids who got it, and sometimes caused a fever — something that scared parents. It also was widely blamed for causing rare but serious neurological reactions, although Schuchat said studies have not confirmed this.
I imagine the formulation was changed because of the uproar in the 1990s about the dangers of the old vaccine.
Not good: This year there will be the most cases of whooping cough in more than a half century.
The CDC is trying to figure out what’s going on, but Schuchat said a couple of factors are clearly at work. The formulation for the whooping cough vaccine was changed in 1997, and kids hitting age 13 and 14 now are the first to have been fully vaccinated with five doses of the new vaccine. The new formulation causes less of a reaction, but it may also wear off sooner, Schuchat said.
The older vaccine was made using a whole pertussis bacterium. It was very effective, but it did cause swelling in some kids who got it, and sometimes caused a fever — something that scared parents. It also was widely blamed for causing rare but serious neurological reactions, although Schuchat said studies have not confirmed this.
I imagine the formulation was changed because of the uproar in the 1990s about the dangers of the old vaccine.
What would happen if a fastball pitcher could throw a baseball at 90% speed of light?
Answering the important questions: What would happen if a fastball pitcher could throw a baseball at 90% speed of light?
Answering the important questions: What would happen if a fastball pitcher could throw a baseball at 90% speed of light?
Cassini has photographed daytime lightning on Saturn.
Cassini has photographed daytime lightning on Saturn.
Cassini has photographed daytime lightning on Saturn.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have found the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have found the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have found the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen.
sNASA’s Space Launch System is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
Another opinion: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
In other words, having NASA build a rocket and capsule makes no financial sense. At these numbers, SLS cannot survive.
Another opinion: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
In other words, having NASA build a rocket and capsule makes no financial sense. At these numbers, SLS cannot survive.
Scientists have failed to detect one of the leading theoretical candidates for dark matter.
Null result: Scientists have failed to detect one of the leading theoretical candidates for dark matter.
Null result: Scientists have failed to detect one of the leading theoretical candidates for dark matter.