Fair Science

How to Build a Computer Chip Without Semiconductors

2016-11-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Researchers are repurposing decades-old technology to build faster gadgets for the future, creating nanoscale vacuum tubes that could dramatically improve the speed and efficiency of personal electronics and solar panels.

Vacuum tubes were originally used in the earliest digital electronic computers back in the 1930s and 1940s, before being replaced by transistors composed of semiconductors, which can can be manufactured much smaller, making today's computers, smartphones, and tablets possible.

But transistors have their limits in size and speed too, and we're getting closer than ever to reaching them. Now scientists from UC San Diego have gone back to the vacuum tube idea - and this time they've made them at tiny sizes and with far more efficient technology.

"This certainly won’t replace all semiconductor devices, but it may be the best approach for certain specialty applications, such as very high frequencies or high power devices," says lead researcher and electrical engineer, Dan Sievenpiper.

While transistors remain one of the most important inventions of the 20th century - and much smaller and more energy-efficient than the original vacuum tubes - scientists are now struggling to make them any tinier or more powerful than they already are.

What's more, electron flow through transistor semiconductor materials like silicon is slowed as electrons collide with atoms, and semiconductors also have what's called a band gap - where a boost of external energy is needed to get electrons moving.

The main advantage new nanoscale vacuum tubes have over semiconductor-based transistors is that they carry currents through air, rather than a solid material, and could be be much faster as a result.

Freeing up electrons to carry currents through the air normally takes a large voltage or a powerful laser, both of which are difficult to do at the nanoscale, and which hampered the progress of early vacuum tubes.

To solve this problem, the team created a layer of special mushroom-style structures made of gold - known as an electromagnetic metasurface - and placed it on top of a layer of silicon dioxide and a silicon wafer.

When a low-powered voltage (less than 10 volts) and a low-powered laser are applied to this metasurface, it creates 'hot spots' with high-intensity electric fields, giving the structure enough energy to free the electrons from the metal.

In testing, this enabled the researchers to achieve a 1,000 percent (or 10-fold) increase in conductivity compared with nanoscale vacuum tubes without the metasurface.

Right now, it's just a proof-of-concept demonstration, and there's a lot more work to be done to make the system practical for use in actual devices. But in the future, different metasurfaces could be designed to meet specific needs, such as new kinds of solar panels, the researchers suggest.

"Next we need to understand how far these devices can be scaled and the limits of their performance," says Sievenpiper.

Here's the team explaining their findings:

The Most Powerful Alien Radio Signal Source Traced

2016-11-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Scientists have observed the most powerful fast radio burst (FRB) ever – an intensely brilliant burst of radiation emanating from outside our own Milky Way galaxy.

The signal, which researchers say travelled at least a billion light-years to reach Earth, only lasted for a fraction of a second, but the observation could help us understand more about the epic gaps that exist between galaxies, called the cosmic web.

"FRBs are extremely short but intense pulses of radio waves, each only lasting about a millisecond," says astrophysicist Ryan Shannon from Curtin University in Australia. "Some are discovered by accident and no two bursts look the same."

There's a lot we still don't understand about FRBs and where they come from, partly because we've so far witnessed very few of them.

This new burst – called FRB 150807 – is just the 18th FRB detected to date since they were first discovered in 2001.

But despite this apparent rarity, scientists actually think these intensely powerful but short phenomena are happening all the time – we just don't notice them.

"We estimate that there are between 2,000 and 10,000 FRBs occurring in the sky every day," says one of the team, astronomer Vikram Ravi from Caltech.

One of the difficulties with detecting FRBs is how quickly they flash, which makes it difficult for telescopes observing large portions of the sky to pinpoint where the bursts originate.

But FRB 150807's intense luminosity not only made it easier to help trace the burst's likely origins – it also gave scientists new clues about the intergalactic matter the burst travelled through to get here.

"This particular FRB is the first detected to date to contain detailed information about the cosmic web – regarded as the fabric of the Universe," says Shannon.

"[B]ut it is also unique because its travel path can be reconstructed to a precise line of sight and back to an area of space about a billion light years away that contains only a small number of possible home galaxies."

When FRBs travel through space, they pass through a range of matter – including gases, ionised particles, and magnetic fields – which can distort the radio wave on its path.

But FRB 150807 – which was detected using the CSIRO's Parkes Observatory in Australia – appeared to only be weakly distorted, which suggests that the space dust and magnetic fields throughout the cosmic web are less turbulent than the gas and other material in the Milky Way.

Thanks to the signal's brightness, the team triangulated its origin to a small handful of galaxies, with the most likely candidate being a star system called VHS7.

This galaxy is thought to be located between 3.2 and 6.5 billion light-years away, although the researchers acknowledge that they can't be 100 percent certain that this is where the FRB hails from.

And it's also possible that the FRB could have come from a dim galaxy that we haven't previously detected in sky surveys – but the team is convinced that wherever this distant galaxy is, it's at least 1.5 billion light-years from Earth.

While there's still a lot we don't know about these intense radio waves, FRB 150807's stronger-than-usual signal at least should have cleared up any longstanding doubts as to whether FRBs actually emanate from outside the Milky Way – some scientists thought the signals could be explained by phenomena occurring inside our own galaxy.

"I think this is laid to rest for the class of objects," astronomer James M. Cordes from Cornell University, who wasn't involved with the research, told Nadia Drake at National Geographic. "There may be one or two in the 18 published bursts that could still be in our galaxy, but the others could not."

And while we've still got our fair share of questions about what these FRBs are and what's actually generating them, at least this new data gives us our clearest picture yet of these insanely powerful micro-events.

"[FRB 150807] shows the promise of probing the large-scale structure of the Universe," astrophysicist Duncan Lorimer from West Virginia University, who was not involved with this research, told Loren Grush at The Verge.

"This particular source doesn't solve the mystery of what [FRBs] are. But it gives us a great amount of hope for what [scientists] can do in the future."

The findings are reported in Science.

Image credit: Dr Vikram Ravi/Caltech and Dr Ryan Shannon/ICRAR-Curtin/CSIRO

How Stephen Hawking do Project to Discover Alien Life With Nano-Spacecraft

2016-04-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

A Russian billionaire has enlisted Stephen Hawking to help him launch a futuristic plan for seeking life in outer space.

Have we really reached a time when we can aspire to literally reach out for stars beyond our system?”A gram-scale wafer containing cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation and communications equipment”.

Still, it’s exciting.

And as Hawking warns in a press statement:

“Earth is a lovely place, but it might not last forever”.

The limit that confronts us now is the great void between us and the stars.

Breakthrough Stars announced that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has joined its board, along with Hawking and Milner, who first met at a physics conference 30 years ago, when Zuckerberg was one year old.

Breakthrough Stars, costing a cool $100 million, aims to build an ultra-light “light sail”, carrying a nanocraft, that can be propelled by lasers and travel at 20% the speed of light. Though nothing has been overheard during the past decades, scientists, now far from being disappointed, are determined to send interstellar fact-finding probes to find alien life forms beyond our solar system.

The tiny aircraft, with ultra-thin light sails, would be accelerated to 20 percent the speed of light by ground-based lasers, boosting them to a cruise velocity of some 59,867km per second within a few minutes. Milner and Hawking, a British astrophysicist, also teamed in 2015 on a 10-year project called the Breakthrough Listen Initiative, which searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life.Instead of sending just one tiny spacecraft, the idea is to send hundreds or thousands – so many could be lost along the way, without the mission’s being useless.

The extremely ambitious space project is expected to reveal deep space secrets and allow us to take pographs of distance worlds for the very first time. The executive director will be Pete Worden, former director of NASA Ames Research Center. “The human story is one of great leaps”, he said.

“The Breakthrough concept is based on technology either already available or likely to be available in the near future”, Milner said. That means it would take around 20,000 years to send a craft like it to Alpha Centauri.”Can we literally reach the stars, and can we do it in our lifetime?”Even after it reaches Alpha Centauri, the team feels that it would take another four years for the spacecraft to collect and beam back information to the earth.

What is The Universe Ultimate End? Black Hole Reveals Truths

2016-04-07T06:44:00.001-07:00

Black holes have fascinated astronomers for generations, and continued research has revealed some truly magnificent truths about the Universe’s ultimate dead-end. A team of astronomers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have discovered signs of what may be the second largest black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, according to a release from the observatory.

There is two typke known, stellar-mass black holes & supermassive black holes (SMBH)

Astronomers already know about two sizes of black holes: stellar-mass black holes, formed after the gigantic explosions of very massive stars; and supermassive black holes (SMBH) often found at the centers of galaxies. A number of SMBHs have been found, but no one knows how the SMBHs are formed. One idea is that they are formed from mergers of many intermediate mass black holes. But so far, no firm observational evidence for intermediate mass black holes has been found.

A team of Japanese astronomers used the Nobeyama 45-meter Radio Telescope, which is managed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), to make the discovery. Researchers believe the black hole could help them to uncover why supermassive black holes are a consistent feature in the center of most large galaxies.

Researchers suggest that black holes start out small and grow as they engulf matter and combine with other black holes. However, there is a lot of confusion around black holes as they are observed on either the small or very large scale, with no medium – a puzzle scientists are hoping to solve with the discovery of the new black hole.

According to lead researcher, Tomoharu Oka, from Keio University in Japan, the medium-sized black hole was discovered some 200 light years away from the Milky Way’s central black hole — Sagittarius A* (Sgr. A*).

In a new study, the radio astronomers detailed how they witnessed a gas cloud called CO-0.40-0.22 caught in a strange gravitational storm that was pulling matter in different directions, at different speeds.

Black holes form after a supernova takes place, or when a large star explodes at the end of its life.

Supermassive black holes have masses that range from several millions to billions of times the mass of our own sun. Unlike stellar-mass black holes, no one knows how supermassive black holes form.

Now, a team of experts in Japan may have found what could be considered as the second most massive black hole – next only to the Sgr. A* – in the Milky Way. The discovery may possibly help shed light on the evolution of black holes.

Newly fund Black Hole is an Enigmatic Gas Cloud With An Interesting Characteristic

What’s curious about the discovery is that the massive black hole was not directly detected by scientists, and that what they first caught present instead had an unusual characteristic.

Led by Professor Tomoharu Oka of the Keio University, the group of astronomers had located a mysterious gas cloud named CO-0.40-0.22, a space object that is about 200 light-years away from Sgr. A*.

Researchers detected the enigmatic gas cloud through the use of the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in Japan and the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) in Chile. Japan’s National Astronomical Society operated both telescopes.

What scientists found unusual is that the gas cloud CO-0.40-0.22 had an unusually wide velocity dispersion, meaning that the cloud holds gas that has a wide variety of speeds.

Basically, velocity dispersion is the spread and velocities of stars or gas within a galaxy, a statistical average of the combined motions of many stars.

Again, the team used the Nobeyama 45-m telescope to obtain 21 emission lines from 18 molecules. The results showed that the gas cloud has an elliptical shape and consists of two components.

The first component was compact and had low density, with a very wide velocity dispersion of 100 kilometers per second or 62 miles per second. The second component was dense and extended 10 light-years, with only a narrow velocity dispersion.

The researchers then used their observations to model the storm on a computer, concluding that they had found a “massive” black hole that is the “eye” of the space storm, Discovery News reports. The black hole is 100,000 times the size of our Sun and fits into the intermediate-mass category, second only to the Sgr. A* black hole.
The discovery marks the first such observation of its kind.

“Considering the fact that no compact objects are seen in X-ray or infrared observations, as far as we know, the best candidate for the compact massive object is a black hole,” Dr Oka said in a press release.

However, researchers are unsure whether intermediate-mass black holes are rare – or just hard to find. If these black holes are rare, it could lead to changes in the current models of astrophysics.

According to Discovery News, some theories estimate that the Milky Way could be home to 100 million black holes – despite only a small percentage of these being found thus far.

These results open a new way to search for black holes with radio telescopes. Recent observations have revealed that there are a number of wide-velocity-dispersion compact clouds similar to CO-0.40-0.22. The team proposes that some of those clouds might contain black holes. A study suggested that there are 100 million black holes in the Milky Way Galaxy, but X-ray observations have only found dozens so far. Most of the black holes may be “dark” and very difficult to see directly at any wavelength.

The observation results were published as Oka et al. “Signature of an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Central Molecular Zone of Our Galaxy” in the Astrophysical Journal Letters issued on January 1, 2016. The research team members are Tomoharu Oka, Reiko Mizuno, Kodai Miura, Shunya Takekawa, all at Keio University.

Intermediate-mass black holes are truly mysterious creatures. They are the “missing” link of black hole evolution; we have stellar mass black holes (that form after the supernova death of a massive star) and we have supermassive black holes (that live in the cores of most galaxies), but if black holes start small and grow by merging with other black holes and consuming matter, they must go through a “medium” phase.

Gravitational Waves Unveiled. A Complete Guide and Discovery

2016-04-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

After 100 year Einstein Theory, Finally Scientist directly detected Gravitational Waves.

Discovering gravitational waves would be a huge deal for physics, cosmology, and our understanding of the universe at large. But if you’re not a scientist studying one of the aforementioned fields, it’s possible you’ve never heard of these mysterious ripples. What the heck are gravitational waves, and why have physicists been struggling to find them for a century? Moreover, why should we care?

Simply put, gravitational waves are vibrations in the fabric of the universe—light-speed ripples in spacetime itself, caused by such epically violent events as exploding stars and black hole mergers. Thanks to inconceivably large, violent, and distant celestial happenings, the atoms that make up everything from the stars in the sky to the human beings on Earth are shaking a tiny bit, all the time.

Krauss does not work with the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO, which is searching for ripples in the fabric of space and time.

But he tweeted on Monday about the apparent shoring up of rumor he’d heard some months ago, that LIGO scientists were writing up a paper on gravitational waves they had discovered using US-based detectors.

“My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting,” Krauss tweeted.

His message has since between retweeted 1,800 times.

What are gravitational waves?

Gravitational waves are disturbances in the fabric of spacetime. If you drag your hand through a still pool of water, you’ll notice that waves follow in its path, and spread outward through the pool. According to Albert Einstein, the same thing happens when heavy objects move through spacetime.
But how can space ripple? According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, spacetime isn’t a void, but rather a four-dimensional “fabric,” which can be pushed or pulled as objects move through it. These distortions are the real cause of gravitational attraction. One famous way of visualizing this is to take a taut rubber sheet and place a heavy object on it. That object will cause the sheet to sag around it. If you place a smaller object near the first one, it will fall toward the larger object. A star exerts a pull on planets and other celestial bodies in the same manner.

What are gravitational waves and why do they matter?

If gravitational waves have been discovered, astronomers could use them to observe the cosmos in a way that has been impossible to date. “We would have a new window on the universe,” Krauss said. “Gravitational waves are generated in the most exotic, strange locations in nature, such as at the edge of black holes at the beginning of time. We are pretty certain they exist, but we’ve not been able to use them to probe the universe.”

Einstein predicted that the waves would be produced in extremely violent events, such as collisions between two black holes. As gravitational waves spread out, they compress and stretch spacetime. The ripples could potentially be picked up by laser beams that measure minute changes in the lengths of two 4km-long pipes at the Ligo facilities.

Engineers occasionally add synthetic signals to the Ligo data to test the equipment. While these are designed to mimic gravitational wave signals, Krauss said he had heard explicitly that the signal had not been added artificially.

“I don’t know if the rumour is solid,” Krauss told the Guardian. “If I don’t hear anything in the next two months, I’ll conclude it was false.”

The discovery would open a new window on the universe by showing scientists for the first time that gravitational waves exist, in places such as the edge of black holes at the beginning of time, filling in a major gap in our understanding of how the universe was born.

A team of scientists on a project called BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) announced in 2014 that they had discovered these very ripples in space time, but soon admitted that their findings may have been just galactic dust.

However, scientists have yet to confirm this theory with observational evidence, which is why LIGO is so important.

“The detection of gravitational waves would be a game changer for astronomers in the field,” Clifford Will, a distinguished profess of physics at the University of Florida who studied under famed astrophysicist Kip Thorne told Business Insider in 2015. “We would be able to test aspects of general relativity that have not been tested.”

Not only that, the ability to observe gravitational waves would open a whole new frontier of astronomy. The same way that astronomers today use light waves to study the universe, they could also use gravitational waves to see cosmic objects — such as colliding black holes — like never before.

How to snag a gravitational wave

LIGO first began sniffing the skies for gravitational waves in 2002. And between 2002 and 2010, the $620 million experiment came up empty handed.

To better the odds, engineers began upgrading LIGO to make it 10 times more sensitive to gravitational waves. Last September, scientists turned the new-and-improved machine on and began taking data with, what is now called Advanced LIGO.

The way Advanced LIGO works is that it consists of two identical machines that are located 1,865 miles apart — one is in Livingston, Louisiana and the other is in Hanford, Washington.

At each detector, there are two equally-long tunnels that have a mirror at the end (one of the mirrors is shown in the image above). Scientists split a laser beam in two and then fire each half down one of the two tunnels. When the beams reflects off the mirror, the two beams should return at the same time, since they’re both traveling at the speed of light.

However, if a gravitational wave passes through the detector the same time the laser is traveling through the two tunnels, there will be a slight difference in time when the first half of the beam returns compared to the other half.

Compared to the length light waves we see with our eyes, which are micrometers in size (about the width of a human hair), gravitational waves are huge. This is why the distance between each LIGO detector is over 1800 miles, because that’s about how long astronomers think a gravitational wave should be.

Therefore, if one detector observes a gravitational wave, it should mean the other detector should measure the same signal, offering immediate confirmation that the observation at the first detector isn’t a fluke.

Scientists at LIGO aren’t taking any chances with this experiment. Before they announcing a discovery, the data will have been fully vetted twice-over by their expert peers.

But if they do succeed, it will revolutionize astronomy as we know it.

How gravitational waves were discovered

I got to the office a few days ago to find an email in my inbox from UAA astronomer Travis Rector. The subject line read “LIGO.” The key sentence: “It’s hard to express how big a deal this is!”
That morning’s “gravitational wave” headlines had slipped right by me in my coffee-deprived, sleepy-earthling state. Interesting, one brain wave murmured, but no time to grasp it now.

Rector’s email was a wake-up call. He also mentioned that one of UAA’s physics professors, Katherine Rawlins, had worked at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory about a decade ago. There’s almost nothing better than to invite an expert to explain a topic they’re excited about; it’s vivid, like visiting a country instead of just reading about it.
Rawlins was willing. By the time we got to her building, she’d commandeered a storage room and set up a tabletop instrument called an interferometer. On a very small scale, it could demonstrate how LIGO detected that gravitational wave.
She shone a tiny red laser light onto a mirror, called a beam splitter. The light beam split in two. Each beam traveled a different path and hit a second mirror before bouncing back to the beam splitter and rejoining.

Light travels in waves. The crests and troughs that don’t match after a split beam rejoins are proof of interference. The now-famous gravitational wave interacted with the split beams located at both of the LIGO sites, one in Washington and one in Louisiana.

So how does this prove Einstein’s theory of general relativity?
One hundred hears ago, long before anybody knew about black holes or quantum physics, Einstein said space and time and gravity are intertwined.

So, explained Rawlins, “if you have a mass, the presence of that mass distorts the space around it. And if you make some sort of violent change to that mass, then the distortion in space and time will make a ripple that spreads out at the speed of light.”
That ripple was the gravitational wave. The violent change was the shuddering merger of two black holes that had been circling one another with increasing velocity and growing proximity, somewhere way out in the Southern Hemisphere.
LIGO’s recently released publication estimated one of the black holes was about 36 times the mass of our sun, and the other was 29 times the mass. Their collision and merger generated a new black hole 62 times our own sun’s mass. That left three solar masses unaccounted for; they were released as energy in a gravitational wave.

This very wave has been en route to us for more than 1 billion years. By the time it hit the twin LIGO beam splitters in Washington and Louisiana, it was reduced to a brief 10th of a second that was documented in the sound of a quick chirp.

Rawlins came to UAA via Yale and the University of Madison-Wisconsin. She grew up wanting to be an astronaut, and even applied once, but her eyesight kept her from continuing. As a young post-doctorate more than a decade ago, she worked “the owl shift” in LIGO’s instrument room from midnight to 8 a.m.

“Along with a detector expert who knew much more than me,” Rawlins said, “I would sit there surrounded by computer monitors, keeping an eye on the noise level of the detector and other diagnostics.”

Her main job was to scour data for signals that were consistent with an airplane flying over head — something you wouldn’t think would be worrisome to a scientific experiment. “But to this one, it is,” she said. “All kinds of technology holds these mirrors absolutely steady. It is the most precise machine I have ever heard of.” In fact, after she left LIGO, the project went through a major technological upgrade to increase its sensitivity. Now it’s called Advanced LIGO.
The irony is scientists had to build LIGO with no guarantee that a gravitational wave would come. “You turn on the detector, and you wait” for a big-enough cosmic event.

Rawlins said physicists have spent entire careers—decades and decades— "chasing the gravitational wave.” After a few years at LIGO, she was ready to move on. “Ironically, I thought searching for astrophysical neutrinos sounded more plausible,” she laughed. As it happens, Rawlins was part of an international research group, the IceCube Collaboration, which accomplished exactly that in 2013.
Scientific success is incredibly exciting, Rawlins said, a moment to relish. The small UAA physics department lit up with the report. Department colleague Tyler Spilhaus, who studies gravitational physics, shared the glow. The day the news hit, he was about to head into work when Facebook stopped him cold. An old research advisor had posted 64 links, all to LIGO, a sure sign something was up.
Rawlins woke up to a text from her mother that read: “LIGO is in the news.” And in a maternal nod to her daughter’s stint there, added, “I knew it when!”

The (Unknown) 9th Planet on Solar System Edge

2016-04-03T04:36:00.003-07:00

The solar system may have a ninth planet after all.

This one is 5,000 times bigger than outcast Pluto and billions of miles farther away, say scientists who presented “good evidence” for a long-hypothesized Planet X on Wednesday.

The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as its nearest planetary neighbor, Neptune, quite possibly with rings and moons. It’s so distant that it would take a mind-blowing 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

Planet 9, as the pair of California Institute of Technology researchers call it, hasn’t been spotted yet. They base their prediction on mathematical and computer modeling and anticipate its discovery via telescope within five years or less.

The two reported their research Wednesday in the Astronomical Journal because they want people to help them look for it.

“We could have stayed quiet and quietly spent the next five years searching the skies ourselves and hoping to find it. But I would rather somebody find it sooner, than me find it later,” astronomer Mike Brown told The Associated Press.

“I want to see it. I want to see what it looks like. I want to understand where it is, and I think this will help.”

Brown and planetary scientist Konstantin Batygin feel certain about their prediction, which at first seemed unbelievable to even them.

“For the first time in more than 150 years, there’s good evidence that the planetary census of the solar system is incomplete,” Batygin said, referring to Neptune’s discovery as Planet 8.

Once it’s detected, Brown insists there will be no Pluto-style planetary debate. Brown ought to know; he’s the so-called Pluto killer who helped lead the charge against Pluto’s planetary status in 2006. (Once Planet 9, Pluto is now officially considered a dwarf planet.)

“THIS is what we mean when we say the word ‘planet,’ ” Brown said.

Brown and Batygin believe it’s big — 10 times more massive than Earth — and unlike Pluto, dominates its cosmic neighborhood. Pluto is a gravitational slave to Neptune, they pointed out.

Another scientist, Alan Stern, said he’s withholding judgment on the planet prediction. He is the principal scientist for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which buzzed Pluto last summer in the first-ever visit from Planet Earth. He still sees Pluto as a real planet — not a second-class dwarf.

“This kind of thing comes around every few years. To date, none of those predicts (sic) have been borne out by discoveries,” Stern said in an email Wednesday. “I’d be very happy if the Brown-Batygin were the exception to the rule, but we’ll have to wait and see. Prediction is not discovery.”

Brown and Batygin shaped their calculation on the fact that six objects in the icy Kuiper Belt, or Twilight Zone on the far reaches of the solar system, appear to have orbits influenced by only one thing: a real planet. The vast, mysterious Kuiper Belt is home to Pluto as well.

Brown actually discovered one of these six objects more than a decade ago, Sedna, a large minor planet.

The actual discovery, he noted, will be “era-defining

“What we have found is a gravitational signature of Planet 9 lurking in the outskirts of the solar system,’ Batygin said. The actual discovery, he noted, will be “era-defining.”

Added Brown: “We have felt a great disturbance in the force.”

Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington said Brown and Batygin’s effort takes his own findings to “the next level.” Two years ago, he and a colleague suggested a possible giant planet.

“I find this new work very exciting,” Sheppard said in an email. “It makes the distant Super-Earth planet in our solar system much more real. I would say the odds just went from 50 percent to 75 percent that this distant massive planet is real.”

It’s an estimated 20 billion to 100 billion miles away

Depending on where this Planet 9 is in its egg-shaped orbit, a space telescope may be needed to confirm its presence, the researchers said. Or a good backyard telescopes may spot it, they noted, if the planet is relatively closer to us in its swing around the sun. It’s an estimated 20 billion to 100 billion miles away.

The Caltech researchers prefer calling it Planet 9, versus the historical term Planet X. The latter smacks of “aliens and the imminent destruction of the Earth,” according to Brown.

Who knows, there could even be a Planet 10 out there well beyond No. 9, but there aren’t enough data at this point to guess, Brown said.

The last real planet to be discovered in our solar system was Neptune in 1846. Pluto’s discovery came in 1930; humanity got to see the small icy world and its main moon Charon up close for the first time last July thanks to New Horizons.

The spacecraft, unfortunately, is in the opposite direction of Planet 9, according to the researchers, and thus unable to help in its detection.

Brown realizes skepticism will exist until the planet is actually observed. History is packed with mistaken planet-seekers, he said, and so “standing up and saying we’re right this time makes us almost look crazy — except I’m going to stand up and say we’re actually right this time.”

“OK, OK, I am now willing to admit: I DO believe that the solar system has nine planets.”

10 Victories for the Environment and Climate in 2015

2016-04-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

Here are 10 victories for our air and water, our special places and our climate from the last twelve months in 2015, all made possible by people-powered activism and advocacy.

1. Paris Climate Agreement. Global warming is happening, and will get worse without bold action. Stemming the climate crisis rests on a solution both incredibly complex and elegantly simple: 100 percent clean, renewable energy. 2015 saw important progress toward that end, the Paris agreement the most recent. 195 nations—including global warming heavy hitters such as the U.S., China, and India - agreed to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with an eye toward an even more protective benchmark of 1.5 degrees. Even better, nations will come back every five years to evaluate and readjust their plans.

2. The Clean Power Plan. The centerpiece of President Obama’s strategy to tackle climate change, the Clean Power Plan is the largest step the U.S. has ever taken to cut climate pollution. It sets the nation’s first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants, the largest single source of our global warming emissions. The plan was finalized in August and then survived attack after attack in Congress — thanks to backing from millions of Americans, small businesses, public health professionals, and local elected leaders. And it’s clear the plan gave the U.S. moral authority to persuade other nations to enact tough pollution reduction agreements in Paris.

3. Keystone Pipeline defeated. Seven years of activism against the tar sands pipeline, which threatened disaster for the climate and the communities through which it would pass, culminated in November when President Obama rejected Keystone XL once and for all. The pipeline had become a bright line in the climate movement, and its defeat showed the power of persistent grassroots organizing.

4. Wind and solar boosted. Federal tax incentives have been critical to the country’s recent explosive growth of both wind and solar power, but as of two weeks ago, wind power incentives had expired and solar power incentives were set to expire next year. Though it waited to the last minute to do it, Congress renewed both incentives through the end of the decade. The move will give a dramatic boost to clean energy and help us avert dangerous climate pollution.

5. Arctic drilling halted. Home to one fifth of the world’s polar bears, as well as seals, beluga whales, and other precious marine life, the Arctic is a unique natural wonder. Its harsh environment also makes it completely incompatible with oil drilling, a spill from which this fragile ecosystem could never fully recover. President Obama did not begin the year on the right foot when it comes to Arctic drilling (he granted Shell permission to drill there). But after a year of tireless, gutsy activism to save the Arctic and keep fossil fuels in the ground and under the sea, Shell Oil withdrew its rigs, and President Obama later canceled current leases. Next up: permanent protection from drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas leases beginning in 2017 are still a possibility.

6. Clean water protected. From the Chesapeake Bay to the Puget Sound, our waters are where we boat, fish, hike and swim. They’re where we get clean water to drink. Yet for years, more than half of the nation’s streams lacked guaranteed protection under the nation’s Clean Water Act, allowing developers to pave over them and industrial polluters to dump into them unheeded. In May the Clean Water Rule changed that, safeguarding millions of acres of wetlands along with the streams and headwaters that feed drinking water for one in three Americans. It’s the biggest victory for clean water in more than a decade, and like the Clean Power Plan, it has withstood repeated attack in Congress.

7. Another state halts fracking. The dangerous drilling technique has contaminated water supplies, increased air pollution, and threatened the safety of communities around the country. This year, Maryland enacted a moratorium on risky drilling. For the long term, we’re urging as many states and communities to follow Maryland’s lead. Until we’ve phased out fracking altogether, we’ll continue our work in 2016 to protect communities on the frontlines.

8. Bee-killing pesticides banned. One in three forkfuls of the foods we love, from almonds to strawberries to the black-eyed peas and greens many in the South will eat on New Year’s Day, is pollinated by bees. That’s why beekeepers, farmers, and growing numbers of Americans are alarmed that U.S. bee colonies are now at historic lows, following massive bee die-offs in recent years. One reason: a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, or neonics. There’s still much to be done to save our pollinators, but 2015 saw progress: major garden retailers Home Depot and Lowes began phasing out the sale of neonics and any plants pre-treated with them, and a court ruling took one type of bee-killing pesticide off the market completely.

9. Our most important open space program renewed. From the Grand Canyon to Shenandoah National Park, our parks, forests, and public lands are a big part of what makes this country so great. They’re where we go to spend time with our families and friends, to hike, bike, fish and see wild animals. For 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund helped to create and expand some of our favorite parks and protected open lands, at least 40,000 projects in all fifty states. In September, however, lawmakers allowed the nation’s most important conservation program to expire. Following a bipartisan chorus of protest over that action, in December congressional leaders reversed course and renewed the fund for three years. In 2016 we’ll keep working to make the fund permanent to protect our parks and what author Wallace Stegner called America’s “best idea.”

10. Breathtaking American landscapes preserved. Rafting, trout fishing, and hiking in Browns Canyon in Colorado; bird watching and horseback riding in the Berryessa Snow Mountain region in California, spelunking in Leviathan Cave in one of Nevada’s last unspoiled valleys—these are just a few of the activities future generations can enjoy thanks to new national monuments President Obama designated this year. Since taking office, he’s permanently protected 19 historic and natural treasures, safeguarding more than 260 million acres of waters and lands, more than any other president.

These benchmarks, as important as they are, aren’t enough to stop global warming or ensure clean water and open spaces for generations to come. That’s why it’s so crucial that in the process of achieving these victories, we grew our movement bigger, more diverse and more strategic - making us better-equipped to push the reforms we need in 2016 and beyond for a safe climate and a greener, cleaner, healthier future.

The Moon is not what we think. Surprising Conclusion From new Study

2016-04-03T04:13:00.002-07:00

A new study came to a rather surprising conclusion about our Moon.

An amazing new study has revealed that the moon had a massive change in its history that would probably come as a surprise to most of us.

A study published in the journal Nature has found that hydrogen deposits near the moon’s poles indicate that the axis of this cosmic body had a different location many eons ago, according to a Southern Methodist University statement.

Scientists have discovered icy hydrogen deposits at the moon’s poles, but also in different spots directly across from each other, indicating that the axis may have shifted 5.5 degrees.

Scientists think that volcanic activity may be the cause of this shift. Volcanoes may have melted the moon’s mantle about 3.5 billion years ago that would have caused the moon’s axis to shift. It would have been quite a slow process — about one inch every 126 years — but considering the long time frame, the difference would have been significant.

But one thing is very interesting about this discovery: it may indicate where water came from that eventually ended up on Earth and allowed for the development of life.

“This was such a surprising discovery. We tend to think that objects in the sky have always been the way we view them, but in this case the face that is so familiar to us — the Man on the Moon — changed,” planetary scientist Matt Siegler at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, said in a statement. “Billions of years ago, heating within the Moon’s interior caused the face we see to shift upward as the pole physically changed positions. It would be as if Earth’s axis relocated from Antarctica to Australia. As the pole moved, the Man on the Moon turned his nose up at the Earth.”

Vesta Trek the NASA tool to navigate in 3D the Asteroid

2015-04-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

NASA has launched a new section of its website to host the application Vesta Trek, which aims to provide a detailed view of the giant asteroid Vesta. The application works in browsers allowing anyone to explore Vesta in detail thanks to its interactive maps. Among the tools, there is also one that allows you to export topographic elements to recreate a 3D printing file of Vesta.

If you want to know everything about Vesta and the other Ephemeris asteroids I advice you this comprehensive book: The Asteroid Ephemeris 1900 to 2050: Ceres Pallas Juno Vesta, Chrion & the Black Moon Lilith

The giant asteroid Vesta is now widely known thanks to the fact that the space probe Dawn has studied orbiting it for over a year between July 2011 and September 2012. In November 2014 were even published geological maps of Vesta who revealed details never seen before featuring its surface.

If this is not enough, now you can make a virtual tour of Vesta on your browser thanks to Vesta Trek. It was developed by the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP) of NASA, which provides analysis and data visualization tools for lunar missions to scientists. Vesta Trek is the first application of the team of LMMP beyond the Moon.

When the application Vesta Trek is activated, the user is asked if he wants to take a tour of the available features. It is a help for those who do not know Vesta yet, and includes a series of short explanations of the tools and various applications of Vesta Trek.

This application can be useful for researchers who want to analyze the information collected by the space probe Dawn of Vesta but also to amateurs who want to know more. So this is a scientific instrument and at the same time as an interactive experience to move on the surface of this giant asteroid.

Among the tools available in Vesta Trek there is one that allows you to export topographic features to play with a 3D printer. You can select the area to recreate, by a single element to the entire asteroid.

Vesta Trek is an advanced tool that uses Internet technologies to help research and even science. If you want to know everything about Vesta and the other Ephemeris asteroids I advice you this comprehensive book: The Asteroid Ephemeris 1900 to 2050: Ceres Pallas Juno Vesta, Chrion & the Black Moon Lilith

View From the Dark Side of The Moon. Different Perspectives.

2015-03-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

The dark side of the Moon is the part of the Moon not visible from Earth. But how the Earth looks like from the Dark Side of the Moon? In this video by NASA you could see the Earth dance reconstructed by computer graphics.

Enjoy the Video.

Tycho Central Moon Peak Image from LRO

2015-03-30T17:34:00.001-07:00

A spectacular image of Tycho Central Peak on the Moon. The stunningly beautiful Tycho Central Peak rests inside an impact crater and has a boulder over 100 meters wide at its summit. It showcases a breathtaking view of the lunar landscape.

Enjoy the view.

Amazing Visual Size Comparison Between Planets and Stars. Video

2015-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought what how small is the Earth compared to Jupiter or Saturn or the Sun?
The Earth is small. And smaller and smaller it appears as the Earth is compared to the know Stars until to arrive to the largest known Star that is enormous (VY Canis Majoris) in respect to the sizes we are used to in our Solar System.

Enjoy the beautiful animation.

Video. Visual size Comparison between Planets and Stars.

Life Beyond Earth. 6 Places Where it Could Have Been Emerged in our Solar System

2015-03-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Is there Life beyond Earth? Could our home the Solar System hide Life in some remote or not Planet, Meteorite, Moon or Satellite? Man has always turned his gaze to the sky wondering: are we alone in the Universe? This is the question in a few that deeply touches the human soul and motivates him to seek and explore.

Do you ever wonder if we are alone in the Universe? If yes let's go to explore our Solar System looking for signs of Life.

Let us begin from our neighbors.

How to start our research? A first hint can come from analyzing the zone around the Sun where gravity and temperature is suitable for keeping liquid water.That zone around a Star is called Goldilock or Habitable zone.

solar system habitable zone

As you can see the Planets included in the the Solar system habitable zone are 3: Venus, Earth (thank God) and Mars. We can exclude Venus that despite the name associated with the Goddess of Love is essentially a hell! Scientists believe that Venus probably had water at one time in the past, but conditions in the atmosphere caused the planet to become too hot and all of the water has evaporated into space. Its atmosphere is 100 times as massive as Earth’s, which means the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus is 90 times that of Earth. The carbon dioxide atmosphere on Venus acts is a greenhouse gas and as a result, the surface of Venus has an average temperature of 460°C. So let's go ahead, go to land on Mars!

Life on Mars?

Mars probably is the most studied Planet in Solar System. Many missions including Mariners 4,6,7 and 9, the Viking orbiters and landers 1 and 2, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Spirit, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Phoenix have orbited and actually landed on the surface of Mars to study the Planet and in search of life.

Now pictures of Mars soil are so frequent and high resolution that everybody have a clear understanding of what we could find on Mars.

Mars 4.5 billions years ago

But what about life? What has changed from when in 1877, the italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed Mars through his telescope and observed what he thought were handmade canals? What we know now is that in the past oceans covered the Mars surface. The Scientists have developed a picture of what it would have appeared Mars in the past.

That is impressive since similarly to Earth, on Mars Life could have been developed in the oceans covering his surface.

Some missions have searched for microbes in the dusty surface of Mars by collecting samples of soil, adding water and other nutrients and measuring the gas output. So far such experiments and other have not yielded evidence of any organisms. Even if some year ago one picture taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seemed to catch a forest on the Mars surface. Look at the high resolution picture.

The other Solar System's Planet are outside of the Habitable Zone but local conditions could have been suitable to develop life. Especially some Jupiter Moon can reserve some surprises.

Resources: The Planet Mars (all you want to know about Mars missions and Data)

Europa. Galileian Jupiter's Moon

Europa

Probably Europa is the most likely celestial body we know suitable to support developing life. Why? Its surface seems to be a thick layer of ice. Because of the way Europa’s magnetic field seems to behave, astronomers suspect that beneath the ice on Europa there is a global ocean of saltwater.

The water probably remains liquid because of tidal heating from Europa’s interaction with Jupiter and the other large moons. It is not clear how thick the ice is or how deep the ocean is. The ice and water combined are probably a shell between 70 and 170 km thick on top of a rocky surface. The ice is most likely at least 3-4 km thick, and may be as thick as 25 km.

This environment might be similar to some of the underground lakes in Antarctica that are being explored and likely contain life. Some mission are planned to go on Europa to look for life inside the icy crust.

What have we to expect from Europa liquid inner oceans? Marine monsters? We will see it.

Resources insights: Unmasking Europa: The Search for Life on Jupiter's Ocean Moon

Ganymede. Jupiter's Moon

Ganymede, another Jupiter Moon has some environments suitable for life. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system also seems to have a saltwater ocean beneath an ice crust. The energy from the tidal interactions between Ganymede and the other Galilean moons should not generate enough energy to keep saltwater liquid on this moon, and astronomers think the water is probably kept liquid by a liquid iron core inside the moon, and the insulation of a the ice which is hundreds of kilometers thick. Ganymede also seems to have a very thin atmosphere.

Recently a team at NASA by means of Hubble telescope picture has been capable to demonstrate the existence of the salt oceans underneath the Ganymede crust.

In particular not only Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system but the only moon with its own magnetic field. The magnetic field causes aurorae, which are ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas, in regions circling the north and south poles of the moon. Because Ganymede is close to Jupiter, it is also embedded in Jupiter’s magnetic field. When Jupiter’s magnetic field changes, the aurorae on Ganymede also change, “rocking” back and forth.

By watching the rocking motion of the two aurorae, scientists were able to determine that a large amount of saltwater exists beneath Ganymede’s crust affecting its magnetic field.

The situation is similar to that of Europa. A salt liquid ocean is perhaps suitable to develop life and in billion of years it could be likely.

Callisto. Jupiter's Moon

callisto inner structure

It also seems to have a liquid ocean beneath a thick ice crust. The liquid water is likely to have ammonia and salts dissolved in it which lower the freezing point of water. Some heat is probably generated by radioactive elements in the rocks on Callisto and this seems to be enough to maintain the liquid water.

For years Callisto has been thought a dead Moon but the presence of liquid salt water between ammonia could furnish the base elements for developing life even if the life conditions would be very extreme in those places.

On Earth have been discovered a third class of microorganisms. These microbes called archaeabacteria, or simply "archaea", constitute a third branch of life on Earth, along with prokaryotes (normal bacteria) and eukaryotes (plants and animals). Like prokaryotes, the genetic material of archaeabacteria float freely throughout the cell -- they are not contained within the cell nucleus like eukaryotic organisms. However, the DNA of archaeabacteria more closely resemble that of plants and animals than normal bacteria. They are truly in a class by themselves, and if life is discovered elsewhere in the solar system it may be similar to the archaeabacteria of Earth.

Titan. Saturn's Moon

Titan - in black liquid methan lakes

Well Titan! It is the only moon in the solar system that has a significant atmosphere. The atmosphere is about 1.5 times the atmospheric pressure on Earth and is composed mainly of nitrogen and a small amount of methane. Titan’s surface is very cold, about -180°C, and is covered in lakes or perhaps even oceans of liquid methane. Methane may exist as a solid liquid and gas on Titan, and may behave much like water does on Earth, regulating climate and causing weather. Lightning has not been detected in the atmosphere, but over the course of billions of years, amino acids and other complex molecules might have had time to develop.

Particularly interesting is an experiment conducted recently by graduate student James Stevenson, astronomer Jonathan Lunine and chemical engineer Paulette Clancy.

How could life have been developed on Titan without water

Titan, the giant and cold moon of Saturn, hosts methane-ethane seas and an atmosphere that follow a cycle as on Earth but based not on the water cycle but on methane. Titan is a planetary body awash with seas not of water, but of liquid methane, it could harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells that metabolize, reproduce and do everything as life on Earth does.

James Stevenson, Jonathan Lunine and Paulette Clancy theorized cell membrane, composed of small organic nitrogen compounds and capable of functioning in liquid methane temperatures of 292 degrees below zero. Their research is published in Science Advances, Feb. 27 - 2015.

On Earth, life is based on the phospholipid bilayer membrane, the strong, permeable, water-based vehicle that houses the organic matter of every cell. A vehicle made from such a membrane is called a liposome. But what if cells weren’t based on water, but on methane, which has a much lower freezing point? The engineers named their theorized cell membrane an “azotosome,” “azote” being the French word for nitrogen. “Liposome” comes from the Greek “lipos” and “soma” to mean “lipid body;” by analogy, “azotosome” means “nitrogen body.”

Titan could be the ideal place to develop life based on Azotosome!

Titan exploration

Titan soil

Titan has been already subjected to exploration and also to a landing mission. Huygens was the atmospheric entry probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft ever to land on Titan.

The probe was also equipped by a microphone that returned a sound. That is one of the firsts sound to be recorded in an alien environment.

You can hear it here: sound from Titan.

Even if Huygens images do not reveal any Titan Azotosome inhabitant walking around it is believed that some living form could really exist in methane lakes.

Due to the very interesting Saturn Titan and Enceladus system it has been planned a new mission to be launched on 2020. Here are the details.

Resources: if you want to read more about Titan and achieve more detailed data you should read the book: Titan Unveiled: Saturn's Mysterious Moon Explored. I did it and enjoyed a lot! Have good read.

Enceladus, Saturn Moon

Enceladus has some very surprising features that make it very interesting in seeking for extraterrestrial life.

It is white and reflects almost 100% of the light that strikes it. It also has geysers on its surface that shoot out jets of water with ammonia and organic compounds.

The temperatures near these geysers are likely very high, while the rest of the moon is very cold with an average temperature of about 220 °C.

The Saturn moon Enceladus harbors a big ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust that may be capable of supporting life as we know it.

The water ocean on Enceladus is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep and lies beneath a shell of ice 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 km) thick, researchers said. Further, it's in direct contact with a rocky seafloor, theoretically making possible all kinds of complex chemical reactions such as, perhaps, the kind that led to the rise of life on Earth.

Conclusion

If you arrived at the conclusion of this post it means you are really interested in life beyond Earth. Moreover We talked about the Solar Systems possibilities and we found 6 places where life could have developed in the past or could develop in the future.

That is incredible how much things we could learn about our home the Solar System and soon we could have a proof that we are not alone even in our environment.

What do you think about? I'd like to hear from you.

Science Milestones - Facts that Changed our Understanding of Nature

2015-03-04T17:29:00.003-08:00

This page is intended to give you advices about some great readings in Science. Starting from the fundamental up to more advanced subjects here are the Milestones of any advancement in Mankind understanding of Nature and Our Universe and how those discoveries affected our life. I am a Theoretical Physicist so the list could be influenced by my tastes and from what I consider most important. You are adviced!

Clearly it's impossible to cover all the subjects in one post so the list should be taken not as definitive but always in progress. Very much appreciated would be your suggestions.

Any cited milestone would report the original paper, if available somewhere, and some readings to study in deep the subject or some readings outreach if the original paper is too technical.

I apologize if I forget some fundamental facts or discoveries, but as I wrote before, it's a matter of tastes and the list is in progress, you can suggest!

So let's start.

The 13 Discoveries that Changed our Understanding of Nature

How I said before now the number is 13, but it could change! Everytime I remember some fundamental facts I would be glad to update the # of listed works. Also I want your suggestions. So please leave your advices in comments.

#1 - The Solar System: From Ptolemaic to the Copernican system

In 1543, while on his deathbed, Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus published his theory that the Sun is a motionless body at the center of the solar system, with the planets revolving around it. Before the Copernicum system was introduced, astronomers believed the Earth was at the center of the universe according to Ptolemaic Theory.

To understand the difference between the 2 systems any so called "Physicist" should read the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican. It is a classic reading that show how the foundations of the newtonian physics did were created. And the good thing is this is a suitable book for everyone from the layman to the PHD, easy to read, requires nothing more than basic mathematical concepts and imagination.

#2 - Gravity

Isaac Newton, mathematician and physicist, is considered the greatest scientist of all time. Among his many discoveries, the most important is probably his law of universal gravitation. In 1664, Newton figured out that gravity is the force that draws objects toward each other. It explained why things fall down and why the planets orbit around the Sun. It is famous the anecdote according to he saw an apple fall down from the tree and he got the inspiration.

Newton's Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (Illustrated) (English Edition). This is a Classical Book here in digital format and illustrated. This version is very cheap. A must read!

#3 - Electricity

Now we cannot imagine our life without electricity. Electricity discovery and its utilization have really change the World. Michael Faraday made two big discoveries that changed our lives. In 1821, he discovered that when a wire carrying an electric current is placed next to a single magnetic pole, the wire will rotate. This led to the development of the electric motor. Ten years later, he became the first person to produce an electric current by moving a wire through a magnetic field. Faraday's experiment created the first generator, the forerunner of the huge generators that produce electricity.

Talking of Electricity how to forget Maxwell J. C. His most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as manifestations of the same phenomenon.

Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics. This is the story of how these two men - separated in age by forty years - discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radically new theory which overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had prevailed since Newton's time.

#4 - Evolution

When Charles Darwin, the British naturalist, came up with the theory of evolution in 1859, he changed our idea of how life on earth developed. Darwin argued that all organisms evolve, but the right word is not evolve but change, very slowly over time. These changes are adaptations that allow a species to survive in its environment. These adaptations happen by chance. If a species doesn't adapt, it may become extinct. He called this process natural selection or the survival of the fittest.

On the origin of species. This is the anniversary edition of the Origin of Species and it is one of the best editions available and a highly recommended book, especially for students and newcomers in Darwin's world. A must read.
If you do not know so much of Evolution here it is an enjoyable reading for non Scientists: The Theory of Evolution: What It Is, Where It Came From, and Why It Works by Cynthia Mills. The author shows here her ability to summarize so much information into an enjoyable read. It is a great book for an introductory course, as it is such a concise overview of theories leading up to Darwin's and continuing to new theories. The last quarter of the book is dedicated to the newer theories. The rich bibliography gives also new material to read.

#5 - Bacteria

Before French chemist Louis Pasteur began experimenting with bacteria in the 1860s, people did not know what caused disease. He not only discovered that disease came from microorganisms, but he also realized that bacteria could be killed by heat and disinfectant. This idea caused doctors to wash their hands and sterilize their instruments, which has saved millions of lives.

Pasteur and Modern Science. This is Dubos's classic biography of Louis Pasteur, originally published in 1960 and for several years out of print is once again made available in this new and expanded hardcover edition. The original work has been enlarged by more than forty illustrations and tables, a new biographical sketch of Dubos, a glossary of technical terms and a chronological outline of Pasteur's career. The book's enduring appeal is a tribute both to its subject and to its author.

#6 - The Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which was published in 1905, explains the relationships between speed, time and distance. The theory states that the speed of light always remains the same—186,000 miles/second (300,000 km/second) regardless of how fast someone or something is moving toward or away from it. This theory became the foundation for much of modern sciences.

Who better than Einstein himself can explain Relativity? Even Special than General. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory. After completing the final version of his general theory of relativity in November 1915, Albert Einstein wrote a book about relativity for a popular audience. His intention was "to give an exact insight into the theory of relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics." The book remains one of the most lucid explanations of the special and general theories ever written. In the early 1920s alone, it was translated into ten languages, and fifteen editions in the original German appeared over the course of Einstein's lifetime. This new edition of Einstein's celebrated book features an authoritative English translation of the text along with an introduction and a reading companion by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jurgen Renn that examines the evolution of Einstein's thinking and casts his ideas in a broader present-day context.

#7 - The Big Bang Theory

How did the Universe come into existence? Many Scientists believe that it happened about 13.7
billion years ago with a massive explosion, called the Big Bang. In 1927, Georges Lemaître proposed the Big Bang theory of the birth of the Universe. The theory says that all the matter in the Universe was originally compressed into a tiny dot. In a fraction of a second, the dot expanded, and all the matter instantly filled what is now our universe. The event marked the beginning of time. Scientific observations seem to confirm the theory. How the expansion of the Universe occurred is now under study and many theories have raised. The most accredited is Inflation but it brings some Cosmological intrinsic paradoxes that are difficult to digest. Literature about Big Bang is boundless but here are some hints.

Georges Lemaître: Life, Science and Legacy: 395. The papers presented in this book examine in detail the historical, cosmological, philosophical and theological issues surrounding the development of the Big Bang theory from its beginnings in the pioneering work of Lemaître through to the modern day.This book offers the best account in English of Lemaître’s life and work.
A Brief History Of Time: From Big Bang To Black Holes. This is a Classical informative book written by the famous Scientist Stephen Hawking. A must read! Most people know that Hawking is a brilliant physicist, but after reading this book, one develops a respect for his other talents as well. Most noticeable is Stephen Hawking's ability to make very complicated ideas seem quite clear through good explanations, clear comparisons to real life events, and a soft humor.

#8 - Penicillin

Antibiotics are powerful drugs that kill dangerous bacteria in our bodies that make us sick. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, which he grew in his lab using mold and fungi. Without antibiotics, infections like strep throat could be deadly. A great advancement for Medicine!

Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution. This is an excellent history of the long road to the use of penicillin for treating infectious diseases. The book provides interesting background about Fleming, his family, his career, and his personality that impacted his discovery of penicillin and influenced his attempts to isolate the drug in sufficient quantities for animal and clinical testing.

#9 - DNA

On February 28, 1953, James Watson of the United States and Francis Crick of England made one of the greatest scientific discoveries in history. The two scientists found the double-helix structure of DNA. It’s made up of two strands that twist around each other and have an almost endless variety of chemical patterns that create instructions for the human body to follow. Our genes are made of DNA and determine how things like what color hair and eyes we’ll have. In 1962, they were awarded the Nobel Prize for this work. The discovery has helped doctors understand diseases and may someday prevent some illnesses like heart disease and cancer.

Francis Crick and James Watson: And the Building Blocks of Life. The names of James Watson and Francis Crick are bound together forever because the scientific discovery they made was truly a joint enterprise. As Edward Edelson reveals in this intriguing biography, Watson and Crick were the first to describe the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, the molecule that carries our genes and determines everything from the color of our eyes to the shape of our fingernails. Even though Watson and Crick's collaboration lasted only a few years, their achievement was enough to tie their names together forever in the history of science and to establish a firm footing for what was then a radical new branch of science: molecular biology. In doing so, they paved the way for the early detection of genetic diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, and for new scientific leaps such as animal cloning.

#10 - Periodic Table of The Elements

The Periodic Table is based on the 1869 Periodic Law proposed by Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev. He had noticed that, when arranged by atomic weight, the chemical elements lined up to form groups with similar properties. He was able to use this to predict the existence of undiscovered elements and note errors in atomic weights. In 1913, Henry Moseley of England confirmed that the table could be made more accurate by arranging the elements by atomic number, which is the number of protons in an atom of the element.

Here I can just advice a visual exploration of the periodic table of the elements The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe. The Periodic Table is huge and intricate and seen to be a thing for only Scientists to worry about. This book allows all to have access to what the symbols and two-letter Scrabble words that everyone thinks must be cheating actually mean and also where we can encounter them in everyday life. From Batteries to Toothpaste, Einsteinium to toy cars, it's truly awe-inspiring to find out how many of these elements we really know in other forms. The Author allows us to see materials in their stunning raw form and then tells us their history, discovery and where they are used. This is the coffee table book of the Science world but also an amazing collection by a man that is passionate about how the materials featured make up the world around us and wanting to make this accessible to a wider audience.

#11 - X-Rays

Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered X-rays in 1895. X-rays go right through some substances, like flesh and wood, but are stopped by others, such as bones and lead. This allows them to be used to see broken bones or explosives inside suitcases, which makes them useful for doctors and security officers. For this discovery, Roentgen was awarded the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

The Mystery of a New Kind of Rays: The Story of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen and His Discovery of X-Rays. A German scientist, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, is the main character in this book. His experimental expertise was the key element in his successful science career. When he saw something unusual as he pursued one of his experiments, he investigated to learn more. Long before Roentgen discovered x-rays many other scientists around the world had seen unusual effects, including fogging of film or electrical changes, effects that they never followed up and that later proved to have resulted from x-rays. So many scientists had the opportunity to discover x-rays. Roentgen was the only one who persisted. He learned much about these new rays, and, even though he had some misgivings about his conclusions about a new kind of rays, accepted the challenge to inform fellow scientists about his discovery. His discovery was the start of many new ideas that changed the world perception of science – and changed the lives of Roentgen and his wife Bertha. Roentgen’s story is inspiring and unusual, in that he had to overcome many obstacles on his long journey to become a recognized scientist and teacher. Even after he had earned his doctorate in physics his unusual education path to an advanced degree presented problems. He persisted; his story may inspire the reader not to give up in the pursuit of a goal.

#12 - Quantum Theory

Danish physicist Niels Bohr is considered one of the most important figures in modern physics. He won a 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on the structure of an atom and for his work in the development of the quantum theory. Although he help develop the atomic bomb, he frequently promoted the use of atomic power for peaceful purposes.

Quantum Physics For Dummies. Quantum Physics For Dummies helps make quantum physics understandable and accessible. From what quantum physics can do for the world to understanding hydrogen atoms, readers will get complete coverage of the subject, along with numerous examples to help them tackle the tough equations. Coverage includes: The Schrodinger Equation and its Applications - The Foundations of Quantum Physics - Vector Notation - Spin - Scattering Theory, Angular Momentum, and more

#13 - The Man on The Moon

This is not a discovery but a giant achievement for Mankind. I want to mention it to remember how far can lead the determination of Man up to achieve to sail alien and unknown worlds. The pics of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin represented for the first and unique time until today the entire Human species walking together and in peace toward a goal thought impossible but came true!

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. The race to the moon was won spectacularly by Apollo 11 on 20 July 1969. When astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their 'giant step' across a ghostly lunar landscape, they were watched by some 600 million people on Earth 250,000 miles away. 'A Man on the Moon' is the definitive account of the heroic Apollo programme: from the tragedy of the fire in Apollo 1 during a simulated launch, through the euphoria of the first moonwalk, to the discoveries made by the first scientist in space aboard Apollo 17. Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the astronauts and team, this is the story of the twentieth century's greatest human achievement, minute-by-minute, in the words of those who were there.

Conclusion

Probably I forgot to cite some fundamental fact in science advancements, and you are encouraged to suggest. If you find any mistake please also tell me. Do not forget to click over the images to see them in fullscreen and lightbox.

If you arrived at the conclusions you deserve my compliments since the post is various and extremely long. But if you liked it please consider to share it on your social channels.

Do you know any fundamental milestone in science advancements?

Ceres and its Shiny Spots

2015-03-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

A pair of mysterious shiny patches that reflect sunlight have been found on Ceres. The bright spots were imaged by the Dawn spacecraft, which is whizzing through space on its way to Ceres, and should arrive in orbit on March 6. It'll be the first spacecraft to study a protoplanet at such close range.

What is Ceres?

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and was discovered in 1801. It's about 950 kilometres wide, and prior observation tells us that it consists of a mix of rock and frozen water.

Possible origins of Ceres Shiny Spots

The possibile origins of the Ceres shiny spots could be:

It is suspected that the frozen water might be the cause of the shiny patches. Most of Ceres' ice is hidden below the surface, but when it bumps into other objects in the asteroid belt it could expose patches of this type. That's the working hypothesis, anyway. Though it's countered by the fact that the shiny patches are only reflecting about 40 percent of the light falling on them. Ice should reflect nearly 100 percent. That's being explained away as a result of Dawn's distance from the target.
The bright spots are due to cryovolcanic eruptions driven by radioactivity deep inside the protoplanet, which spew ice, rather than lava, out onto the surface. Water vapour measurements back this hypothesis, but they could also have come from ice.
It's not ice at all, but actually a class of minerals called magnesium silicates that have been detected on other asteroids. There are not yet any evidence of this on Ceres, making it the least likely possibility.

The Dawn spacecraft will take photos as it approaches, and then many more once it arrives in orbit and properly orients itself to face the surface.

In short, this is one astronomical mystery that likely won't go unsolved for long.

What do you think about?

Black Hole Evolution. The Missing Link.

2015-03-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

Black holes observed generally are stellar-sized or supermassive. Medium size between the two are so difficult to find that Scientists are puzzled with the missing link understanding of Black hole evolution.

Supermassive black holes are discovered, observed and classified frequently. They are black holes devouring matter in an accretion disc. But recently astronomers have located a medium-sized black hole in the NGC 2276 host galaxy, 100 million light years away.

The black hole is extremely rare and it could be the missing link in black hole evolution. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network found the black hole, thanks to radio waves from energetic sources in the cosmos.

Intermediate-mass black holes are notoriously difficult to find, and the one in question, NGC-2276-3c, is extremely important to astronomers. The black hole has qualities representative of both stellar-sized black holes and supermassive black holes so it helps tie the whole black hole family together.

The astronomers are researching how NGC-2276-3c reached its host galaxy. They believe the black hole may have formed in a dwarf galaxy before merging with NGC 2276. Studying NGC-2276-3c could help scientists better understand black hole growth and how black holes become supermassive in their respective galaxies.

Solar System Simulation and Map of the sky

2014-12-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Do you look for a Solar System simulation and a Map of the Sky? Here it is a great resource online where you can simulate the solar system behavior. Also it is possible to consult a vast database of information on the Solar System Planets, Satellites and bodies. You can also go near each planet and see the best images known of that planet.

You can also find information over the maps of the sky in your location.

The next video shows the pro features of Solar System Scope.

Video. How Solar System Scope Works and its Potentialities

Waiting Orion deep Space Mission We Celebrate Apollo Missions

2014-12-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

During last day everybody is talking about Orion, i.e. the new generation NASA’s spacecraft. Orion is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before (see infographic here). Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

On December 5, 2014, Orion launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex Flight Test on the Orion Flight Test: a two-orbit, four-hour flight that tested many of the systems most critical to safety.

The Orion Flight Test evaluated launch and high speed re-entry systems such as avionics, attitude control, parachutes and the heat shield.

In the future, Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. More powerful than any rocket ever built, SLS will be capable of sending humans to deep space destinations such as an asteroid and eventually Mars. Exploration Mission-1 will be the first mission to integrate Orion and the Space Launch System.

But in the meantime we want to celebrate another series of spacecraft capable to bring Humanity over the moon. The Apollo spacecraft whose symbol is the famous picture of Buzz Aldrin over the Moon soil. We hope to see soon another Astronaut over the Martian soil.

What do u think about? Leave a comment and share, make me a favour.

Humans to Mars and back Safely to Earth - Infographic

2014-12-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

The new frontier of Space explorations is to bring Humans to Mars. NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s. Those goals have been outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010.

Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth?

While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA’s path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health.

The next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these “proving ground” missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.

A fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers already are on and around Mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore Mars. Future missions like the Mars 2020 rover, seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars.

Engineers and scientists around the country are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one day live and work on Mars, and safely return home from the next giant leap for humanity. NASA also is a leader in a Global Exploration Roadmap, working with international partners and the U.S. commercial space industry on a coordinated expansion of human presence into the solar system, with human missions to the surface of Mars as the driving goal.

Philae Drifting Across the Comet. Rosetta Mission Images

2014-11-30T17:56:00.002-08:00

The Philae lander of Rosetta mission while approaching the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. After first touch down it moved to the final position showed.

The stunning mosaic comprises a series of images captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera over a 30 minute period spanning the first touchdown. The time of each of image is marked on the corresponding insets and is in GMT. A comparison of the touchdown area shortly before and after first contact with the surface is also provided. (Touchdown occurred at 15:34 GMT spacecraft time (with the signal received on Earth at 16:03 GMT); the image marked 'touchdown point' was taken afterwards, at 15:43 GMT, but clearly shows the evidence of the touchdown event when comparing with an image taken previously.)

The images were taken with Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera when the spacecraft was 17.5 km from the comet centre, or roughly 15.5 km from the surface. They have a resolution of 28 cm/pixel and the enlarged insets are 17 x 17 m.

From left to right, the images show Philae descending towards and across the comet before touchdown. The image taken after touchdown, at 15:43 GMT, confirms that the lander was moving east, as first suggested by the data returned by the CONSERT experiment, and at a speed of about 0.5 m/s.

The final location of Philae is shown in the image below.

Here is a description of the Philae journey to land the Comet.

Philae Rosetta Mission Instruments

What are the instruments carried by Philae over the Comet?

Rosetta's probe, Philae, has ten instruments onboard. All instruments have now been deployed:

APXS: The 'Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer' is designed to study the chemical composition of the landing site and track any potential changes during the comet's approach to the sun.

Civa: This stands for 'Comet Nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyser'. The instrument is made up of six cameras and is able to take take panoramic pictures of the comet surface.

Consert: The 'Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission' studies the internal structure of the comet.

Cosac: An instrument used to detect and identify complex organic moleculed. Cosac stands for 'Cometary Sampling and Composition'

Ptolemy: This instrument is used to understand the geochemistry of light elements, such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

Mupus: The 'Multi-purpose Sensors for Surface and Sub-Surface Science' instrument studies the properties of the comet surface and sub-surface

Rolis: The 'Rosetta Lander Imaging System' provided some of the the first close-up images of the landing site

Romap: Philae's 'Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor' is designed to study the magnetic field and plasma environment of the comet

SD2: This is the lander's drill, and was today deployed in order to collect material from the comet for analysis

Sesame: The 'Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment' looks at the electrical parameters of the comet

Here is the map of the instruments the Philae lander of Rosetta mission is carrying to study and investigate the Comet soil.

ESA has prepared also a stunning promotional short Movie of Rosetta Mission that celebrates the Mankind Ambition to fulfill so difficult and tricky mission. A great step forward for Human knowledge. Here you can find Ambition the short movie.

What u think about Rosetta Mission? Leave a comment and let me know.

Ah, did you like the post? Make me a favour, Share it with your friends!

Black Holes Simulation. 2 merging into 1

2014-11-28T07:44:00.001-08:00

Black Holes have raised huge interest last days due to the Science Fiction Movie Interstellar. But even the movie explains nor common people knows exactly what Black Holes really are. At Fair Science we are preparing a special edition on Black Holes for dummies, so stay tuned and give us suggestions on the comments. Here is a taste:

A black hole is a massive object whose gravitational field is so intense that no light (electromagnetic radiation) can escape it. When two orbiting black holes merge, a massive amount of energy is released in the form of jets. Meanwhile, the movement of these massive bodies disturbs the fabric of space-time around them, sending ripples of gravitational waves radiating outward. These waves are predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, but have yet to be directly detected.

In this video, we see a closer look at the center of a spiral galaxy reveals a pair of black holes locked in a death spiral. When they merge, the massive amount of energy is released in the form of jets.

Taday let's have a look to a Video from NASA about Two Black Hole merging into 1. An interstellar fight between Black holes!

Video. 2 Black Holes Merging into 1

Why Europa sea might just be the perfect place to find life beyond Earth

2014-11-23T17:26:00.001-08:00

A high resolution image of the Europa, the Jupiter Icy Moon, has been released by NASA. The new image following the lowest quality released in 2001 is showing the stunning diversity of Europa's surface geology. Long, linear cracks and ridges crisscross the surface, interrupted by regions of disrupted terrain where the surface ice crust has been broken up and re-frozen into new patterns.

Color variations across the surface are associated with differences in geologic feature type and location. For example, areas that appear blue or white contain relatively pure water ice, while reddish and brownish areas include non-ice components in higher concentrations. The polar regions, visible at the left and right of this view, are noticeably bluer than the more equatorial latitudes, which look more white. This color variation is thought to be due to differences in ice grain size in the two locations.

Here you can find the full resolutions Europa Image.
To do this, NASA used images collected by Galileo on its 1st and 14th orbits through the Jovian system in 1995 and 1998. It then combined photos that were taken through near-infrared, green and violet filters to create the image above.

In addition to the reworked photo, NASA has just released this video of why Europa and its ocean (which theories say might be 10 times deeper than our own) might be ripe for life and future exploration, and why astronomers consider it a "game changer."

Video. The Ocean World of Europa. Signs of Extraterrestrial Life

What is the Water Origin on Earth? Was Earth all Land at The Beginning?

2014-11-02T04:30:00.002-08:00

The most accredited version is the Water Origin on Earth is from high energy impacts with comets or asteroids rich in ice.

A recent scientific study from Massachusetts' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on the planet's water origin found that the oceans have always been present and weren't formed in a late process as previously imagined.

The co-author of the research and the geologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hold, Massachusetts said that many scientists argued that any water present on Earth at its molten beginning "would have evaporated or been blown off into space." The popular theory about the origin of earth's ocean is that it arrived later by means of collisions with water-laden comets and asteroids, explained in their statement.

Recent study also found evidence that runs counter to the idea that Earth's surface water came hundreds of millions of years later.

The researchers looked at the most ancient known meteorites, called carbonaceous chondrites. These space bodies were formed in the same environment in which the sun was born, about 4.6 billion years ago.

The researchers compared carbonaceous chondrites to meteorites, said to have originated from the large asteroid Vesta, which formed some 14 million years after the birth of the solar system.

Co-author Sune Nielsen, also at Woods Hole, said, "These primitive meteorites resemble the bulk solar system composition. They have quite a lot of water in them, and have been thought of before as candidates for the origin of Earth's water."

Measurements show that meteorites from Vesta have the same chemical makeup as the carbonaceous chondrites and rocks found here on Earth. According to the scientists, the findings demonstrate that carbonaceous chondrites are likely responsible for most of the planet's water.

"The study shows that Earth's water most likely accreted at the same time as the rock," Marschall said. "The planet formed as a wet planet with water on the surface."

"Knowing that water came early to the inner solar system also means that the other inner planets could have been wet early and evolved life before they became the harsh environments they are today," said Nielsen.

The study gives a new perspective, a reorientation on the first signs of water on Earth as well as first appearance of life.

Rosetta probe discovered the Comet scent. Ambition Short Video

2014-10-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Rosetta probe's Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) has been using its two mass spectrometers to detect the "smell" of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

From its position in orbit around the comet, ROSINA was able to detect the chemical makeup of 67P/C-G's coma -- the halo of material surrounding the comet, which increases in intensity as the comet nears the sun and heats up, causing parts of it to sublimate.

At 400 million kilometres (250 million miles) from the sun, the Rosetta team thought the coma would only contain the comet's most volatile molecules -- carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide -- but it is much richer than previously thought.

As of September 11, the ROSINA team knew that the coma contained (in gas form) water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and methanol.

The new measurements have detected the presence of formaldehyde, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen cyanide, sulphur dioxide and carbon disulphide -- albeit in relatively low density.

This heady melange - aside from being quit toxic to humans - would smell quite vile.

"The perfume of 67P/C-G is quite strong, with the odour of rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide), horse stable (ammonia), and the pungent, suffocating odour of formaldehyde. This is mixed with the faint, bitter, almond-like aroma of hydrogen cyanide," said ROSINA principal investigator Kathrin Altwegg.

"Add some whiff of alcohol (methanol) to this mixture, paired with the vinegar-like aroma of sulphur dioxide and a hint of the sweet aromatic scent of carbon disulphide, and you arrive at the 'perfume' of our comet."

As 67P/C-G draws closer to the sun, it's expected that it will begin releasing more molecules. These -- and the changes in the comet's coma -- will allow the scientists to determine the composition of the comet itself. This, in turn, will allow comparison with other comets -- such as Siding Spring, which recently flew past Mars.

The 67P/C-G hails from the Kuiper Belt, within our solar system, and Siding Spring is from the Oort Cloud -- over 1,000 times further away from the sun than the Kuiper Belt. Comparing the two comets could help determine the composition of the nebula that gave birth to the sun and solar system.

The Rosetta Probe Mission and Ambition short film

The Rosetta mission is a very ambitious space program to chase a Comet. Also is planned a landing mission over the Comet to study further and deeper the composition of the Solar System at the beginning and the how liquid Water was originated over the Earth.

Watch the short Film over the Rosetta mission

The 10 Most Powerful Renewable Energy Sources

2014-10-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Renewable energy are defined as the energy that comes from sources which are naturally restored on a human timescale. These sources of energy provide in general a ‘cleaner’ source of energy, helping to avoid the effects of certain forms of pollution linked to traditional energy sources. The devices that works with renewable energy sources can be described as renewable since they are not depleting any resource to create the energy.

While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects and production, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development.

Here is the Top 10 of the Most Powerful Renewable Energy Sources starting from the less powerful.

10. Tidal Energy

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power.

Tidal energy can be generated in two ways:

tidal stream generators
barrage generation.

The power created though tidal generators is generally more environmentally friendly and causes less impact on established ecosystems. Similar to a wind turbine, many tidal stream generators rotate underwater and is driven by the swiftly moving dense water. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power.

Historically, tide mills have been used, both in Europe and on the Atlantic coast of the USA. The earliest occurrences date from the Middle Ages, or even from Roman times. Tidal power is the only form of energy which derives directly from the relative motions of the Earth–Moon system, and to a lesser extent from the Earth–Sun system. The tidal forces produced by the Moon and Sun, in combination with Earth’s rotation, are responsible for the generation of the tides. British company Lunar Energy announced that they would be building the world’s first tidal energy farm off the coast of Pembrokshire in Wales. It will be the world’s first deep-sea tidal-energy farm and will provide electricity for 5,000 homes. Eight underwater turbines, each 25 metres long and 15 metres high, are to be installed on the sea bottom off St David’s peninsula.

9. Wave Energy

Wave energy is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work — for example for electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs).

Wave energy can be difficult to harness due to the unpredictability of the ocean and wave direction. Wave farms have been created and are in use in Europe, using floating Pelamis Wave Energy converters. Most wave power systems include the use of a floating buoyed device and generate energy through a snaking motion, or by mechanical movement from the waves peaks and troughs. Though often co-mingled, wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave power generation is not currently a widely employed commercial technology although there have been attempts at using it since at least 1890.

The world’s first commercial wave farm is based in Portugal, at the Aguçadora Wave Park, which consists of three 750 kilowatt Pelamis devices. In the United States, the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative is funding the building of a commercial wave-power park at Reedsport, Oregon. The project will utilize the PowerBuoy technology Ocean Power Technologies which consists of modular, ocean-going buoys. The rising and falling of the waves moves the buoy-like structure creating mechanical energy which is converted into electricity and transmitted to shore over a submerged transmission line. A 40 kW buoy has a diameter of 12 feet (4 m) and is 52 feet (16 m) long, with approximately 13 feet of the unit rising above the ocean surface. Using the three-point mooring system, they are designed to be installed one to five miles (8 km) offshore in water 100 to 200 feet (60 m) deep.

8. Solar Power

Photovoltaic (PV) Solar power is harnessing the suns energy to produce electricity. One of the fastest growing energy sources, new technologies are developing at a rapid pace. Solar cells are becoming more efficient, transportable and even flexible, allowing for easy installation. PV has mainly been used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array. The 1973 oil crisis stimulated a rapid rise in the production of PV during the 1970s and early 1980s. Steadily falling oil prices during the early 1980s, however, led to a reduction in funding for photovoltaic R&D and a discontinuation of the tax credits associated with the Energy Tax Act of 1978.

These factors moderated growth to approximately 15% per year from 1984 through 1996. Since the mid-1990s, leadership in the PV sector has shifted from the US to Japan and Germany. Between 1992 and 1994 Japan increased R&D funding, established net metering guidelines, and introduced a subsidy program to encourage the installation of residential PV systems. Solar installations in recent years have also largely begun to expand into residential areas, with governments offering incentive programs to make “green” energy a more economically viable option. In Canada the government offers the RESOP (Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program).

7. Wind Power

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy by wind turbines into a useful form, such as electricity or mechanical energy. Large-scale wind farms are typically connected to the local power transmission network with small turbines used to provide electricity to isolated areas. Residential units are entering production and are are capable of powering large appliances to entire houses depending on the size.

Wind farms installed on agricultural land or grazing areas, have one of the lowest environmental impacts of all energy sources. Although wind produces only about 1.5% of worldwide electricity use, it is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008. In several countries it has achieved relatively high levels of penetration, accounting for approximately 19% of electricity production in Denmark, 11% in Spain and Portugal, and 7% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland in 2008. Wind energy has historically been used directly to propel sailing ships or converted into mechanical energy for pumping water or grinding grain, but the principal application of wind power today is the generation of electricity.

As of 2008, Europe leads the world in development of offshore wind power, due to strong wind resources and shallow water in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and limitations on suitable locations on land due to dense populations and existing developments. Denmark installed the first offshore wind farms, and for years was the world leader in offshore wind power until the United Kingdom gained the lead in October, 2008. Other large markets for wind power, including the United States and China focused first on developing their on-land wind resources where construction costs are lower (such as in the Great Plains of the U.S., and the similarly wind-swept steppes of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia in China), but population centers along coastlines in many parts of the world are close to offshore wind resources, which would reduce transmission costs.

6. Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste. Small scale hydro or micro-hydro power has been an increasingly popular alternative energy source, especially in remote areas where other power sources are not viable.

Small scale hydro power systems can be installed in small rivers or streams with little or no discernible environmental effect or disruption to fish migration. Most small scale hydro power systems make no use of a dam or major water diversion, but rather use water wheels to generate energy. This was approximately 19% of the world’s electricity (up from 16% in 2003), and accounted for over 63% of electricity from renewable sources. While many hydroelectric projects supply public electricity networks, some are created to serve specific industrial enterprises.

Dedicated hydroelectric projects are often built to provide the substantial amounts of electricity needed for aluminium electrolytic plants, for example. In the Scottish Highlands there are examples at Kinlochleven and Lochaber, constructed during the early years of the 20th century. The Grand Coulee Dam, long the world’s largest, switched to support Alcoa aluminum in Bellingham, Washington for America’s World War II airplanes before it was allowed to provide irrigation and power to citizens (in addition to aluminum power) after the war. In Suriname, the Brokopondo Reservoir was constructed to provide electricity for the Alcoa aluminium industry. New Zealand’s Manapouri Power Station was constructed to supply electricity to the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point.

5. Radiant Energy

This natural energy can perform the same wonders as ordinary electricity at less than 1% of the cost. It does not behave exactly like electricity, however, and this has contributed to the scientific community’s misunderstanding of it. The Methernitha Community in Switzerland currently has 5 or 6 working models of fuelless, self-running devices that tap this energy.

Nikola Tesla’s magnifying transmitter, T. Henry Moray’s radiant energy device, Edwin Gray’s EMA motor, and Paul Baumann’s Testatika machine all run on radiant energy. This natural energy form can be gathered directly from the environment or extracted from ordinary electricity by the method called fractionation.

One of the earliest wireless telephones to be based on radiant energy was invented by Nikola Tesla. The device used transmitters and receivers whose resonances were tuned to the same frequency, allowing communication between them. In 1916, he recounted an experiment he had done in 1896. He recalled that “Whenever I received the effects of a transmitter, one of the simplest ways [to detect the wireless transmissions] was to apply a magnetic field to currents generated in a conductor, and when I did so, the low frequency gave audible notes.”

4. Geothermal Power

Geothermal energy is a very powerful and efficient way to extract a renewable energy from the earth through natural processes.

This can be performed on a small scale to provide heat for a residential unit (a geothermal heat pump), or on a very large scale for energy production through a geothermal power plant. It has been used for space heating and bathing since ancient roman times, but is now better known for generating electricity.

Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly, but has previously been geographically limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for direct applications such as home heating. The largest group of geothermal power plants in the world is located at The Geysers, a geothermal field in California, United States. As of 2004, five countries (El Salvador, Kenya, the Philippines, Iceland, and Costa Rica) generate more than 15% of their electricity from geothermal sources. Geothermal power requires no fuel, and is therefore immune to fluctuations in fuel cost, but capital costs tend to be high. Drilling accounts for most of the costs of electrical plants, and exploration of deep resources entails very high financial risks. Geothermal power offers a degree of scalability: a large geothermal plant can power entire cities while smaller power plants can supply rural villages or heat individual homes. Geothermal electricity is generated in 24 countries around the world and a number of potential sites are being developed or evaluated.

3. Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. In this context, biomass refers to plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce for example trash such as dead trees and branches, yard clippings and wood chips biofuel, and it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers, chemicals or heat.

Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel. Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane, and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil). The particular plant used is usually not important to the end products, but it does affect the processing of the raw material.

Production of biomass is a growing industry as interest in sustainable fuel sources is growing. The existing commercial biomass power generating industry in the United States produces about 0.5 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Currently, the New Hope Power Partnership is the largest biomass power plant in North America. The facility reduces dependence on oil by more than one million barrels per year, and by recycling sugar cane and wood waste, preserves landfill space in urban communities in Florida.

2. Compressed Natural Gas

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline, diesel, or propane fuel. Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill (natural gas is lighter than air, and disperses quickly when released). CNG is used in traditional gasoline internal combustion engine cars that have been converted into bi-fuel vehicles (gasoline/CNG).

Natural gas vehicles are increasingly used in Europe and South America due to rising gasoline prices. In response to high fuel prices and environmental concerns, CNG is starting to be used also in light-duty passenger vehicles and pickup trucks, medium-duty delivery trucks, transit and school buses, and trains. Italy currently has the largest number of CNG vehicles in Europe and is the 4th country in the world for number of CNG-powered vehicles in circulation. Canada is a large producer of natural gas, so it follows that CNG is used in Canada as an economical motor fuel.

Canadian industry has developed CNG-fueled truck and bus engines, CNG-fueled transit buses, and light trucks and taxis. Both CNG and propane refueling stations are not difficult to find in major centers. During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded.

1. Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The only method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods might one day include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. All utility-scale reactors heat water to produce steam, which is then converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating electricity or propulsion.

In 2007, 14% of the world’s electricity came from nuclear power, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 56.5% of nuclear generated electricity. There are 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world, operating in 31 countries. According to the World Nuclear Association, globally during the 1980s one new nuclear reactor started up every 17 days on average, and by the year 2015 this rate could increase to one every 5 days. According to a 2007 story broadcast on 60 Minutes, nuclear power gives France the cleanest air of any industrialized country, and the cheapest electricity in all of Europe. France reprocesses its nuclear waste to reduce its mass and make more energy. Reprocessing can potentially recover up to 95% of the remaining uranium and plutonium in spent nuclear fuel, putting it into new mixed oxide fuel. This produces a reduction in long term radioactivity within the remaining waste, since this is largely short-lived fission products, and reduces its volume by over 90%. France is generally cited as the most successful reprocessor, but it presently only recycles 28% (by mass) of the yearly fuel use, 7% within France and another 21% in Russia.

Proponents of nuclear energy contend that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions and increases energy security by decreasing dependence on foreign oil. Proponents also emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors, and the operational safety record in the Western World is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants.

Critics believe that nuclear power is a potentially dangerous energy source, with decreasing proportion of nuclear energy in power production, and dispute whether the risks can be reduced through new technology. Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution, in contrast to the chief viable alternative of fossil fuel. Proponents also point out that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries. Critics point to the issue of storing radioactive waste, the history of and continuing potential for radioactive contamination by accident or sabotage, the history of and continuing possibility of nuclear proliferation and the disadvantages of centralized electricity production.