A wrinkle in space-time: Math shows how shockwaves could crinkle space
Mathematicians at UC Davis have come up with a new way to crinkle up the fabric of space-time -- at least in theory.
"We show that space-time cannot be locally flat at a point where two shock waves collide," said Blake Temple, professor of mathematics at UC Davis. "This is a new kind of singularity in general relativity."
The results are reported in two papers by Temple with graduate students Moritz Reintjes and Zeke Vogler, respectively, both published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
"We show that space-time cannot be locally flat at a point where two shock waves collide," said Blake Temple, professor of mathematics at UC Davis. "This is a new kind of singularity in general relativity."
The results are reported in two papers by Temple with graduate students Moritz Reintjes and Zeke Vogler, respectively, both published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
Search continues for submerged evidence of early Americans
ERIE, Pa. - After storms off the Florida coast scuttled the much-anticipated expedition for submerged evidence of early Americans in the Gulf of Mexico last August, plans are under way to commence the fourth installment of this pioneering adventure July 20-29. At the helm are chief scientists Dr. James Adovasio and Dr. C. Andrew Hemmings of Mercyhurst University.
NASA hires SpaceX for science satellite launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA hired Space Exploration Technologies to launch an ocean monitoring satellite, a key win for the start-up rocket company that also wants to break into the U.S. military's launch business, NASA officials said on Thursday.
The $82 million contract covers launch, payload processing and other services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ocean-measuring Jason-3 satellite, which is slated to fly in December 2014.
Launch would take place from SpaceX's new complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The $82 million contract covers launch, payload processing and other services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ocean-measuring Jason-3 satellite, which is slated to fly in December 2014.
Launch would take place from SpaceX's new complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Scientists warn it’s the ‘new norm’ after worst drought in 800 years
The signs of drought were everywhere, from shrivelled rivers and lakes in the American West to brittle brown lawns and parched farm crops in the Canadian Prairies.
Even the hardy, drought-tolerant pinyon pine forests of New Mexico turned grey as they withered and died, starved of water for far too long. Anyone who weathered the stubborn dry spell that enveloped western North America from 2000 to 2004 knows it was harsh, but now a group of researchers has concluded it was the most severe drought in 800 years – bone-dry conditions that the scientists believe could become the “new norm” in this vital agricultural region. |  |
Researchers connect seawater chemistry with climate change, evolution
Humans get most of the blame for climate change, with little attention paid to the contribution of other natural forces. Now, scientists from the University of Toronto and the University of California Santa Cruz are shedding light on one potential cause of the cooling trend of the past 45 million years that has everything to do with the chemistry of the world's oceans.
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With Funding Gone, Last Undersea Lab Could Surface
While you're enjoying your coffee this morning, half a dozen scientists are already at work. They're not sitting at desks, however, but a few miles off the Florida Keys, 60 feet down on the ocean bottom.
The researchers are living and working this week at Aquarius Reef Base, the world's last undersea research laboratory. The 25-year-old facility, built by the federal government, has hosted everyone from marine biologists studying endangered coral reefs to NASA astronauts training for weightless missions in space. But the Aquarius Reef Base itself is now endangered. |  |
If You Are Hit By Two Atomic Bombs, Should You Have Kids?
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was late for work. It was August 1945, and he'd just finished designing a 5,000-ton tanker for his company, Mitsubishi. He was heading to the office to finish up, clear out and head home, and that's when he saw the plane, high up in the sky over Hiroshima. He watched it drop a silvery speck into the air, and instinctively, says science writer Sam Kean, "he dove to the ground and covered his eyes and plugged his ears with his thumbs."
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Bio-Retina Implant Could Give Laser-Powered Sight to the Blind
A new bionic eye implant could allow blind people to recognize faces, watch TV and even read. Nano Retina’s Bio-Retina is one of two recent attempts to help patients with age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.5 million people in the U.S. Although a similar implant, Second Sight’s Argus II, has been on the market in Europe since last year, it requires a four-hour operation under full anesthesia because it includes an antenna to receive power and images from an external apparatus. The Bio-Retina implant is smaller because it doesn’t have an antenna. Instead, the implant captures images directly in the eye, and a laser powers the implant remotely. Because of Bio-Retina’s compact size, an ophthalmologist can insert it through a small incision in the eye in 30 minutes—potentially more appropriate for seniors. The Bio-Retina will generate a 576-pixel grayscale image. And clinical trials could begin as soon as next year.
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Private Manned Space Capsule Passes Major Review
The crewed version of SpaceX's Dragon space capsule has passed a key design review, moving one step closer to carrying astronauts into orbit, NASA officials announced Thursday (July 12).
In the review, which was conducted June 14 at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., company officials gave NASA details about every phase of a potential crewed Dragon mission to the International Space Station. |  |
A Bone Here, a Bead There: On the Trail of Human Origins
Who are we, and where did we come from? Scientists studying the origin of modern humans, Homo sapiens, keep reaching deeper in time to answer those questions — toward the last common ancestor of great apes and humans, then forward to the emergence of people more and more like us in body and behavior.
Their research is advancing on three fronts. Fossils of skulls and bones expose anatomical changes. Genetics reveals the timing and place of the Eve of modern humans.
Their research is advancing on three fronts. Fossils of skulls and bones expose anatomical changes. Genetics reveals the timing and place of the Eve of modern humans.
Whales, Somehow, Are Coping With Humans’ Din
Perhaps we can save the whales — or at least their hearing.
Scientists have long known that man-made, underwater noises — from engines, sonars, weapons testing, and such industrial tools as air guns used in oil and gas exploration — are deafening whales and other sea mammals. The Navy estimates that loud booms from just its underwater listening devices, mainly sonar, result in temporary or permanent hearing loss for more than a quarter-million sea creatures every year, a number that is rising. Now, scientists have discovered that whales can decrease the sensitivity of their hearing to protect their ears from loud noise. Humans tend to do this with index fingers; scientists haven’t pinpointed how whales do it, but they have seen the first evidence of the behavior. |  |
China builds most ecologically friendly cities.
DEZHOU, China – At Utopia Garden, retiree Li Yuling likes the green space around his new apartment block and the solar panels that resemble a dragon in flight.
At the Mangrove Garden apartments, Du Feng says the property managers handle all "green" issues, but he pledges to start a car pool to work. Living in fast-expanding cities 180 miles apart, Li and Du are among the first residents to move into a wave of "eco-friendly" communities being built or planned across China, one of the world's most polluted countries and the leading source of carbon emissions. |  |
Beam me up, sporty! UFO spotted among fireworks at Olympics opening ceremony
As fireworks lit up the heavens above the Olympics opening ceremony, watched by around a billion people, something else was seen among the whizz-bangs in the night sky... a UFO.
It may have ticked all the cliche boxes - saucer-shaped, bulge in the middle, metallic - but no one has yet stepped forward to explain the slow-moving object. The incident came right at the close of last Friday's spectacular at the Olympic Park stadium in Stratford, east London at around 12.30am. And it was just as Nick Pope, one of the UK’s top UFO experts, predicted only weeks ago - that mass summer events would be a prime time for crafts from other worlds to present themselves to mankind. |  |
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