Rat Dreams Controlled While They Sleep
Researchers working at MIT have successfully manipulated the content of a rat's dream by replaying an audio cue that was associated with the previous day's events, namely running through a maze (what else).
The breakthrough furthers our understanding of how memory gets consolidated during sleep -- but it also holds potential for the prospect of "dream engineering." Working at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, neuroscientist Matt Wilson was able to accomplish this feat by exploiting the way the brain's hippocampus encodes self-experienced events into memory. |  |
Stuck bolt on ISS: Astronauts didn't bring any WD-40
Spacewalking astronauts armed with brushes and other homemade tools attempted to install a critical power-switching box at the International Space Station on Wednesday and revive electrical systems.
A stiff bolt prevented NASA's Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide from properly securing the new unit last Thursday. The problem cut the amount of electrical power available to the space station and a variety of equipment had to be turned off. Williams and Hoshide carted out an assortment of jury-rigged tools to clean the troublesome bolt and its socket. Included in their arsenal: a blue toothbrush and a wire pipe cleaner to deal with the metal shavings discovered last week and any other debris. |  |
Shipwreck in 'exceptional' condition discovered by archaeologists in France
It looks like the rib cage of a large marine mammal, whose bones turned black as it was fossilised. The wreck was discovered in May during a dig in Antibes, on the French Riviera, prior to construction of a car park on the site of the Roman port of Antipolis.
Archaeologists have gradually uncovered a 15-metre length of hull and structural timbers, in "exceptional" condition, according to Giulia Boetto, a specialist in ship design at Aix-Marseille University who is involved in the dig. Saw and adze marks are still visible on the wood. Luckily the ground in which it was found is always waterlogged so this prevented the timber from rotting and decomposing. |  |
Archaeology team announces 'huge step forward' in King Richard III search
Archaeologists from the University of Leicester who are leading the search for King Richard III have announced they have overcome the first significant hurdle of their investigation – and made a huge step forward in the search for the King by locating the church where he was buried.
The University of Leicester is leading the archaeological search for the burial place of King Richard III with Leicester City Council, in association with the Richard III Society. |  |
'Whip' half a million miles long spotted on sun, radiation heading for earth
Nasa today released stunning video showing a 500,000 mile long 'solar whip' on the surface of the sun - and say radiation from it is headed for earth.
Captured by from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), it shows a very long, whip-like solar filament extending over half a million miles in a long arc above the sun’s surface.The filaments are cooler clouds of solar material that are tethered above the sun’s surface by unstable magnetic forces.
Captured by from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), it shows a very long, whip-like solar filament extending over half a million miles in a long arc above the sun’s surface.The filaments are cooler clouds of solar material that are tethered above the sun’s surface by unstable magnetic forces.
3.5 billion year old organic deposits show signs of life
How long did it take for life to get started on Earth? The planet formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago, although it was uninhabitable for a while afterward. By 2.7 billion years ago, there was unambiguous evidence of complex biological communities in the form of stromatolites, microbial biofilms that can structure sediments in coastal environments. Back in 2006, a paper described evidence that these complex communities have been present as far back as 3.5 billion years ago, based on rocks at the Strelley Pool Formation in Australia.
Now, a new study of rocks from Strelley Pool provides further evidence that these formations were laid down by biological activity. The isotopes of sulfur in the organic material in these rocks show a pattern similar to what we see in material with a known biological origin. |  |
Former U.S. President Backs 100 Year Starship
The light-years between the stars is vast -- a seemingly insurmountable quarantine that cuts our solar system off from the rest of the galaxy. But to a growing number of interstellar enthusiasts -- and a former U.S. president -- interstellar distances may not be as insurmountable as they seem.
On Sept. 13, an international group of big thinkers will descend on Houston, Texas, to discuss one very big idea: making interstellar travel possible within the next 100 years. The 100 Year Starship Project (100YSS) was seeded by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiative, and earlier this year it was announced that ex-NASA astronaut Mae Jemison and the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence would head the project. |  |
Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Found Orbiting Red Dwarf Gliese 163
Dubbed Gliese 163c, the planet – with a mass of 6.9 times that of Earth and an orbital period of 26 days – orbits a red dwarf star 49 light years away in the Dorado constellation.
The team has also detected a larger planet, Gliese 163b, orbiting the star much closer with 9 day period. An additional third, but unconfirmed planet, might be orbiting the star much farther away. The new exoplanets are described in a paper submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. |  |
The era of cheap food may be over
The last decade saw the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy after the second world war. This summer's increase in maize, wheat and soya bean prices – the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of cheap food is also over.
Price increases in both oil and food provide textbook examples of market forces. Rapid expansion in the big emerging markets, especially China, has led to an increase in demand at a time when there have been supply constraints. For crude, these have included the war in Iraq, the embargo imposed on Iran, and the fact that some of the older fields are starting to run dry before new sources of crude are opened up. |  |
Smart carpet detects falls and strange footsteps
A team at the University of Manchester in the UK has developed a carpet that can detect when someone has fallen over or when unfamiliar feet walk across it.
Optical fibres in the carpet's underlay create a 2D pressure map that distorts when stepped on. Sensors around the carpet's edges then relay signals to a computer which is used to analyse the footstep patterns. When a change is detected - such as a sudden stumble and fall - an alarm can be set to sound. |  |
Document Deep Dive: What Did the Zimmermann Telegram Say?
On January 17, 1917, British code breakers in Room 40, the cryptoanalysis office of Great Britain’s Naval Intelligence, intercepted a telegram from Germany. At first, they suspected the coded message was a routine communication. But, soon enough, the cryptologists found that what they held in their hands was a top-secret missive that would shift the tides of World War I.
Chances are that you have studied the Zimmermann Telegram in a history class, but have you ever actually seen the coded message? German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann sent the diplomatic message to Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador in Mexico City, instructing him to speak to the president of Mexico. He proposed that the two nations strike an alliance; if Mexico waged war against the United States, thereby distracting Americans from the conflict in Europe, Germany would lend support and help Mexico reclaim Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. |  |
H2 for fuel cells using an inexpensive catalyst produced in real-world conditions
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have produced hydrogen, H2, a renewable energy source, from water using an inexpensive catalyst under industrially relevant conditions (using pH neutral water, surrounded by atmospheric oxygen, O2, and at room temperature).
Lead author of the research, Dr Erwin Reisner, an EPSRC research fellow and head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, said: "A H2 evolution catalyst which is active under elevated O2 levels is crucial if we are to develop an industrial water splitting process – a chemical reaction that separates the two elements which make up water. A real-world device will be exposed to atmospheric O2 and also produce O2 in situ as a result of water splitting.". |  |
Dawn of humanity illuminated in Special Journal Edition: 50 yrs after the Leakeys
The first systematic, multidisciplinary results to come out of research conducted on the edge of the Serengeti at the rich palaeoanthropological site in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania since that produced by Louis and Mary Leakey's team, have recently been published in a special issue of the prestigious Journal of Human Evolution.
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Tiny exotic snail is colonizing Earth
The New Zealand mudsnail is tiny, about the size of a pencil point, but it is colonizing the planet. The snail has spread far from its home, throughout rivers, lakes and streams in Europe, Australia, Asia and America. In the United States, where it has no natural predators or parasites, it outcompetes native snails and insects for food and is considered an invasive species.
What makes this mudsnail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, such a good invader? The answer lies partly in the species' ability to reproduce quickly and amass in high densities. (Females can produce offspring -- up to 230 per year -- without males.) Now, research has found the New Zealand mudsnail can also survive without water for up to two days, meaning it could latch on to birds, fishing tools or land animals to hitch a ride to a new home. |  |
'Baywatch' Star Abandons Search for Noah's Ark Fearing Abduction
"Baywatch" star Donna D'Errico was recently injured on a mountain in Turkey while on a quest to find Noah's Ark. The former model and actress was on Mount Ararat with a documentary film crew when she slipped in a rockslide; a colleague caught her before she fell off a cliff.
Climbing any mountain can be dangerous, and Ararat is no exception: In addition to the dangers associated with altitude sickness, rock slides, and capricious weather, D'Errico and her team faced the possibility of abduction, since previous climbers have claimed such.
Climbing any mountain can be dangerous, and Ararat is no exception: In addition to the dangers associated with altitude sickness, rock slides, and capricious weather, D'Errico and her team faced the possibility of abduction, since previous climbers have claimed such.
Top astronomer says universe will eventually disappear
BEIJING: Renowned astronomer and Nobel Prize laureate Brian P Schmidt predicted a "dark" future for the universe which he says will eventually fade away throwing astronomers out of work.
"Human beings will look to an empty universe in 100 billion years, as all the galaxies will fade away except the Milky Way we live in," Schmidt, who is attending the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) being held here, said.
Schmidt shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
"Human beings will look to an empty universe in 100 billion years, as all the galaxies will fade away except the Milky Way we live in," Schmidt, who is attending the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) being held here, said.
Schmidt shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
Chinese City Puts the Brakes on Car Ownership
hina has fully embraced the American dream by snapping up new cars as a sign of middle class prosperity, but only at the growing cost of traffic jams and polluted cities. A Chinese municipality has finally taken the bold step to restrain the worst excesses of automobiles by restricting ownership of new cars through auctions and lottery systems.
The move seems as astonishing "as if Detroit or Los Angeles restricted car ownership," according to Keith Bradsher of the New York Times. Guangzhou represents one of China's largest automaker centers — the frontlines for a brewing battle between Chinese public pressure for improved public health and the Chinese government's mantra of encouraging economic growth. |  |
Antarctic Peninsula now almost as warm as 12,000 years ago
The Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out about 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) from the western flank of the frozen continent, is one of the fastest warming places on Earth.
In the past 50 years, the air temperature has increased by about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). While this rate of warming is highly unusual, it is not unprecedented, indicates a new study.
The rapid, modern warming is bringing the peninsula's temperatures close to the warmth that followed the end of the last ice age, lead researcher Richard Mulvaney, a paleoclimatologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told LiveScience.
In the past 50 years, the air temperature has increased by about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). While this rate of warming is highly unusual, it is not unprecedented, indicates a new study.
The rapid, modern warming is bringing the peninsula's temperatures close to the warmth that followed the end of the last ice age, lead researcher Richard Mulvaney, a paleoclimatologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told LiveScience.
Nasa's Voyager 'dancing on the edge' of outer space
In a lecture marking the approaching 35th anniversary of the Voyager project, Ed Stone said it could be "days, months or years" before it finally breaks into interstellar space.
Earlier this year a surge in a key indicator fuelled hopes that the craft was nearing the so-called heliopause, which marks the boundary between our solar system and outer space. Scientists were intrigued in May by an increase in cosmic rays hitting the spacecraft, which for decades has snapped images of the Earth and other planets in the solar system as it has made its long journey into outer space. |  |
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