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March 30, 2007String Theory, With No Holds BarredScienceNow: If Michael Turner had known what he was in for, he might have stayed home. As the moderator of a debate held here last night at the National Museum of Natural History, the University of Chicago cosmologist had the unenviable task of trying to crown a winner in a match-up between Brian Greene and Lawrence Krauss, two physics heavyweights duking it out over the merits--or lack thereof--of the so-called Theory of Everything. UK impact crater debate heats upBBC: A deep scar under the North Sea thought to be the UK's only impact crater is no such thing, claims a leading geologist. Explosive-sniffing robots U.S. military's latest weapon against bombsMinneapolis Star Tribune: As it increases its use of robots in war zones, the military will begin using an explosive-sniffing version that will allow soldiers to better detect roadside bombs, which account for more than 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The World Needs More Rebels Like EinsteinWired: How nonconformity, not rote learning, unlocked his genius. March 29, 2007Science and art: A leap of faithNature: How much can geometry and mathematics reveal about paintings? How far should hidden meanings be trusted in art? Jo Marchant investigates the latest, and possibly most controversial, interpretation of a Renaissance masterpiece. Uranium Ignites ‘Gold Rush’ in the WestThe New York Times: Convoluted economics and intense speculation have pushed up the price of uranium to levels not seen since the heyday of the industry in the mid-1970s. Scientists weigh risks of climate 'techno-fixes'The Christian Science Monitor: Schemes from space mirrors to vast algal blooms have sparked debate over the ethics of geoengineering. Light seems to pass through solid metalMSNBC: Terahertz radiation travels around thin sheet of metal March 28, 2007China urges ban on space weaponsReuters: Three months after destroying a satellite in a weapons test, and days before China hosts an international meeting on the threat of space debris, China's state-run media has announced that China is calling for a treaty to stop the spread of weapons in outer space. The move comes hours after a Lan Chile Airbus A340 was almost hit by a Russian satellite burning up on re-entry. Profile: NASA scientist Carolyn PorcoWired: Enjoy all those fiery red images of Saturn from NASA's Cassini orbiter? You can thank Carolyn Porco, the planetary scientist who made its moons into stars -- web stars, that is. Porco is the leader of the imaging team for NASA's Cassini orbiter, which is currently circling Saturn in what may be the last multibillion-dollar planetary mission for a long time. (Yeah, budget cuts -- get used to way smaller missions with lots of reusable parts.) IBM launches world's fastest optical chipSci-Tech Today: In detailing the new optical chipset that can transmit data at 160 Gbps, IBM said it provides the highest record ever of transmitted information per unit of physical space. Measuring 3.25 by 5.25 mm, IBM's optical chipset contains both driver and receiver circuits, and was built using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. UK Government 'failing' nanoscienceBBC: The UK government has failed to fund adequate research into potential risks posed by developing nanotechnology, a report by leading advisors has warned. March 27, 2007Astronomers Puzzled by Titan's Missing CratersSpace.com: The Cassini spacecraft’s radar sweep of Saturn’s largest moon Titan in January revealed a portion of what appears to be a 110 mile (180 kilometer) diameter impact crater. $10 wok keeps TV station on airThe New Zealand Herald: Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective? Nuclear security workers anonymously ask Congress for probeGovernment Executive: A group of current and former employees at the site office managing the contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is asking Congress to investigate health, safety, security and management problems, according to a government watchdog group. New, Previously Unknown Climate Zones Seen by 2100Environmental News Network: Global warming could re-make the world's climate zones by 2100, with some polar and mountain climates disappearing altogether and formerly unknown ones emerging in the tropics, scientists said Monday. March 26, 2007Congress Asks Purdue for Fusion Claim FindingsThe New York Times: A Congressional committee has asked Purdue University for copies of its findings in an investigation of a Purdue scientist who claims to have generated nuclear fusion in a desktop experiment. "Wrong Way" Light Comes Into ViewScienceNow: The plastic lenses of your glasses bend light to focus it, but a new high-tech material bends visible light in the "wrong" direction. The advance may open the way for a number of new optical applications, including a revolutionary type of lens that could resolve finer details than now possible. Global Warming Makes Ice a Hot Topic at U.S. LabEnvironmental News Network: Global warming has made ice a hot topic, and one sizzling center of inquiry is in a warehouse-like complex in New England, where melting polar shores and shrinking glaciers are issues of urgent study. US Department of Defense grant gives $6M to team of 9 scholars for the study of quantum electronic arraysNanotechwire.com: The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a team of nine scholars from six universities a grant of $6 million over five years to exploit precise biological assembly techniques for the study of quantum physics in nanoparticle arrays. This research will produce a fundamental understanding of quantum electronic systems that could impact future electronics. March 24, 2007Why the Greeks could hear plays from the back row
Nature: Nico Declercq and Cindy Dekeyser of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta believe they have discovered why ancient Greek theaters have such wonderful acoustics: The key is the arrangement of the stepped rows of seats reports Philip Ball.
A performer in the ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus for example, can be heard 60 meters away in the back row. The stepped rows of seats act as a low-frequency filter, suppressing background noise, while passing on the high frequency of the performers voice.
Profile: Brian Greene, Hollywood's new physicistMSNBC: As Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking prepare for a double-lecture series on cosmology in Seattle, Alan Boyle talks to Greene on his public outreach work for physics, his bestselling books, the current state of string theory, and the future direction of physics. March 23, 2007A look at the Large Hadron ColliderScience: Science magazine has devoted a special issue to CERN's next generation atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider. Adrian Cho reports on the excitement at CERN as the LHC gets closer to completion, how careful budgeting, international cooperation, and stability helped CERN build the LHC, while US physicists failed with the Superconducting Super Collider, and finally, the nightmare of some physicists that the LHC will only see the Higgs Boson particle and nothing else new. Materials science: Unexpected tricks of the lightNature: The field of metamaterials, which caused a stir recently when physicists reported creating an material that could act as an invisibility cloak at certain wavelengths, is likely to transform optics through more mundane applications. Environmentalists rethinking opposition to nuclear powerUSA Today: After decades decrying nuclear power, some environmentalists are re-evaluating thier position on the power source because it emits zero greenhouse gases. "You can't just write nuclear off," says Judi Greenwald of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "I think everybody feels you have to at least look again" at nuclear power. March 22, 2007In the US, renewable energy looking promising for the northwestThe Washington Post: Like mail-order brides, thousands of long-limbed wind turbines are coming to the empty outback of Washington and Oregon, where they are being married off, via the electrical grid, to hulking old hydroelectric dams. Twisted solution to sun's mystery heatMSNBC: Telescope imaged million-degree gas spiraling up from sunspots A jump that would prove Newton wrongNature: On 21 March — the spring equinox — something very strange may happen. In two particular places on Earth, objects might start to move without any force acting on them. March 21, 2007Moore's Law hits physics in memory chipsReuters: Hundreds of rectangles, each the size of a grain of rice, cover a shiny platter of silicon at a research facility belonging to Micron Technology Inc. Google's Next-Gen of SneakernetWired: How do you get 120 terabytes of data -- the equivalent of 123,000 iPod shuffles (roughly 30 million songs) -- from A to B? For the most part, the old-fashioned way: via a sneakernet. It's not glamorous, but Google engineers hope to at least end the arduous process of transferring massive quantities of data -- which can literally take weeks to upload onto the internet -- with something affectionately called "FedExNet" by the scientists who use it. Cold Physics is Hot TopicVOA News: People have always been fascinated by how to make things cold. As mankind's understanding of cold has evolved, so have the applications. They range from refrigeration to low temperature physics, where atoms are chilled to almost absolute zero (-273.15°C). What is the universe expanding into?Universe Today (audio): Come on, admit it, you’ve had this question. If the Universe is expanding from the Big Bang, what is it expanding into? What’s outside the Universe? Ask any astronomer and you’ll get an unsatisfying answer. We give you the same unsatisfying answer, but really explain it, so your unsatisfaction doesn’t haunt you any more. March 20, 2007A jump that would prove Newton wrongNature: On 21 March — the spring equinox — something very strange may happen. In two particular places on Earth, objects might start to move without any force acting on them. Bush Urged to Develop Overall Nuclear Arms PolicyThe Washington Post: A prestigious scientific committee made up of retired nuclear weapons lab directors and former Defense and Energy department officials is recommending that, before the United States moves ahead on the development of new nuclear warheads, the Bush administration should develop a bipartisan policy regarding the size of the future stockpile, testing and nonproliferation. Former White House Official Defends Editing of Climate PapersEnvironmental News Network: A former White House official accused of improperly editing reports on global warming defended his editing changes Monday, saying they reflected views in a 2001 report by the National Academy of Sciences. Snowflakes as Big as Frisbees?The New York Times: Since at least the 19th century, people have periodically claimed to see giant snowflakes falling from the sky — big ones the size of saucers and plates or even larger, their edges turned up, their heaviness making them descend faster than small flakes. March 19, 2007Success in mapping 248-dimensional objectMSNBC: That high school math problem with a page-long solution was a cakewalk compared to a recent mathematics answer that would ink an area the size of Manhattan if written out in small print. A total of 18 mathematicians and computer scientists from several countries worked for four years to successfully map the inner working of E8 — one of the most complicated structures in math, a 248-dimensional object. The findings were reported today by the American Institute of Mathematics. Huge Deposit of Ice Is Gauged at the South Pole of MarsThe New York Times: A spacecraft orbiting Mars has scanned huge deposits of ice at its south pole so plentiful they would blanket the planet in 36 feet of water if they were liquid, scientists said on Thursday. These Boots Were Made for 22 M.P.H.The New York Times: The gas-powered shoe is a symbol of both Russia's deep scientific traditions and the country's inability to convert that talent into useful merchandise."> Lunar dust 'may harm astronauts'BBC: Scientists are investigating the possible threat posed to astronauts by inhaling lunar dust. March 16, 2007The Sky Is Falling. Really.The New York Times: Americans who read the papers or watch Jay Leno have been aware for some time now that there is a slim but real possibility — about 1 in 45,000 — that an 850-foot-long asteroid called Apophis could strike Earth with catastrophic consequences on April 13, 2036. What few probably realize is that there are thousands of other space objects that could hit us in the next century that could cause severe damage, if not total destruction. Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South PoleSpace.com: Mars is unlikely to sport beachfront property anytime soon, but the planet has enough water ice at its south pole to blanket the entire planet in more than 30 feet of water if everything thawed out. Some in Congress seek more NASA moneyMSNBC: The chairman of the U.S. House science committee said Thursday that NASA is headed for "a train wreck" if the space agency isn't better funded to finish building the international space station and develop the next-generation spacecraft. Quantum leap of faithNature: A Canadian company says it is the first to bring a quantum computer to market but, as Geoff Brumfiel reports, not everyone is buying into the approach. March 15, 2007Russia Seeks More Control At Academy Of SciencesThe Washington Post: The historic autonomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which has pioneered fundamental research in Russia since its founding by Peter the Great three centuries ago, is under threat from government proposals to bring the institution under much tighter state control and end its academic freedom, according to academy members. Iranian Nuclear Scientists Studied in U.S.Various: Several key figures in Iran's nuclear arms program trained at M.I.T. during the mid-1970s, according to an article by Boston Globe reporter Farah Stockman. The scientists were part of an optimistic American program to encourage Iran to invest in expensive U.S. nuclear technology because it would help battle poverty and promote peace. But when the shah fell in 1979, the exchange program ended, and some of the students returned to Iran.
Iranian Nuclear Scientists Studied in U.S. Sneak preview of big report: Change is 'already showing up'The Christian Science Monitor: The second report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts massive humanitarian crises. In a Test of Capturing Carbon Dioxide, Perhaps a Way to Temper Global WarmingThe New York Times: American Electric Power, a major electric utility, is planning the largest demonstration yet of capturing carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant and pumping it deep underground. March 14, 2007Interview: Freeman DysonCCNet: The scienstist as rebel: An Interview with Freeman Dyson Britain unveils 'global first' bill to cut CO2 emissionsThe Christian Science Monitor: It plans to cut greenhouse emissions by up to 32 percent by 2020, but scientists say it may not be enough. Theory: Saturn moon's heat from decayMSNBC: Explanation for Cassini photos of Yellowstone-like erupting geysers Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon ValleyThe New York Times: Silicon Valley’s dot-com era may be giving way to the watt-com era. March 13, 2007White House seeks to cut geothermal research fundsReuters: The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power just as many U.S. states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output. |