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Space

Submission + - Scientists discover radiation-eating fungi

Submitted by
amigoro
amigoro writes: "Scientists have discovered that fungi are able to eat radiation, and since ionizing radiation is prevalent in outer space, astronauts might be able to rely on fungi as an inexhaustible food source on long missions or for colonizing other planets. Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research suggests that melanin can use a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum — ionizing radiation — to benefit the fungi containing it, the researchers explain."
Power

Submission + - Simple chemical trick to boost battery efficiency

Submitted by space_mongoose
space_mongoose writes: Hitachi reckons that a simple chemical additive could significantly improve battery life. Alkaline batteries have a positive electrode of manganese oxide and a negative electrode of finely powdered zinc, but zinc oxide forms around these grains of zinc. Hitachi's solution is to replace the zinc with a fine powder of zinc-aluminium alloy, displaces the zinc within the zinc oxide layer making it a much better conductor.
Media

Submission + - 'Racetrack' memory could gallop past the hard disk

Submitted by Galactic_grub
Galactic_grub writes: An experimental new type of memory that uses nanosecond pulses of electric current to push magnetic regions along a wire could dramatically boost the capacity, speed and reliability of storage devices. Magnetic domains are moved along a wire by pulses of polarized current, and there location is read by fixed sensors arranged along the wire. Previous experiments have been disappointing but now researchers have found that super-fast pulses of electricity prevent the domains from being obstructed by imperfections in the crystal.
Space

Submission + - Earth's landlord is throwing us out

Submitted by mcgrew
mcgrew writes: New Scientist reports that the solar system will be thrown from the galaxy five billion years from now. Our galaxy will pass close to Andromeda two billion years from now, swing back around, and the two galaxies will merge.

Where will the Sun end up in this mammoth galactic union? 'We're living in the suburbs of the Milky Way right now, but we're likely to move much farther out after the coming cosmic smash-up,' concludes T J Cox from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.

These two galaxies are currently rushing towards each other at about 120 kilometres per second and will likely collide in future. Now Cox and his CfA colleague Avi Loeb have run computer simulations of this collision, using 2.6 million particles to model the matter in both galaxies and in intergalactic space.
The Media

Submission + - Uncovering lost text of the ancients

Submitted by
jd
jd writes: "A very real once-in-a-lifetime three-for-the-price-of-one deal by Alexexander of Aphrodisias is being uncovered by the Walters Art Museum, in collaboration with a vast array of science labs armed with the latest in particle accelerators. It was discovered some time back that a medieval prayer book had re-used parchment previously used to record texts by Archimedes and Hyperides. By bombarding the ancient ink with high energy particles, it was possible to see the lost text even though the surface had been largely scrubbed clean of it. There had been a fuzzy region, though, that they could not read and it was driving them nuts. By subtly adjusting their techniques, the letters finally swam into view — but not anything they had expected. A far more ancient lost text, a critique on the work of Aristotle, has been uncovered. Speaking to the very origins of logic and classification, this is a glimpse into the first steps by the Greeks towards science and a rational explanation of the world."
Supercomputing

Submission + - The Revolution Will Be Simulated

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Check out this new video from Seed magazine about the power of modern scientific supercomputing. "Science in Silico" showcases some of the most impressive new simulations and visualizations from around the globe. The coolest part about many of these projects is that they're giving us information and insights about our world that would be otherwise unavailable via more "traditional" investigations. Beyond inductive and deductive reasoning, these simulations represent a "third way" of doing science.

Feed To Understand The Big Picture, Give It Time - And Sleep (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Memorizing a series of facts is one thing, understanding the big picture is quite another. Now a new study demonstrates that relational memory -- the ability to make logical "big picture" inferences from disparate pieces of information -- is dependent on taking a break from studies and learning, and even more important, getting a good night's sleep.
Space

Submission + - Heisenberg-like Observation Created the Universe?

Submitted by Tablizer
Tablizer writes: Did the laws of physics think themselves into being? Observing may not only force quantum resolving of atomic particle features, but perhaps the universe's very laws themselves. Paul Davies states: "In that manner, what we must imagine is that the origin of the universe is an amalgam of realities, and only those realities that lead to observers who can resolve those ambiguities are going to be selected for. So the universe can engineer its own bio-friendliness, because the very observers who arise at a later stage are those who project out from the bio-friendly histories". (Sorry, no mention of cats)
Education

Submission + - Local Reality Takes Another Quantum Hit

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Advocates of Local Realism (an alternative to a fully quantum mechanical approach to physics) lost another round today with the publication of a new research study indicating that Leggett's Inequalities are better supported by observational results than any proposed Local Reality alternatives. The paper is quite dense, but a good perspective piece is also available.
Announcements

Submission + - Mexico Researchers Find Child Sacrifices

Submitted by GreenTea
GreenTea writes: Archeologists have discovered the remains of two dozen children who were apparent sacrificial victims to a rain god by ancient Indians in Mexico, researchers said Tuesday. The bones of the children, dating from about 950 to 1150, were found on the outskirts of the Toltec archaeological zone of Tula, said Luis Gamboa, an archaeologist with the National Institute of Anthropology and History. The discovery about 40 miles north of Mexico City predates the Aztecs, an advanced civilization conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - "What If All the Ice Melts?" Myths and Rea

Submitted by petrus4
petrus4 writes: "What If All the Ice Melts?" Myths and Realities is an article which features images of what the globe would look like if all of the ice (both land and sea) on the planet melted, leading to a sealevel rise of around 66 meters. The change shown in global geography is surprisingly unremarkable, and the analysis seems sound, making this article a sober and very useful counter to some of the more hysterical FUD which has been circulated in relation to global warming.
Education

Submission + - Regression with an Easter Egg

Submitted by
QuantumCrypto
QuantumCrypto writes: "Regression is a statistical methodology to discover hidden relationships in a given data set — data set that might represent consumer behavior, stock market trends, weather patterns, etc. These relationships can then be modeled mathematically to make future predictions. For aspiring statistician, regression can be a dull exercise in uncertainty. In order to bring more fun and fulfillment, Dr. Len Stefanski, professor of statistics at North Carolina State University, has found a novel way to infuse images into the data set in such way that if the optimal model is derived, it reveals the hidden image. More samples of his data set can be found here."

Feed Searching For The Grandest Asteroid Tour (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Asteroids are Earth's closest celestial neighbors, sometimes passing closer to Earth than even the Moon. And yet, to date, only two spacecraft have ever remained in proximity to one of these bodies. Last month, orbit mechanics experts from around the world met to discuss methods for finding the best possible spacecraft trajectory, or flight path, for visiting a sequence of asteroids.
Software

Submission + - Nature mandates opening source code

Submitted by
vincefn
vincefn writes: "Nature Methods has clarified its policy towards software associated to novel methods: "Such software, or the underlying algorithms, must be made available to readers upon publication." While they do not mandate for the software to be open-source, it is encouraged as, "by doing so, authors not only provide accessibility and transparency, they also allow the community to build upon their own developments and make continuous improvements to the tool".

"The algorithmic components that constitute integral parts of new methods must be made available and in a format that will facilitate the method's adoption." So the most efficient way to encourage the adoption of a new algorithm is to open the source code, not file a patent for it ?"

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