Health: Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism

Wow.

Scientists at Stanford University and the J. Craig Venter Institute have developed the first software simulation of an entire organism, a humble single-cell bacterium that lives in the human genital and respiratory tracts.

The scientists and other experts said the work was a giant step toward developing computerized laboratories that could carry out many thousands of experiments much faster than is possible now, helping scientists penetrate the mysteries of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.

For more, see In First, Software Emulates Lifespan of Entire Organism by John Markoff, July 20, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Diversion: Lakes and Oceans

Worth a study (click it and maximize your browser) ...

From Lakes and Oceans by Randall Munroe, April 10, 2012 at XKCD.com.

Climate: Climate Proposal Puts Practicality Ahead of Sacrifice

The current issue of the journal Science contains a proposal to slow global warming that is extraordinary for a couple of reasons:

1. In theory, it would help people living in poor countries now, instead of mainly benefiting their descendants.

2. In practice, it might actually work.

This proposal comes from an international team of researchers — in climate modeling, atmospheric chemistry, economics, agriculture and public health — who started off with a question that borders on heresy in some green circles: Could something be done about global warming besides forcing everyone around the world to use less fossil fuel?

Ever since the Kyoto Protocol imposed restrictions in industrial countries, the first priority of environmentalists has been to further limit the emission of carbon dioxide. Burning fewer fossil fuels is the most obvious way to counteract the greenhouse effect, and the notion has always had a wonderfully virtuous political appeal — as long as it's being done by someone else.

But as soon as people are asked to do it themselves, they follow a principle identified by Roger Pielke Jr. in his book The Climate Fix. Dr. Pielke, a political scientist at the University of Colorado, calls it iron law of climate policy: When there's a conflict between policies promoting economic growth and policies restricting carbon dioxide, economic growth wins every time.

After looking at hundreds of ways to control these pollutants, the researchers determined the 14 most effective measures for reducing climate change, like encouraging a switch to cleaner diesel engines and cookstoves, building more efficient kilns and coke ovens, capturing methane at landfills and oil wells, and reducing methane emissions from rice paddies by draining them more often.

If these strategies became widespread, the researchers calculate, the amount of global warming in 2050 would be reduced by about one degree Fahrenheit, roughly a third of the warming projected if nothing is done. This impact on temperatures in 2050 would be significantly larger than the projected impact of the commonly proposed measures for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Not incidentally, the researchers calculate, these reductions in low-level ozone and black carbon would yield lots of benefits long before 2050. Because people would be breathing cleaner air, 700,000 to 4.7 million premature deaths would be avoided each year. Thanks to improved crop yields, farmers would produce at least 30 million more metric tons of food annually.

The beauty of these pollution-control measures is that over five to 10 years they pay for themselves in the developing world, says Drew Shindell, the lead author of the proposal, who is a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and at Columbia University. They slow global warming, but there are local benefits, too. If you make black carbon reductions in China or India, you get most of the benefits in China or India.

For more, see Climate Proposal Puts Practicality Ahead of Sacrifice by John Tierney, January 16, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Health: The First Genetically Modified Animal for Consumption

The FDA has completed its analysis of the first genetically modified animal likely to hit supermarket shelves: the AquAdvantage salmon, made by Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. Thanks to some added genes, the salmon grows 2-6 times the size of a normal Atlantic salmon in half the time, promising some respite for the planet's heavily taxed natural fish stocks, a third of which are near extinction or exhaustion.

For more, see FDA Completes Review of First Genetically Modified Animal for Consumption by Veronique Greenwood, October 11, 2011 at 80beats.

Diversion: Beauty

From Beauty by Randall Munroe, March 26, 2011 at XKCD.com.

Science: How a Hurricane Works

At its peak, a hurricane can dump 5 cubic miles of rain per day and unleash thermal power (freed by condensation of that water) at a rate of 6 x 1014 watts—equal to 200 times the amount of electricity generated by humans worldwide. Only about 0.25% of this power is converted to wind.

For more, see How a Hurricane Works by Douglas Fox, August 25, 2011 at Popular Mechanics.

Science: Antimatter Belt Around Earth Discovered by Pamela Craft

A thin band of antimatter particles called antiprotons enveloping the Earth has been spotted for the first time.

The find, described in Astrophysical Journal Letters, confirms theoretical work that predicted the Earth's magnetic field could trap antimatter.

The team says a small number of antiprotons lie between the Van Allen belts of trapped "normal" matter.

The researchers say there may be enough to implement a scheme using antimatter to fuel future spacecraft.

For more, see Antimatter Belt Around Earth Discovered by Pamela Craft, August 7, 2011 at BBC.

Science: Bacteria Use Limbs to Slingshot Themselves Across a Surface

Bacteria are known for sprouting spindly limbs and pulling themselves along surfaces like miniature octopi. But a new study shows that by tacking down one limb, pulling it till it's taut, and then letting go, bacteria can also use the limbs to slingshot themselves around.

For more, see Bacteria Use Limbs to Slingshot Themselves Across a Surface by Veronique Greenwood, July 19, 2011 at 80beats.

Science: Scientists 'Trap' And Study Elusive Anti-Matter

At the moment of the big bang, nearly 14 billion years ago, matter and anti-matter are thought to have existed in equal quantities. If that balance had persisted, the observable Universe we inhabit would never have come into being.

For unknown reasons -- and fortunately for us -- Nature seemed to have a slight preference for matter, and today anti-matter is rare.

Scientists used CERN's high-energy accelerator to create the antihydrogen atoms, and then chilled them to near-zero temperatures.

The aim is to use laser and microwave spectroscopy to compare the immobilised particles to their hydrogen counterparts.

The same team succeeded last year in trapping dozens of anti-matter atoms and holding them in place for a fraction of a second, a world first at the time.

But that was not long enough for the excitable particles to settle into the stable "ground" state needed for precise measurements.

The new benchmark extended this storage time 5,000 fold, making it possible to carry out crucial experiments.

Scientists will now look for "violations" or discrepancies in something called the charge-parity-time reversal (CPT) symmetry.

For more, see Scientists 'Trap' And Study Elusive Anti-Matter, June 6, 2011 at The Telegraph.

Science: Groundwater Depletion Is Detected from Space

For decades, groundwater measurements in the United States had been made from points on the Earth's surface — by taking real-time soundings at 1,383 of the United States Geological Survey's observation wells and daily readings at 5,908 others. Those readings are supplemented by measuring water levels in hundreds of thousands of other wells, trenches and excavations.

The two satellites, each the size of a small car, travel in polar orbits about 135 miles apart. Each bombards the other with microwaves calibrating the distance between them down to intervals of less than the width of a human hair.

If the mass below the path of the leading satellite increases — because, say, the lower Mississippi basin is waterlogged — that satellite speeds up, and the distance between the two grows. Then the mass tugs on both, and the distance shortens. It increases again as the forward satellite moves out of range while the trailing satellite is held back.

For more, see Groundwater Depletion Is Detected from Space by Felicity Barringer, May 30, 2011 at NYTimes.com.

Science: The Fun of Going Faster-than-Light

... even though you can't go faster than the speed of light in vacuum, there's no law saying you always need to be in a vacuum. So what can we do? Perhaps we can create a particle (like an electron) in some nuclear reaction that's moving close to the speed of light in vacuum, and then make it enter a medium, like water, glass, or acrylic!

What happens now, if the particle -- moving slower than c -- goes faster than light in some medium?

Amazingly enough, the particle freaks out, and starts emitting light.

The light is very special, and comes off in a particularly cone-like shape, and is the particle's way of trying to shed that extra energy until it gets down safely below the speed of light! The light is called ... Cherenkov radiation ... after its Nobel-prize-winning discoverer.

For much more, see The Fun of Going Faster-than-Light by Ethan Siegel, May 18, 2011 at Starts With A Bang!.

Law: 7 Experts to Be Tried over 2009 Italy Quake

Seven scientists and other experts were indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday for allegedly failing to sufficiently warn residents before a devastating earthquake that killed more than 300 people in central Italy in 2009.

Defense lawyers condemned the charges, saying it's impossible to predict earthquakes. Seismologists have long concurred, saying the technology doesn't exist to predict a quake and that no major temblor has ever been foretold.

Judge Giuseppe Romano Gargarella ordered the members of the national government's Great Risks commission, which evaluates potential for natural disasters, to go on trial in L'Aquila on Sept. 20.

Italian media quoted the judge as saying the defendants "gave inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether smaller tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the six months before the April 6, 2009 quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.

For more, see 7 Experts to Be Tried over 2009 Italy Quake by AP, May 29, 2011 at Google.

Science: Electron Is Surprisingly Spherical, Say Scientists Following 10-Year Study

... the electron differs from being perfectly round by less than 0.000000000000000000000000001 cm. This means that if the electron were magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hair.

For much more, see Electron Is Surprisingly Spherical, Say Scientists Following 10-Year Study, May 25, 2011 at ScienceDaily.

Science: China Announces It Will Build Its Own Space Station Within 10 Years

China unveiled its plan to build a manned space station in the next decade. This announcement comes from a space program whose development has been, well, skyrocketing; China launched its first astronaut into Earth orbit in 2003 and completed its first spacewalk in 2008. If things go as planned, the station would be the third ever multi-module space station, after Russia's Mir and the International Space Station.

For more, see China Announces It Will Build Its Own Space Station Within 10 Years by Valerie Ross, April 27, 2011 at DISCOVER's Gene Suppression.

Science: Bye-Bye Electrons? Circuit Made from Flowing Atoms

In the "atomtronic" circuits pictured [below], it is atoms, not electrons, that flow. Such circuits could form the basis for ultra-sensitive gyroscopes.

For more, see Bye-Bye Electrons? Circuit Made from Flowing Atoms by Macgregor Campbell, April 7, 2011 at New Scientist.

Science: Laws of Physics May Change Across the Universe

New evidence supports the idea that we live in an area of the universe that is "just right" for our existence. The controversial finding comes from an observation that one of the constants of nature appears to be different in different parts of the cosmos.

Even more surprising is the fact that the change in the constant appears to have an orientation, creating a "preferred direction", or axis, across the cosmos. That idea was dismissed more than 100 years ago with the creation of Einstein's special theory of relativity.

... the team's analysis of around 300 measurements of alpha in light coming from various points in the sky suggests the variation is not random but structured, like a bar magnet. The universe seems to have a large alpha on one side and a smaller alpha on the other.

This "dipole" alignment nearly matches that of a stream of galaxies mysteriously moving towards the edge of the universe. It does not, however, line up with another unexplained dipole, dubbed the axis of evil, in the afterglow of the big bang.

Even if the result is accepted for publication, it is going to be hard to convince other scientists that the laws of physics might need a rewrite. A spatial variation in the fine-structure constant would be "truly transformative", according to Lennox Cowie, who works at the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii. But, he adds, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: "That's way beyond what we have here." He says the statistical significance of the new observations is too small to prove that alpha is changing.

For more, see Laws of Physics May Change Across the Universe by Michael Brooks, September 8, 2010 at New Scientist.

Diversion: Visualizing the Size and Scale of Our World

To see a larger version of the following image, click it to open a pop-up and click it's vertical scrollbar ...

From Visualizing the Size and Scale of Our World, August 3, 2011 at All That Is Interesting.

Government: Comparing Obama's and Republicans' Energy Budgets

For more, see Obama's Energy Budget Builds for the Future by Capaf's Daniel J. Weiss and Valeri Vasquez, February 17, 2011 at Climate Progress.

Science: Atomic Disguise Makes Helium Look like Hydrogen

Amazing stuff ...

Donald Fleming of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues managed to disguise a helium atom as a hydrogen atom by replacing one of its orbiting electrons with a muon, which is far heavier than an electron.

But I guess that was actually pretty simple because in 1987 ...

... a type of ultra-light hydrogen, called muonium, ... Chemists formed this by replacing the proton in a hydrogen atom with an antimuon, the muon's positively charged antimatter partner.

For more, see Atomic Disguise Makes Helium Look like Hydrogen by Kate Mcalpine, January 28, 2011 at New Scientist.

Science: Boeing Invention Lets Planes Spot Dangerous Turbulence

A valuable, simple, novel idea ...

It's one of aviation's most dastardly problems: in a perfectly clear sky, an aircraft suddenly hits severe turbulence that gives it a terrifying shaking, or which makes the plane plummet as aerodynamic lift is lost in a low pressure air pocket.

Boeing suggests a startlingly simple answer: train a regular digital camera equipped with a telephoto lens on the horizon and make it snap pictures continually. Then an image processing computer compares image after image to see if air density and temperature changes due to clear air turbulence are causing telltale refraction of the horizon line.

For more, see Boeing Invention Lets Planes Spot Dangerous Turbulence by Paul Marks, January 21, 2011 at NewScientist.