Cool Science thread

[abraham]

It was, I nearly missed it a little while ago but I'm glad I made the effort to go to it. I found it a bit lacking in details but it's still interesting to see how these giant projects work and what the people involved are focused on.

[406]

Prior to operating the color cameras on MSL, I operated MARCI and CTX on MRO. MARCI (the weather camera) found something cool:
http://mars.nasa.gov/mro/news/whatsn...ws&NewsID=1640

[Tippster]

Prior to operating the color cameras on MSL, I operated MARCI and CTX on MRO. MARCI (the weather camera) found something cool:
http://mars.nasa.gov/mro/news/whatsn...ws&NewsID=1640

FKNA that IS cool!

[hutash]

Yeah, very cool, damn near real time.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Cool article for those of you intelligent nonscientists out there, something they usually don't formally teach in Med school, sometimes (unfortunately) not even in Grad School:

http://www.iflscience.com/technology...non-scientists

Something we all really oughta get a handle on, in an increasingly science- and technology- policy driven world.

Comes in handy when some dumbass such as ilikecandy comes up with a so-called "scientific" argument.

\soapbox

[iceman]

The Fermi Paradox

Pretty cool blog the guy has.

[TomCrac]

Rough-skinned Newt....

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lo.../#.U6uUX7HYiSo

..... "Toxic, it turns out, doesn’t do the newts justice. They are little death machines. The newts produce a chemical in their skin called tetrodotoxin, or TTX for short, that’s made by other poisonous animals like pufferfish. Locking onto sodium channels on the surface of neurons, TTX blocks signals in the nervous system, leading to a quick death. In fact, TTX is 10,000 times deadlier than cyanide."

[Viva]

I see a business opportunity here:


http://www.salk.edu/news/pressreleas...?press_id=2025

[Tippster]

➤ Brain implant: http://neurogadget.com/2014/06/25/br...thoughts/10455

➤ Brain cancer vaccine: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articl...ancer-Vaccine/

➤ NASA’s flying saucer: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...fter-test.html

➤ Gliese 832c planet: http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1...se-832-062714/

➤ Anti-clotting drug: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-pad062714.php

➤ Quantum computers: http://phys.org/news/2014-06-physici...reviously.html

➤ Artificial mini-heart: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278906.php

➤ Bacteria and obesity: http://www.livescience.com/46515-eng...s-obesity.html

[TomCrac]

Dated but interesting...


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...-episode/6620/

[Harry]

http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2014-4029

This is potentially cool, a propulsion system that seems to violate the laws of physics. NASA is taking it seriously.

[iceman]

Clif's notes version?

[Harry]

Clif's notes version?

From what I can see from reading their nerd-bonics, instead of chemical propulsion, they strapped a giant microwave to the back of the spaceship and propel it via radio waves.






Edit: or something like that........

[abraham]

Cool sound project taking the idea of laser eavesdropping a bit further. I'm impressed at what they recover with a conventional camera. I bet you could pick up some interesting information by applying this to videos online that are high enough quality.

More here:
people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/VisualMic


Also my understanding about the microwave drives was that the experiment was not conclusive. I haven't read the paper though so that's all second hand.

[406]

^^^very cool.

[From_the_NEK]

European probe has hooked up with the comet it was designed to study.
Currently sending back some really good pictures.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Sp...s_from_Rosetta

[abraham]

^^^very cool.

Are there microphones on the rover? If not you could use that technique to have the first audio from another planet

[jma233]

Its an old theory that has probably already been posted but, We're all living in the event horizon of a 4D black hole: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/ph...wned-universe/

[406]

Are there microphones on the rover? If not you could use that technique to have the first audio from another planet

We built a couple cameras that had microphones...one the lander crashed and the other they would not let us turn it on( long story).

http://www.msss.com/all_projects/phoenix-mardi.php

I had the same thought about using the mastcam to copy what they did, but a couple problems. We can't do video at that high a frame rate and we have a CCD not CMOS so can't use their second technique. Also the only loud sound source would be moving the rover, and that would vibrate the camera...also the thinner atmosphere would not transfer sound as well.

[zartagen]

A see-through mantis eating a fly

[406]

I find Titan very interesting. Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas :
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-274

[BigDaddy]

That's very cool... long ski season, too (but big wait till the next one!):

A year on Titan lasts about 30 Earth years, with each season lasting about seven years. Observing seasonal changes on Titan will continue to be a major goal for the Cassini mission as summer comes to Titan's north and the southern latitudes fall into winter darkness.

[sb]

A see-through mantis eating a fly

Nom nom nom

[::: :::]

[hutash]

I saw an article in the LA Times this morning and was going to post it, but that video is even better. Very cool to actually see the rocks move. Interesting that all this happened at the south end of the pound. I have seen rock trails up by the grandstand near the north end of the playa, which looks like it doesn't get water as often.

So much for alien forces.