Latest Posts by curiositytherover - Page 10

Injecting Gases Into The Stratosphere Could Reduce Hurricanes

In an attempt to combat climate change, a multinational team of scientists are studying how shading sulfate aerosols that are dispersed into the stratosphere could help cool the planet and reduce the number of hurricane occurrences. “We’re basically mimicking a volcano and saying we’re going to put 5 billion tons of sulfates a year into the atmosphere 20 kilometers high, and we’ll do that for 50 years,” says John Moore, head of China’s geoengineering research program

Read more at: Injecting Gases Into The Stratosphere Could Reduce Hurricanes

Contour Crafting’s 3D-Printing Tech Can Build Homes On-Site in Under 24 Hours

Robotic construction system Contour Crafting (CC) has debuted their newest 3D-printing technology that can print entire homes on-site in less than 24 hours. CC’s technology doesn’t just build the architectural structure, it also prints the electrical, plumbing, and air conditioning features mid-construction, with no manual assembly required.

Read more at http://www.futurism.com/toIbI

Iran Interested in Purchase of Russian Satellites

Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 20, 2015 Iran intends to cooperate with Russia in the area of aerospace after economic sanctions are lifted, to include satellites, weather satellites, and remote sensing devices, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Thursday. “Iran is interested in our plans [new federal aerospace program], they want to find their place in the market of remote sensing devices. They want their own weat Full article

Asteroid Crash Course!

Asteroids can be hazardous to life on Earth, but they also provide clues about the early solar system. Denton Ebel, curator in the Museum’s Division of Physical Sciences, explains how asteroids formed and the varying degrees of destruction they cause when they fall to Earth.

What Is An Asteroid?

Meteorite, Meteor: What’s the Difference?

Why Are There No Planets in the Asteroid Belt? 

What Were the Biggest Asteroids to Hit Earth?

Can Asteroids Be Deflected?

And don’t miss the videos, What Happens When Large Meteorites Fall to Earth?, and How Are Large Asteroids Tracked?

Gravity, who needs it

Houston TX (SPX) Nov 20, 2015 What happens to your body in space? NASA’s Human Research Program has been unfolding answers for over a decade. Space is a dangerous, unfriendly place. Isolated from family and friends, exposed to radiation that could increase your lifetime risk for cancer, a diet high in freeze-dried food, required daily exercise to keep your muscles and bones from deteriorating, a carefully scripted high-tempo Full article

NASA’s FireSat system will be able to detect wildfires from space

4 Fun Facts Animated by Teachers

Last week, the TED-Ed Animation Team facilitated animation workshops with TED-Ed Innovative Educators. We introduced them to basic stop-motion tricks and techniques in hopes that they would begin to incorporate animation into their classroom projects - and based on the results, we think they are up to the challenge!

Earlier this fall, we sourced some fun facts from the educators themselves, and then tasked them with visualizing that very information. We used tablets with #istopmotion to shoot the animation, and basic household objects and school supplies as props and materials. We dare say that you, too, can do this from home!

1. When an object’s mass doubles, its kinetic energy also doubles, but when an object’s SPEED doubles, its kinetic energy quadruples.

2. If a male sperm was the size of a human being, it would swim the 100 metre freestyle in half of the world record time.

3. Approximately one word is added to the English language every two hours.

4. If you condensed the Earth’s history into 24 hours, humans wouldn’t exist until 11:58pm.

(Fact Source) Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

Gearing up for Thanksgiving weekend and desperate for small talk topics that make you sound slightly smarter? We’ve got you covered:

1. Tricks for building a Wi-Fi network that covers your entire house Excellent Wi-Fi coverage in your home may be easier to achieve than you might think—if you’ve got the right router placed in a central position, a Wi-Fi extender if needed, and a little bit of patience. via: BGR

2. The dream life of driverless cars Thanks to 3D scanning, driverless cars can do more than take you from one place to another: They can also produce artistic renditions of their surrounding environments, peculiarities and all. Talk about an IoT dream journal. via: The New York Times

3. Lego’s new digital system and other “toys-to-life” will be huge this holiday season Toys won’t only be played within the realm of a child’s imagination, but in mobile apps that can take physical toys into virtual spaces. via: @quartz

4. The dictionary, emoji, and redefining the word ‘word’ What do rent money, fart jokes, and student loans have in common? They all solicit a reaction that’s encapsulated in Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year: the Face with Tears of Joy emoji. via: @theverge

Four Common Wing Shapes in Birds

There are four general wing shapes that are common in birds: Passive soaring, active soaring, elliptical wings, and high-speed wings.

Passive soaring wings have long primary feathers that spread out, creating “slots” that allow the bird to catch vertical columns of hot air called “thermals” and rise higher in the air.  Examples of birds with this wing type include eagles, most hawks, and storks. These Bald Eagles are classic examples of birds with passive soaring wings:

Active soaring wings are long and narrow, allowing birds to soar for a long time. However, these birds are much more dependent on wind currents than passive soaring birds. Examples of birds with this wing type are albarosses, gulls, and gannets. These California Gulls show good examples of the active soaring wing type:

Elliptical wings are good for short bursts of high speed. While they allow high speed, the speed cannot be maintained. Examples of birds that have this wing type are crows, ravens, blackbirds, sparrows, and thrushes such as the American Robin. These Common Ravens are good examples of birds with elliptical wings:

High-speed wings are long and thin, but not nearly as long as birds with active soaring wings. As the name suggests, birds with this wing type are incredibly fast, but unlike those with elliptical wings, these birds can maintain their speed for a while. Examples of birds that have this wing type are swifts, ducks, falcons, terns, and sandpipers. This Forster’s Tern is a good example of a bird with high-speed wings.

(http://www.birds.cornell.edu/education/kids/books/wingshapes)

Astronaut Scott Kelly, who is spending one year on the Space Station, tweeted this image this morning: “#California in a golden state just before sunrise”

via reddit

DARPA wants your crazy robot pitches

These are the Most Incredible Photos Shot by NASA’s Cassini Probe

The Cassini space probe has captured its fair share of eye-popping photos since launching in 1997 and arriving in Saturn’s orbit in 2004. Here’s a collection of some of Cassini’s most remarkable photographs. Many of them were compiled by Reddit user I_Say_I_Say, and others were featured here before or obtained from NASA’s website: You can find a massive collection of Cassini’s photos in the mission gallery on NASA’s website.Thanks Petapixel

1.A massive storm stretching across the surface of the planet. 2.Saturn’s gradation and rings. 3.Three of Saturn’s moons (Titan, Mimas, and Rhea) captured in a single photo. 4.Saturn casting a shadow on its rings. 5.Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. 6.Saturn, its rings, and its moon Dione. 7. Earth seen as a pale blue dot under Saturn’s rings. 8.Saturn’s moon Rhea hovering in front of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. 9.Saturn casting its shadow on its rings. 10.Saturn and its moon Titan

Like our new Art on Facebook              Posted by Andrew

A new study (published in PLOS Biology) investigated how bats make sharp turns in the air, particularly when they have to grab the ceiling. It turns out aerodynamics have very little to do with it - it’s all about inertia. Just as a figure skater clutches his arms to his chest to increase his speed, bats pull in their wings to help them make turns.

You can read all about it (and see more video) in this piece by my friend Nsikan Akpan over at PBS Newshour.

7 Technologies Super Soldiers Will Be Using in Future Warfare

Read more at: http://futurism.com/images/

http://futurism.com/images/7-technologies-super-soldiers-will-be-using-in-future-warfare/

Lunokhod 1, first robotic rover to visit another world, landed on the moon 45 yrs ago today.

What’s in a Name? Gaming Names Reveal Lots About the Player’s Personality

What’s in a name? In the case of the usernames of video gamers, a remarkable amount of information about their real world personalities, according to research by psychologists at the University of York.

The research is in Computers in Human Behavior. (full open access)

(via Biological & Popular Culture // Dino Pet)

Bio-luminescent dinoflagellates…

Top 10 Humanoid Robots

Read more at: http://futurism.com/images/ http://futurism.com/images/top-10-humanoid-robots/

DJI’s drone safety system has you signing up to fly in some areas

If Our Universe Is So Old and Vast, Then Where Are All the Aliens?

Read more at: http://futurism.com/images/  http://futurism.com/images/if-our-universe-is-so-old-and-vast-then-where-are-all-the-aliens/

Using copper to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses

New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

S. L. Warnes, Z. R. Little and C. W. Keevil. Human coronavirus 229E remains infectious on common touch surface materials. mBio, November 2015 DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01697-15

This is human coronavirus 229E being inactivated on copper.        Credit: University of Southampton

Physicists Discover A New Phase of Matter

Physicists discover a new phase of matter that exhibits superconductivity at high temperatures and could lead to new battery developments for electronic devices.

Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/physicists-discover-a-new-phase-of-matter/

Lasers could rapidly make materials hotter than the Sun

London UK (SPX) Nov 17, 2015 Lasers could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the centre of the Sun in only 20 quadrillionths of a second, according to new research. Theoretical physicists from Imperial College London have devised an extremely rapid heating mechanism that they believe could heat certain materials to ten million degrees in much less than a million millionth of a second. The method, propose Full article

THE MOST POPULAR DRUGS  AND WHAT THEY’LL DO TO YOU

Here’s the lowdown on the most popular drugs and exactly how much you’ll probably regret taking them.

ALCOHOL

Effects:

If you drink enough of the stuff you’ll become drunk - a curious state of mind that brings with it impaired physical and mental abilities, higher confidence, increased urges to sing Kareaoke and terrible sexual judgement. If you drink even more it could cause black outs and projectile vomiting.

Repercussions:

An occasional tipple is fine but if you’re going to go all Oli Reed on the booze you’re looking at several scenarios. Best case being that you’ll wake up with a hangover that’ll range from a mild sense of irritating nausea to the type of brain pain that’ll have you searching the Yellow Pages for an exorcist. Worst case scenario is you get permanent brain damage, mental health problems and a full on alcohol dependency. Drink in moderation.

MARIJUANA

Effects:

A hazy chilled feeling that depending on your own mental steel will develop into symptoms ranging from slightly lax coordination and reflexes or stoner panic and anxiety followed by a bout of short-term depression or sleepiness. All combined with a bank balance massacred by takeaway food and Pickled Onion Monster Munch.

Repercussions:

If you’re in it for the long run you’ll end up so chilled out that your sex drive will be severely diminished, a permanent sense of drowsiness, supressed immune system and personality and mood changes. There have also been links to depression, paranoia and other mental illness.

MDMA/ECSTACY

Effects:

A bouncy gurning buzz and increased feelings of love for everybody and everything around you. All of which will leave you feeling on top of the world before you get distracted by the copious amounts of water you’re drinking and the sound of your own heart trying to remove itself from your ribcage, followed by light feelings of confusion and occasional psychosis. You’ll properly love colours and sounds and want to talk to everybody in the world about it.

Repercussions:

In complete honesty no one truly knows the exact long term effects of these drugs, owing in part to the amount of awful things it’s typically cut with. What we do know is that between 1996 and 2012 it was linked to just shy of 600 deaths and is known to cause heart, liver and kidney problems. The comedown will also feel like you’ve been punched in the face repeatedly for the previous 12 hours followed by your parents telling you they don’t love you.

COCAINE

Effects:

On a surface level you’ll feel like you’re slicker than a BP oil spill. You’ll be transformed into an ‘interested,’ chatty and confident social beast. Your jokes are great, you’re in no way talking too fast and no, you’re definitely not talking too loudly or too closely to people. Subconsciously you’ll have a growing sense of fear, internally asking questions like: “are people eyeballing me?” and “Why am I sweating so much?” Then your nose will start dripping and the only way back is to snort more. Thus begins the vicious circle.

Repercussions:

The next day you’ll feel like you’ve got the flu and no amount of mansize Kleenex is going to make it feel better. The more you take it, the more you’ll take which turns your heart into a hyperactive hamster in a running wheel, massively increasing your chances of a heart attack. Get through that though and you’re fine. Until your nose falls off and you become a paranoid recluse with a serious drug debt.

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

Effects:

Better known by science as Psilocybe Semilanceata, ‘shrooms are one trippy rollercoaster ride of a drug, falling very firmly in the hallucinogenic family. They’ll open your world into a folding kaleidoscope of colours and imagery. You’ll see the birth of the universe before your very own eyes, for a brief moment you’ll understand the meaning of life and your best friend will turn into a lovely giant teddybear. Unless you have a bad trip, in which case you’ll see horrible things you didn’t even think could be things, spilling out of your mind like it’s Pandora’s Box. You may defecate yourself.

Repercussions:

Long term users often find themselves getting flashbacks of the worse parts of their trips at the absolute worst moments. World perception becomes skewed and you cease to distinguish between reality and hallucinations. This can develop or antagonise previous mental health issues that may have gone unnoticed. There’s also the danger of accidentally ingesting one that’s poisonous, thus killing you…

DMT

Effects:

Another hallucinogen not completely dissimilar to LSD or magic mushrooms - in world culture there have been many cases of indigenous people’s traditions and religions using the substance in drinks and food to stimulate a spiritual effect, the idea being that you hallucinate some crazy cool stuff that brings you closer to your creator. Obviously bad trip rules still apply and it could definitely go horribly wrong.

Repercussions:

You can’t really tell how strong DMT is until you’ve taken it, which makes it tricky to assess your intake and then once your trip has started there’s no way to stop it. It’s like getting on a long-haul flight when you’ve got a fear of flying, you’re not getting off. Aside from the usual mental health effects, you’re also likely to vomit and feel nauseous, coupled with raised blood pressure and heart palpitations.

LSD

Effects:

The sort of junk your parents were taking en route to a Santana concert back in the good ol’ days of free love and rock and roll. It’s the granddaddy of hallucinogens. It’ll make you feel like you can control time and have the secrets of the universe stored up in your spaced out noggin. It could also flit in the blink of an eye, like the narrative of The Wizard of Oz. One second you’re floating around Candy Town and chatting to the friendly scarecrows, the next minute you’ve got flying monkeys chasing you into a forest full of angry psychopathic trees.

Repercussions:

Like all drugs of this type, if you’re knocking back a lot of this stuff it could have some seriously detrimental effects on your mental health, heightening the mood that you’re in at the precise moment of your trip. You could walk away with some serious depression, panic attacks and perpetual tiredness. Plus there’s the risk of the odd Acid Flashback, which might seem fun now but when your commute to work suddenly turns in Hiroshima you won’t be chuckling so loudly.

OPIOIDS

Effects:

Generally speaking these are synthetic opiates. Things like morphine, which is more or less the medical painkiller version of heroin. Initial benefits are things like pain relief, euphioria and lovely fuzzy feelings of well-being taking you to an uber-relaxed state. But with that comes intense sweating, itching and nausea and more worryingly, addiction. And the need for more, with which comes: fatal overdose.

Repercussions:

Serious addiction. Your life will slowly turn upside down, you’ll be stuck in a constant state of lethargy, you’ll be constipated, you’ll be itchy, dizzy and all in all you’ll probably not be a very fun person to be with. Plus there’s the constant risk of overdose and depending on how you’re taking it you could be at risk of other infections. Nasty business.

PILLS

Effects:

A thoroughly ambiguous type of club drug. Effects could be anything from thinking you’re a superhero to falling in love with your best mate and believing you’re the most popular kid in town who can stay up dancing forever. Or, it’ll send you into a weird state where you’re feeling violent, sleepy, sick or on death’s door. It could be lots of things because generally speaking, you won’t know what’s in it. Which is absolutely terrifying.

Repercussions:

It really depends what’s in it. You could be looking at grim flu-like comedowns, or you could be looking at stress induced heart attack. It’s probably better to just avoid all together.

MESCALINE

Effects:

A psychedelic drug that emanates from the seeds found in the Peyote cactus. It’s been used for thousands of years, notably by some Native Americans in Mexico as a part of spiritual ceremonies. More famously it was part of Hunter S Thompson’ contraband suitcase inFear and Loathing in Las Vegas and played a semi-large part in sending him straight to Bat Country. You’ll see the kind of scary hallucinations that don’t go away when you close your eyes and have an all-round bizarre time.

Repercussions:

If it all starts going wrong when you’re on it you’ll be stuck in a state of panic for the duration of the trip. The world will be distorted and your motor systems will be all out of sync. You could think you’re a superhero and then go on to really hurt yourself. There’s also the odd report of heart attacks and diarrhoea and vomiting. Not to mention the obvious post-traumatic stress effects on mental health.

http://drugabuse.com/

FAA: No, you won’t need to pay someone to register your drone

Finland Explores Offering a Universal Basic Income to its Citizens

The Finnish Social Insurance Institution is preparing a proposal that would provide a tax free universal basic income of €800 per month to every Finnish citizen. Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/finland-explores-offering-a-universal-basic-income-to-its-citizens/

We’re With You When You Fly

Did you know that “We’re With You When You Fly”? Thanks to our advancements in aeronautics, today’s aviation industry is better equipped than ever to safely and efficiently transport millions of passengers and billions of dollars worth of freight to their destinations. In fact, every U.S. Aircraft flying today and every U.S. air traffic control tower uses NASA-developed technology in some way. Here are some of our objectives in aeronautics:

Making Flight Greener

From reducing fuel emissions to making more efficient flight routes, we’re working to make flight greener. We are dedicated to improving the design of airplanes so they are more Earth friendly by using less fuel, generating less pollution and reducing noise levels far below where they are today.

Getting you safely home faster

We work with the Federal Aviation Administration to provide air traffic controllers with new tools for safely managing the expected growth in air traffic across the nation. For example, testing continues on a tool that controllers and pilots can use to find a more efficient way around bad weather, saving thousands of pounds of fuel and an average of 27 minutes flying time per tested flight. These and other NASA-developed tools help get you home faster and support a safe, efficient airspace.

Seeing Aviation’s Future

Here at NASA, we’re committed to transforming aviation through cutting edge research and development. From potential airplanes that could be the first to fly on Mars, to testing a concept of a battery-powered plane, we’re always thinking of what the future of aviation will look like.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com