bananas
bananas's JournalSuper-sensitive Camera Captures a Direct Image of an Exoplanet
Source: Universe Today
The Gemini Planet Imager’s first light image of Beta Pictoris b (Processing by Christian Marois, NRC Canada)
The world’s newest and most powerful exoplanet imaging instrument, the recently-installed Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) on the 8-meter Gemini South telescope, has captured its first-light infrared image of an exoplanet: Beta Pictoris b, which orbits the star Beta Pictoris, the second-brightest star in the southern constellation Pictor. The planet is pretty obvious in the image above as a bright clump of pixels just to the lower right of the star in the middle (which is physically covered by a small opaque disk to block glare.) But that cluster of pixels is really a distant planet 63 light-years away and several times more massive — as well as 60% larger — than Jupiter!
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And GPI doesn’t just image distant Jupiter-sized exoplanets; it images them quickly.
“Even these early first-light images are almost a factor of ten better than the previous generation of instruments,” said Macintosh. “ In one minute, we were seeing planets that used to take us an hour to detect.”
The GPI integration team celebrating after obtaining first light images (Gemini Observatory)
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Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/107854/super-sensitive-camera-captures-a-direct-image-of-an-exoplanet/
Eye Reflections Could Catch Crooks
January 6, 2014 60-Second Tech
Eye Reflections Could Catch Crooks
Photos that include people now produce images clear enough to make a positive ID of any individuals whose faces are reflected in the corneas of the people in the picture.
In the 1964 film Goldfinger, James Bond thwarts a would-be attacker approaching from behind after seeing the man’s reflection in the eyes of the woman he’s about to kiss. It was enough for Bond to know somebody was approaching. But now U.K. researchers want to fully identify individuals based on corneal reflections.
Rather than sneaking up on people, the researchers simply took high-res photos of their subjects’ faces. From those digital pictures, they zoomed in on the subjects’ eyes to examine images of bystanders reflected in the cornea.
Turns out those reflected images might indeed be useful for real-life crime fighting, according to the research, published in the journal PLOS One. (Rob Jenkins and Christie Kerr, Identifiable Images of Bystanders Extracted from Corneal Reflections)
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NASA and Smithsonian to Host 10 Year Anniversary Events for Mars Rovers
Events on Jan 7, 16, 17, 23
Today (Jan 7) has two events, at 8:30-10 and 10:30-noon (Eastern time zone)
NASA and Smithsonian to Host 10 Year Anniversary Events for Mars Rovers
Press Release Source: NASA HQ
Posted Monday, January 6, 2014
Media and public are invited to attend events hosted by NASA and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), in Washington, to commemorate 10 years of roving across Mars.
Anniversary activities will showcase the images and achievements of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, both launched by NASA in the summer of 2003. Activities also will highlight how Mars robotic exploration and discovery will aid plans for a future human mission to Mars.
Spirit and Opportunity completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004 and went on to perform extended missions for years. The rovers made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. Although Spirit ceased communicating with Earth in March 2010, the Opportunity rover continues its work on the Red Planet.
Anniversary events include (all times Eastern):
Tuesday, Jan. 7, 8:30 to 10 a.m.: The museum will host a media breakfast and briefing to unveil a new exhibit featuring more than 50 mosaic and panoramic photographs taken by the rovers. From a view of the sun setting over the rim of a crater, to a study of "abstract dunes," to a shot of rover tracks disappearing over the horizon, the images were chosen for their scientific and aesthetic content by Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission team members. A full-scale model of the rovers also will be on display. The event will be held on the museum's second floor outside its Flight in the Arts Gallery at Independence Ave. and 6th Street, SW, Washington. For additional information, contact Alison Mitchell at 202-633-2376.
Briefing participants are:
-- Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey, director, NASM
-- James Green, director, Planetary Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- John Grant, supervisory geologist at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, NASM, and science operations working group chair for the MER mission
-- Steven Squyres, professor of astronomy, Cornell University, and principle investigator for the MER mission
Tuesday, Jan. 7, 10:30 a.m. to noon: NASA and the museum will facilitate two panel discussions on Mars robotic and human missions. Held in NASM's Moving Beyond Earth gallery, participants will discuss the MER program and its scientific successes. Participants also will provide updates on the agency's activities to advance a human mission to Mars in the 2030s.
Panel I: Moderator - Pamela Conrad, Curiosity rover scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
-- John Grant
-- Steven Squyres
-- David Lavery, program executive, Solar System Exploration, NASA HQ
Panel II: Moderator - James Green, director, Planetary Science, NASA HQ
-- John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ
-- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology, NASA HQ
-- John Connolly, acting Chief Exploration Scientist, NASA HQ
-- Alyssa Carson, NASA Passport Winner and student from Baton Rouge, LA.
NASA Television and the agency's Web site will provide live coverage of the event. The discussion will also be Webcast live at:
www.livestream.com/mars
Reporters and the public can ask questions from NASA centers and via Twitter using the hashtag #10YrsOnMars.
Thursday, Jan. 16 at 10 p.m.: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., will host a public celebration of a decade of rover exploration of Mars. The event will be held in the Beckman Auditorium on the California Institute of Technology campus, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena. JPL manages the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The participants are:
-- Charles Elachi, director, JPL
-- Steve Squyres
-- John Callas, project manager, Mars Exploration Rover Project, JPL
-- Bill Nye, chief executive officer of the Planetary Society, Pasadena, Calif.
The event will be streamed live on the Web at:
http://ustream.tv/NASAJPL
Friday, Jan. 17, 10 p.m.: JPL will host a public lecture delivered by John Callas, entitled "The Mars Exploration Rovers: A Decade of Exploration," at the Vosloh Forum on the campus of Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For more information, contact Guy Webster at 818-354-6278.
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2 p.m.: JPL will host a media briefing on the Opportunity rover's decade of exploration. NASA Television and the agency's Web site will provide live coverage of the event. Reporters and the public can ask questions from NASA centers and via Twitter using the hashtag #10YrsOnMars.
Participants will include:
-- John Callas
-- Steve Squyres
-- Ray Arvidson, Mars Exploration Rovers deputy principal investigator, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
The discussion will also be Webcast live at:
http://ustream.tv/NASAJPL
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information on the rovers and the Mars Exploration Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mars
Why the Arctic is drunk right now
Source: Grist
Perhaps the best analogy yet for the insane cold weather now afflicting the U.S. came from science blogger Greg Laden, who created the viral image above. “Go home, Arctic,” it reads. “You’re drunk.”
When it comes to the reason why the United States is currently experiencing life-threatening cold — with temperatures in the negative-20s in the upper Midwest, and wind chills much lower than that — that’s actually not so far from the truth. “It’s basically the jet stream on a drunken path going around the Northern Hemisphere,” explains Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. In other words, we’re experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures because a wavy and elongated jet stream has allowed frigid Arctic air to travel much farther south than usual.
And according to Francis’ research — which has drawn increasing attention in the past few years — we’re seeing more of just this kind of jet stream behavior, thanks to the rapid warming of the Arctic.
To understand how it works, it first helps to think of the jet stream as a river of air that flows from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing with it much of our weather...
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Read more: http://grist.org/climate-energy/why-the-arctic-is-drunk-right-now/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Mooney_(journalist)
Desmond Tutu Takes Stand on Animal Welfare
Desmond Tutu Takes Stand on Animal Welfare
by Lindsey Little January 2, 2014
Anti-apartheid champion and Noble Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu has spoken out against many social injustices throughout the years, including the fight against AIDS, poverty, racism, homophobia, and sexism, among others. Now the retired Archbishop is using his influence to speak on behalf of animals.
In a forward to “The Global Guide to Animal Protection,” a newly released compilation of more than 180 articles chronicling the worldwide exploitation of animals, Desmond Tutu urged readers to fight for justice for all of God’s creatures.
He wrote:
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It is a kind of theological folly to suppose that God has made the entire world just for human beings, or to suppose that God is interested in only one of the millions of species that inhabit God’s good earth.
Our dominion over animals is not supposed to be despotism. We are made in the image of God, yes, but God – in whose image we are made – is holy, loving, and just. We do not honour God by abusing other sentient creatures.”
“Even when faced with urgent human problems,” he continued, “we should not overlook the issue of justice to animals. . . . This ‘Global Guide’ reflects a growing worldwide sensitivity to animals and a developing sense that–as a matter of justice–they deserve our compassion and respect. It has my warm support.”
This forward is Tutu’s first definitive statement on the issue of animal welfare.
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Toyota bumps up hydrogen-powered car in US to 2015
Source: Washington Post
Toyota said Monday that a hydrogen-powered vehicle that emits only water vapor as exhaust will go on sale in the U.S. in 2015, a year earlier than it promised just two months ago.
The Japanese automaker made the announcement Monday at the International CES, the technology industry’s annual gadget show. The shift came months after rival automakers Hyundai and Honda both said they’d start selling cars with that technology in the U.S. in 2015.
The electric car, which Toyota calls FCV for now, uses hydrogen as fuel for a battery. Toyota says it will have a range of 300 miles, can accelerate from standstill to 60 miles per hour in 10 seconds, and can refuel its hydrogen tank in three to five minutes.
Toyota says it will focus on selling cars in California at first. Working with researchers at the University of California, Irvine, Toyota said the first 10,000 vehicles can be supported with only 68 refueling stations from San Francisco to San Diego. It noted that California has approved $200 million to build about 20 fueling stations by 2015, 40 by 2016 and 100 by 2024.
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Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/toyota-bumps-up-hydrogen-powered-car-in-us-to-2015/2014/01/06/1c309a06-7716-11e3-a647-a19deaf575b3_story.html
Wind power was Spain's top source of electricity in 2013
Source: Guardian
Remarkable new figures from Spain's grid operator have revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from the country's power sector are likely to have fallen 23.1% last year, as power generation from wind farms and hydroelectric plants soared.
Red Eléctrica de España (REE) released a preliminary report on the country's power system late last month, revealing that for "the first time ever, (wind power) contributed most to the annual electricity demand coverage". According to the figures, wind turbines met 21.1% of electricity demand on the Spanish peninsular, narrowly beating the region's fleet of nuclear reactors, which provided 21% of power.
In total, wind farms are estimated to have generated 53,926 gigawatt hours of electricity, up 12% on 2012, while high levels of rainfall meant hydroelectric power output was 16% higher than the historical average, climbing to 32,205GWh.
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In contrast, the preliminary figures show that power output from combined cycle gas plants fell 34.2% year-on-year, coal-fired plants saw generation fall 27.3%, and nuclear power output fell 8.3%.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/06/wind-power-spain-electricity-2013
Jenny McCarthy Slams Rumors Claiming Her Son Does Not Have Autism
Source: Huffington Post
Jenny McCarthy slammed rumors claiming her son does not have autism, calling the assertions "blatantly inaccurate and completely ridiculous."
Talk of the "View" co-host's 11-year-old son, Evan, began circulating Friday, Jan. 3, after RadarOnline.com published a story saying McCarthy has changed her position on vaccinations and stating her son might not have autism after all. (The piece has since been deleted, but it can still be viewed here.)
Radar's report cites a "new interview with Time magazine" -- a story that's actually from 2010. The website misconstrued the 41-year-old's quotes in the piece and falsely portrayed it as a "new" stance.
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On Saturday, Jan. 4, McCarthy took to Twitter to respond to the rumors:
Stories circulating online, claiming that I said my son Evan may not have autism after all, are blatantly inaccurate and completely ridiculous. Evan was diagnosed with autism by the Autism Evaluation Clinic at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital and was confirmed by the State of California (through their Regional Center). The implication that I have changed my position, that my child was not initially diagnosed with autism (and instead may suffer from Landau-Kleffner Syndrome), is both irresponsible and inaccurate. These stories cite a "new" Time Magazine interview with me, which was actually published in 2010, that never contained any such statements by me. Continued misrepresentations, such as these, only serve to open wounds of the many families who are courageously dealing with this disorder. Please know that I am taking every legal measure necessary to set this straight.
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Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/jenny-mccarthy-son-rumors-autism_n_4548244.html
SYMPOSIUM: Japan’s massive stockpile of plutonium casts shadow over nonproliferation efforts
SYMPOSIUM: Japan’s massive stockpile of plutonium casts shadow over nonproliferation efforts
January 05, 2014
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Nuclear policy experts from around the world discussed a broad array of issues concerning the use of plutonium in nuclear power generation at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
The symposium, titled “Managing Spent Fuel: To Reprocess or Store,” was jointly sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun Co. and Princeton University. Discussions revolved around the wisdom of Japan’s energy policy of utilizing plutonium for power generation under the government’s nuclear fuel recycling program.
The symposium was comprised of three sections. The experts first addressed the implications of Japan’s policy of reprocessing all spent nuclear fuel for international efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. Next, the main topic was the economics and safety of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. In the final section, the participants debated how to overcome obstacles to a policy change.
NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES SUSPECT JAPAN HAS HIDDEN PLUTONIUM AGENDA
Japan’s massive stockpile of plutonium and what should be done with it was the topic of discussion for the first section of the symposium. Steve Fetter, a former U.S. White House official during the Obama administration, pointed out that if the reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, starts operation, Japan’s stockpile of plutonium will keep growing despite the lack of a plausible plan to use the material.
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Bill Nye Wants To Wage War on Anti-Science Politics, Make a Movie-And Save the Planet From Asteroids
"The president lights up when he sees Bill," an Obama administration official says.
Bill Nye Wants To Wage War on Anti-Science Politics, Make a Movie—And Save the Planet From Asteroids
"The president lights up when he sees Bill," an Obama administration official says.
- By Asawin Suebsaeng Thu Jan. 2, 2014
William Sanford Nye (his friends call him "Bill"
made his first mark on history while sitting in a college classroom in 1976.
It was just another day at Cornell University for Nye as an energetic, Ultimate Frisbee-playing undergraduate student. He was chatting with fellow students when in walked their professor—the legendary astronomer and author Carl Sagan—with an unexpected request. Sagan asked the class which Chuck Berry song should be included on the Voyager Golden Record, the collection of songs and images placed aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. (If extraterrestrial life forms ever encounter the Voyager spacecraft, the Record is intended to reflect the culture and diversity of Planet Earth.) Sagan was chairing the committee responsible for selecting the music for NASA, and he told his class that he thought Berry's 1956 hit "Roll Over Beethoven" was the song the aliens should hear. This was when Nye and his classmates led a much-needed revolt.
"We all said, 'No, professor!'" Nye recalls. "'It has to be 'Johnny B. Goode! That's the definitive Chuck Berry song!'...Berry was the guy who took blues and turned it into rock n' roll, after all. So we thought we needed to send a message on that spacecraft."
Sagan took his students' advice, and to this day, "Johnny B. Goode" is aboard the Voyager spacecraft, alongside the work of Bach and gospel blues artist Blind Willie Johnson.
Sagan left an indelible mark on Nye, but his his love for science and engineering was inspired much earlier. "The spark was before kindergarten," Nye says. His mother, Jacqueline, was a codebreaker during the Second World War, fighting fascism with math and science. You can see evidence of some of her work, declassified in 1992, at the NSA-affiliated National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland. The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, had an exhibit dedicated to enigma machines, and it included a photo of Jacqueline. "She worked in a bunker, waiting for Nazi bombs to drop or something," Nye jokes. Meanwhile, his father, Ned, was held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. "Now that sounds like it sucked," Nye says. "If you ever have the chance, I wouldn't recommend it. Not one bit."
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