On the Mark sur Twitter : "#Google's new #AI bot thinks purpose of life is "to live forever" #ITRTG #Science #Technology. Uk.businessinsider. Drought Takes $2.7-Billion Toll on California Agriculture. The record-breaking drought in California—brought about by a severe lack of precipitation, especially mountain snows—has exacted a $2.7 billion toll on the state’s economy because of agricultural losses, researchers said Tuesday. During a briefing for the California Department of Food & Agriculture, scientists from the University of California, Davis, told officials that based on their preliminary research and modeling, the drought is resulting in a harder economic pinch this year than it was in 2014. The drought, they found, will lead this year to 32 percent more acres of land laid fallow, an increase in groundwater pumping to make up for the lack of water in rivers and reservoirs, and total job losses of 18,600.
The losses from this drought aren’t spread out evenly across the state, the researchers added, with areas like the Tulare Lake Basin in the southern San Joaquin Valley bearing much of the brunt. The terrible snowpack and low reservoir levels prompted Gov. RT sur Twitter : "Terminator-style implant may help paralyzed people walk again. Terminator-style implant may help paralyzed people walk again. Published time: January 11, 2015 14:53 AFP Photo / Alain Jocard Swiss scientists have created a cyborg-style implant they hope will soon give paralyzed people a chance to walk again.
So far, it has been successfully tested in labs, which means clinical trials with humans should start soon. The soft, stretchable device, dubbed e-Dura, is the brainchild of scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. It is designed to act as a “bridge” between two ends of severed spinal cord and deliver electrical impulses and drugs. It is named after dura matter, a thick membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Due to its softness and flexibility, this silicon and gold “ribbon” implant doesn’t cause inflammation and rejection when connected to spinal tissue. © 2015 EPFL/Alain herzog To make the gold even more elastic, the scientists laid it down in layers of just 35 nanometers (0.000035 millimeters) thick.
READ MORE: Paralyzed man walks again thanks to UK-funded tech. First hints of waves on Titan's seas. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho The Cassini spacecraft has spotted what seem to be tiny waves on the seas of Titan. After years of searching, planetary scientists think they may finally have spotted waves rippling on the seas of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. If confirmed, this would be the first discovery of ocean waves beyond Earth. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied several unusual glints of sunlight off the surface of Punga Mare, one of Titan’s hydrocarbon seas, in 2012 and 2013. Those reflections may come from tiny ripples, no more than 2 centimetres high, that are disturbing the otherwise flat ocean, says Jason Barnes, a planetary scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow. Barnes presented the findings today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, where a second talk hinted at the presence of waves in another of Titan’s seas.
But the probe had never spotted wind rippling the surface of Titan’s seas. Carbonvirgin. The Carbon Cycle Larger version of Image, or a More detailed version, or Oceanic Biological Pump The Carbon Cycle is the chemical backbone of life on Earth and a key element in many important processes - it is in all of us. Carbon helps regulate global temperature, make up our bodiesw and the food that sustains us, and provides over 95% of the energy to fuel the global economy. Most of the Earth's carbon is stored in limestone rocks, fossil fuels and sediments [70,000 billion tons], while the rest is located in the surface reservoirs: ocean [38,000bn tons], atmosphere [837bn tons], soils and permafrosts [2,500bn tons], and living organisms [550bn tons]. These are the reservoirs of organic carbon through which the carbon cycles in annual and millennial rhythms. The conversion rate of carbon to CO2 is 3.67 and there is 2.13bn tons of carbon in 1ppm of atmospheric CO2.
Carbon moves from one storage reservoir to another through a variety of ways. Emissions & the Carbon Cycle Diagram links: New method proposed to predict solar flares. Washington: Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, have tested the reliability of seven techniques against their record of predicting flares and non-flare events correctly, as well as their history of missed flares and false alarms. When the predictions were put into context of the Sun's activity levels over time, some of the most seemingly successful techniques slid down the table. Solar flares are sudden and dramatic releases of energy from the Sun's atmosphere in the form of radiation and electrically charged particles. These eruptions are associated with many aspects of 'space weather', which can damage satellites and interfere with communications, navigations and power systems.
In our technology-dependent society, accurate advanced warning of solar flare occurrence is an area of increasing concern. "The most important aspect of any type of forecast is how it performs," Dr. "If we always say, 'flare expected today', we will have successfully predicted all flares. Strange emissions by sun are mutating matter. ~UPDATED 12/01/11 Check links please…This is not a scientific paper…link at bottom for source…Thank you ~jude The angry sun For months mounting fear has driven researchers to wring their hands over the approaching solar storms. Some have predicted devastating solar tsunamis that could wipe away our advanced technology, others voiced dire warnings that violent explosions on the surface of the sun could reach out to Earth, breach our magnetic field, and expose billions to high intensity X-rays and other deadly forms of cancer-causing radiation.
Now evidence has surfaced that something potentially more dangerous is happening deep within the hidden core of our life-giving star: never-before-seen particles—or some mysterious force—is being shot out from the sun and it’s hitting Earth. Whatever it is, the evidence suggests it’s affecting all matter. Strange and unknown Alarmed physicists first became aware of this threat over the past several years. Something impossible has happened. Sources. 2013 Prediction: Physics Enters A New Era. Science and technology have utterly transformed human life in the past few generations, and forecasts of the future used to be measured in decades. But big changes arrive faster and faster these days. So here we've shifted our forecast to the near-term, because we're right on the verge of some extraordinary stuff. These are the trends and events to watch out for in 2013.
See them all here. On July 4, 2012, a panel of scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva announced the discovery of a new particle, the long-anticipated Higgs boson (or something very much like it). The Higgs is the final piece of the Standard Model of particle physics, a theory that accounts for everything we experience in our lives, from rocks to puppies to stars and planets. If the previous era was about understanding the physics of everyday stuff, the next will be dominated by the attempt to grasp more elusive realms, including one of the most mysterious of all: dark matter. An absolutely incredible raw image of Saturn’s swirling north pole. I'm just a biologist, but here is my crazy guess for the hexagon. I suspect it has to do with regular spacing of coriolis effects in a relatively homogeneous gas mixture.
Note how the hexagon is curved on the vertices. I bet, over millions of years, there have been periods when temperature change caused the hexagon to morph into six spiral storms. Think about neighboring color bands on Jupiter, and how their interfaces are defined by many small, swirling vortices of storm. U.S.-New Zealand Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation.
Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Honorable Steven Joyce, the New Zealand Minister of Science and Technology, will lead the third U.S. -New Zealand Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation in Washington, D.C. on September 20, 2012.
The meeting, held under the auspices of the U.S.- New Zealand Science and Technology Agreement, will assess progress on scientific cooperation and identify new areas for scientific collaboration of direct benefit to both countries. Representatives from U.S. Government agencies and research institutions will meet with their New Zealand counterparts to discuss health and health innovation, marine and ocean research, climate change monitoring, research, and services in the Pacific, and natural hazards and resilient cities. GM lobby wades in on new study. 1.The GM lobby wades in on new study – GMWatch2.Prof. Trewavas – a GMWatch profile–-–-1.The GM lobby wades in on new study Following the publication yesterday of the new GM crop study showing severe health damage in rats, the GM lobby went into rapid rebuttal mode in an effort to limit and influnce media coverage.
The New York Times for instance in its coverage quotes two critics of the study, one of whom is Bruce M Chassy who claims the publication of the peer reviewed paper is "not an innocent scientific publication" but a carefully orchestrated media event. Chassy has previously stated that the "products of biotechnology are probably safer than any others", i.e. probably safer than all other food and crops. The Financial Times in its coverage of the new study also quotes two critics. Amazing that the peer reviewers missed that. Greenpeace libel. Toxoplasma Gondii Brain Parasite Infection From Cats Linked To Schizophrenia, Suicide.
Toxoplasma gondii is arguably the most interesting parasite on the planet. In the guts of cats, this single-celled protozoan lives and breeds, producing egg-like cells which pass with the cats bowel movements. These find their way into other animals that come in contact with cat crap. Once in this new host, the parasite changes and migrates, eventually settling as cysts in various tissues including the host’s brain, where the real fun begins.
Toxoplasma can only continue its life cycle and end up a happy adult in a cat’s gut if it can find its way into a cat’s gut, and the fastest way to a cat’s gut, of course, is to be eaten by a cat. Of course, rats aren’t the only animals that Toxoplasma ends up in. The idea that this tiny protozoan parasite can influence our minds is old news. In 2003, E. Continuing to work with mental patients, scientists later discovered a link between suicide and parasite infection. The results were clear. How does a parasite affect how we think? New particle fits description of elusive Higgs boson, scientists say. Finding the Higgs boson would help explain the origin of mass"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," scientist saysThe announcement is based on data from the Large Hadron Collider Researchers stress the preliminary nature of the results (CNN) -- Scientists said Wednesday that they had discovered a new particle whose characteristics match those of the Higgs boson, the most sought-after particle in physics, which could help unlock some of the universe's deepest secrets.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," said Rolf Heuer, the director general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which has been carrying out experiments in search of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator. The particle has been so difficult to pin down that the physicist Leon Lederman reportedly wanted to call his book "The Goddamn Particle. " More: Why the 'God Particle' may be key to universe The U.S. CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. Quantum Researchers Able to Stop and Restart Light Published on June 30, 2012 by admin · No Comments Waking Times In two independent experiments that defy the notions of Einstein, researchers have been able to stop, then restart a beam of light. Ordinarily, light travels at the speed of 186,282 miles per second, but the research team of Lene Hau, a professor of physics at Harvard, who in 1999 was able to slow light down to 38 miles per hour, has been able to trap light in a cloud of sodium atoms super-cooled to near ‘absolute zero.’
“It’s nifty to look into the chamber and see a clump of ultracold atoms floating there,” Hau says. “In this odd state, light takes on a more human dimension; you can almost touch it.” [1] n an independent experiment, an easier approache was tried by the team of Ronald Walsworth and Mikhail Lukin at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). They shot laser beams through a dense cloud of rubidium and helium gas.
Read Entire Article HERE. Transit of Venus .org. 'Hunger Games' Science: Investigating Genetically Engineered Organisms. Overview | What lessons can we learn about genetically engineered organisms from the example of the jabberjay, a fictional bird in the movie “The Hunger Games”? In this lesson, students discuss the definition of genetically modified organisms, learn about the risks and benefits of research on G.M.O.’s, explore the growing do-it-yourself biology movement, and develop proposals seeking to either restrict or permit research into genetically modifying the avian flu virus. Materials | Computers with Internet access Warm-up | Before students arrive, write the following prompt on the board: In the movie “The Hunger Games,” the Capitol (a term used to refer to what we would call the government) produced genetically enhanced birds called jabberjays to spy on rebels.
Unexpectedly, these birds bred with mockingbirds, creating a new hybrid bird called the mockingjay. When students arrive, allow several minutes for them to reply individually to this prompt in their journals. 1. 2. 3. 4. Science 8. Biochemist creates CO2-eating light that runs on algae. Our atmosphere is filling up with CO2 and we seem to be the major cause of that. The generally accepted solution seems to be cutting back on emissions as quickly as possible, but implementing such cuts is problematic because everyone has to agree to do more, which essentially ends up costing a lot of time and money. There is an alternative to such measures, though.
Instead of relying entirely on cutting emissions, why don’t we start taking CO2 out of the atmosphere? That’s exactly what biochemist Pierre Calleja is trying to do, and his solution almost sounds too good to be true. Calleja has developed a lighting system that requires no electricity for power. Instead it draws CO2 from the atmosphere and uses it to produce light as well as oxygen as a byproduct. The key ingredient to this eco-friendly light?
Certain types of algae can feed off of organic carbon as well as sunlight, and in the process produce carbohydrate energy for themselves as well as oxygen as a waste product. Hooking Kids on Science. » Forget WiFi, Connect to the Internet Through Lightbulbs Alex Jones. Mystery Arctic Illness Symptoms Observed in Alaska Polar Bears. Study: Alaska's Ancient Aleuts Served as Marine Food Web Stabilizers. Y Chromosome Study Explores Whether Humans Could Ever Reproduce Without Males. New Life, From an Arctic Flower That Died 32,000 Years Ago. Greek science on the brink. The brain-Box 4. Hormones decline after head injury | GJFreePress.com. Google to pay users to browse the web (and watch what they're doing) CDC calls Morgellons’ nanoworms a delusion, protects DARPA. Galapagos Researchers Find 'extinct' Tortoises Are Still Alive. Bush Meat Can Be A Viral Feast.
Mars-bound NASA Rover Adjusts Course To Red Planet. Method of the year: slicing and dicing with gene-editing nucleases. Bruce Lipton - Where Mind and Matter Meet. Using many instruments to track a comet. How The Moon Got Its Magnetism. U.S. Military Drones Infected With Mysterious Computer Virus. Killer Whales in Southwest Alaska River Puzzle Biologists. New Insights on the Mystery of an Invisible Dark-Matter Galaxy. Ringing In Ears May Have Deeper Source. Pacific Volcanoes Share Split Personality. Jellyfish trump fish in the ocean in hunt for food. Vaccine Mistrust Spreading To The Developing World : Shots - Health Blog. Mushroom cloud. Last Space Shuttle Astronauts Finish Packing Up - FoxNews.com. Baboon Bosses Get Stressed For Success. Ralph Merkle - An introduction to Molecular Nanotechnology
Scientists create laser-producing living cell. Hey Kitty, Dogs Drink Like Cats. Germy With A Chance Of Hail. Moved By Light. Atomic Anatomy. The era of closed science is over. Egyptian Princess Mummy Had Oldest Known Heart Disease. HAARP WEATHER CONTROL could be part of NWO DEPOPULATION PLAN, here's the science. Seafloor Samples Show Troubling Effects Of Oil Spill « Beyond the Walls in Biology. New Planet Discovered: First Spotted Outside Our Galaxy. Antimatter Atoms Trapped for First Time—"A Big Deal" NanoWiki, tracking nanotech. Cooling of Atmosphere Due to CO2 Emission - Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects. On the Use of Psychedelics for Psychiatry - Science and Tech. Why Futurists Can’t Predict The Future, And How You Can.