German company sells 'liquid wood' Two German scientists invented "liquid wood," which has the potential to save significant fossil fuel and natural resources. How about a renewable plastic that has wood-like qualities but can be cast by a machine? A group of scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe invented just that in the late 1990s. On a quest for more sustainable products, Juergen Pfitzer and Helmut Naegele worked with Norbert Eisenreich, Wilhelm Eckl and Emilia Inone-Kauffmann. Lignin, combined with resins, flax and other natural fibers forms a mass that can be processed like any other thermoplastic material. But what sets this "liquid wood" apart is its environmental potential: Arboform degrades like wood (into water, humus and carbon dioxide), so no more fume-emitting burning of plastics, and its inventors say no tree needs to be cut down to produce Arboform. Lignin is a byproduct of the paper-making process. As in every new product, pricing is key.
Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012 By Dean Praetorius | HuffingtonPost.com Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily. Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky’s brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time. When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we’d see a second sun, Carter says. The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. In fact, a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth. UPDATE: To clarify, the news.com.au article does not say a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth, but implies a supernova could be beneficial, stating, "Far from being a sign of the apocalypse, according to Dr Carter the supernova will provide Earth with elements necessary for survival and continuity." Top Image: Source
Uranium-thorium dating Uranium-thorium dating, also called thorium-230 dating, uranium-series disequilibrium dating or uranium-series dating, is a radiometric dating technique commonly used to determine the age of calcium carbonate materials such as speleothem or coral.[1] Unlike other commonly used radiometric dating techniques such as rubidium-strontium or uranium-lead dating, the uranium-thorium technique does not measure accumulation of a stable end-member decay product. Instead, the uranium-thorium technique calculates an age from the degree to which secular equilibrium has been restored between the radioactive isotope thorium-230 and its radioactive parent uranium-234 within a sample. Thorium is not soluble in natural waters under conditions found at or near the surface of the earth, so materials grown in or from these waters do not usually contain thorium.
Scientists Create World’s First Molecular Transistor Ads : Nano TechnologyNetbook Technology News Computer Software Scanning electron microscope image (false color) illustrating a full pattern of the devices. The whole structure was defined on an oxidised Si wafer. The yellow regions show portions of the multi-layered Au electrodes (a thin Au layer with a thickness of ~15 nm; a thick Au layer with a thickness of ~100 nm), and the purple region represents the oxidised Al gate electrode. Au wires broken by the electromigration technique (Fig. 1a, inset) are placed on the top of the bottom-gate electrode. The contact pads to which a connection is made by wire bonding are not visible because they are located far from the active part of the device. A group of scientists has succeeded in creating the first transistor made from a single molecule. The researchers were able to manipulate the molecule’s different energy states depending on the voltage they applied to it through the contacts. Nature: Observation of molecular orbital gating 1.
Backmasking & Reverse Speech What is Reverse Speech? It has been called the discovery of the 7th sense. The research into this phenomenon has been described as being of "Nobel calibre". It has been featured in numerous publications around the world, and in the United States it became a household name in the late 90s. It is called Reverse Speech, the phenomenon of hidden backward messages in speech. It initially gained worldwide fame in the early 80s as those strange backward messages in rock and roll. If human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. The pioneer and 20 year veteran of this field, Australian David John Oates, describes Reverse Speech as another form of human communication. The applications of this discovery are exciting. Although still a new and emerging field, Reverse Speech is already making its mark felt in many areas. Reverse Speech has now come back to Australia, where it was initially discovered.
Optical dating is a method of determining how long ago minerals were last exposed to daylight. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred. Alternate names sometimes used are ( ) and ( ). [ edit ] Conditions and accuracy Ages can be determined typically from 300 to 100,000 years BP, and can be reliable when suitable methods are used and proper checks are done. The optical dating method relies on the assumption that the mineral grains were sufficiently exposed to sunlight before they were buried. All sediments and soils contain trace amounts of radioactive isotopes including uranium , thorium , rubidium and potassium . [ edit ] History Optical dating was invented in 1984 in the physics department at Simon Fraser University , British Columbia, Canada, by David Huntley and colleagues. [ 1 ] It was quickly used by Martin Aitken's laboratory in Oxford, England, but it was many years before it was adopted elsewhere. [ edit ] Physics [ edit ] Minerals Huntley, D.
Playing with NASA's solid smoke | Bashing in Minds So I checked the mail today and found a package from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. This is not a usual thing for me. I opened it to find that I had received a small chunk of aerogel as a result of filling out a survey on NASA's new Stardust-NExT website, a new site about our exploration of comets. Answer some questions about the site's usefulness and you might get a prize! I filled it out and forgot about it. Until today. Aerogel is the lightest solid on earth. It's like it's not there. The trickiest thing about aerogel? Now to figure out what to do with it so it won't get messed up. Oh, and when NASA asks you to fill out a survey, do it. aerogel, nasa Death in dolphins: do they understand they are mortal? - life - 01 September 2011 REPORTS of dolphins interacting with dead members of their pod are raising questions about whether cetaceans understand the concept of death. Bottlenose dolphins in western Greece have been seen reacting to death differently depending on whether a pod member has died suddenly or after a longer period of illness, New Scientist has learned. Interpreting animal behaviour after the death of a companion is fraught with difficulty. and elephants can display particular behaviours when an animal dies - behaviours which some have interpreted as akin to mourning. Joan Gonzalvo of the Tethys Research Institute based in Milan, Italy, has been observing the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population in the Amvrakikos gulf since 2006. The newborn had a large bruise on its lower jaw, suggesting it may have been killed by another dolphin. Release from suffering? One year later, Gonzalvo came across a pod surrounding a 2 to 3-month-old dolphin that was having difficulty swimming (see photo).
Australian megafauna are a number of large animal species in Australia , often defined as species with body mass estimates of greater than 30 kilograms, or equal to or greater than 30% greater body mass than their closest living relatives. Many of these species became extinct during the Pleistocene (16,100±100 - 50,000 years before present). [ 1 ] The cause of the extinction is an active, contentious and factionalised field of research where politics and ideology often takes precedence over scientific evidence. [ 2 ] It is hypothesised that with the arrival of humans (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), hunting and the use of fire to manage their environment may have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna . [ 3 ] Increased aridity during peak glaciation (about 18,000 years ago) may have also contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. There are similarities between prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the aboriginal dreamtime (Mackness 2009). [ edit ] Mammals and
How To Hide A Bump With Some Logs Invisibility cloaks are finally taking up some space. For the first time, scientists have built devices that can obscure objects in all three dimensions. NOW YOU SEE IT Without the cloak (left), a bump in gold foil showed up clearly as a bright line in a spectral image taken in wavelengths just beyond the range of human vision. With the cloak (right), the bump disappeared. Science/AAAS VANISHING ACT The first three-dimensional invisibility cloaks hide objects under stacked polymer rods. Zombie Virus Drives Caterpillars To An Explosive Death Halloween is just around the corner, but it seems like some members of the animal kingdom have already started playing ghoulish tricks on one another. Scientists recently discovered something that was causing European gypsy moth caterpillars to behave very strangely. The caterpillars were infected by a deadly baculovirus, and with their last bits of strength, they did something that would be out of the question if they were healthy: they climbed out onto the very highest leaves of their tree in the middle of the day. There, their diseased bodies split open, raining infected caterpillar guts onto the leaves and branches below. In a recent issue of Science magazine, researchers reveal the cause of this odd final act: a specific viral gene that drives infected caterpillars to die in a way that offers the best potential for spreading the virus that killed it…just like a zombie (ScienceDaily). Related Reading: Parasitic Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies Wasps Create Zombie Caterpillar [Video]
Giant Kangaroo Rat The , , is an endangered rodent species endemic to California . [ 1 ] [ edit ] Description , the giant kangaroo rat, is one of over 20 species of kangaroo rats, which are small members of the rodent family. The giant kangaroo rat is the largest of the kangaroo rats , measuring about 15 cm (6 in.) in length, not including its long, tufted tail. The Giant Kangaroo Rat has been recently added to the endangered species list due to its habitat being severely reduced. [ edit ] Habitat The giant kangaroo rat lives on dry, sandy grasslands and digs burrows in loose soil. In the spring and summer, individuals generally spend less than two hours of the night foraging above ground. This species was declared endangered on both the federal and California state levels in the 1980s. Different seasons also affect the mating of the Giant Kangaroo Rat. Endangered Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens)) populations have become more dispersed and less numerous over time. [ edit ] References The rat on PBS ]