And we start with a gentle light hearted introductory story....
The origins of life on Earth
...and where did we all come from? The European Space Agency took a significant step in answering these questions with the launch of the Herschel mission to study the chemical compounds around young stars. The mission, which is one of the most expensive ever undertaken by the ESA, will look at what organic compounds exist in young solar systems and how these vary with distance from the star.
It is likely that in the early lifetime of the Earth, the organic building blocks necessary for life were not present and instead were provided from the impact of organic rich asteroids from further out. Does this mean all life on Earth is alien? Are we all immigrants on this little piece of rock of ours? Has anyone informed the Daily Mail?
People who say that it is frequently easier to lie have been found out to be....lying.
Research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that the brain uses up far more energy when you lie than it does when you tell the truth. The Research team gave a group of ordinary Joes a playing card then gave them money to lie to a computer. (I think I’m going to start hanging out around Psychology departments more often as there seems to be a lot of easy money to be made). Measurements of brain activity greatly increased when the participants were telling porkies.
As this article from Psychology Today explains this may have great implications for lie detectors and for the plot lines of many rubbish US cop shows.
As this article from Psychology Today explains this may have great implications for lie detectors and for the plot lines of many rubbish US cop shows.
In the world of pub science we will strive to bring you at least one story which relates the two disciplines which underpin these rambling blog rants i.e. drinking and science in a segment we will hopefully forever be called (assuming I can find a story for each edition and I don’t come up with a better name).......
Our first entry into the booze files comes from Philip Hunter, writing for Prospect Magazine blog, he looks at the links between alcohol and innovation. While we may all feel a little more inspired to be creative after a drink or two, be it with our language, our choice of late night snack or where we choose to fall asleep, recent research suggests some people possess a genetic precondition to achieving far greater things when under the influence. Known as the G-variant (or creative cocktail gene) it is thought to exist in 1 in 10 of Caucasian males.
Star Trek - it may happen
Has anyone seen the latest Star Trek film? Well what if it was real? What if it could happen? Well all you convention attending pointy-eared loon bags, a learned member of your clan has declared that maybe it could after all. Well at least the idea of achieving warp speed anyway.
Warp speed is based on the idea that rather than achieving the speeds needed to zoom round the known universe (which would exceed the speed of light, take an infinite amount of energy and therefore be pretty much impossible) you could instead shrink and stretch the fabric of space around your space vessel.
Essentially saying why go to the edge of the universe slowly when you can bring the edge of the universe to you a lot quicker. As this article suggests you would still need a great deal of energy (equivalent to turning the mass of Jupiter into pure energy) but the possibility still remains. Trekky lovers everywhere, it may still happen.
Is your brain merely a computer?
The US military thinks so. A computer more powerful than all the worlds fastest shiniest super machines put together but a computer all the same. And what’s more, they are now looking to build their own.
Wired reports on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to prove that human thoughts can be mapped out as a series of physical mechanisms, an idea known as Physical Intelligence. DAPRA hope to use this research to create computers whose decision making mechanisms follow that of the human brain. These new machines could in theory think just as we do, creating a whole truck load of moral and ethical dilemmas. Just a thought.
Wired reports on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to prove that human thoughts can be mapped out as a series of physical mechanisms, an idea known as Physical Intelligence. DAPRA hope to use this research to create computers whose decision making mechanisms follow that of the human brain. These new machines could in theory think just as we do, creating a whole truck load of moral and ethical dilemmas. Just a thought.
Are you an evil would-be world leaders of Metropolis?
Do you often find it difficult to find the right material to build your superman containing cage? Well fear not. A neutron star prison will give you piece of mind knowing that your pesky superhero nemesis is safe and secure, leaving you free to make the world a worse off place.
This new (and probably very expensive) product is one of the more practical possible uses for the research by a team from Indiana University, reported in the Technology.am website, that shows the surface of neutron stars, reinforced by the intense pressure from their rapid rotation and density which prevents fractures and faults forming, to be 10 billion times the strength of steal.
Jerky Eyes
New research reported on the softpedia website shows the ability of your eyes to pick out small details from a far is down to minute jitters of your eyeball. Whether it be a small bird nesting in a distant tree, the first apple of the season in a far orchard or (the example this article uses) a giant blackhead on the otherwise passable face of the bird at the other end of the bar, you can see them all due to your spasming eyes.
Dinosaur News - Too fat to fly?
Turns out that those big Pterosaurs last seen flying above Geoff Goldblum's head in the first Jurassic Park film may not have flown (or at least not flown very well) after all.
This article in the National Geographic, on research by the University of Tokyo, shows that for animals this size would require wings spans so wide that they would be unable to flap at the necessary speed to keep them in the air. The team seems to offer little alternative use for the animals giant school bus length wing spans. Maybe you in blogworld could come up with a suggestion and address it to the Tokyo University, Pissing all over Jurassic Department.
Video of the Week - Waves
This article in the National Geographic, on research by the University of Tokyo, shows that for animals this size would require wings spans so wide that they would be unable to flap at the necessary speed to keep them in the air. The team seems to offer little alternative use for the animals giant school bus length wing spans. Maybe you in blogworld could come up with a suggestion and address it to the Tokyo University, Pissing all over Jurassic Department.
Video of the Week - Waves
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