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Stunning images of Andromeda demonstrate the world’s most powerful astronomical camera

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2013Scienceandromeda galaxy, astronomical camera, baby galaxy, ceramic lens barrel, cosmic census, dark energy, dark matter, early universe, edge of galaxy, entire picture, hawaiian mountain, hsc, hyper suprime cam, images of andromeda, james bosch, kavli ipmu, light pollution, mauna kea, messier 31, michael strauss, milky way galaxy, naoj, paul price, princeton university, robert lupton, subaru telescope

Stunning images of the Andromeda Galaxy are among the first to emerge from a new wide-field camera installed on the enormous Subaru Telescope atop the Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea. The camera, called the Hyper-Suprime Cam (HSC), is the result of an international collaboration between Princeton University astrophysicists and Japanese and Taiwanese scientists.

With this new camera, researchers will be able to conduct a “cosmic census” of hundreds of millions of galaxies in a wide swath of sky in sufficient depth to probe mysteries such as dark matter and dark energy, while searching for baby galaxies in the early universe. The images of the Andromeda Galaxy demonstrate the new camera’s ability to capture images for a large-scale survey that will help scientists understand the evolutionary history and fate of the expanding universe. The camera’s enormous field of view allowed the entire Andromeda Galaxy, which is some 60,000 light years across, to be captured in a single shot. (more…)

Changes in language and word use reflect our shifting values, UCLA psychologist reports

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2013Culture, Generalauthority, belong, changes in language, Google, google books database, hypothesis, ngram viewer, non fiction publications, obedience, patricia greenfield, pray, rural environment, shifting values, socio demographic, textbooks, ucla psychologist, united states, urbanization, word use

Study analyzes more than 1 million books published over 200 years

A new UCLA analysis of words used in more than 1.5 million American and British books published between 1800 and 2000 shows how our cultural values have changed.

The increase or decrease in the use of certain words over the past two centuries — a period marked by growing urbanization, greater reliance on technology and the widespread availability of formal education — reveals how human psychology has evolved in response to major historical shifts, said Patricia Greenfield, a distinguished professor of psychology at UCLA and the author of the study. (more…)

The value of seeing a mind in meditation

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2013Health, Sciencejudson brewer, meditation, mindfulness, neurofeedback techniques, seeing a mind, video, yale university

Using neurofeedback techniques, Dr. Judson Brewer of Yale says he can teach people to “see” the subjective experience known to meditators as mindfulness. Brewer explains that too often we trip ourselves up when we get caught up in our own thinking. In the video and accompanying research papers, Brewer and colleagues describe how subjects can […]

New CU-Boulder led research effort dates oldest petroglyphs known in North America

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2013Environmentoldest known petroglyphs, oldest petroglyphs, petroglyph designs, petroglyph site, winnemucca lake petroglyphs, winnemucca petroglyphs

A new high-tech analysis led by a University of Colorado Boulder researcher shows the oldest known petroglyphs in North America, which are cut into several boulders in western Nevada, date to at least 10,500 years ago and perhaps even as far back as 14,800 years ago. (more…)

JPL, Masten Testing New Precision Landing Software

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2013Sciencechristopher baker, exploration, flight control algorithm, g fold, jpl, mars, mars rover curiosity, martian spacecraft, martin regehr, masten, masten space systems, mojave, new, new technology, optimal trajectory, planetary pinpoint landing, precision landing software, real-time, solar system, space endeavors, suborbital platforms, universe, xombie

A year after NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity’s landed on Mars, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are testing a sophisticated flight-control algorithm that could allow for even more precise, pinpoint landings of future Martian spacecraft.

Flight testing of the new Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance algorithm – G-FOLD for short – for planetary pinpoint landing is being conducted jointly by JPL engineers in cooperation with Masten Space Systems in Mojave, Calif., using Masten’s XA-0.1B “Xombie” vertical-launch, vertical-landing experimental rocket. (more…)

Researchers Find New Way to Create ‘Gradients’ for Understanding Molecular Interactions

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2013Sciencealbena ivanisevic, amino acid, biological systems, biomolecular gradients, cell receptors, gradients, human body, indium gallium nitride, indium rich end, ingan, l arginine, lauren bain, ligands, molecular behavior, molecules, new technique, north Carolina, oxide accumulation, peptides, ph level, proteins, salah bedair, semiconductor material, state university, substrate, tania paskova

Scientists use tools called gradients to understand how molecules interact in biological systems. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating biomolecular gradients that is both simpler than existing techniques and that creates additional surface characteristics that allow scientists to monitor other aspects of molecular behavior.

A gradient is a material that has a specific molecule on its surface, with the concentration of the molecule sloping from a high concentration on one end to a low concentration at the other end. The gradient is used not only to determine whether other molecules interact with the molecules on the gradient, but to determine the threshold level at which any interactions take place. (more…)

Creating cleaner dirt

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2013Environmentfood waste, vermicomposting, worms

MSU students and faculty are cleaning up farming with worms.

The group is involved in a program called RISE, The Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. It is researching and implementing vermicomposting in a greenhouse by Bailey Hall. (more…)

Earth orbit changes were key to Antarctic warming that ended last ice age

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2013Environmentantarctic climate change, antarctic warming, earth orbit changes, ice sheet divide, last deglaciation, sea ice melting

For more than a century scientists have known that Earth’s ice ages are caused by the wobbling of the planet’s orbit, which changes its orientation to the sun and affects the amount of sunlight reaching higher latitudes, particularly the polar regions. (more…)

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