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NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten

Science

Comet Elenin is no more.

Latest indications are this relatively small comet has broken into even smaller, even less significant, chunks of dust and ice. This trail of piffling particles will remain on the same path as the original comet, completing its unexceptional swing through the inner solar system this fall.

“Elenin did as new comets passing close by the sun do about two percent of the time: It broke apart,” said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Elenin’s remnants will also act as other broken-up comets act. They will trail along in a debris cloud that will follow a well-understood path out of the inner solar system. After that, we won’t see the scraps of comet Elenin around these parts for almost 12 millennia.” (more…)

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LiquidSpace: Mobile-to-Cloud Service Matches Startups to Excess Workspace

Technology

*Microsoft BizSpark One startup creates real-time workspace market, benefitting property owners and entrepreneurs alike.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 26, 2011 — On the surface, the concept of Microsoft BizSpark One member LiquidSpace is simple: provide an easy way to match mobile workers with available workspace, in real time. Below the surface and behind the scenes, however, bigger currents are flowing, as the “where” of office work is being re-imagined.

Company founder Mark Gilbreath calls his vision the “consumerization of real estate.” The LiquidSpace mobile and Web-based app capitalizes on a number of important trends: the increasing mobility of workers, the real-time quality of today’s work, the economic and environmental drag of empty commercial space, and the availability of location-aware technologies and cloud services infrastructure such as Windows Azure. (more…)

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Geoscientists Find Key to Why Some Patients Get Infections from Cardiac Implants

Health, Science

*Bacterial cells have gene mutations that allow them to ‘stick’ to the devices*

New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices.

Geoscientists were the major contributors to the finding.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study results online this week. (more…)

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NASA Telescopes Help Solve Ancient Supernova Mystery

Science

PASADENA, Calif. — A mystery that began nearly 2,000 years ago, when Chinese astronomers witnessed what would turn out to be an exploding star in the sky, has been solved. New infrared observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, reveal how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered remains ultimately spread out to great distances.

The findings show that the stellar explosion took place in a hollowed-out cavity, allowing material expelled by the star to travel much faster and farther than it would have otherwise. (more…)

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Two New Bee Species Are Mysterious Pieces in the Panama Puzzle

Nature

Smithsonian scientists have discovered two new, closely related bee species: one from Coiba Island in Panama and another from northern Colombia. Both descended from of a group of stingless bees that originated in the Amazon and moved into Central America, the ancestors of Mayan honeybees. The presence of one of these new species on Coiba and Rancheria Islands, and its absence from the nearby mainland, is a mystery that will ultimately shed light on Panama’s history and abundant biodiversity. (more…)

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IBM Opens $50 Million Smarter Cities Challenge Grant Program To 2012 Applicants

Technology

Initiative provided practical advice to dozens of cities worldwide in 2011

Armonk, NY, – 24 Oct 2011: IBM today announced that it has opened the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant program to new applications for 2012.  Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, US$50 million grant program in which IBM’s top technical experts and consultants provide actionable advice to urban centers. (more…)

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