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Cosmic Curiosity Reveals Ghostly Glow of Dead Quasar

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2010Scienceastronomer, black hole, dead quasar, dutch, Galaxy, galaxy zoo, gas cloud, hanny van arkel, hanny's object, hanny's voorwerp, kevin schawinski, life cycle, light echo, meg urry, paolo coppi, priyamvada natarajan, schoolteacher, yale university

The green Voorwerp in the foreground remains illuminated by light emitted up to 70,000 years ago by a quasar in the center of the background galaxy, which has since died out. Image credit: WIYN/William Keel/Anna Manning

While sorting through hundreds of galaxy images as part of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project two years ago, Dutch schoolteacher and volunteer astronomer Hanny van Arkel stumbled upon a strange-looking object that baffled professional astronomers. Two years later, a team led by Yale University researchers has discovered that the unique object represents a snapshot in time that reveals surprising clues about the life cycle of black holes.

In a new study, the team has confirmed that the unusual object, known as Hanny’s Voorwerp (Hanny’s “object” in Dutch), is a large cloud of glowing gas illuminated by the light from a quasar-an extremely energetic galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center. The twist, described online in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is that the quasar lighting up the gas has since burned out almost entirely, even though the light it emitted in the past continues to travel through space, illuminating the gas cloud and producing a sort of “light echo” of the dead quasar. (more…)

Better Weather: Water-vapor Profiling System Could Result in More Accurate, Less Costly Forecasting

By Guest PostNovember 4, 20102 commentsEnvironment, Nature, Scienceatmosphere, bennett aerospace, david roberts, georgia institute of technology, laser radar, lidar, light detection and ranging, prototype, researchers, Technology, water vapor, water vapor profiler, wav-pro, weather forecasting

A vehicle from the National Severe Storms Laboratory observes conditions around a tornado in Wyoming during June of 2009. Image credit: Mike Coniglio, NOAA/NSSL

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Bennett Aerospace are leveraging light detection and ranging (lidar) technology to develop a ground-based system that will automatically measure water vapor in the atmosphere. Known as”WaV-Pro^TM,” for Water Vapor Profiler, the system aims to provide more frequent data collection that could dramatically improve weather forecasting.

Initial work on the project began in mid-2009, when Bennett Aerospace, in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), won a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop design requirements for the system. Recently, the researchers won a Phase II grant to build and test critical components needed for a final operating prototype of WaV-Pro. (more…)

The More We Talk, The Less We Might Agree: Study Shows Discussion Can Hurt Consensus-Building On Science/Technology

By Guest PostNovember 4, 2010Culture, Scienceandrew binder, dietram scheufele, global warming, large-scale research initiatives, manhattan, nbaf, north carolina state university, plum island, public consensus, public issues, san Antonio, science and technology, scientific endeavors, stem cell research, talking it out

When it comes to public issues pertaining to science and technology, “talking it out” doesn’t seem to work. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that the more people discuss the risks and benefits associated with scientific endeavors, the more entrenched they become in their viewpoint – and the less likely they are to see the merit of other viewpoints.

“This research highlights the difficulty facing state and federal policy leaders when it comes to high-profile science and technology issues, such as stem cell research or global warming,” says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and lead author of the study. “Government agencies view research on these issues as vital and necessary for the country’s future, but building public consensus for that research is becoming increasingly difficult.” (more…)

‘Study Reveals Why Brain Has Limited Capacity for Repair After Stroke’

By Guest PostNovember 4, 2010Health, Scienceadult disability, brain, brain cells, brain repair, chemical system, neurological recovery, phasic inhibition, recovery, stroke, stroke damage, tom carmichael, tonic inhibition

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability, due to the brain’s limited capacity for recovery. Physical rehabilitation is the only current treatment following a stroke, and there are no medications available to help promote neurological recovery.

Now, a new UCLA study published Nov. 3 in the journal Nature offers insights into a major limitation in the brain’s ability to recover function after a stroke and identifies a promising medical therapy to help overcome this limitation.

Researchers interested in how the brain repairs itself already know that when the brain suffers a stroke, it becomes excitable, firing off an excessive amount of brain cells, which die off. The UCLA researchers found that a rise in a chemical system known as “tonic inhibition” immediately after a stroke causes a reduction in this level of excitability. (more…)

The Emergence of Holographic Video

By Guest PostNovember 3, 20101 commentScienceholographic system, holographic telepresence, holographic video, holographic videoconferencing, photorefractive polymer

Experimental networked display refreshes holograms every two seconds

Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, have developed a holographic system that can transmit a series of 3D images in near-real-time, a precursor to holographic videoconferencing. (more…)

Nuclear Materials Detector Shows Exact Location of Radiation Sources

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2010Science18 cubes, cadmium zinc telluride, conventional detectors, gamma ray detector, gamma rays, high energy photons, nuclear engineering, nuclear materials, nuclear weapons, particles of light, polaris, radiation, radiation source, semiconductor, university of michigan, zhong he

The new Polaris gamma ray detector can pinpoint the location of special nuclear materials, such as those used for dirty bombs or nuclear weapons. Image credit: Zhong He

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A table-top gamma-ray detector created at the University of Michigan can not only identify the presence of dangerous nuclear materials, but can pinpoint and show their exact location and type, unlike conventional detectors.

“Other gamma ray detectors can tell you perhaps that nuclear materials are near a building, but with our detector, you can know the materials are in room A, or room B, for example,” said Zhong He, an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences.

“This is the first instrument for this purpose that can give you a real-time image of the radiation source. Not only can we tell you what material is there, but we can tell you where it is, and you can find it and walk towards it.” (more…)

Spacecraft will Enable Scientists to Study Space Environment around Moon, Earth

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20102 commentsSciencelunar environment, moon environment, space environment

Two spacecraft are now beginning to study the moon’s environment as part of NASA’s ARTEMIS mission, whose principal investigator is Vassilis Angelopoulos, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences. (more…)

New Evidence Supports Snowball Earth as Trigger for Early Animal Evolution

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20101 commentSciencebiogeochemists, enriqueta barrera, glacial events, glaciations, mid-neoproterozoic, noah planavsky, oceans, phosphorus, snowball earth, snowball earth hypothesis, tim lyons

Geologist Noah Plavansky examines rocks deposited after a "Snowball Earth" glacial event. Image credit: Lyons Lab, UC-Riverside

*Spike in ancient marine phosphorus concentrations linked to emergence of complex life*

Biogeochemists have found new evidence linking “Snowball Earth” glacial events to the rise of early animals. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Study results appear in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that, on several occasions, the Earth was covered from pole to pole by a thick sheet of ice lasting for millions of years.

These glaciations, the most severe in Earth history, occurred from 750 to 580 million years ago. (more…)

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