Tag Archives: Washington

A Cyclotron’s Long Journey Home

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2013Scienceamerican science, atom smashers, atomic energy commission, aundra richards, berkeley hills, berkeley lab, brass cyclotron, circular particle accelerator, cyclotrons, david shirley, diameter, electron volts, ernest o lawrence, hall of science, hydrogen atoms, invention, kinetic energy, lab history, Large Hadron Collider, light, london science museum, merry go round, modern particle physics, natalie roe, nobel prize, nuclei, pamela patterson, paul alivisatos, protons, secret, Smithsonian, speed, the royal society, uk museum, university of california, Washington, yale university

One of the world’s first working circular particle accelerators returns to Berkeley Lab—75 years later.

Seventy-five years after one of the world’s first working cyclotrons was handed to the London Science Museum, it has returned to its birthplace in the Berkeley hills, where the man who invented it, Ernest O. Lawrence, helped launch the field of modern particle physics as well as the national laboratory that would bear his name, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

On Jan. 9, 1932 the brass cyclotron—which measures 26 inches from end to end and whose accelerating chamber measures just 11 inches in diameter—was successfully used to boost protons to energies of 1.22 million electron volts. Its return to Berkeley Lab caps a decades-long saga in which various parties endeavored to secure the cyclotron’s return from London, but the persistence of Pamela Patterson, who chronicles Berkeley Lab’s history as managing editor of its website, finally paid off. (more…)

NASA’s NuSTAR Helps Solve Riddle of Black Hole Spin

By Guest PostFebruary 28, 2013Scienceblack hole, black hole spin, einstein, european space agency, fiona harrison, Galaxy, guido risaliti, host galaxy, lou kaluzienski, NASA, nasa headquarters, ngc 1365, norbert schartel, nuclear spectroscopic, nustar, space time, spin rate, strong gravity, supermassive black hole, telescope array, theory of gravity, tremendous gravity, universe, Washington, xmm newton, xray space observatories

PASADENA, Calif. — Two X-ray space observatories, NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.

The supermassive black hole lies at the dust- and gas-filled heart of a galaxy called NGC 1365, and it is spinning almost as fast as Einstein’s theory of gravity will allow. The findings, which appear in a new study in the journal Nature, resolve a long-standing debate about similar measurements in other black holes and will lead to a better understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve. (more…)

In Conversation with: Paul Bracken, Expert on Nuclear ‘Power Politics’

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Politicsatomic bomb, cold war, collapse, critical regions, department of defense, expert, food, iran, Japan, mirv, missile, multiple warhead icbm, north korea, nuclear power politics, nuclear test, oil donations, paul bracken, political science, pyongyang, second nuclear age, south korea, submarines, un. china, united states, Washington, weapons program, world, yale

North Korea, which just conducted its third nuclear test, is using its weapons program to deter the United States by holding its allies “hostage,” according to Paul Bracken, who teaches management and political science at Yale.

Bracken is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on several Department of Defense advisory boards, and is the author, most recently, of “The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger, and the New Power Politics” (Times Books, 2012). The following is an edited version of an email interview with him. (more…)

Rise in Teen Marijuana Use Stalls, Use of Synthetic Marijuana and ‘Bath Salts’ is Very Low

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2012Culture, Generaladderall, amphetamines, barbiturates, bath salts, cannabinoids, cannabis, cocaine, colorado, crack, daily use, dea, designer drugs, ecstasy, hallucinations, hallucinogens, heart rate, herbs, heroin, illicit drug, index, indicator of use, k 2, lloyd johnston, lsd, marijuana use, narcotics, oxycontin, paranoia, psychotherapeutic drugs, rise, salvia, salvia divinorum, sedatives, side effect, spice, statistical significance, suicidal thoughts, synthetic cathinones, synthetic marijuana, teen marijuana, tobacco, tranquilizers, vicodin, violent behavior, Washington

ANN ARBOR — National samples of 45,000 to 50,000 students in three grades (8, 10, and 12) have been surveyed every year since 1991 as part of the nationwide Monitoring the Future study. Among the most important findings from this year’s survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:

Marijuana. After four straight years of increasing use among teens, annual marijuana use showed no further increase in any of the three grades surveyed in 2012. The 2012 annual prevalence rates (i.e., percent using in the prior 12 months) were 11%, 28%, and 36% for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively. (Among the 8th graders there was a modest decline across the past two years—from 13.7% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2012—that reached statistical significance.) (more…)

Congress Works Better Than Many Think, New Research Shows

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2012Politicscambridge university press, colorado boulder, conflict, congress, congressional productivity, democrat, factor, fiscal cliff, gridlocked institution, house, legislative agenda, Media, policy change, political friction, political science, president, republican, scott adler, senate, university, Washington

The perception of Congress as a gridlocked institution where little happens is overblown, according to new research by scholars at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Washington.

And the way much of Congress’ work gets done is through self-manufactured crises like the “fiscal cliff,” say political science professors Scott Adler of CU-Boulder and John Wilkerson of UW.

“Yes, Congress has taken on a more partisan tone in recent decades,” Adler said. “We do hear a lot about the conflicts between Democrats and Republicans on key pieces of legislation. But we’re also seeing Congress exceeding public expectations. Congress does govern.” (more…)

Crowdsourcing Site Compiles New Sign Language for Math and Science

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Education, Scienceamerican sign language, asl, asl stem forum, byte, caroline solomon, crowdsourcing, dictionary, eukaryote, Europe, google corp, harry lang, kyle rector, lexicon of science, light year, multimedia feature, national science foundation, new york times, organism, photosynthesis, raja kushalnagar, richard ladner, science signs lexicon, sign language, united states, university, urban dictionary, Washington, Wikipedia

A multimedia feature published this week in the New York Times, “Pushing Science’s Limits in Sign Language Lexicon,” outlines efforts in the United States and Europe to develop sign language versions of specialized terms used in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The article shares newly defined signs for terms like “light-year,” “organism” and “photosynthesis.” It also describes a successful crowdsourcing effort started at the University of Washington in 2008 that lets members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community build their own guide to the evolving lexicon of science.

“It’s not a dictionary,” explained Richard Ladner, a UW professor of computer science and engineering. “The goal of the forum is to be constantly changing, a reflection of the current use.” (more…)

Moths Wired Two Ways to Take Advantage of Floral Potluck

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2012Naturearizona, behavior, brain, brain activity, bright green, buffet, caterpillar, channels, chemical composition, favored blossoms, floral environment, flower, hong lei, humans, insects, jeffrey riffell, john hildebrand, leif abrell, manduca sexta, mechanism, moth, naive moths, neural pathways, neurobiology, north, olfactory information, oxygenated aromatic compounds, pollinator, process, scent samples, science express, scientist, sources of nectar, south america, soybean, tobacco hornworms, university, Washington

Moths are able to enjoy a pollinator’s buffet of flowers – in spite of being among the insect world’s picky eaters – because of two distinct “channels” in their brains, scientists at the University of Washington and University of Arizona have discovered.

One olfactory channel governs innate preferences of the palm-sized hawk moths that were studied – insects capable of traveling miles in a single night in search of favored blossoms. The other allows them to learn about alternate sources of nectar when their first choices are not available.

For moths, the ability to seek and remember alternate sources of food helps them survive harsh, food-deprived conditions. Scientists knew bees could learn, but this is the first proof that moths can too. (more…)

Scientists Find Oldest Dinosaur – or Closest Relative Yet

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Nature, Scienceafrica, alan charig, ancestry, Antarctica, archosaurs, australia, bone cells, bone tissues, cape town, dinosaur family tree, dinosaur like characteristic, dinosaur lineage, diversification, earliest dinosaur, earth, eoraptor, evidence, evolution of dinosaurs, familiar dinosaurs, fossil, fossilized bones, fossilized footprints, herrerasaurus, humerus, labrador retriever, late triassic, lizard, london, middle triassic, middle triassic dinosaurs, natural history museum, nyasa, nyasasaurus parringtoni, oldest dinosaur, paleontologist, paleontology, pangaea, paul barrett, period, permian extinction, primitive dinosaurs, royal society, sarah werning, saurus, single bone, south african museum, south america, southern pangaea, sterling nesbitt, Tanzania, taxon, transitional fossil, triassic period, united kingdom, university, upper arm bone, vertebrae, Washington

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period. (more…)