Technology

Mars Panorama: Next Best Thing to Being There

PASADENA, Calif. — From fresh rover tracks to an impact crater blasted billions of years ago, a newly completed view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the ruddy terrain around the outcrop where the long-lived explorer spent its most recent Martian winter.

This scene recorded from the mast-mounted color camera includes the rover’s own solar arrays and deck in the foreground, providing a sense of sitting on top of the rover and taking in the view. Its release this week coincides with two milestones: Opportunity completing its 3,000th Martian day on July 2, and NASA continuing past 15 years of robotic presence at Mars. Mars Pathfinder landed July 4, 1997. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter reached the planet while Pathfinder was still active, and Global Surveyor overlapped the active missions of the Mars Odyssey orbiter and Opportunity, both still in service. (more…)

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Katy Perry: Part of Me

Synopsis

A 3D motion picture event movie, “Katy Perry: Part of Me” is a backstage pass, front row seat and intimate look at the fun, glamorous, heartbreaking, inspiring, crazy, magical, passionate, and honest mad diary of Katy. (more…)

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Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

Ocean eddies help jump-start plankton blooms that spread across hundreds of square miles

On this July 4th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean’s own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton.

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean fireworks? Is it the Sun’s warmth? (more…)

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5 Reasons Your Posture Matters

How many times during your childhood did your mom tell you that you needed to sit or stand up straight or pull your shoulders back as she walked by, and remind you that if you didn’t start having better posture you would end up hunched over for the rest of your life? Whether or not you actually listened, mom may have been on to something when she pulled those shoulders back and forced you to stand taller. Having good posture has a variety of benefits, so the next time you find yourself slouching keep these things in mind:

1. It helps you become more confident: Slouching over or hunching your shoulders makes you look and feel less poised overall, giving off an aura of self-doubt. Simply standing up straighter gives you an air of confidence that can translate into an actual boost in confidence and self-assuredness.

2. Fosters a healthy back and spine: If you sit or stand with bad posture for long enough you’ll start to notice that your back, shoulders, and neck will begin to ache. This is because your spine and back are not meant to be curved over like that. Try standing and sitting up straight instead; you’ll immediately feel better, and your back and spine will thank you. (more…)

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World’s Top Tech Students Go for It All Down Under

Young technologists are looking to take the world by storm this weekend at the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia.

SYDNEY – Wrapped in the flags of their countries, the competitors climb onto the podium, beaming with joy as the cameras flash. They are young, passionate, business-savvy ambassadors of their field.

These aren’t soccer players or high jumpers, but they are no less competitors than the athletes seeking gold medals at the 2012 Summer Games in London. They are the planet’s premiere young technologists. And, to slightly alter an infamous movie line, they’ve come to change the world and chew bubblegum – and they’re all out of bubblegum. (more…)

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When to Rein in the Stock Market

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The stock market should be regulated only during times of extraordinary financial disruptions when speculators can destroy healthy businesses, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University scholar.

The study, in the Journal of Financial Economics, is one of the first to suggest when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should get involved in the market.

The answer: rarely. The SEC should step in only when outside financial disruptions make it impossible for large shareholders to fend off “short sellers” – or speculators betting a company’s stock value will decrease, said Naveen Khanna, finance professor in MSU’s Broad College of Business. (more…)

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Motion Sensors Detect Horse Lameness Earlier Than Veterinarians, MU Study Finds

MU-developed “Lameness Locator” system helps diagnose lameness sooner, makes treatment easier

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness. A University of Missouri equine veterinarian has developed a way to detect this problem using a motion detection system called the “Lameness Locator.” Now, Kevin Keegan, a professor of equine surgery in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MU, has found that his Lameness Locator can detect lameness earlier than veterinarians using the traditional method of a subjective eye test. (more…)

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