Space Science

An intrepid crew of astronauts explores Jupiter's most famed icy moon in "Europa Report." See photos from the 2013 science fiction film.
An intrepid crew of astronauts explores Jupiter's most famed icy moon in "Europa Report." See photos from the 2013 science fiction film.
24 minutes ago
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Toxicology tests on the body of the Newtown school shooter did not turn up any alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription medications, an official close to the investigation said Tuesday.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Toxicology tests on the body of the Newtown school shooter did not turn up any alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription medications, an official close to the investigation said Tuesday.
about 1 hour ago
A set of F-1 rocket engines from a Saturn V booster will soon go on display.
A set of F-1 rocket engines from a Saturn V booster will soon go on display.
about 1 hour ago
The former IRS commissioner says he was "not personally responsible" for the agency's scrutiny on conservative groups.
The former IRS commissioner says he was "not personally responsible" for the agency's scrutiny on conservative groups.
about 2 hours ago
Major Nidal Hasan has collected $278,000 in salary since the Nov. 5, 2009.
Major Nidal Hasan has collected $278,000 in salary since the Nov. 5, 2009.
about 2 hours ago
Tea party members march with signs that read "internal revenge service."
Tea party members march with signs that read "internal revenge service."
about 2 hours ago
              In June of 2012, The New York Times reported that inside Google's high-tech R&D "X" laboratory the search giant has been creating a simulation of the human brain. And rather than teaching it progra...
              In June of 2012, The New York Times reported that inside Google's high-tech R&D "X" laboratory the search giant has been creating a simulation of the human brain. And rather than teaching it programs, Google's staff have been exposing it to information from the Net so that it learns organically, a little like the way we humans do. It's built by hooking together 16,000 processor cores with over one billion interconnections, in a model of the around 86 billion neurons in a typical adult human brain. In the past decade, we’ve examined our Solar System’s orbit through the Milky Way to ask whether there may be clues to periodic mass extinctions on our planet. We've launched missions seeking out habitable "Alien Earths" and the existence of dark energy and have migrated from wondering if there's life on Mars to searching out and studying myriads of exo planets in the Milky Way and infinite galaxies beyond. Our incredible advances have also underscored own, very human limitations — our eyes, notes astronomer James Kaler see wavelengths between 0.00004 and 0.00008 of a centimeter. Kaler calls our visual spectrum “…but one octave on an imaginary electromagnetic piano with a keyboard hundreds of kilometers long.” In The Star Thrower evolutionary biologist, Loren Eiseley, writes that  "We are rag dolls made out of many ages and skins, changelings, who have slept in wood nests or hissed in the uncouth guise of waddling amphibians. We have played such roles for infinitely longer ages than we have been men."  Physicist Stephen Hawking believes that we have entered a new phase of evolution. "At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to exchange information." But what distinguishes us from our cave man ancestors is the knowledge that we have accumulated over the last ten thousand years, and particularly, Hawking points out, over the last three hundred. "I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race," Hawking said. In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes." The time scale for evolution, in the external transmission period, has collapsed to about 50 years, or less. Meanwhile, Hawking observes, our human brains "with which we process this information have evolved only on the Darwinian time scale, of hundreds of thousands of years. This is beginning to cause problems. In the 18th century, there was said to be a man who had read every book written. But nowadays, if you read one book a day, it would take you about 15,000 years to read through the books in a national Library. By which time, many more books would have been written." But we are now entering a new phase, of what Hawking calls "self designed evolution," in which we will be able to change and improve our DNA. "At first," he continues "these changes will be confined to the repair of genetic defects, like cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy. These are controlled by single genes, and so are fairly easy to identify, and correct. Other qualities, such as intelligence, are probably controlled by a large number of genes. It will be much more difficult to find them, and work out the relations between
about 2 hours ago
Scientists are studying other rocky planets and moons to better understand Earth.
Scientists are studying other rocky planets and moons to better understand Earth.
about 2 hours ago
Photographer Thomas Kast (facebook.com/salamapaja) imaged the aurora borealis from September 2012 to March 2013. Different shooting locations include the frozen Baltic Sea, Lapland and Oulu in Finland.
Photographer Thomas Kast (facebook.com/salamapaja) imaged the aurora borealis from September 2012 to March 2013. Different shooting locations include the frozen Baltic Sea, Lapland and Oulu in Finland.
about 3 hours ago
Satellite Image of Oklahoma Tornado. Acquired at 2:55 CT on May 20, 2013, this image from the NOAA GOES-13 satellite shows the storms developing directly over central Oklahoma. One minute later an incredibly destructive tornado touched d...
Satellite Image of Oklahoma Tornado. Acquired at 2:55 CT on May 20, 2013, this image from the NOAA GOES-13 satellite shows the storms developing directly over central Oklahoma. One minute later an incredibly destructive tornado touched down in Moore, OK. Credit: NOAA. The massive tornado that tore through parts of Oklahoma on My 20, 2013 left a 32 km (20-mile) swath of destruction and death, with winds approaching 320 km/hr (200 mph). The US National Weather Service said the 3 km (2-mile)-wide tornado spent 40 minutes on the ground in the area of Moore, Oklahoma, outside of Oklahoma City, destroying schools, a hospital and hundreds of homes, killing dozens of people. Satellite images and video show how the storm developed. Below is a video showing satellite imagery from the GOES 13 satellite from May 19-20, 2013. It shows the tornado outbreak and supercell thunderstorms that developed across portions of the Great Plains: (...)Read the rest of Oklahoma Tornado on May 20, 2013 As Seen from Space (287 words) © nancy for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Earth Observation, Natural Disasters, Oklahoma tornado, satellite imagery, tornadoes Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
about 3 hours ago