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Astronomy Pictures of the Year for 2007

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:44:51 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: "Space... the final frontier"

Clip Source: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught

Alborz Mountains in Moonlight

Eclipsing the Rings

Seven Dusty Sisters

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672

A Dark Sky Over Death Valley

Markarian's Eyes

The International Space Station Expands Again

Northern Cygnus

The Strange Trailing Side of Saturn's Iapetus

Victoria Crater on Mars

A Tale of Comet Holmes

ET too bored by Earth transmissions to respond

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:36:15 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Messages sent into space directed at extraterrestrials may have been too boring to earn a reply, say two astrophysicists trying to improve on their previous alien chat lines.

Humans have so far sent four messages into space intended for alien listeners. But they have largely been made up of mathematically coded descriptions of some physics and chemistry, with some basic biology and descriptions of humans thrown in.

Those topics will not prove gripping reading to other civilisations, says Canadian astrophysicist Yvan Dutil. If a civilisation is advanced enough to understand the message, they will already know most of its contents, he says: "After reading it, they will be none the wiser about us humans and our achievements. In some ways, we may have been wasting our telescope time."

In 1999 and 2003, Dutil and fellow researcher Stephane Dumas beamed messages in a language of their own design into space. Now, they are working to compose more interesting messages.

Tags: astronomy, science, et, space, messages

Moon is younger and more Earth-like than thought

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:29:42 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

It's a good thing the Moon doesn't have any feelings to hurt. New research suggests it is actually 30 million years younger than anyone had thought, and that it is merely a 'chip off the old block' of Earth rather than being made up of the remnants of a Mars-sized body that slammed into Earth billions of years ago.

That violent impact was thought to have taken place 30 million years after the solar system began to condense from a disc of gas and dust 4.567 billion years ago. The event was thought to have melted the Earth, generating a magma ocean that covered the planet and allowed iron and other metals to sink to its centre, forming a core.

At the same time, the Moon was thought to have coalesced from a disc of molten debris blasted off the Earth and the Mars-sized interloper.

But new research led by Mathieu Touboul of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich suggests that picture is not so simple.

Tags: moon, earth, space, science

Evolution tied to Earth movement

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:03:29 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Scientists long have focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, University of Utah geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity.

“Tectonics [movement of Earth’s crust] was ultimately responsible for the evolution of humankind,” Royhan and Nahid Gani of the university’s Energy and Geoscience Institute write in the January, 2008, issue of Geotimes, published by the American Geological Institute.

They argue that the accelerated uplift of mountains and highlands stretching from Ethiopia to South Africa blocked much ocean moisture, converting lush tropical forests into an arid patchwork of woodlands and savannah grasslands that gradually favored human ancestors who came down from the trees and started walking on two feet – an energy-efficient way to search larger areas for food in an arid environment.

Tags: evolution, science, geology, environment, humans

Spaced Out

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:00:09 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (146 downloads)

NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

Under the Milky Way
10/04/07 09:52 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (104 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

IC 5070: A Pelican in the Swan
09/13/07 01:27 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (117 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (124 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

Blue Lagoon
09/14/07 04:20 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (121 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula
09/03/07 03:52 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (398 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

Messier 76, "Little Dumbbell Nebula"
09/13/07 01:41 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (102 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

Hidden Galaxy IC 342
09/13/07 06:26 AM

View in Google Earth View in Google Maps (134 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

3C321: galaxies in fight
#1075643 - 12/18/07 10:19 AM

View in Google Earth (34 downloads)

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

UFO ???
#1067997 - 12/08/07 04:31 AM

View in Google Earth (464 downloads)

what the hell is that?can sommeone explain me that?

Tags: nebulas, google earth, sky

FBI: Waterboarding did NOT produce useful results

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:38:16 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Coleman, a 31-year FBI veteran, joined other former law enforcement colleagues in expressing skepticism about Abu Zubaida's importance. Abu Zubaida, he said in an interview, was a "safehouse keeper" with mental problems who claimed to know more about al-Qaeda and its inner workings than he really did.

Looking at other evidence, including a serious head injury that Abu Zubaida had suffered years earlier, Coleman and others at the FBI believed that he had severe mental problems that called his credibility into question. "They all knew he was crazy, and they knew he was always on the damn phone," Coleman said, referring to al-Qaeda operatives. "You think they're going to tell him anything?"

But, Coleman and other law enforcement officials said, CIA officials concluded to the contrary that Abu Zubaida was a major player, and they saw any lack of information as evidence that he was resisting interrogation. Much of the threat information provided by Abu Zubaida, Coleman said, "was crap."

Tags: fbi, cia, torture, waterboarding, abu zubaida, abu zubayda

The Incredible Art of Bacteria

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:27:32 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Professor Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel-Aviv University and Professor Herbert Levine of UCSD's National Science Foundation Frontier Center for Theoretical Biological Physics watched bacteria solve problems in the petri dish for years. In doing so, they caught bacteria in the act of creating beautiful art.

"While the colors and shading are artistic additions, the image templates are actual colonies of tens of billions of these microorganisms," according to the researchers. "The colony structures form as adaptive responses to laboratory-imposed stresses that mimic hostile environments faced in nature. They illustrate the coping strategies that bacteria have learned to employ, strategies that involve cooperation through communication. These selfsame strategies are used by the bacteria in their struggle to defeat our best antibiotics...

"In a sense, the strikingly beautiful organization of the pattern reflects the underlying social intelligence of the bacteria

Tags: art, bacteria, science, biology

'Bad' Women Raped and Killed in Southern Iraq

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:51:57 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.antiwar.com

BAGHDAD - Women are being killed by militia groups in southern Iraq for not conforming to strict Islamic ways, the police say. And increased threats from militia groups are driving many women away from their homes.

Basra police chief Gen. Jalil Hannoon has told reporters and Arab TV channels that at least 40 women have been killed during the past five months in the southern city.

Margaret Mead

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:54:33 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Shall we?

Clip Source: womenshistory.about.com

• Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. [citation]

What Created the Mythical "Star of Bethlehem"?

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:33:57 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

What did the three "wise men" actually see? Experts believe it may have well been the alignment of Venus and Jupiter, which would have looked like a massive star, at right around the estimated date of the birth of Christ.

Other speculations include that the famous “Christmas” star recorded by ancient historians, may have actually been a comet, a supernova or some other cosmic event. But the alignment of two close planets that would have appeared as one giant star is the likely suspect in the “Star of Bethlehem” phenomenon.

Sky And Space magazine news editor Dave Reneke is certain that the spectacular alignment of Venus and Jupiter around 2000 years ago is most likely the beacon that guided the magi.

Computer models show the planets would have appeared as a single bright point of light in the sky during 2BC, a likely birth year for Jesus Christ.

But to me there's nothing else that would have been as visually dramatic as the combining of these two planets at this period of time

Tags: science, astronomy, star of bethlehem

ClipCast tip: keyboard shortcuts

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:40:24 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: A lot of people have posted comments and sent us emails about having a difficult time using your mouse inside the clipcast. Just wanted to post a clip letting you all know that you can use keyboard shortcuts to easily perform just about any function inside a clipcast.

No joke, after i got used to the keyboard shortcuts it made the clipcast experience 100x more enjoyable for me. I recommend trying them out.

FYI...there is a little icon at the top right of the clipcast that shows the shortcuts.

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

Tags: clipcast, tip, keyboard shortcuts

Traffic Jam Mystery Solved By Mathematicians

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:00:01 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2007) — Mathematicians from the University of Exeter have solved the mystery of traffic jams by developing a model to show how major delays occur on our roads, with no apparent cause. Many traffic jams leave drivers baffled as they finally reach the end of a tail-back to find no visible cause for their delay. Now, a team of mathematicians from the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Budapest, have found the answer and published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.

The model predicts that this is a very typical scenario on a busy highway (above 15 vehicles per km). The jam moves backwards through the traffic creating a so-called 'backward travelling wave', which drivers may encounter many miles upstream, several minutes after it was triggered.

The research team now plans to develop a model for cars equipped with new electronic devices, which could cut down on over-braking as a result of slow reactions.

Tags: mathematics, traffic

Open source versus Google

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:43:43 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: technology.newscientist.com

Wikipedia founder's Google rival to launch

The open-source search engine backed by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales could go live as an early test version as soon as next week. Unlike Google, Search Wikia will not share search data with advertisers, nor invade privacy by storing users' search terms.

In a SETI@home-style project, 500 volunteers are running web-crawlers to compile Search Wikia's web index, which so far totals 100 million pages. Jeremie Miller, the project's technology chief, hopes an "alpha" version of the engine will be running by Christmas. As well as search, it will offer "wiki-style tools to improve search and basic social networking", he says. Users will also be able to vote on the effectiveness of search hits

Tags: computing, open source, search engines

Thisname: The Drinking Game

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:46:00 GMT

clipped by: wurdzgurl

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

6-28-2007 9:44 AM

wurdzgurl 91

Adam- You need to drink a beer for every clip about beer you have. Once you've done that you need to take a shot for every pop that each clip garners. It's the Clipmarks drinking game!

6-28-2007 9:34 PM

adamc 406

Thanks betong!

Adam- You need to drink a beer for every clip about beer you have. Once you've done that you need to take a shot for every pop that each clip garners.

Ouch -- that's 22 shots AFTER I down a dozen beers! Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime drinking game... as in, I play it once and either die or develop an allergy to alcohol that means I can never take another sip.

Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:06:29 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: From IBM

Clip Source: physorg.com

IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years

Unveiled today, the second annual "IBM Next Five in Five" is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years.

The list is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s Labs around the world that could make these innovations possible.

In the next five years, our lives will change through technology innovations in the following ways:

It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it:

The way you drive will be completely different:

You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat:

Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more:

Doctors will get enhanced “super-senses” to better diagnose and treat you:

Tags: ibm, innovation, technology, life, science