Gizmorama
January 5, 2011
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Used by athletes for years, this technology is now available to you.
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Good Morning,
A new Chinese fighter jet has been exposed by "non-govern-
mental" mediums. The prototype is well equipped with high-
tech features, and it causing quite the stir. Read all the
details in the second article.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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Colony of rare seals found in Greece
ATHENS, Greece - Scientists say they've discovered a colony
of rare Mediterranean monk seals, the world's most endangered
seals, at a secret location on the coast of Greece. The seals
are also one of the world's most endangered sea mammals, with
fewer than 600 individuals thought to exist, the BBC reported
Sunday. Researchers say they are keeping the location of the
seal colony secret so human visitors won't disturb them.
It is the only location in the region where the monk seals
lie on open beaches rather than hiding in coastal caves.
Being on the beach was the seal's "original behavior," one
scientist says. "It is human disturbance that has caused the
species to retreat to inaccessible caves," says Alexandros
Karamanlidis, scientific coordinator of the Mom/Hellenic
Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal."So
this place is incredibly important -- the seals feel so se-
cure that they go out on to open beaches." Human activity
has also affected the number of seal pups that survive into
adulthood, he says. "Because of human disturbance, [the
seals] give birth in these coastal caves, [meaning that]
more pups die during storms," Karamanlidis says. The society
has asked the Greek government to make the area where the
seals live a marine protected area.
China reveals new stealth jet
BEIJING - China has revealed pictures of its first stealth
fighter jet on a Chinese non-governmental Web site of a pro-
totype of the Chengdu J-20 fighter being built for the
Chinese air force. Chinese aviation experts say they have
been snapping pictures of the aircraft since it took to taxi
tests ahead of its first flight test in the coming weeks. But
is the sighting for real? Some experts claim the photos are
fake or simply Photoshopped fighters created on computer
screens. Questions also arise over the unusually large
Chinese red star painted on the tail. "The red star insignias
are normally smaller with parallel adjacent red bands," De-
fense News reported. Other experts, though, say they believe
the jet is genuine and long overdue. "China has the money,
they have the industrial expertise, they have the scientific
base, the drive and motivation and of course the benefit of
American research over 30 years acquired by legal or illegal
means," one anonymous observer was quoted by a Time magazine
blog site. "These enablers give China wide latitude in
matching or exceeding American designs that are now 20 years
old." The photos show the J-20 with a canard-delta twin-
engine configuration, diverter-less supersonic intakes and a
shaped nose that is consistent with the use of active elec-
tronically scanned array radar, the Defense News Web site
reported. The design is viewed as similar to the Martin F-22
Raptor and the Sukhoi T-50 fighters and some observers main-
tain that the twin-engine configuration could signal use of
the Russian-built Saturn 117S (AL-41F1A) engine.
10-year-old Canadian discovers supernova
FREDERICTON, New Brunswick - A 10-year-old Canadian amateur
astronomer has discovered a supernova, an event astronomers
say is a rare and significant achievement. Kathryn Aurora
Gray of Fredericton, New Brunswick, noticed what was later
confirmed to be a magnitude 17 supernova, or exploding star,
on New Year's Eve, the Toronto Star reported. The Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada says Gray is the youngest
person to ever make such a discovery, which has been reported
to, confirmed and announced by the International Astronomical
Union. "I'm really excited. It feels really good," Kathryn
told the Star. Supernovas, cosmic explosions signaling the
violent deaths of stars several times the mass of Earth's
sun, are extremely bright and cause a burst of radiation.
Kathryn's father Paul helped her make the discovery by taking
measures to rule out asteroids and checking the list of cur-
rent known supernovas. "It's fantastic that someone so young
would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible
discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson,
executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada.
'Self-repairing' solar cells described
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - U.S. researchers say they've produced
a new class of solar cells that can repair themselves much
like plants do through photosynthesis. By using carbon nano-
tubes and DNA, scientists at Purdue University have developed
solar technology aimed at increasing service life and reduc-
ing cost, a university release said Tuesday. "We've created
artificial photosystems using optical nanomaterials to har-
vest solar energy that is converted to electrical power,"
Jong Hyun Choi, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering,
said. Photoelectrochemical cells that convert sunlight into
electricity contain light-absorbing dyes called chromophores,
similar to chlorophyll molecules in plants, that degrade due
to exposure to sunlight. "The critical disadvantage of con-
ventional photoelectrochemical cells is this degradation,"
Choi said. The new technology gets around this problem in
the same way nature does, by continuously replacing the
photo-damaged dyes with new ones. "This sort of self-regener-
ation is done in plants every hour," Choi said. Strands of
DNA anchored to a platform of carbon nanotubes are engineered
to recognize and attach to the chromophores. "The DNA recog-
nizes the dye molecules, and then the system spontaneously
self-assembles," Choi said. The new technology could lead
to photoelectrochemical cells that can operate at full cap-
acity indefinitely as long as new chromophores are added,
the researchers say.
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