June 6, 2011

Good Morning,

Penn State University scientists have made an insightful
computer model of volcanic eruptions; a step forward in
understanding the dangers and implications of such an event. Check out the third article for all the details.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Telescope captures Milky Way twin

MUNICH, Germany - European astronomers say a nearby galaxy is so like our Milky Way it offers a tantalizing sense of how a distant observer might see our own galactic home. Images captured by the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile, show a view close to one we would see if we could observe our own Milky Way from intergalactic space, a release from ESO headquarters in Munich, Germany, said Wednesday. Galaxy NGC 6744, one of the largest and nearest spiral galaxies, features striking spiral arms wrapping around a dense, elongated nucleus and a dusty disc. The dusty spiral arms are home to many glowing star-forming regions and give this Milky Way look-alike its striking spiral form, astronomers said. One difference between NGC 6744 and our Milky Way is size. While our galaxy is roughly 100,000 light-years across, galaxy NGC 6744 extends to almost twice that diameter.


Brain area that 'sees' scenes found

LOS ANGELES - U.S. scientists say they found the part of the brain responsible for a key survival trait: our ability to comprehend a new situation in a fraction of a second. The brain's ability to understand a whole scene -- even one never previously encountered -- on the fly "gives us an enormous edge on an organism that would have to look at objects one by one and slowly add them up," Irving Biederman, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, said.Researchers say the key is the brain's ability to process the interacting objects that comprise a scene more quickly than unrelated objects, a USC release reported Tuesday. Previous research had established the existence of a so-called "scene-facilitation effect," but the location of the part of the brain responsible for the effect remained a mystery. Biederman and Jiye G. Kim, a doctoral student in Biederman's lab, along with colleagues in china, set out to uncover that location. Using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, they found the source of the effect was lateral occipital cortex, a portion of the brain's visual processing center located between the ear and the back of the skull.This study is the latest in an ongoing effort by Biederman and Kim to unlock the complex way in which the brain processes visual experience with the goal, Biederman said, of understanding "how we get mind from brain."


Computer model reveals clues to eruption

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - U.S. researchers say a 3-D computer model of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state may help in understanding eruptions and their dangers.Scientists at Penn State University say the model could help explain how explosive volcanic eruptions like that of Mount St. Helens occur, and help identify potentially dangerous locations in blast zones, a university release reported Wednesday. "We took on the modeling of enormously complicated pyroclastic density currents, notably the classic, notorious May 1980 lateral blast that destroyed 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) of forested terrain at Mount St. Helens," Barry Voight, Penn State professor of geology and geological engineering, said. The May 18, 1980, eruption lasted less
than 5 minutes but the sideways blast caused severe damage across a wide are, killing 57 people and destroying 250 homes and 47 bridges. "Volcanic lateral blasts are among the most spectacular and devastating of natural phenomena, but their dynamics are still poorly understood," the researchers said in an article in the current issue of the journal Geology. The 3-D model accurately reproduced the Mount St. Helens blast, closely matching the extent of devastation and observed results on the ground. In the model, the areas of ground where pressures imply that trees would be blown down fit the actual locations of destroyed forests, the researchers said. "The calculations provided much insight into internal dynamics of the blast explosion cloud that could not be observed directly," said Voight.


Video: Salt Water As A Fuel

This may be the most revolutionary invention or discovery
since fire. A man was trying to cure cancer using radio
waves and discovered that these radio waves could be used to unlock hydrogen form oxygen in salt water. Amazing!

Click to Watch

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