Gizmorama
March 23, 2011
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Good Morning,
As a big enthusiast for advancements in science and techno-
logy, I love weeks when there is just an overflow of neat
things to report to you. This is one of those weeks. I can
check in with local, national, and global hard news and hear
about all the scary things that are ostensibly plaguing this
world. But when I turn to science, everything seems so
groundbreaking, positive, and far from being arbitrary.
Headlining the plethora of "neat things" this week is a new
study that utilizes NASA's Kepler telescope. Researchers have
produced some updated numbers as to how many planets exist
with the same characteristics as Earth. Numbers which seem
to be mind-bogglingly optimistic. Check out the last article
for details.
Until Next Time,
Erin
Questions? Comments? Email me at: mailto:gizmo@gophercentral.com
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NASA tests next Mars rover
PASADENA, Calif. - Scientists at NASA say they are putting
the space agency's next-generation Mars rover, set to be sent
to the planet next year, through a series of tough tests.
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif., say they've installed the Curiosity rover in a space-
simulation chamber that can mimic the environment the probe
will encounter on Mars, a JPL release said Monday. Inside
the 25-foot-diameter air was pumped out to near-vacuum pres-
sure, liquid nitrogen in the walls dropped the temperature
to minus 202 degrees Fahrenheit, and a bank of powerful lamps
simulated the intensity of sunshine on Mars, JPL said. After
the test period, the rover along with other portions of
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft including the
cruise stage, descent stage and backshell -- part of protec-
tive covering -- will be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center
for final preparation for the launch window of Nov. 25 to
Dec. 18, 2011. Curiosity will study whether a Mars has
offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial
life and for preserving evidence about whether Martian life
has existed, NASA said.
Study: Trash built Everglades islands
SANTA FE, N.M. - Scientists say the Florida Everglades' tree
islands, sites of biological richness in the vast marsh, may
owe their existence to ancient human garbage. Trash mounds
left behind from human settlements that date to about 5,000
years ago could have triggered the development of the
islands, elevated above the Everglades enough for trees to
grow and provide nesting sites for alligators and a refuge
for birds, panthers, and other wildlife, a release by the
American Geophysical Union said Monday. Dotting the marshes
of the Everglades, tree islands are typically 3 to 4 feet
high. Ancient trash piles, a mixture of bones, food discards,
charcoal, and human artifacts such as clay pots and shell
tools, would have provided an elevated area, drier than the
surrounding marsh, allowing trees and other vegetation to
grow. Bones would have provided phosphorus, a nutrient for
plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades, research-
ers say. "This goes to show that human disturbance in the
environment doesn't always have a negative consequence," said
Gail Chmura, a paleoecologist at McGill University in Mont-
real, and one of the authors of a study being presented at
an AGU conference in Santa Fe, N.M., on Tuesday. The re-
searchers warn that humans are now threatening many tree
islands by cutting down trees whose roots keep the islands
bound together and by artificially maintaining high water
levels year-round in some water control systems.
Chemical basis of long-term memory studied
DURHAM, N.C. - U.S. researchers say they've found a major
clue to how the human brain makes long-term memories that
underlie our ability to remember over time and to learn.
Scientists theorize that long-term potentiation or LTP --
the long-lasting increase of signals across a connection
between brain cells -- is how long-term memories are formed,
but exactly how that happens has been unknown,
ScienceDaily.com reported Monday. Now researchers at Duke
University in North Carolina say they've discovered a cascade
of signaling molecules that can cause a usually very brief
signal to last for tens of minutes, creating the stronger
connections -- synapses -- for memories that can be recalled
months or even years later. "We found that a biochemical pro-
cess that lasts a long time is what causes memory storage,"
Ryohei Yasuda, Duke assistant professor of neurobiology,
said. The signals are important for maintaining long-lasting
plasticity of synapses -- the ability of the brain to change
during learning or memorization, the researchers said. Many
diseases such as mental retardation and Alzheimer's disease
are associated with abnormalities in such signals, Yasuda
said. "Thus, our finding will provide many insights into
these diseases." The study has been published in the journal
Nature.
Researchers claim fuel cell breakthrough
CLEVELAND - U.S. researchers say they've made a breakthrough
in the development of low-cost hydrogen fuel cells that one
day could power electric cars. Researchers at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland say catalysts made of carbon
nanotubes dipped in a polymer solution can outperform trad-
itional platinum catalysts in fuel cells at a fraction of
the cost. The scientists say the new technology can remove
one of the biggest roadblocks to widespread cell use: the
cost of the catalysts. Platinum, which represents at least
a quarter of the cost of fuel cells, currently sells for
about $30,000 per pound, while the activated carbon nanotubes
cost about $45 per pound, a Case release said Tuesday. "This
is a breakthrough," Liming Dai, a professor of chemical
engineering and the research team leader, said. Soaking
carbon nanotubes in a water solution of the polymer for a
couple of hours coats the nanotube surface and pulls an
electron partially from the carbon, creating a net positive
charge, researchers said. When placed on the cathode of an
alkaline fuel cell, the charged material acts as a catalyst
for the oxygen-reduction reaction that produces electricity
by electrochemically combining hydrogen and oxygen. In test-
ing, the researchers' carbon catalyst fuel cell produced as
much power as an identical cell using a platinum catalyst.
Dai said he's confident his lab can increase the energy out-
put of the new process. "We have not optimized the system
yet," he said. One widely researched use for such cells would
be to produce electricity to power an electric car, using
hydrogen and oxygen from the air. The only emission from such
a vehicle, researchers say, would be water.
New estimate of alien 'Earths': Billions
PASADENA, Calif. - A new estimate of the number of possible
alien Earths orbiting distant stars puts the figure at 2 bil-
lion in our Milky Way galaxy alone, U.S. researchers say. A
study analyzing date from NASA's Kepler space telescope found
about one out of every 37, to one out of every 70, sun-like
stars visible in the nighttime sky might harbor an alien
Earth, SPACE.com reported Tuesday. Scientists at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., analyzed months
of data from Kepler and determined that 1.4 percent to 2.7
percent of all stars like our sun could be expected to have
Earth-like planets -- worlds within the habitable zones of
their stars where liquid water could exist on their surfaces.
"This means there are a lot of Earth analogs out there -- 2
billion in the Milky Way galaxy," JPL researcher Joseph
Catanzarite said. "With that large a number, there's a good
chance life and maybe even intelligent life might exist on
some of those planets. And that's just our galaxy alone --
there are 50 billion other galaxies."
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