June 13, 2011

Good Morning,

Scientists give statements on the importance of research and advancement even in the midst of government spending cuts. Science has come under fire by "misinformation," which is largely designed to undermine an elegant, modest process; this gives a bleak perspective to those in the field. Check out the second article for details.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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'Anniversary' of Neptune marked

BALTIMORE - Neptune has arrived back at the spot where it was first seen almost 165 years ago, and the Hubble Space Telescope has taken "anniversary pictures," NASA says. The blue-green planet has completed one complete orbit around the sun since the astronomer Johann Galle first discovered it on September 23, 1846. The planet is 2.8 billion miles from the Sun, slowly moving along in its huge orbit, completing one revolution approximately every 165 years, a release from the Space Telescope Science Institute said Tuesday. The giant planet experiences seasons just as Earth does because the axis of rotation of both planets are tilted, but instead of lasting a few months, each of Neptune's seasons continues for about 40 years, the release said. Galle was not the first to see Neptune. In December 1612, while observing Jupiter and its moons with his handmade telescope, Galileo Galilei recorded Neptune in his notebook, but as a star. Galileo never identified Neptune as a planet, and apparently never followed up his observations, so credit for Neptune's discovery went to Galle two centuries later. While Neptune is not visible to the naked eye it can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope in the constellation Aquarius.


Scientists warn on budget cutting

WASHINGTON - U.S. scientific societies and universities have sent a letter urging policymakers, in their need to cut spending, to avoid singling out specific programs. The letter to key lawmakers preparing to debate the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012 expresses the opposition of more than 140 groups to any attempts to eliminate or substantially reduce funding for particular research programs, a release from the American Association for the Advancement of Science said Tuesday.Canceling specific grants or funding for entire scientific disciplines "sets a dangerous precedent that, in the end, will inhibit scientific progress and our international competitiveness," the letter said. "Everyone understands that legislators face tremendous challenges related to the deficit and the national economy," said Joanne Carney, director of the Office of Government Relations at AAAS. "But recently, selected research areas have been unfairly trivialized based on misinformation intended to challenge the scientific review process." Interdisciplinary research that integrates physical and biological sciences with insights from social and behavioral fields has become increasingly essential to scientific progress and innovation, Carney said. Removal of support for key fields of research "could have a chilling effect on scientists and young people considering a future in science," the group said in its letter dated Monday.


Quick-change color lenses developed

STORRS, Conn. - New technology allowing lenses to change color rapidly could have military as well as civilian applications, its U.S. developer says. University of Connecticut chemistry professor Greg Sotzing says he's perfected a method for creating quick-changing, variable colors in films and displays, such as sunglasses. The typical material behind a so-called transition lens is called a photochromic film that changes color when light hits it. Sotzing's new technology uses electrochromic lenses that are controlled by an electric current passing through them when triggered by a stimulus such as light, a university release said Tuesday. The material can change colors as quickly as electricity passes through it, virtually instantaneously, he said. While sunglasses are on obvious application, the process could be very useful for the military, Sotzing said. For example, if a person emerges from a dark passageway and into the desert, a lens that would alter its color instantly in response to the surroundings could mean life or death for some soldiers. "Right now, soldiers have to physically change the lenses in their goggles," Sotzing says. "This will eliminate that need."


Scientists seek ancient climate clues

DURHAM, N.H. - Scientists say they will drill deep into a Wyoming basin in search of clues to a massive release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere 55 million years ago. Researchers say the Earth belched up a massive amount of CO2 into the atmosphere in that ancient period -- an amount equivalent to burning all the petroleum and other fossil fuels that exist today -- in an environmental anomaly called a hypothermal event. "And we don't know where it came from," Will Clyde, University of New Hampshire associate professor of geology, said. "This is a big part of the carbon cycle that affected the climate system, and we don't understand it." This month, a team of 27 scientists from 11 institutions will drill a series of cores into the stratified layers of rocks in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming in hopes of gaining a better understanding of this mystery and possibly of current and future global climate change, a university release said Tuesday. Drilling cores about 500 feet into the sediment will provide pristine core samples for more precise geochemical analyses, Clyde said. "It will help us better understand the long-term carbon cycle of the Earth," he said. "Hopefully, by looking at the past, we will better understand prospects for the long-term climate cycle that may or may not become our future."

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