Augment & Ascension

24 year old Future Cyborg. Arthur C. Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Who we are is but a stepping stone to what we can become.” – Deus ex "I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own."- H.G. Wells

[sciencenewsforstudents]

Long ago, some 3 billion light-years from Earth, two black holes orbited one another. In time, their gravitational tugs had them spiraling inward toward one another. Eventually, they embraced in a cataclysmic merger. The event fused them into one jumbo black hole. Its mass was about 49 times that of our sun. Moving across the universe at the speed of light, the wiggles this smashup imparted to spacetime finally reached Earth this past January 4. And a pair of incredibly sensitive twin instruments detected the teensy stretch and squeeze of space and time that they caused.

The pair of detectors are known as LIGO, for the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Scientists described this gravity-wave discovery by LIGO on June 1 in Physical Review Letters. At a news conference one day earlier, the scientists heralded this, the third confirmation of gravity waves’ existence.

[the-future-now-deactivated20170]

In the future, your water bottles and other pieces of plastic could dissolve like sugar

Discarded plastic is seriously polluting all corners of our earth, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

But recent inroads in biodegradable versions of plastic may potentially reduce damage to our planet in the future, so long as the world adopts it.

Researchers at the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies in the U.K. developed plastic made from sugar and carbon dioxide, which could transform any polycarbonate-made item of the future. 

Polycarbonate is typically used for your average water bottle, CD or DVD, along with other objects such as phone screen protectors. Read more (6/14/17)

follow @the-future-now​

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Where Alice in Wonderland meets Albert Einstein

The latest results from the “Cheshire Cat” group of galaxies show how manifestations of Einstein’s 100-year-old theory can lead to new discoveries today. Astronomers have given the group this name because of the smiling cat-like appearance. Some of the feline features are actually distant galaxies whose light has been stretched and bent by the large amounts of mass, most of which is in the form of dark matter detectable only through its gravitational effect, found in the system.

Image credit: NASA / STScI / Chandra & Hubble

[space-bot]

Australian government invests AU$500m to improve space-based intelligence - ZDNet

June 19, 2017 at 02:46AM

ZDNet

Australian government invests AU$500m to improve space-based intelligence ZDNet The Australian government has announced that it will be pouring AU$500 million into Defence Project 799 to enhance space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Phase 1 of the project aims to improve the Australian Defence …

More here: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNH82CNo3VvPqkK1jKxVfvby_tE6Eg&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&ei=uRlHWYr5OISJzgL77YXYDA&url=http://www.zdnet.com/article/australian-government-invests-au500m-to-improve-space-based-intelligence/

[the-telescope-times]

Study confirms lightning more powerful over ocean than land

People who live and work along coasts and coastlines everywhere may be more likely to experience a super-charged lightning strike, according to new research from Florida Institute of Technology that shows lightning can be much more powerful over the ocean than land.

Florida Tech’s Amitabh Nag, assistant professor of physics and space sciences, and Kenneth L. Cummins, research professor at Florida Tech and the University of Arizona, recently published, “Negative First Stroke Leader Characteristics in Cloud to-Ground Lightning Over Land and Ocean” in the American Geophysical Union’s Geophysical Research Letters. The scientists analyzed lightning over parts of Florida and its coasts using data provided by the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-powerful-ocean.html#jCp

[scienceisbeauty]

Rotational superradiance detected for the first time in a water vortex flow which may mimic the effect of some kind of black holes (rotating black holes).

From the paper’s abstract:

We observed that waves propagating on the surface of water can be amplified after being scattered by a draining vortex. The maximum amplification measured was 14% ± 8%, obtained for 3.70 Hz waves, in a 6.25-cm-deep fluid, consistent with the superradiant scattering caused by rapid rotation. We expect our experimental findings to be relevant to black-hole physics, since shallow water waves scattering on a draining fluid constitute an analogue of a black hole, as well as to hydrodynamics, due to the close relation to over-reflection instabilities.

Picture (from one of the authors, Silke Weinfurtner) via Science News: Water circling a drain provides insight into black holes

[blogmachineimages]

The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace aboard the ISS [4928 x 3280]

Source: https://openpics.aerobatic.io/

[materialsworld]

5 things you didn’t know about…fibre optics

‘Silica is thematerial of choice for most optical fibres, because it boasts good transmission over a wide range of wavelengths.’

1. Optical fibres consist of a core, surrounded by a cladding layer, and an outer buffer later that acts as a protective coating.

2. They are produced by drawing large-diameter preforms into thin fibres at temperatures up to 2,200oC.

3. Most are coated with a UV-cured urethane acrylate during the drawing process for protection.

4. In 2011, the bandwidth record for an optical fibre was set at more than 100 terabits (100x1012 bits) per second.

5. In medicine, endoscopes made of fibre optics allow doctors to view or operate on patients with minimal interference.  

For more on the history of fibre optics, read Anna Ploszaski’s Material of the Month piece here bit.ly/1og5IGX

[randdmag]

Trapping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and various industries could play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the future. But current materials that can collect carbon dioxide have low capacities or require very high temperatures to work. Scientists are making progress toward a more efficient alternative, described in Chemistry of Materials, that could help make carbon capture less energy intensive.  

Read More - http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/03/reducing-emissions-more-effective-carbon-capture-method

[magictransistor]

Nonliving, synthetic, regenerative polymers.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Elemental Profile: Vanadium

Vanadium is the twenty-third element on the periodic table, giving it twenty three protons and electrons. It does not occur naturally on its own but is found as a component of 65 different minerals.

On the periodic table, the element is characterized as a transition metal. Given the sheer number of transition metals it is difficult to define any definite characteristics but, generally, transition metals are paramagnetic with more than one oxidation states. Also, metals typically (though not always) have high electrical conductivity as well as high density and high melting and boiling points.

Vanadium is a ductile and malleable silvery gray metal. It is corrosion resistant but easily oxidizes. There are two naturally occurring isotopes, one of which is radioactive.

Source.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Graphene encapsulation provides unprecedented view of diffusion and rotation of fullerene molecule

Carbon is one of the most versatile elements: it forms the basis for an enormous number of chemical compounds, it has several allotropes of different dimensionality, and it exhibits many different bonding geometries. For this reason, carbon materials have had a special place in materials research for a long time. Although the three-dimensional forms of carbon – diamond and graphite – are known since ancient times, it took until 1985 before the first low-dimensional carbon allotrope, the quasi-zero-dimensional fullerene, was discovered. Soon after this, in 1991, the one-dimensional carbon nanotubes were brought to the attention of the scientific community, and in 2004 the two-dimensional carbon allotrope, graphene, became experimental reality. Different combinations of carbon allotropes such as fullerene-filled carbon nanotubes (carbon peapods) and graphite intercalated by fullerenes have been made already.

In the article published in Science Advances, the scientists at the University of Vienna demonstrate a hybrid carbon system, termed buckyball sandwich, in which a single layer of fullerenes is encapsulated between two graphene sheets. The analysis of the structure via atomically resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy provided insights into the dynamics of the molecules. At the edges of the fullerene layers, the scientists could observe the diffusion of individual fullerenes within the pocket of the graphene sandwich: Due to the movement of the fullerenes, they are only partially visible in the image (recorded line by line, so that mobile fullerenes only appear on some of the lines). Moreover, fullerenes were found to rotate inside the sandwich – however this rotation was blocked when the fullerenes merged into larger objects due to extended electron irradiation.

Read more.

[scifigeneration]

Orion blazing bright in radio light

A team of astronomers has unveiled a striking new image of the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC) – a bustling stellar nursery teeming with bright, young stars and dazzling regions of hot, glowing gas.

The researchers used the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia to study a 50 light-year long filament of star-forming gas that is wending its way through the northern portion of the OMC known as Orion A.

Keep reading

[the-telescope-times]

NASA’s Kepler Provides Another Peek at Ultra-cool Neighbor

On Feb. 22, astronomers announced that the ultra-cool dwarf star,  TRAPPIST-1, hosts a total of seven Earth-size planets that are likely rocky, a  discovery made by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope in combination with  ground-based telescopes. NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope also has  been observing this star since December 2016. Today these additional data about   TRAPPIST-1 from Kepler are available to the scientific community.

During the period of Dec. 15, 2016 to March 4, the Kepler spacecraft, operating as the K2 mission, collected data on the star’s minuscule changes in brightness due to transiting planets. These additional observations are expected to allow astronomers to refine the previous measurements of six planets, pin down the orbital period and mass of the seventh and farthest planet, TRAPPIST-1h, and learn more about the magnetic activity of the host star.

“Scientists and enthusiasts around the world are invested in learning everything they can about these Earth-size worlds,” said Geert Barentsen, K2 research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. “Providing the K2 raw data as quickly as possible was a priority to give investigators an early look so they could best define their follow-up research plans. We’re thrilled that this will also allow the public to witness the process of discovery.”

The release of the raw, uncalibrated data collected will aid astronomers in preparing proposals due this month to use telescopes on Earth next winter to further investigate TRAPPIST-1. By late May, the routine processing of the data will be completed and the fully calibrated data will be made available at the public archive.

Read more ~ JPL.NASA.gov

Illustration: This illustration shows the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might look as viewed from Earth using a fictional, incredibly powerful telescope.     Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[scifigeneration]

Blue Brain team finds 'Multi-dimensional universe' in brain networks

For most people, it is a stretch of the imagination to understand the world in four dimensions but a new study has discovered structures in the brain with up to eleven dimensions – ground-breaking work that is beginning to reveal the brain’s deepest architectural secrets.

Using algebraic topology in a way that it has never been used before in Neuroscience, a team from the Blue Brain Project has uncovered a universe of multi-dimensional geometrical structures and spaces within the networks of the brain.

Keep reading

[spaceexp]

Jupiter’s Clouds of Many Colors

NASA - JUNO Mission logo. June 16, 2017

(Click on the image for enlarge)

NASA’s Juno spacecraft was racing away from Jupiter following its seventh close pass of the planet when JunoCam snapped this image on May 19, 2017, from about 29,100 miles (46,900 kilometers) above the cloud tops. The spacecraft was over 65.9 degrees south latitude, with a lovely view of the south polar region of the planet. This image was processed to enhance color differences, showing the amazing variety in Jupiter’s stormy atmosphere. The result is a surreal world of vibrant color, clarity and contrast. Four of the white oval storms known as the “String of Pearls” are visible near the top of the image. Interestingly, one orange-colored storm can be seen at the belt-zone boundary, while other storms are more of a cream color. JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at: http://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam    More information about Juno is at: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu Image, Text, Credits: NASA/Martin Perez/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt /Seán Doran. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

[space-bot]

On the road to creating an electrodeless spacecraft propulsion engine - Phys.Org

June 13, 2017 at 12:44PM

Phys.Org

On the road to creating an electrodeless spacecraft propulsion engine Phys.Org There are many methods of spacecraft propulsion, and while they all have their pros and cons, electric propulsion is now mature and widely used. Electrically powered plasma thrusters can deliver large thrust density without the need to expose …

More here: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNHYzJPinw8zVu16KIOPaMXoZhu2_A&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&ei=N0hFWdmqBIO6zALTzqPoBw&url=https://phys.org/news/2017-06-road-electrodeless-spacecraft-propulsion.html