The Physics of Interstellar Travel. To one day, reach the stars.
When discussing the possibility of interstellar travel, there is something called “the giggle factor.” Some scientists tend to scoff at the idea of interstellar travel because of the enormous distances that separate the stars. According to Special Relativity (1905), no usable information can travel faster than light locally, and hence it would take centuries to millennia for an extra-terrestrial civilization to travel between the stars. Even the familiar stars we see at night are about 50 to 100 light years from us, and our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. The nearest galaxy is 2 million light years from us. Similarly, investigations into UFO’s that may originate from another planet are sometimes the “third rail” of someone’s scientific career. So far, we see no hard evidence of signals from extra-terrestrial civilizations from any earth-like planet. A critical look at this issue must necessary embrace two new observations. Type 0 Type I Type II Type III. How Mold on Space Station Flowers is Helping Get Us to Mars.
Mars has held a central place in human imagination and culture for millennia.
Ancients marveled at its red color and the brightness that waxed and waned in cycles over the years. Early observations through telescopes led some to speculate that the planet was covered with canals that its inhabitants used for transportation and commerce. In “The War of the Worlds”, the writer H.G. Wells posited a Martian culture that would attempt to conquer Earth. In 1938, Orson Welles panicked listeners who thought they were listening to a news broadcast rather than his radio adaptation of Wells’s novel. How Does the IPCC Know Climate Change is Happening? Climate change is one of the few scientific theories that makes us examine the whole basis of modern society.
It is a challenge that has politicians arguing, sets nations against each other, queries individual lifestyle choices, and ultimately asks questions about humanity’s relationship with the rest of the planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its synthesis report on November 2, a document that brings together the findings from the IPCC’s three main working groups. It reiterates that the evidence for climate change is unequivocal, with evidence for a significant rise in global temperatures and sea level over the last hundred years.
It also stresses that we control the future and the magnitude of shifting weather patterns and more extreme climate events depends on how much greenhouse gas we emit. Causes of climate change Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit some of the heat radiation given off by the Earth’s surface and warm the lower atmosphere. Future changes. Phys.Org Mobile: What does the next generation telescope need to detect life? Almost 2,000 extrasolar planets have been discovered to date and this number is constantly increasing.
Yet, we still know little about these alien worlds, especially their atmospheres. The atmospheres of terrestrial exoplanets could betray the presence of life on the planet, sparking NASA's interest in acquiring the spectra that appears as starlight shines through these planetary atmospheres. A paper by Timothy Brandt and David Spiegel, exo-planetary scientists at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, details what is needed in a next generation telescope for it to be capable of detecting signatures of life in the atmospheres of alien planets. The paper has been published in the September issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Signatures of a habitable planet Astronomers employ several different methods to study the atmospheres of gas giants that orbit close to their host stars.
We can restore cognition by manipulating where the body meets the mind. When we age our whole body gradually deteriorates.
This includes our brains, where our personality, memories and personal values reside. It is therefore understandable that dementia and memory loss are some of the most devastating hallmarks of ageing, for the elderly, their families, and the healthcare system. This is why researchers want to find ways to rejuvenate the brain and therefore maintain the young mind and cognition in old age.
Throughout our life, immune cells that circulate in the blood help maintain our bodies, yet the brain, structurally secluded from the circulation by an impermeable blood-brain barrier, was for years considered to be an organ which ideally operates autonomously. Click to enlarge. 50 Things About Millennials That Make Corporate America Sh*t Its Pants.
In 2013, Joel Stein deemed Millennials the “ME Generation.”
The TIME contributor called Generation-Y selfish, egotistical and lazy. He also noted, however, that we may just be the generation that will save us all. Per usual, no one knows what to make of us. Jetpack Will Help Runners Hit 4-Minute Miles. There are times when seconds count, and the ability to move quickly could mean the difference between life and death.
In combat, soldiers can carry upwards of 90 pounds in their rucksacks and on their bodies, which significantly reduces how fast they can move on foot. Jason Kerestes, a student at Arizona State University, has developed the 4 Minute Mile: a jetpack that helps soldiers move faster, without requiring them to physically exert more.
No rain for decades: Stand by for the ‘megadroughts’, scientists warn - Climate Change - Environment. Experts warn the droughts could be even more severe than the prolonged water shortage currently afflicting California, where residents have resorted to stealing from fire hydrants amid mass crop failures and regular wildfires.
Megadroughts – which are generally defined as lasting 35 years or more – will become considerably more frequent as global warming increases temperatures and reduces rainfall in regions already susceptible, warns Cornell University’s Dr Toby Ault, the author of the new report. Megadroughts are also likely to be hotter and last longer than in the past, he claimed. His peer-reviewed research – to be published in the American Meterological Society’s Journal of Climate – is the first to scientifically establish that climate change exacerbates the threat. Loading gallery.
Egalitarianism. Societal. Computer Technology. The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012. High Point: George W. Bush Commits the U.S. to Return to the Moon - Gagarin's Great Feat: 50 Space-Race Highs and Lows. 27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012. Print - 110 Predictions For the Next 110 Years. · People will be fluent in every language.
With DARPA and Google racing to perfect instant translation, it won't be long until your cellphone speaks Swahili on your behalf. · Software will predict traffic jams before they occur. Using archived data, roadside sensors, and GPS, IBM has come up with a modeling program that anticipates bumper-to-bumper congestion a full hour before it begins.