Curiosity Mars rover shoots spectacular full-circle panorama - Christian Science Monitor

On Sept. 1, Curiosity drove an additional 98 feet (30 meters) and tested its "visual odometry" system, which enables the rover to determine the distance it has traveled by analyzing its own images, agency officials said. On its wheels, the rover has imprints of the Morse Code symbols for "JPL" â€" the abbreviation for California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which houses Curiosity's mission control. As the rover drives over Mars, it leaves patterns in the Martian dirt that scientist can study to calculate how far it has traveled.
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<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0904/Curiosity-Mars-rover-shoots-spectacular-full-circle-panorama

Neil Armstrong Has Private Memorial - ABC News

Two of Armstrong's fellow Apollo astronauts, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan, spoke at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center this morning, where a research fund was to be set up in Armstrong's memory. The Armstrong family also urged people to donate to scholarship funds organized by the Telluride Foundation and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

A private memorial service, in suburban Cincinnati not far from Armstrong's last home, was attended by family, longtime friends and fellow astronauts. Some of them spoke publicly or released statements before or after the service. Sen. Rob Portman, the Ohio Republican who counted Armstrong as a friend, delivered the eulogy, said NASA.
<br />http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-memorial-cincinatti-private-service-man-moon/story?id%3D17127166

Genome of ancient Denisovans may help clarify human evolution - Los Angeles Times

The new genome gives scientists a sense of just how much of our genomes we owe to our extinct relatives. About 3% to 5% of the DNA in people native to Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and other islands nearby came from Denisovans, the study found, confirming reports based on a draft version of the Denisovan genome. The authors of the study didn't find any significant contribution of Denisovans to the DNA of people from mainland Eurasia, however.The advance hinged on new techniques designed to investigate scant and highly degraded genetic material found in fossils. Their application to these and other specimens promises to draw back the curtain on our species' complicated and much-debated history, said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who wasn't involved in the study.<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-denisovan-genome-20120828,0,75940.story

Mars rover beams back spectacular photos, NASA greeting - Christian Science Monitor

&quot;As Curiosity continues her mission, we hope the words of the administrator will be an inspiration to someone who's alive today, who will become the first to stand upon the surface of the planet&nbsp;Mars,&quot; Lavery told reporters today (Aug. 27). &quot;Like the great Neil Armstrong, they'll be able to speak aloud â€" in first person at that point â€" of the next giant leap in human exploration.&quot;For the next two years, Curiosity is slated to explore Gale and the crater's 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) central peak, the mysterious&nbsp;Mount Sharp. The $2.5 billion rover is outfitted with 10 different science instruments to aid its quest, including a rock-zapping laser and gear that can identify organic compounds â€" the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it.<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0828/Mars-rover-beams-back-spectacular-photos-NASA-greeting

Goodbye to the last American hero - Battle Creek Enquirer

He did not allow his image to show up on lunch boxes (if he had, I'd have had one). He would not do guest shots on "The Brady Bunch" or "Laugh-In." In later years, he would never have shown up on "Dancing With the Stars" as, unfortunately, his moon-mate Buzz Aldrin, did. But I guess that's what you do when you're the second man to walk on the moon.The word "hero" is thrown around today the way we throw around a Frisbee. Anyone who does something well is suddenly a hero. Anyone who agrees with what you think is a hero. Anyone who follows through on something they say they were going to do, well, they must be a hero too.<br />http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20120826/NEWS01/308260021/Goodbye-last-American-hero?odyssey%3Dtab%257Ctopnews%257Ctext%257CFrontpage

Spectacular new NASA video shows Curiosity Mars rover's daring touchdown (+video) - Christian Science Monitor

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Other milestones follow, such as parachute deploy and ignition of the engines on Curiosity's &quot;sky crane&quot; descent stage, which lowered the 1-ton rover to the Martian surface on cables. Audio from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., plays over the video, describing the nail-biting action.&nbsp;<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0824/Spectacular-new-NASA-video-shows-Curiosity-Mars-rover-s-daring-touchdown-video

Panorama Shows Every Mars Landing in One Beautiful Shot - Wired

The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, arrived at Mars in 2004. Opportunity touched down at the Meridiani Planum while Spirit explored the region around Gusev Crater, both providing incredible data about Mars&#8217; watery past during their missions. Spirit&#8217;s first Pancam image is also the highest resolution picture taken on the surface of another planet. The rover, which sadly stopped operating in 2010, also provided the breathtaking sunset image in the panorama above. Opportunity is still roving around the Martian surface.In 2008, NASA brought the Phoenix lander to the surface of Mars, touching down in the Martian Arctic for the first time. Digging into the soil with its trench, Phoenix uncovered evidence for shallow subsurface ice in the Martian poles. The lander also observed snow falling from Martian clouds and helped characterize the planet&#8217;s surface chemistry. After Phoenix spent a Martian winter in safe mode, engineers at JPL mission control!
tried to resume communication with the lander in 2010 but were unable.<br />http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/mars-landing-panorama/

Curiosity rover begins vaporizing Mars, one rock at a time - Christian Science Monitor

Curiosity's&nbsp;Chemical and Camera instrument, or ChemCam, fires a laser pulses that last just five one-billionths of a second but deliver more than a million watts of power, enough to turn solid rock into an ionized plasma. A trio of spectrometers in the tool then studies the sparks from the laser fire on 6,144 different wavelengths of ultraviolet, visible and infrared light to determine the composition of the vaporized rock.
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<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0820/Curiosity-rover-begins-vaporizing-Mars-one-rock-at-a-time

NASA 'itching to move' on Mars as it charts course for Curiosity - Fox News

Its ultimate goal is to scale the lower slopes of Mount Sharp in search of the chemical building blocks of life to determine whether the environment was favorable for microbial life.",
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NASA 'itching to move' on Mars as it charts course for Curiosity

The team identified half a dozen potential paths through buttes and mesas that are reminiscent of the southwestern United States. Vasavada estimated it'll take a year to make the trip to the mountain driving about the length of a football field a day. Along the way, the six-wheel rover will make pit stops to study interesting rocks and scoop up soil.<br />http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/14/nasa-itching-to-move-on-mars-as-it-charts-course-for-curiosity/

Huge volcanic rock 'ice-shelf' spotted in Pacific - The Hindu

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I'm fairly new to geology, and so I wonder if the floating material is still referred to as &quot;pillows&quot; of basalt usually evidenced in under water volcanic activities?<br />http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article3757605.ece?homepage%3Dtrue

Flat-Faced Early Humans Confirmed—Lived Among Other Human Species - National Geographic

Not an aberrant specimen, the study makes clear, but a different species from the early Homo varieties previously known to have inhabited Turkana: Homo habilis ("handy man"), the presumed tool user conventionally seen as the earliest known Homo species, and Homo erectus, the "upright man" believed to be a direct ancestor of our own species (time line of human evolution).Consisting of a face, a complete lower jaw, and part of a second jaw, the new fossils were found east of Kenya's Lake Turkana between 2007 and 2009. The products of a 40-year search, they provide the needed evidence to confirm that a disputed skull found in 1972 does in fact represent a new species, the team says.<br />http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120808-human-evolution-fossils-homo-nature-science-meave-leakey-flat/

University Structure

The current island-structure of universities is a way of wasting invaluable potentials. The existence of various disciplines in university is a golden opportunity, but people usually ignore it.

http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/university-structure-m4z3

NASA rover sends back video and first color picture of landscape; prettier ... - Washington Post

<br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasa-rover-sends-back-video-and-first-color-picture-of-landscape-prettier-images-yet-to-come/2012/08/07/1841bf26-e0f2-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html

Mars rover Curiosity lands on the Red Planet - USA TODAY

Posted document.write(niceDate("8/6/2012 12:26 AM")); | Updated document.write(niceDate("8/6/2012 7:06 AM"));NASA's Curiosity rover transmitted this image to Earth after landing successfully on Mars yesterday evening.<br />http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-08-06/mars-rover-curiosity-landing/56814732/1

Mars rover Curiosity nears make-or-break landing attempt - Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.Mars is the chief component of NASA's long-term deep space
exploration plans. Curiosity, the space agency's first
astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes, is
designed primarily to search for evidence that the planet most
similar to Earth may have once have harbored ingredients
necessary for microbial life to evolve.<br />http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/05/usa-mars-idUSL2E8J451220120805

Give 'Em Hill: Mars stars at San Francisco's Exploratorium - San Jose Mercury News

The temps aren't too bad. Well, it can get to 100 below, but then up to a sweltering 60 degrees at the equator. Even with the chill, there's something about air bubbles in your blood and low atmospheric pressure that can make your blood "boil," your eyes bug out and your head implode after about 15 seconds of exposure. That's faster than you can slather on the 5,000-SPF Coppertone needed just to walk out into the sunshine and not fry into a piece of crisp bacon."When the signal comes in, telling us if the rover landed safely, I'm gonna be on the edge of my seat," he gushed Thursday night at a brief and superfun lecture during the museum's "After Dark: Mars!" event. "The Advertisement
yld_mgr.place_ad_here("adPosBox");
descent is a treacherous, complex set of maneuvers that NASA's calling the 'seven minutes of terror,'" he gushed some more. "It's gonna be exciting!"<br />http://www.mercurynews.com/angela-hill/ci_21231402/give-em-hill-mars-stars-at-san-franciscos

Will NASA's $2.5 billion Mars rover crash on Sunday? - Christian Science Monitor

&quot;We will indeed be imaging the spot MSL is predicted to be about 60 seconds prior to landing, but the odds of capturing it are estimated at 60 percent,&quot; said Alfred McEwen at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is principal investigator of the orbiter's super-powerful High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). [Mars Rover Curiosity's Daring Landing in Pictures]
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<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0802/Will-NASA-s-2.5-billion-Mars-rover-crash-on-Sunday

Social and Cultural Activities in University

It should be taken into account that the main goal of attending universities is to experience academic life and culture; thus, students should not only look for their degree and graduation. Instead, they should enjoy their academic life, and degree is a consequence of their studies. To this aim, it is necessary to have solid cultural programs, providing a delightful environment for students. The design of social activities should not be independent programs for students’ free times; instead they should be designed as a part of the university united program. In other words, social activities are not extra services to students, but part of their academic programs.
http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/social-and-cultural-activities-in-university-m4z6

Saturn moon Iapetus' huge landslides stir intrigue - BBC News

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. We also use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the BBC website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookie settings at any time. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.<br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19011011

Rare Burst of Melting Seen in Greenland's Ice Sheet - New York Times

SUMMER SALE! Save 50% on a Times Subscription. Ends 7/31. GO NOW&raquo;<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/science/earth/rare-burst-of-melting-seen-in-greenland-ice-sheet.html

In memoriam: 'Ride, Sally, Ride' - msnbc.com

Eileen Collins, NASA's first woman shuttle commander:"I am surprised and saddened by the news of Sally Ride&rsquo;s passing.&nbsp; She was such a wonderful role model and source of inspiration to me.&nbsp; People around the world still recognize her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing NASA.&nbsp; She mentored me several times during my astronaut career, leaving me with many cherished memories.&nbsp; She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job. &nbsp;Her Sally Ride Science programs have reached thousands of middle-school girls, giving them the confidence to stay focused on math and science, even when the mass media message was otherwise.&nbsp; She also played a notable role in both the Challenger and Columbia accident investigations.&nbsp; Sally left us too soon. Godspeed, Sally, you will be greatly missed."Now that Ride has passed away at the age of 61, af!
ter battling pancreatic cancer for 17 months, there's be another posthumous surge of celebrity. Once again, there'll be chatter about Ride's&nbsp;illness, which she reportedly asked NASA not to publicize, as well as her&nbsp;personal relationships. But for now, the focus should be squarely on her contribution to&nbsp;space exploration &mdash; as the woman who broke the space barrier, who helped investigate two of NASA's toughest tragedies, who helped shape America's space vision, and who fostered the next generation of explorers through such ventures as Sally Ride Science, EarthKAM and MoonKAM. That's the legacy that comes through loud and clear in the tributes from the White House and NASA, as well as the tributes from these other luminaries:<br />http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/23/12913149-in-memoriam-ride-sally-ride

Dumping Iron Into Oceans Could Sink Carbon, Slow Global Warming - iScienceTimes.com

This type of geoengineering - large-scale manipulation of the climate - has been controversial, but this is the first experiment to show that the technique works. At the end of the 2004 summer season, scientists fertilized an ocean eddy in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica with 7 tons of dissolved iron, prompting the growth of small plant-like organisms called phytoplankton.The study was the first convincing evidence that carbon, absorbed by algae, can sink to the ocean bed. If this organic matter settles into the deep ocean, it may not reach the surface for centuries or millennia, depending on ocean circulation, lead researcher Victor Smetacek said, according to CBS News.<br />http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/3469/20120720/dumping-iron-oceans-sink-carbon-slow-global.htm

Hubble spots spiral galaxy that shouldn't exist - Los Angeles Times

It is not suprising that the astronomers made the claim that the galazy shoudn't exist, they simply don't understand how the big bang worked. As the massive materials were being created and spun around due to their inherent angular momentum they formed all the galaxies at the same time and as the galaxies kept expanding and spiralling outwards more material formed the stars. Planets were only formed later as the nucleosunthesis produced the heavier elements. Fusion stoped at the iron Nickel limit and there was a collapse which produced the elements beyond nickel and the recoil after the collapse ejected the various planets. The idea is very simple and easy to understand if you have the mental capacity to do so.&nbsp;A team headed by astronomer David R. Law of the University of Toronto, a former graduate student at UCLA, used the Hubble to observe more than 300 distant galaxies and study their properties. One of the galaxies, named BX442, appeared unusual, and the team used t!
he W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to study it further. At first, the astronomers thought that it was an illusion of a spiral galaxy caused by the accidental alignment of two galaxies in the images. But studies of spectra from more than 3,600 locations in and around the galaxy revealed that it is, indeed, a rotating spiral galaxy, they reported in the journal Nature.<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-spiral-galaxy-20120718,0,4789994.story?track%3Drss

Institutional Mission and University

University administration should generate a pool of creative ideas for faculty members. When designing an academic research project, professors know the general preferences of a university, but not necessarily specific policy of their own university.

http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/institutional-mission-university-priorities-m4z9

Huge ice island breaks away from Greenland glacier - TG Daily

<br />http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/64769-huge-ice-island-breaks-away-from-greenland-glacier

Stone tools focus picture of ancient Americans - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

University of Oregon archaeologist Dennis Jenkins says that indicates the Clovis style of chipping stone tools was not the mother of Stone Age technology. He says the two styles were developed independently by different groups that may have taken separate routes through the continent after crossing the Ice Age land bridge from Asia.GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) â€" Stone tools and human DNA from ancient caves in Oregon offer new evidence of how some of the first Americans spread through the continent: Quite apart from the better-known Clovis culture, a separate group occupied the West.<br />http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Stone-tools-focus-picture-of-ancient-Americans-,175387

University as a Country

The structure of a university is very similar to a country, and its management system too; a smaller society but utopia, due to its sophisticated community. Factors like national benefits, patriotism, and nostalgia are all (and must be) the case in a smaller scale. Even outsiders (usually in administrative roles) are expected to behave like loyal alumni, learn the school alma mater, and become interested in in the major sport teams, and other traditional functions of the university. This practical allegory is to utilize available models. The athletic success in Olympic is of political important (not just fun) for a country, it is the same for a university fame (for attracting students). The reasons and motivations of students for attending a university are like those of immigration. Thus, university leadership should empower its own country through united national strategies. This is the reason that today’s university essential needs to implement change. The ratio of people living in developed country to those living in developing countries from one to two (in 1995) is approaching one to four (in 2010)


http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/university-as-a-country-m4zc

Q and A: Critical 'Arseniclife' studies released - USA TODAY

We did not initiate our work to falsify the claim in the first place, but to investigate whether there is "something" to the hypothesis that arsenic at least partly substitutes phosphorylated compounds or whether an altered metabolism could be observed in consequence of the presence of arsenic. Automatically disregarding new hypotheses and experimental data does not lead to advancements in science. Note that scientific progress strongly depends on new hypotheses. As scientists, we generate and test new ideas and hypotheses. These hypotheses are then experimentally challenged - this is scientific every days business.The original research by Felisa Wolfe-Simon and colleagues, published online by Science at the Science Express Web site on 2 December 2010, had proposed that GFAJ-1 substitutes arsenic for a small amount of the phosphorus in its DNA and other molecules. If true, such a finding would have important implications for our understanding of life's basic requirements sin!
ce all known forms of life on Earth use six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Arsenic is typically toxic to living organisms, but its chemical properties are similar to those of phosphorus.<br />http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/07/reaction-roundup-critical-arseniclife-studies-released/1

Swirling ocean prompts plankton blooms, suggests study - Christian Science Monitor

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The North Atlantic is currently bursting with color as blooms of microscopic plants erupt on the surface of the chilly sea. But these expanses of plankton, which provide the basis for the area's food chain and help take in enormous quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, wouldn't be possible without swirling currents on the surface to keep them afloat, new research finds.<br />http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0706/Swirling-ocean-prompts-plankton-blooms-suggests-study