The Nightly Quill

Aerogel, aka “Blue Smoke” is incredible. Devloped by NASA for catching comet dust - people are in awe of it’s semi-transparent, eery look.

Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Here, he demonstrates—for the first time publicly—his intuitive, “interface-free,” touch-driven computer screen, which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure.

More examples:

Video demo of Touch Me Tender early prototype interface that allow to draw by your finger on the screen. Made by KsanLab (www.ksanlab.com).

For the first time in history, an Earth-like planet has been discovered orbiting a distant star.

At only one and a half times the radius of Earth, Gliese 581 C is the third and smallest planet to be discovered orbiting a Red Dwarf star located 20.5 light years away in the constellation Libra and the first one to approach the Earth’s size. The planet resides in the star’s “Goldilocks Zone” where liquid water –and life could occur. The team of Swiss, French and Portuguese astronomers used the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6 m telescope to make this incredible discovery.

When Mt. St. Helens woke from relative slumber last fall the whole world seemed to hold its breath, wondering if there would be an eruption to rival that of the 1980 blast. Today, many are left speculating on what is next for this seemingly erratic volcano. After 25 years spent researching Mt. St. Helens, renowned UW professor and seismologist Steve Malone answers the questions of when its next big eruption will occur, how big it will be and how much advance warning we will have before it blows. - ResearchChannel is a nonprofit media and technology organization that connects a global audience with the research and academic institutions whose developments, insights and discoveries affect our lives and futures.

In physics, wave-particle duality holds that light and matter can exhibit properties of both waves and of particles. It is a central concept of quantum physics. Through the work of Albert Einstein, Louis de Broglie and many others, it is now established that small objects, such as atoms, have both wave and particle nature, and that quantum mechanics provides the over-arching theory resolving this apparent paradox.

In today’s world, the most widely used numeral system is decimal (base 10), a system that probably originated because it made it easy for humans to count using their fingers. The civilizations that first divided the day into smaller parts, however, used different numeral systems, specifically duodecimal (base 12) and sexagesimal (base 60).

Thanks to documented evidence of the Egyptians’ use of sundials, most historians credit them with being the first civilization to divide the day into smaller parts. The first sundials were simply stakes placed in the ground that indicated time by the length and direction of the resulting shadow. As early as 1500 B.C., the Egyptians had developed a more advanced sundial. A T-shaped bar placed in the ground, this instrument was calibrated to divide the interval between sunrise and sunset into 12 parts. This division reflected Egypt’s use of the duodecimal system–the importance of the number 12 is typically attributed either to the fact that it equals the number of lunar cycles in a year or the number of finger joints on each hand (three in each of the four fingers, excluding the thumb), making it possible to count to 12 with the thumb. The next-generation sundial likely formed the first representation of what we now call the hour. Although the hours within a given day were approximately equal, their lengths varied during the year, with summer hours being much longer than winter hours.

Without artificial light, humans of this time period regarded sunlit and dark periods as two opposing realms rather than as part of the same day. Without the aid of sundials, dividing the dark interval between sunset and sunrise was more complex than dividing the sunlit period. During the era when sundials were first used, however, Egyptian astronomers also first observed a set of 36 stars that divided the circle of the heavens into equal parts. The passage of night could be marked by the appearance of 18 of these stars, three of which were assigned to each of the two twilight periods when the stars were difficult to view. The period of total darkness was marked by the remaining 12 stars, again resulting in 12 divisions of night (another nod to the duodecimal system). During the New Kingdom (1550 to 1070 B.C.), this measuring system was simplified to use a set of 24 stars, 12 of which marked the passage of the night. The clepsydra, or water clock, was also used to record time during the night, and was perhaps the most accurate timekeeping device of the ancient world. The timepiece–a specimen of which, found at the Temple of Ammon in Karnak, dated back to 1400 B.C.–was a vessel with slanted interior surfaces to allow for decreasing water pressure, inscribed with scales that marked the division of the night into 12 parts during various months. Read the rest of this entry »

The FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform) is a research vessel that can rotate to a vertical position. It is currently owned by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who authored the best-selling book, A Brief History of Time, soon will experience a brief history with weightlessness.

Hawking, who uses a wheelchair and is almost completely paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, plans to go on a weightless flight on April 26, officials at the flight operator said Thursday. The flight, operated by Zero Gravity Corporation, a Fort Lauderdale-based space tourism and entertainment company, will take off and return to a landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center.

“As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience first hand weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment,” Hawking said in a statement.

The modified Boeing 727 generally soars to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent. As the plane climbs, passengers experience 25 seconds of being pushed down hard, as they feel 1.8 times the normal pull of the Earth.

Zero Gravity CEO Peter Diamandis said assistants will be onboard to help Hawking. “The key thing here is that weightless and personal spaceflight is something available to everyone, even someone like Prof. Hawking,” Diamandis told The Associated Press. “This something that almost everyone can now experience.” Zero Gravity will pick up the bill, which normally is $3,750. The company also plans to have two seats on the flight auctioned off by two charities. The company began offering the flights in 2004.

Last year, Hawking publicly spoke of his desire to go into space and made an appeal to Sir Richard Branson, whose company, Virgin Galactic, is building a suborbital spaceship that could be flying passengers as early as 2009. Branson has decided he will personally finance Hawking’s ticket into space — a flight that would normally cost $200,000. “He’s one of the greatest physicists of all time,” Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn told AP earlier this year. Link - www.usatoday.com

The Nightly Quill gives you this news clip about Denny Klein and his company that has developed a technolgy that uses water as fuel. Yes, you heard right–plain old water, H2O. Can be used for anything from the propellant for a torch for welding to powering your car.

Check out their website - hytechapps.com

For an indepth description of the technology, watch this 16 minute video - hytechapps.com/video

Here is a write up at blogs.tampabay.com/energy

about this amazing technology.

Again and again it is noticed that these alternative technologies exist, but they receive little to no attention. WHY? WHY?

These videos are a Neal Adams animation about his theory that the Earth is growing. This collides with the Pangea theory, (the theory that is accepted as doctrine) that states that the Earth is constantly changing form due to the shifting of tectonic plates . Watch them, you will be amazed. Sometimes the strangest theories turn out to have some validity.

Part 1:

MORE HERE>>> Read the rest of this entry »

An incredibly well done movie showing 5 possible doomsday scenarios:

Pictures of galaxies! Pictures taken from www.skyfactory.org and from www.creationofuniverse.com.