“One of Archimedes's creations was saved, though. The general
took back to Rome a mechanical bronze sphere that showed the motions
of the sun, moon and planets as seen from Earth.”
—
“Now, however, research on the battered remains of a mysterious
ancient device suggests that Cicero was telling the truth. While the
Antikythera mechanism is not the same one seen by Cicero - it was not
made until a century later - it proves that clockwork mechanisms like
the one he described really did exist, and that ancient Greek technology
was far more advanced than thought. Freshly deciphered inscriptions
on its dials also hint at the origins of this technology.”
“Last week in Nature, scientists reported major progress in sequencing
the genome of woolly mammoths. They reconstructed it from two fossilized
hair samples. One was 20,000 years old; the other was 65,000 years old.
Now, according to Nicholas Wade of the New York Times, biologists are
discussing "how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that
after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA
in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term
in an elephant mother.”
“… But that's not the half of it. …
“The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species
probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered
Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If
the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible
for Neanderthals.”
These pilotless, solar-powered aeroplanes are much
cheaper than spy satellites. Unlike satellites, these vehicles can remain
aloft, hovering over the same area for as long as is required. Spy satellites
move on regular orbits, having regular times of passing. Thus,
the observer must wait to take snapshots when the satellite is in an
appropriate position. Further, serious naughty people will be well aware
of the timings of spy satelllite orbits.
Spy satellites are usually in orbits that range from
100 to 500 miles above the Earth, while solar-powered ’planes only
fly at 60,000 feet or about 12 miles height. At such heights, Zephyr can
fly far above most terrestial weather and above the commercial air-lanes.
Obviously, normally the closer the spy equipment is to the target the
better. Doubtless, the heavier drones being planned are likely to have
in mind other payloads than cameras.
“The engineers from the Farnborough-based company are now collaborating
with the American aerospace giant Boeing on a defence project codenamed
Vulture.
“This would see the biggest plane in history take to the sky,
powered by the sun and capable of carrying a 450-kilo (1,000lb) payload.
“US commanders say the design must be able to maintain its position
over a particular spot on the Earth's surface uninterrupted for five
years.”
Lightweight plane (30-34kg/70lb) launched by hand
Coms or surveillance payload of about 2kg (4.5lb)
Flies autonomously and can climb to more than 18km (60,000ft)
By day, Zephyr flies on solar power and recharges its batteries
Advanced amorphous silicon solar arrays supplied by Unisolar
Rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries supplied by Sion Corp
“The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in
the home exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive
emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of
cigarettes per day. In Dr. Sugarman’s kitchen, the readings were
100 picocuries per liter. In her basement, where radon readings are
expected to be higher because the gas usually seeps into homes from
decaying uranium underground, the readings were 6 picocuries per liter.”
—
“Research scientists at Rice University in Houston and at the
New York State Department of Health are currently conducting studies
of granite
widely used in kitchen counters. William J. Llope, a professor of
physics at Rice, said his preliminary results show that of the 55 samples
he has collected from nearby fabricators and wholesalers, all of which
emit radiation at higher-than-background levels, a handful have tested
at levels 100 times or more above background.”
“Researchers have found a way to generate the shortest-ever flash
of light – 80 attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second)
long.
“Such flashes have already been used to capture an image of a
laser pulse too short to be "photographed" before.”
—
“Jonathan Marangos at Imperial College London, UK, says the super-short
flashes could let researchers image the movement of electrons around
large atoms.
“ "Any better understanding of the microscopic world is
going to have an impact across all of science," he says.”
“[...]
metamaterials, materials defined by their unusual man-made cellular
structure, can be designed to produce an acoustic cloak -- a cloak that
can make objects impervious to sound waves, literally diverting sound
waves around an object.”
—
“To realise the cloak physically, the Spanish research team calculated
how metamaterials constructed with sonic crystals, solid cylinders in
a periodic array that can scatter sound waves, could be used in a multilayered
structure to divert sound completely around an object.
“The researchers performed multiple simulations to test their
theory. They investigated the optimum number of layers required to completely
divert sound and how thin the materials could be made to maintain their
use but also ensure that they are easy to implement.
“Results were very encouraging, showing that optimum cloaking
requires approximately 200 layers of the metamaterial but that there
is scope for much thinner materials to be used than technology can currently
produce.”
—
“One of the first uses of the material is likely to be warships,
hoping to avoid sonar radars which pick up on the noise that ships emit,
but if developments continue apace it could be used in concert halls
to direct noise away from problem spots or even as a way to deal with
noisy neighbours. ”
NASA's Pheonix probe lands on Mars. Artist's
rendition: Corby Waste
Taken by Phoenix, soon after the lander touched
down. False colour image: NASA
“Launched [on 4th] August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Mission
is the first in NASA's Scout Program. Phoenix is designed to study
the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's
ice-rich soil.”
—
“The science team will co-locate for the first three months
of the mission, to operate all the instruments and to perform the
first analysis on data that may provide important answers to the
following questions: (1) can the Martian arctic support life, (2)
what is the history of water at the landing site, and (3) how is
the Martian climate affected by polar dynamics?
“To answer these questions, Phoenix uses some of the most
sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robust
robotic arm built by JPL digs through the soil to the water ice
layer underneath, and delivers soil and ice samples to the mission's
experiments.”
Other equipment includes
miniature ovens and a mass spectrometer will provide chemical analysis
of trace matter
a chemistry lab-in-a-box will characterize the soil and ice chemistry
imaging systems will provide an unprecedented view of Mars—spanning
12 powers of 10 in scale
a meteorological station
As well as the USA, equipment contributors are Switzerland, Germany and
Canada.
NASA animation video of this mission available from
this page.
size: 18 feet (5.5 meters) long with the solar panels
deployed
science deck alone: roughly 5 feet (1.5 meters) in
diameter
height: roughly 7 feet (2.2 meters) tall
weight: 772 pounds (350 kg)
science payload: 59 kilograms (130 pounds)
measurement system: standardised to be metric
parachute: 39 ft (12 meters) in diameter
fuel: mono-propellant hyrdazine system, that is decomposed
in catalyst chamber into exothermically into hydrogen, nitrogen and
ammonia, which is then fed to thrusters by pressure
distance travelled from the Earth to Mars: about
423 million miles, and increasing. The distance of Mars to Earth can
vary from about 32 million miles to 260 million miles. Launches are
organised to minimise the travel distance.
Earth-Mars distance on 4 Aug., 2007: 121 million
miles (195 million kilometers)
Earth-Mars distance on 25 May, 2008: 171 million
miles (276 million kilometers)
signal travel time: currently over 15 minutes between
Mars and Earth.
journey time: 9 months, 22 days
travelling speed: average speed roughly 60,000 mph
(97,000 km/h)
Phoenix landing on Mars, taken by camera on Mars
Orbiter. Image: NASA
“The Walters [Art Museum] faced a daunting task: what arrived
was a clump of folios, crushed, torn, punctured by worm holes, in the
inflexible grip of old carpenter's glue, charred at its edges, and covered
with mold and water stains.”
—
“Archimedes was a lonely genius with few contemporaries who understood
his ideas. In his letters, Noel finds "a faint note of exasperation.
There was no one to write to, no reader good enough." They were
yet to be born: "Archimedes would eventually be read by Omar Khayyam,
Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, and Newton. He must have known he was writing
for posterity." ”
end note
palimpsest
A palimpsest is a twice-used book. In medieval times, vellum,
on which texts were written, was very expensive. Thus, old, discarded
texts were scraped off the vellum, which was then used as the support
for another text. The new text was often written at right angles
to the first text.
“Carbon dating of the trees carried out at a laboratory in Miami,
Florida, showed the oldest of them first set root about 8,000 years
ago, making it the world's oldest known living tree, Umea University
Professor Leif Kullman said.”
—
“Although a single tree trunk can become at most about 600 years
old, the spruces had survived by pushing out another trunk as soon as
the old one died, Professor Kullman said.”
“[...]
metamaterials, materials defined by their unusual man-made cellular
structure, can be designed to produce an acoustic cloak -- a cloak that
can make objects impervious to sound waves, literally diverting sound
waves around an object.”
