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The race is on to humanize scientists. Mad, messy-haired white men in white coats in a dark, cold laboratory are out. Long distance running, singer-photographer, daredevils are in. These are the new faces of science.
mechanical engineer and an all-purpose daredevil, Nate Ball is also an accomplished jazz pianist, a NCAA champion pole-vaulter, and a grandmaster beatboxer. And he hosts a reality TV...
After one of their research vessels returned from the Gulf, University of South Florida scientists say they found significant amounts of toxic oil sitting on the Gulf floor – and it is killing sea life.
Small oil droplets speckle the Gulf floor and are hard to detect. Best seen under ultraviolet light these droplets were broken apart by the chemical dispersant BP used during the Deepwater Horizon...
WARNING: Video Press Release
The National Science Foundation, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Boeing and Iridium successfully demonstrate space weather observation system, Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE).
The new NSF-funded Boeing AMPERE project is using existing satellite sensors to monitor activity in the magnetic field around Earth, also known...
21 papers produced from scientists in different fields released a report this week saying that technology may be one of the best fixes for a growing problem. Members of Britain’s Royal Society concluded that artificial meat — created in giant vats using vegetable protein — may be one of the best solutions to reducing future food shortages created by a growing global population and...
A round-the-world race aimed at showcasing green technologies began Monday in Switzerland. The aim is to complete the 18,642-mile trip without pumping carbon into the atmosphere.
The electric cars, which will pass through 150 cities, including Los Angeles, will power up using regular outlets and offset the little electricity they use by donating the equivalent to wind and solar production companies.
Citizen scientists Chris and Helen Colvin from Ames, Iowa, and Daniel Gebhardt from Mainz, Germany participate in Einstein@Home, a distributed computing program that involves a quarter of a million volunteers worldwide.
They donated their idle computer time to analyze data gathered by the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Without even...
A joint report put out by NOAA and the UK Met Office have looked at the atmospheric and ocean research of 300 scientists around the world and concludes global warming is a fact.
Scientists from 48 countries say 10 indicators that are related to surface temperatures all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.
For at least the last 50 years, the world has been heating up and the last decade...
The science fiction world of bionic hybrid people is one step closer to reality now that a University of Calgary team has discovered how to get brain cells to “talk” to a silicon microchip.
The applications range from an implantable chip eventually being able to help people control chronic neurological disorders like epilepsy or Parkinson’s Disease.
But right now, just being able...
Science enthusiast Bobby Russell launched his Quest for Stars program last week by sending a helium-filled weather balloon about 107,000 feet up, to the edge of space. On board, Russell outfitted the styrofoam payload bay with cameras, GPS and a Motorola Droid smartphone set to take pictures every seven seconds during the trip. The liftoff was picture-perfect.
But the return to Earth wasn’t...
San Diego science buff Bobby Russell thought it would be a great experiment to attach cameras, sensors, GPS and a smartphone to a weather balloon and launch it to the edge of space.
He even received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct his launch. But instead of collecting thousands of pictures, the balloon blew off course and landed somewhere north of Palm Springs.
A search...
Solar eruptions send gases directly toward earth but scientists say they pose no direct threat to us.
But for science, it was quite a spectacular cosmic display. On August 1, a large sunspot created a coronal mass ejection from the northern hemisphere of the sun. This discharge of gas and particles on the Earth-facing side of the sun began racing across the solar system toward Earth.
The magnetic...
Marine biologists believe they have discovered several new species of underwater creatures, including sponges, corals and sea stars
The Imagine Cup, now in its eighth year, encourages high school and university students around the world to develop software aiming to solve global problems.
Team Skeek from Thailand took home the top prize for software design for creating a program that translates text into sign language using speech and facial recognition. Their application eyeFeel lets hearing impaired people communicate using...
Simulation of BP Oil Spill, Day 360, courtesy of University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii scientists Researchers Axel Timmermann and Fabian Schloesser have been trying to answer a question that few will even dare to ask. They want to how not if but when the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will round the tip of Florida and race up the east coast, polluting beaches and destroying fisheries...
University of Florida’s Neil Hammerschlag is studying whether sharks along the Gulf Coast of Florida can sense oil and move away from it.
Hurley the hammerhead shark disappeared from satellite tracking two days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as researchers were studying migration patterns of these misunderstood fish.
Now when the sharks for this study are caught and tagged, a tissue and...
With a tight new cap freshly installed on its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP planned gradual tests starting Tuesday to see if the device can stop oil from pouring into the sea for the first time in nearly three months.
The next step will be to slowly close the valves on that cap to see if it can withstand the pressure of the oil pushing out of the seabed.
“The goal is to slowly close...
Robotic submarines removed the cap from the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, beginning a period of at least two days when oil will flow freely into the sea.
And BP isn’t convinced that putting the new Top Hat Number 10 cap on the leaking wellhead will solve the problem. If the new cap fails, the company is prepared to go to Plan B — placing a Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP)...
The BP oil leak could be completely contained as early as Monday if a new, tighter cap can be fitted over the blown-out well, the government official in charge of the crisis said Friday in some of the most encouraging news to come out of the Gulf in the two and half months since the disaster struck.
After several failures to cap the leaking oil gusher 5,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico, BP is going...
The “Mummies of the World” exhibit opens in Los Angeles featuring 150 specimens of human and animal remains and related artifacts from across the globe.
Mummy Science
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center partnered with the German Mummy Project to perform CT scans of the mummies included in the exhibition.
“If the mummy is from a culture where it is bandaged or wrapped in layers of textiles,...
An unmanned Russian space capsule carrying supplies to the International Space Station failed in a docking attempt. As a result, NASA says the Progress vehicle continued on its trajectory and glided safely past the space station.
At the time of the communication loss, the vehicle was approximately 3 km from the station. The unexpected cancellation was related to the KURS automated docking system....
NASA is giving anyone interested the opportunity to send a picture into space on one of the last two space shuttle missions. Go to the Face in Space website to upload an electronic picture to fly with astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery’s STS-133 mission or shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission.
“The Space Shuttle Program belongs to the public, and we are excited when we can provide...
President Obama unveiled his new plan(PDF) for NASA. After scrapping the manned space program Constellation last fall the President pushed back plans to return to the moon and send a manned mission to Mars. This announcement and policy reversal struck some stargazers and scientists as disappointing.
The President’s plan reverses former President Bush’s plan for a new moon shot and focuses...
“I’ve been to all the oil spill conferences around he country and all I see are booms and the latest helicopter. But I’ve never seen one machine that deals with getting the oil out. That’s me.” — Kevin Costner
Actor Kevin Costner was visibly frustrated when he testified before Congress earlier this month about the lack of ingenuity he was seeing when it comes to...
