http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/science/ en-us Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:06:48 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047332/posts Electron microscope spots hydrogen atoms resting on invisible carbon sheet. The smallest of atoms can now be seen sitting in splendid isolation with a standard transmission electron microscope, thanks to the most fashionable form of carbon, graphene. The technique, developed by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, could help to produce images of individual molecules in atomic detail using relatively conventional laboratory kit. The research is reported in this week's Nature1. A transmission electron microscope (TEM) works by firing a beam of electrons through a very thin sample supported by a scaffold.... Nature News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047332/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:06:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047210/posts COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has created a video of the moon transiting (passing in front of) Earth as seen from the spacecraft's point of view 31 million miles away. Scientists are using the video to develop techniques to study alien worlds. "Making a video of Earth from so far away helps the search for other life-bearing planets in the Universe by giving insights into how a distant, Earth-like alien world would appear to us," said University of Maryland astronomer Michael A’Hearn, principal investigator for the Deep Impact extended mission, called EPOXI. Timelapse image of the Moon... NASA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047210/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:08:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2046692/posts Land-ice Bridge, New Research Suggests -- Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students on the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Dr. Ron Janke began studying the origins of the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small, moon-shaped dunes that stretch from the southern tips of Lake... ScienceDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2046692/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:02:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046443/posts PARIS (AFP) - Water bathed the surface of southern Mars for millions of years, helping to create an environment theoretically capable of nurturing life, according to a new study into the planet's mysterious oceans. Scientists at Brown University in Rhode Island used an instrument aboard a US spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to hunt for traces of phyllosilicates, or clay-like minerals that preserve a record of water's interaction with rocks. They found phyllosilicates in thousands of places, in valleys, dunes and craters in the ancient southern highlands, pointing to an active role by water in Mars's earliest geological era, the... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046443/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:16:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045778/posts A New Frontier for Title IX: Science Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. --snip-- “Colleges already practice affirmative action for women in science, but now they’ll be so intimidated by the Title IX legal hammer that they may institute quota systems,” Dr. Sommers said. “In sports, they had to eliminate a lot of male teams to achieve Title IX parity. It’ll be devastating to American science if every male-dominated field... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045778/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:59:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045719/posts Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland. So far, these Title IX compliance reviews... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045719/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:05:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044981/posts Alberto Morpurgo and his team of researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands recently attached a micrometer-thick crystal of an organic polymer to a similarly thin organic crystal of a second polymer creating a thin but strongly conducting channel along the junction that acts like a metal. The discovery could lead to a whole new way of making electronics from non-metallic materials, and even new superconductors.   Dr Alberto Morpurgo (Credit: TU Delft’s Kavli Institute of Nanoscience) The thin, flexible crystals which conform to each others’ shape and stick together due to van der Waals forces are both... thefutureofthings.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044981/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:40:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044663/posts In 1999, seismographs detected a swarm of earthquakes at a spot on the Gakkel ridge, a midocean ridge that traverses the Arctic. A few expeditions to the area, north of Siberia about 350 miles from the pole, produced indirect evidence of explosive eruptions deep on the seafloor. Explosive volcanism at such depths would be very unusual, said Robert A. Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “People had been afraid to even suggest it, because it seemed so ludicrous.” Seafloor volcanoes do erupt violently, but in relatively shallow water. The Gakkel ridge spot is 13,000 feet down, and... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044663/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:51:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043800/posts An important prediction available from the RC theory states that there will be a major drop in the sun's activity measured by an historic reduction in sunspots and other indicators of the sun's behavior. Accompaning this lower state of the sun called a 'solar minimum' by the solar physics community, will be a prolonged cold era according to the SSRC. This next climate change to many years of a slowly cooling Earth environment, is predicted by the SSRC to begin within the period 2010 to 2021 with lowest temperatures during the bottom around the year 2031. The SSRC refers to... Space and Science Research Center http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043800/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:16:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043609/posts Rapid changes in the churning movement of Earth's liquid outer core are weakening the magnetic field in some regions of the planet's surface, a new study says. "What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth's magnetic field," said study co-author Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen. The findings suggest similarly quick changes are simultaneously occurring in the liquid metal, 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface, he said. The swirling flow of molten iron and nickel around Earth's solid center triggers an electrical current, which generates the... National Geographic Society http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043609/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:53:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043550/posts Neither faith nor science can answer the most important questions. So why are believers and atheists still bickering? I went to a debate recently in New York between a rabbi and the famous polemicist Christopher Hitchens, on the question "Does God exist?" Hitchens was called on to speak first, and he won the debate with his first two sentences: "I don't know why I have to speak first. He has the burden of proof." The mostly secular ... audience heartily applauded this sally, which was based on the premise -- never challenged by the rabbi -- that science provides an... The American, A Magazine of Ideas http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043550/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:31:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2042785/posts The molecular surface of IDE is represented by light yellow. The N- and C-terminal domains of IDE are colored green and red, respectively. The beta-amyloid (blue) is entrapped inside the degradation chamber of the IDE molecule. Yuequan Shen, Univ. of Chicago Researchers from the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of insulin-degrading enzyme, a promising target for new drugs because it breaks down not only insulin but also the amyloid-beta protein, which has been linked to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease. In the October 19, 2006, issue of Nature (available online Oct. 11),... chemlin.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2042785/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 05:33:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042567/posts Another National Security Threat by: Melinda Zosh, July 08, 2008 With the Olympics quickly approaching, the world’s eyes are on China and its rising power as a world influence. Experts at the Heritage Foundation recently said that China now has the third largest economy in the world; it is the second largest after the U.S. In addition, 2003 marked the first year China’s GDP reached over one trillion dollars; it hit 1.4 trillion dollars, to be exact. China is a top steel, aluminum and fine copper producer. It has the world’s second largest auto market. But even more importantly, China... Campus Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042567/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 20:45:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042508/posts July 08, 2008, 6:00 a.m. Louisiana Confounds the Science Thought PoliceNeo-Darwinism is no longer a protected orthodoxy in the Bayou State's pedagogy. By John G. West To the chagrin of the science thought police, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law an act to protect teachers who want to encourage critical thinking about hot-button science issues such as global warming, human cloning, and yes, evolution and the origin of life. Opponents allege that the Louisiana Science Education Act is “anti-science.” In reality, the opposition’s efforts to silence anyone who disagrees with them is the true affront to scientific... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042508/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 18:48:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040245/posts Engineer Gets 110 MPG Out Of '87 Mustang Ohio Man Competing For $10M Prize POSTED: 10:21 am EDT July 2, 2008 UPDATED: 11:07 am EDT July 2, 2008 Doug Pelmear said he isn't toying with the engine of 1987 Ford Mustang for the money. The engineer's tinkering, however, could earn him $10 million and save him plenty more in gas money. Pelmear, who lives in Napoleon, Ohio, has tweaked his Mustang to get 110 mpg, making the engine nearly five times as efficient as a traditional gas engine, he told the Toledo Blade newspaper. "We redesigned a lot of different... WNWO http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040245/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 14:17:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2040068/posts The Martian soil uncovered by the 'Phoenix' Mars Lander might not be that different from the dirt in your own backyard. In fact, you might even be able to grow asparagus in it, mission officials said. The UA-led mission conducted the first ever wet-chemistry experiments done on another planet yesterday. 'Phoenix' tested the soil's chemical properties, like pH and mineral content, by mixing it with water in its onboard labs. The first experiment showed that Mars' soil has some of the basic nutrients needed to support life and is, in some respects, very earth-like, said Sam Kounaves, the mission's wet-chemistry... The Wildcat Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2040068/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 02:24:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039909/posts Earth emits an ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles that could be heard by any aliens who might be listening, if they're out there. The sound is awful, a new recording from space reveals. Scientists have known about the radiation since the 1970s. It is created high above the planet, where charged particles from the solar wind collide with Earth's magnetic field. • Click here to hear the sounds. It is related to the phenomenon that generates the colorful aurora, or Northern Lights. The radio waves are blocked by the ionosphere, a charged layer atop our atmosphere, so they do... FOXNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039909/posts#comment Wed, 2 Jul 2008 21:09:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2038869/posts The crevo threads typically degenerate into name calling. Recently, the Religion Moderator declared that "science is not religion", and did not publish the criteria for such consideration. My suggestion to the evolutionist community has been to acknowledge that Scientism is a religion and start to utilize the protections offered under the religion tags that are different than other threads (due to the intensity of feelings over religious issues). So this thread is intended to be an ECUMENICAL thread under the tag of SCIENTISM. The intent is to keep discussion civil. I would like to see a straightforward discussion over the... Free Republic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2038869/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:44:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038413/posts A drug developed using nanotechnology and a fungus that contaminated a lab experiment may be broadly effective against a range of cancers, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. The drug, called lodamin, was improved in one of the last experiments overseen by Dr. Judah Folkman, a cancer researcher who died in January. Folkman pioneered the idea of angiogenesis therapy -- starving tumors by preventing them from growing blood supplies. (snip) "I had never expected such a strong effect on these aggressive tumor models," she said. The researchers believe lodamin may also be useful in other diseases marked by abnormal blood vessel... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038413/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:14:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037968/posts Pistol may hand advantage to those closest to the starting official.Most competitions use individual speakers so everyone hears the same starting blast.Ingram Publishing (Superstock Limited) / Alamy The Olympics may not be the bastion of pure sporting contest that people might think. Although the pistol used to start sprint events in the Games might make good theatre, it may mean that sprinters in lane 1, nearest the gun, get away from the blocks faster. Most international athletics competitions use speakers behind each athlete to broadcast the start signal. The Olympics uses this system but also increases the drama of the... Nature News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037968/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:09:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036546/posts The most dramatic cosmic impact in recent history has gathered up almost as many weird explanations as it knocked down trees, writes Duncan Steel. Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. On June 30, 1908, Moscow escaped destruction by three hours and four thousand kilometers — a margin invisibly small by the standards of the universe. So begins Rendezvous with Rama , a 1972 novel by Arthur C. Clarke in which mankind learns the hard way about the dangers posed by incoming asteroids. The 2077 impact in northern Italy that Clarke goes on to describe is fictional: the 1908... Nature News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036546/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:30:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035358/posts Ancient Eclipse Found in "The Odyssey," Scientists SayRichard A. Lovett for National Geographic NewsJune 23, 2008 "The sun has perished out of heaven, and an evil mist has overspread the world." With those words in The Odyssey, Homer laid down not a prophecy of doom but a description of a real-world total solar eclipse, scientific sleuths announced today. It has been known for decades that there was only one such eclipse during the time period Homer wrote about in the ancient Greek poem—on April 16, 1178 B.C. The blackout even occurred at noon, as described in the epic poem. But... National Geographic News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035358/posts#comment Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:36:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035102/posts Are the ices of the Arctic north about to melt away for good? Rami Abdelrahman gets the views of a range of Swedish researchers. Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is one of a number of Scandinavian royals making for the Arctic archipelago on the Swedish ice-breaker Oden this weekend to participate in an event to coincide with and promote International Polar Year. But will there even be a need for such ice-breaking vessels in years to come? Many commentators would have us believe that glaciers and ocean ice are about to go the way of the dodo. Upon their arrival at... www.thelocal.se http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035102/posts#comment Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:33:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034265/posts SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Scientific detective work has uncovered a decades-old glitch in ocean temperature measurements and revealed that the world's seas are warming and rising faster than previously reported. Fellow report author John Church said he had long been suspicious about the historical data because it did not match results from computer models of the world's climate and oceans. "We've realigned the observations and as a result the models agree with the observations much better than previously," said Church, a senior research scientist with the climate centre. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034265/posts#comment Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:00:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2033981/posts Droughts, heavy rain, heat waves, wildfires and intense hurricanes are more likely to affect North America because of global warming's effect on extreme weather, the Bush Administration's Climate Change Science Program said Thursday. There's high confidence that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has already been influenced by global warming, and even greater confidence that more expensive, damaging and deadly weather is to come as temperatures continue to rise. The risk is tied directly to human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. The findings are familiar, but the report is the... The Daily Green http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2033981/posts#comment Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:27:23 GMT