NASA-JPl / Reuters

This artist's concept depicts the moment that NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface

Barreling in from space at 13,000 mph before stopping a mere 25 feet above the ground would make anyone want to catch their breath, and NASAs Curiosity rover is no exception. Now that the Seven Minutes of Terror is over, the compact-car-sized biochemistry lab is spending its first two weeks doing the same thing you might do after stepping off a hair-raising roller coaster: making sure its parts are where theyre supposed to be and functioning correctly.

That means daily surprises, as technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., raise antennas, activate cameras, and gradually bring systems on line. Among the early treats: 297 black-and-white thumbnail pictures, which NASA processed into a low-quality video showing the final two-and-a-half minutes of Curiositys stomach-churning plunge through the Martian atmosphere. The thumbnails, though grainy, show the protective heat shield dropping away, the bumps from the rovers parachute descent, and dust kicking up as cables lowered the rover to the Martian surface. Scientists expect to have a full-resolution video from Curiositys descent imager in a few days.

(PHOTOS: An Inside Look at the Mars Curiosity Rover)

The rover also sent a new postcard: the first full-color landscape image of Curiositys Gale Crater home, taken as part of a focus test to check one of the cameras mounted on the rovers mast. Until this week the camera, called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI),hadnt moved its focal components since July 2011four months before Curiosity launched. Even now, with the mast still tucked horizontally atop the rovers front left shoulder, the cameras initial focus test offers a tempting glimpse of the north wall of the rim at Gale Crater.

But thats just a small taste of what this particular camera, one of 17 aboard Curiosity, will provide once the mast is lifted and extended, especially once the cameras clear dust covers lift away. Its so awesome because we can put this camera anywhere, says Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which operates the camera. Up, down, within an inch of the soil, underneath the rover, anywhere. Itll extend up above the mast to give us the giraffes-eye view, or give us the oblique, dogs-eye view across the Martian surface. This camera can look wherever we want.

Many of this weeks most captivating images havent come from Curiosity but a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, another player on NASAs robotic exploration team. One day after capturing a stunning shot of Curiosity parachuting towards Martian surface, the Orbiter executed an unusual 41-degree roll to deliver a fascinating crime scene image taken by a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter some 186 miles above the surface. The view offers a look at the pimple-sized rover in relation to the locations where Curiositys heat shield, parachute, back shell, and ballyhooed sky crane crash-landed after dropping away from the rover during its descent.

(Cover Story: Live From Mars)

Simply put, theyre all in the same Gale Crater neighborhood. The heat shield is farthest from Curiosity, about three-quarters of a mile away. Both the back shell and sky crane wound up about four-tenths of a mile from the rover. Of particular visual interest is a jagged pattern in the Martian soil to one side of the downed sky crane. Those dark areas downrange are the disturbed dust, says Sarah Milkovich, a JPL scientist. Its the same pattern we see when we have meteorites forming impact craters on the surface of a planetary body. Since the impacts from the spacecrafts components kicked up plenty of dust as well, Milkovich says future images should have even greater resolution. The Orbiter will again aim its cameras at Gale Crater in a few days, possibly for color photos.

View original post here:
After the Descent: Mars Rover Preps for Thrilling Expedition

NASA-JPl / Reuters

This artist's concept depicts the moment that NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface

Barreling in from space at 13,000 mph before stopping a mere 25 feet above the ground would make anyone want to catch their breath, and NASAs Curiosity rover is no exception. Now that the Seven Minutes of Terror is over, the compact-car-sized biochemistry lab is spending its first two weeks doing the same thing you might do after stepping off a hair-raising roller coaster: making sure its parts are where theyre supposed to be and functioning correctly.

That means daily surprises, as technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., raise antennas, activate cameras, and gradually bring systems on line. Among the early treats: 297 black-and-white thumbnail pictures, which NASA processed into a low-quality video showing the final two-and-a-half minutes of Curiositys stomach-churning plunge through the Martian atmosphere. The thumbnails, though grainy, show the protective heat shield dropping away, the bumps from the rovers parachute descent, and dust kicking up as cables lowered the rover to the Martian surface. Scientists expect to have a full-resolution video from Curiositys descent imager in a few days.

(PHOTOS: An Inside Look at the Mars Curiosity Rover)

The rover also sent a new postcard: the first full-color landscape image of Curiositys Gale Crater home, taken as part of a focus test to check one of the cameras mounted on the rovers mast. Until this week the camera, called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI),hadnt moved its focal components since July 2011four months before Curiosity launched. Even now, with the mast still tucked horizontally atop the rovers front left shoulder, the cameras initial focus test offers a tempting glimpse of the north wall of the rim at Gale Crater.

But thats just a small taste of what this particular camera, one of 17 aboard Curiosity, will provide once the mast is lifted and extended, especially once the cameras clear dust covers lift away. Its so awesome because we can put this camera anywhere, says Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which operates the camera. Up, down, within an inch of the soil, underneath the rover, anywhere. Itll extend up above the mast to give us the giraffes-eye view, or give us the oblique, dogs-eye view across the Martian surface. This camera can look wherever we want.

Many of this weeks most captivating images havent come from Curiosity but a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, another player on NASAs robotic exploration team. One day after capturing a stunning shot of Curiosity parachuting towards Martian surface, the Orbiter executed an unusual 41-degree roll to deliver a fascinating crime scene image taken by a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter some 186 miles above the surface. The view offers a look at the pimple-sized rover in relation to the locations where Curiositys heat shield, parachute, back shell, and ballyhooed sky crane crash-landed after dropping away from the rover during its descent.

(Cover Story: Live From Mars)

Simply put, theyre all in the same Gale Crater neighborhood. The heat shield is farthest from Curiosity, about three-quarters of a mile away. Both the back shell and sky crane wound up about four-tenths of a mile from the rover. Of particular visual interest is a jagged pattern in the Martian soil to one side of the downed sky crane. Those dark areas downrange are the disturbed dust, says Sarah Milkovich, a JPL scientist. Its the same pattern we see when we have meteorites forming impact craters on the surface of a planetary body. Since the impacts from the spacecrafts components kicked up plenty of dust as well, Milkovich says future images should have even greater resolution. The Orbiter will again aim its cameras at Gale Crater in a few days, possibly for color photos.

See the original post:
After the Descent: Mars Rover Preps for Thrilling Expedition

Biochemistry and the self-reinforcing upward spiral of success.

The past century of science has demonstrated the pivotal role of biochemistry in such human phenomena as love, attraction, and lust. But to consider that individual neurobiology might impact things as rational and complex as, say, stock markets seems rather radical. Yet that's precisely what trader-turned-neuroscientist John Coates explores in The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust (public library) -- an ambitious look at how body chemistry affects high-stakes financial trading, in which Coates sets out to construct -- and deconstruct -- a "universal biology of risk-taking."

One particularly fascinating aspect of risk-taking has to do with what is known as "the winner effect," a self-reinforcing osmosis of the two key hormones driving the biochemistry of success and failure -- testosterone, which Coates calls "the hormone of economic bubbles," and cortisol, "the hormone of economic busts." In traders -- as in athletes, and in the rest of us mere mortals when faced with analogous circumstances -- testosterone rises sharply and durably during financial booms, inducing a state of risk-seeking euphoria and providing a positive feedback loop in which success itself provides a competitive advantage. By contrast, the stress hormone cortisol spikes during financial downturns; traders with sustained high levels of cortisol become more risk-averse and timid, ultimately being less competitive.

Coates explains:

The euphoria, overconfidence and heightened appetite for risk that grip traders during a bull market may result from a phenomenon known in biology as the 'winner effect.'

[...]

Biologists studying animals in the field had noticed that an animal winning a fight or a competition for turf was more likely to win its next fight. This phenomenon had been observed in a large number of species. Such a finding raised the possibility that the mere act of winning contributes to further wins. But before biologists could draw such a conclusion they had to consider a number of alternative explanations. For example, maybe an animal keeps winning simply because it is physically larger than its rivals. To rule out possibilities such as this, biologists constructed controlled experiments in which they pitted animals that were equally matched in size, or rather that were equally matched in what is called 'resource holding potential,' in other words the total physical resources -- muscular, metabolic, cardiovascular -- an animal can draw on in an all-out fight. They also controlled for motivations, because a small, hungry animal eating a carcass can successfully chase off a larger, well-fed animal. Yet even when animals were evenly matched for size (or resources) and motivation, a pure winner effect nonetheless emerged.

An intriguing correlation, certainly, but what is the causal mechanism at work? Scientists have suggested that there are several elements at play: First, testosterone levels rise when animals face off, producing anabolic effects on muscle mass and hemoglobin, quickening reactions, improving visual acuity, and increasing the animal's persistence and fearlessness. Then, once the fight is over, the winning animal emerges with even higher levels of testosterone, and the loser with lower ones. Coates sums it up thusly:

Life for the winner is more glorious. It enters the next round of competition with already elevated testosterone levels, and this androgenic priming gives it an edge that increases its chances of winning yet again. Though this process an animal can be drawn into a positive-feedback lop, in which victory leads to raised testosterone levels which in turn leads to further victory.

So does this winner effect also occur in humans? Coates thinks so. He cites a study, in which researchers rigorously examined a database of 630,000 professional tennis matches and found that the winner of the first set had a 60% chance of winning the second one and, since the win in these matches comes down to the best of three sets, winning the match itself. (Anecdotally, a quick glance at Michael Phelps's Olympic scorecard would suggest a similar conclusion.)

See more here:
The Hormone Surges That Keep Winners Winning