Monthly Archives: March 2015

Red Oak UMC Car Show features autos, music, food, jewelry, paintings

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When she shows up, all eyes are upon her. Shes got style. Shes got class. Shes got a nickname. Oldie Goldie turns heads wherever she goes.

George Messingers gold-colored 1932 Ford Roadster will be one of many four-wheeled stars expected to roll the runway at the first ever Red Oak United Methodist Church Car Show next month. Organized by Messinger and other car enthusiasts, Red Oak UMCs car show is part community outreach and part fund raising for the Covington church, which among its other missions, hosts a food pantry for people in need.

Ive been doing this all my life and Ill be 72 next month, Messinger said of his passion for restoring and showing old cars. My wife and I work on some cars together and I get help from some young people ... Car shows are getting real popular. The young people who get involved in this just thrill me to death. Im working with a young fellow just out of school right now who is learning how to do this.

Red Oak UMCs car show is set for Saturday, April 11, on the church grounds at 15105 Ga. Highway 36 in Covington. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and continues through 1 p.m. The show begins at 10 a.m. with trophies awarded at 3 p.m. Trophies will be presented for all classes and include the extra honors of Kids Choice and Pastors Choice.

Registration is $20 now, or $25 on the day of the show. If the show gets rained out, it will be rescheduled for April 18.

There is no charge for those attending the car show, which will also feature food, 1950s music and a section of booths where items will be for sale.

Were going to have vendors, Messinger said. Theres a group of women in Covington and they got together. Theyre all in different little niche businesses, like Mary Kay; one paints portraits and one sells jewelry. Theyre going to set up their booths around the perimeter and outside and theyre going to do their thing.

Additional vendors are invited to inquire about joining the fun, though there is no need for additional food vendors. Red Oak UMC will have hot dogs, popcorn, cakes, cookies, desserts and what Messinger calls the famous Red Oak barbecue and stew.

For more information on becoming a vendor or to preregister for the car show, call 770-786-5528 or 704-400-1686.

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Red Oak UMC Car Show features autos, music, food, jewelry, paintings

NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth – Video

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NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth
An asteroid that is 1000-metres wide is set to skim past Earth this week, travelling at more than 23000 mph. The rock, named 2014-YB35, will pass by relatively close to Earth. But that is...

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NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth - Video

Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought – Video

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Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought
Astronomers using observations from NASA #39;s Hubble Space Telescope and +NASA #39;s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found that dark matter interacts with itself even less than previously thought...

By: Hubble Space Telescope

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Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought - Video

Astronaut Twins Begin Unprecedented One-Year NASA Study

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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (right) and his twin brother Mark. Credit: Robert Markowitz/NASA

NASA is about to take yet another bold step toward sending humans to Mars.

At 3:42pm Eastern time tomorrow afternoon, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will strap into a Russian rocket and kiss Earth goodbye for an entire year to live on the International Space Station. Meanwhile, his identical twin Mark, a retired NASA astronaut himself, will stay here on Earth. Both men, though serving on vastly different fronts, are the guinea pigs in a big-time NASA study that will examine the physical and psychological effects of extended stays in space.

By comparing changes in the bodies of the 51-year-old men, scientists hope to learn what it will take to safely send humans to Mars, a seven-month undertaking just in travel time.

For decades weve been hearing about sending humans to Mars, but its always been a far-off ambition. But recently, NASA has taken some big steps toward making it a reality. In December 2014, NASAs experimental Orion spacecraft passed its first unmanned flight test. It was a big win for NASA, since Orion is the craft that could someday taxi humans to Mars. A second test run to the Moon and back is planned for 2018.

Friday will mark a further step in the testing of mankinds spaceworthiness. While in space, Scott will undergo regular mental and physical health tests that will leave no stone unturned. Scientists will monitor changes to his vision, gut bacteria, bone density, metabolic activity, behavioral health and more. Back on Earth, his brother Mark will also undergo a series of physical and mental tests.

Scientists will then compare data gathered from the twins to get insights into space-related health effects. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who will also spend a year in space and undergo similar cognitive and physical tests, will join Scott on Fridays launch. Heres more detail on the mission:

The Kelly twins will also have their genomes sequenced, making this the first orbit-versus-Earth comparative analysis of two genetically identical people. Researchers will look at how genes are turned off or on over time, whether any mutations develop, and how telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes, shorten in both men. However, Alexandra Witze points out in Nature, we may never see the results of the genome-wide study if scientists discover sensitive medical information that the twins dont want released.

By the end of the mission, Scott will set an American record for the most consecutive days spent in space. However, cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 438 consecutive days in space aboard the MIR space station, will still hold the world record.

Most missions to the ISS last between four and six months, but even in that time frame the body goes through physical changes such as bone loss, muscle atrophy and, apparently, a strange eye twitch.

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NASA aims to pluck boulder from asteroid, bring it to the moon

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NASA's next marquee mission might be described as the great asteroid boulder pluck.

At a news conference Wednesday, agency officials saidthey had revised their original plan to capture an asteroid and drag it into deep lunar orbit.

The new plan calls for a spacecraft with two robotic arms to remove a boulder of up to 12 feet in length from the surface of an asteroid and bring that into orbit around the moon instead.

The agency still plans to send two astronauts to collect a sample of the boulder once it is in a stable orbit around the moon.

The new plan may seem less dramatic than the original conceptfor the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) first announced in 2013, but NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot said the boulder-plucking plan ultimatelyutilizes more of the technologies needed for humans to eventually get to Mars.

"ARM is an important part of the overall mission of us taking humans further into space," he said. "The systems we are going to bring into play are the kinds of things we know we are going to need when we go to another planetary body."

He added that the new plan also allows for more flexibility within the mission itself.

"There will be a sensor suite on the spacecraft that will let us look at the boulders and make an educated choice about which one we pull up," he said. "We'll also have three to five opportunities to pull up the boulders, lowering the mission risk."

The timeline of the mission, for now, is to launch the spacecraft in 2020 and have it arrive at the asteroid about two years later.

After capturing the boulder, the spacecraft is also to test a new technique, called a gravity tractor, that could be used to alter the orbits of asteroids headed for a collision with Earth. Once the spacecraft has procured the boulder, it will fly in a halo orbit around the asteroid. Lightfoot said that the mass of the boulder combined with the mass of the spacecraft should be able to exert enough gravitational pull to tug the asteroid into a new orbit.

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NASA aims to pluck boulder from asteroid, bring it to the moon

What NASA Can Learn About Space Health From the Kelly Twins

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NASA will examine how a year of zero gravity will affect the human body when Scott Kelly blasts off for an extended stay on the International Space Station.

But NASA isnt just going to look at Kelly and fellow astronaut Mikhail Kornienko. The team also will be following Scott Kellys identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, as an earthbound control group.

Officials hope to understand what exactly happens to a human body hundreds of miles above Earth's surface.

We need to figure out how people are going to live in space for really long periods of time, especially if we want to send somebody to Mars or maybe we want to build a base on the moon," Mark Kelly told ABC News' David Kerley.

There are a number of studies being conducted, with collaborations among various universities, including Stanford University, Colorado State University, Johns Hopkins University and Cornell University.

The astronauts will be subject to a battery of tests looking at things such as muscle mass, bone loss and even the shape of their eyeballs. In a previous NASA study, some astronauts reported a change in vision after the physical shape of their eyeballs changed.

NASA medical officer Dr. Steven Gilmore said being able to compare samples between identical twins would be helpful for the research.

You can look at, in detail, how the genes and the proteins that are made from them change as a result of this unique environment," he told ABC News.

Researchers will look at how genes go "on and off" during space flight and if being away from Earth in the vacuum of space affects proteins in the body.

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What NASA Can Learn About Space Health From the Kelly Twins

NASA wants to orbit a small asteroid around the moon

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SenNASA says it will learn more about what it takes to send astronauts to Mars by practicing with a piece of an asteroid relocated into lunar orbit rather than by snaring and transporting an entire small body.

After detailed studies of both options, NASA on Wednesday unveiled its preference for Plan B -- plucking a 2- to 4-meter diameter boulder off the surface of a larger asteroid and nudging it into a high lunar orbit. Despite a price tag of roughly $100 million more than Plan A, NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot told reporters it's worth the cost.

"It really gives us an opportunity to demonstrate capabilities we're going to need for future human missions beyond low-Earth orbit and then ultimately, to Mars," Lightfoot said.

The option to retrieve a boulder from an asteroid will have a direct impact on planning for future human missions to deep space and begin a new era of spaceflight, he added in statement.

Congress has been lukewarm and occasionally hostile to the initiative, which is estimated to cost about $1.25 billion, plus launch costs.

The mission grew out of President Obamas April 2010 call to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 as a steppingstone to a human mission to Mars. The previous plan to follow up the International Space Station program was to develop a base on the Moon before heading to Mars, but the initiative was canceled due to budget shortfalls.

NASA is now aiming to launch the robotic precursor mission in December 2020. It would arrive at a still-to-be selected asteroid about two years later and begin a survey that would last about a year. Once a suitable boulder was identified, the spacecraft would descend to the surface and deploy a pair of robot arms to grapple the selected target.

NASA also wants to conduct a practice deflection maneuver, technology that one day might be needed to divert an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ultimately the boulder, still attached to the spacecraft, would be captured by the moons gravity, opening the door for a follow-on visit by astronauts around 2025.

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Relocated asteroid open for business

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Dr Christoph Deneke – Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) Seminar – Video

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Dr Christoph Deneke - Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) Seminar
Dr. Christoph Deneke, Scientific Head at the Laboratory for Surface Science, Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano)/CNPEM, Brazil, delivered a WIN seminar entitled "Nanometer...

By: Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology

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Dr Christoph Deneke - Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) Seminar - Video

Fighting cancer and Ebola with nanoparticles

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Story highlights Scientists in the U.S. are applying nanotechnology research to the battle against cancer and Ebola Man-made nanostructures would attach themselves to viruses or cancerous cells, nullifying them Nanostructured surfaces are already in use for medical conditions and implants, reducing the risk of infection

From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone.

Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

According to Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, research into medical nanotechnology is gaining pace and the medical establishment is starting to sit up and pay attention.

At the core of the technology is the ability to attach drugs, and in some cases metals and minerals, to nanoparticles that would then bind themselves to life threatening cancer cells or viruses.

In one study, Dr Webster's team is developing methods to attach gold nanoparticles to cancer cells.

Infrared light would then heat up the nanoparticles, killing the cancer cells with heat but leaving the healthy cells alive to do their job.

"This technology has been studied for the better part of a decade, but we're looking at ways of making it better," Dr Webster told CNN. "One that we've created in the lab we've called 'nanostars.'

"A star shape has a lot more surface area, so they can kill cancer cells faster than a nanosphere because they heat up faster.

"Even if it's carrying a drug, a star has a lot more surface area on which to attach it -- it's got a different morphology."

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Fighting cancer and Ebola with nanoparticles

Fluctuation X-ray scattering

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IMAGE:In this image, density slices through the center a virus. view more

Credit: Malmerberg et al.

In biology, materials science and the energy sciences, structural information provides important insights into the understanding of matter. The link between a structure and its properties can suggest new avenues for designed improvements of synthetic materials or provide new fundamental insights in biology and medicine at the molecular level.

During standard X-ray solution scattering experiments, molecules tumble around during X-ray exposures, resulting in an angularly isotropic diffraction pattern because of the full orientational averaging of the molecules that scatter X-rays. When X-ray snapshots are collected at timescales shorter than a few nano-seconds, such that molecules are virtually frozen in space and time during the scattering experiment, X-ray diffraction patterns are obtained that are no longer angularly isotropic. These measurements, called fluctuation X-ray scattering, are typically performed on an X-ray free electron laser or on a ultra-bright synchrotron and can provide fundamental insights into the structure of biological molecules, engineered nanoparticles or energy-related mesoscopic materials not attainable via standard scattering methods.

A group of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Malmerberg et al., (2015), IUCrJ, 2, doi:10.1107/S2052252515002535] recently presented an intuitive view of the nature of fluctuation X-ray scattering data and their properties. The scientists have shown that fluctuation scattering is a natural extension of traditional small-angle X-ray scattering and that a number of fundamental operational properties translate from small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering into fluctuation scattering. The authors also show that even with a fairly limited fluctuation scattering dataset, the amount of recoverable structural detail is greatly increased as compared to what can be obtained from standard SAXS/WAXS experiments. Given that the high-quality structural models can be obtained from fluctuation scattering data and the ever-increasing availability of X-ray sources at which these experiments can be performed, the researchers expect that fluctuation scattering experiments will become routine in the future.

"Although fluctuation scattering experiments are not standard or routine at the moment, this work enables us to assess the quality of experimental data and allows us validate our experimental protocols and data reduction routines" Peter Zwart says.

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Nanoscale worms provide new route to nano-necklace structures

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IMAGE:This schematic shows the synthesis of organic-inorganic shish kebab-like nanohybrids composed of periodic nanodisk-like kebabs. view more

Credit: Credit: Zhiqun Lin

Researchers have developed a novel technique for crafting nanometer-scale necklaces based on tiny star-like structures threaded onto a polymeric backbone. The technique could provide a new way to produce hybrid organic-inorganic shish kebab structures from semiconducting, magnetic, ferroelectric and other materials that may afford useful nanoscale properties.

The researchers have so far made nano-necklaces with up to 55 nanodisks. The template-based process grows amphiphilic worm-like diblock copolymers through a living polymerization technique in which the polymeric structures serve as nanoreactors that form laterally connecting nanocrystalline structures based on a variety of precursor materials. The nanodisks average about ten nanometers in diameter and four nanometers in thickness, and are about two nanometers apart.

"Our goal was to develop an unconventional, yet robust, strategy for making a large variety of organic-inorganic hybrid shish kebabs," said Zhiqun Lin, a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "This is a general technique for making these unusual structures. Now that we have demonstrated it, we believe there is a nearly endless list of materials we can use to craft these nano-necklaces."

The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation. The results were scheduled to be published on March 27 in the journal Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The one-dimensional nano-necklaces could have optical, electronic, optoelectronic, sensing and magnetic applications. The researchers have so far produced structures from cadmium selenide (CdSe), barium titanate (BaTiO3) and iron oxide (Fe3O4), but believe many other materials - including gold--could also be used.

The technique begins with formation of inclusion complexes made of alpha-cyclodextrins, cyclic oligosaccharides composed of six glucose units. The alpha-cyclodextrins, which are hollow in the center, thread themselves onto a polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain in an established self-assembly process. The polymer backbone on which the alpha-cyclodextrins are threaded is capped by a larger stoppering agent to retain the tiny structures.

Each alpha-cyclodextrin has 18 hydroxyl (OH) groups that can be converted into bromine (Br) groups through an esterification process. Diblock polymer "nanoworm" structures are then grown from these bromine groups in solution. Formed from poly(acrylic acid)-block polystyrene (PAA-b-PS), the worm-like diblock copolymers are made up of inner poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) blocks that are hydrophilic, and outer polystyrene (PS) blocks that are hydrophobic. Because so many diblocks grow on each alpha-cyclodextrin, their crowding stretches the polymer backbone.

Finally, metallic ion precursors are preferentially incorporated into the space occupied by inner PAA blocks of worm-like diblock copolymer nanoreactors, forming crystals. These crystals connect the once separate structures, creating the nano-necklaces - which resemble tiny centipedes.

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Nanoscale worms provide new route to nano-necklace structures