News Briefs – 05/07/2014

Posted on by

May 6, 2014 News Briefs - 05/07/2014

Anonymous Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Tue May 06, 2014, 11:49 PM EDT

Astronomy Day program Saturday

LAVALE The Cumberland Astronomy Club will observe Astronomy Day 2014 on May 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the LaVale Library.

Jason Speights of Frostburg State University will present a talk titled Ga-laxies: Is-lands of Stars, Dust, and Gas in the Universe.

Speights earned his doctorate in astrophysics from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and is a lecturer in the department of physics and engineering at FSU. In addition to his research interests in astrophysics, Speights is a practicing amateur astronomer.

Following the presentation, telescopes will be set up to ob-serve the moon, Jupiter, Mars and other sky sights, weather permitting. Visitors who bring a digital camera can take home a photograph of the moon as seen through a telescope.

For more information, contact Steve Luzader at 301-689-1976 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or visit the clubs website at http://www.cumberlandastronomyclub.org.

Romney voters can meet candidates

More here:

News Briefs - 05/07/2014

Learn about amateur astronomy on Friday

Posted on by

May 7, 2014 Learn about amateur astronomy on Friday

Anonymous Gloucester Daily Times The Gloucester Daily Times Wed May 07, 2014, 12:00 AM EDT

Stars, speakers, telescopes and treats all will be on the agenda Friday when the Gloucester Area Astronomy Club hosts its annual Welcome to Amateur Astronomy Night meeting.

The event is Friday, May 9, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at the Lanesville Community Center, 8 Vulcan St. in Lanesville.

Well be all set up for everyone who wants to learn more about the hobby, said club member Michael Deneen. Well have all kinds of telescopes and equipment set up for everyone to look at, and well explain everything you ever wanted to know about amateur astronomy and about the sky over your head.

There will be six different speakers, with 10-minute presentations on everything from Why are we doing this to Were made of stardust, to How different kinds of telescopes work.

Deneen said there will be decaffienated coffee and home-made baked goods, and that there are no dues or fees to attend this or any of the clubs meeting.

Excerpt from:

Learn about amateur astronomy on Friday

Delta College Planetarium celebrating Astronomy Day this weekend

Posted on by

BAY CITY, MI The Delta College Planetarium and Learning Center in downtown Bay City is inviting community members to turn their eyes to the skies this weekend in celebration of Astronomy Day.

Planetariums, museums, science centers and astronomy clubs all around the world try to have an organized day that helps people get interested in astronomy, said Planetarium Show Specialist William Mitchell. Perhaps you have never had a chance to look at Saturn. This is an opportunity for that.

Astronomy Day is an international event that encourages an interest in the sun, moon, planets and deep-sky objects.

The planetarium, located at 100 Center Ave., is marking the occasion with a variety of shows and activities for both families and individuals of any age with an interest in astronomy.

A double-feature of "Moon" and "Fly Me to the Moon," targeted to a family audience, kicks off the event at 2 p.m.

After the show, attendees can make and launch rockets and, weather permitting, take part in solar observation on the planetariums solar deck using high-powered telescopes.

We have several telescopes that children can use to safely observe sun spots and solar flares assuming that the sky is clear, Mitchell said.

Astronomy Day activities continue at 8 p.m. with another double-feature "Stars" and "Solar Quest."

'Stars' and 'Solar Quest' is all about the powerhouses of the universe: how they are born, how they live and how their lives might end, Mitchell said. 'Solar Quest' is about our star, and how it promotes life and also endangers life here on earth.

Following that presentation, again weather permitting, the planetarium will open the observation deck and its telescopes for night-sky viewing. If the sky is overcast, however, the planetarium will use its theatre to simulate the night sky as it would look over Bay City on a clear night devoid of light pollution.

Excerpt from:

Delta College Planetarium celebrating Astronomy Day this weekend

Future scientist has social bent

Posted on by

Keeping with his colorful personality, Garrett Crouse wore this planetary shirt for his Eugene High School senior photo, in honor of his future major in astro-physics.

EUGENE, Mo. When Garrett Crouse and his pals ran through the halls of Eugene High School chasing a ghost as the Ghostbusters for "1980s day," his peers werent surprised.

When he pulled out all the stops for the Mr. Eugene contest (a male beauty pageant), he had a blast.

And when the senior boys were determined to beat the senior girls for the first time in a pep assembly dance-off, Crouse was in the mix with back flips and boy-band dance moves.

The flamboyant and cheerful senior at Eugene High School is a self-proclaimed social bug.

I like meeting new people and expanding my social bubble, he said.

To that end, hes not afraid to be outlandish to have fun. And more importantly, he seeks to make sure others are having a good time, too.

Ultimately, what I want to do with my life is help people, Crouse said. The more people I know, the more I can potentially help.

Thats his lifes mission, not his career goal.

Crouse is headed to the University of Colorado this fall to study astro-physics. His ultimate dream is to be a researcher at the NASA branch at CalTech and perhaps become a professor there.

Excerpt from:

Future scientist has social bent

Inspirational woman Scientist visiting Astronomers

Posted on by

http://www.horoastronomy.org.nz

Inspirational woman Scientist visiting Astronomers May 5th 2014

On 11th June HASI will be hosting the eminent astrophysicist Dame Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell who is credited as being the person who discovered Pulsars. This is a great honour for Horowhenua Astronomical Society Inc and will go down in history as one of our greatest events. Dame Jocelyn is known to be an excellent, down to earth speaker and renowned woman of science. She is also scheduled as Keynote speaker at the RASNZ 50th Annual Conference hosted by Whakatane Astronomical Society from Friday 6th June to Sunday 8th June http://rasnz.org.nz/Conference/

In 1999 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Astronomy and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. In February 2014 she was made President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the first woman to hold that office.

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS

Dame Jocelyn is a Northern Irish astrophysicist who as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars while studying with Antony Hewish, for which Hewish shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Martin Ryle, while Bell Burnell was excluded, despite having observed the pulsars. She was President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2002 to 2004, President of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010. Bell Burnell graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Philosophy (physics) in 1965 and obtained a Ph.D. degree from University of Cambridge in 1969. At Cambridge, she worked with Hewish and others to construct a radio telescope for using interplanetary scintillation to study quasars, which had recently been discovered. In July 1967, she detected a bit of "scruff" on her chartrecorder papers which tracked across the sky with the stars. Ms. Bell found that the signal was pulsing with great regularity, at a rate of about one pulse per second. Temporarily dubbed "Little Green Man 1" (LGM-1) the source (now known as PSR B1919+21) was identified after several years as a rapidly rotating neutron star. Only about 1,000 pulsars are known to exist, though there may be hundreds of millions of old neutron stars in the galaxy. The staggering pressures that exist at the core of neutron stars may be like those that existed at the time of the big bang, but these states cannot be simulated on Earth.

The Speaker: Dame Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University Title of talk: We are made of star stuff Te Manawa Museum Main Building, Palmerston North Wednesday 11th June 2014 6.30pm Start Admission: Gold Coin

Further background:-

Talking about her discovery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKtnaTxLARc

Women in science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7amRdr30Y

Read the rest here:

Inspirational woman Scientist visiting Astronomers

Artificial Intelligence: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Posted on by

May 8, 2014|7:10 am

"Imagine a machine with a full range of human emotions. Its analytical power will be greater than the collective intelligence of every person in the history of the world. Some scientists refer to this as the 'singularity'. I call it 'transcendence'," says Johnny Depp's character, Dr. Will Caster, in the haunting new science fiction drama "Transcendence."

While many moviegoers might embrace the power of artificial intelligence displayed in the movie released in theaters last month as just science fiction, world famous physicist Stephen Hawking along with computer scientist Stuart Russell, physicists Max Tegmark and Frank Wilczek say it could be a harbinger of humanity's doom.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/stephen-hawking-warns-artificial-intelligence-could-be-worst-mistake-in-history-as-johnny-depps-transcendence-examines-it-119131/

'No Other Name': Hillsong Takes Times Square

Quite a Workout Physical AND Spiritual

Continue reading here:

Artificial Intelligence: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come?

AT-13 Albatross – MSc Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD – Cranfield University) – Video

Posted on by


AT-13 Albatross - MSc Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD - Cranfield University)
A group project collaborating with a team of almost 80 MSc candidates, this project involves the preliminary and early detail design stages on a concept for a 200 passenger, twin-powerplant,...

By: Abhi R

Here is the original post:

AT-13 Albatross - MSc Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD - Cranfield University) - Video

More than 3,200 Clemson students to receive degrees Friday

Posted on by

CLEMSON More than 3,200 students are expected to receive degrees when Clemson University hosts its spring graduation ceremonies Friday at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Three ceremonies will be held that day: the first at 9:30 a.m. for the colleges of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, and Engineering and Science; the second at 2:30 p.m. for the colleges of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, and Health, Education and Human Development; and the last at 6:30 p.m. for the College of Business and Behavioral Science.

The academic ceremonies are the first ones that James P. Clements will preside over. Clements, who took office on Dec. 31, 2013, will also be installed as the 15th president of Clemson University throughout the day, giving a special and unique twist to the ceremonies, as university presidential inaugurations typically are standalone events.

Clements will deliver his inaugural address in three short segments at each of the graduation ceremonies Friday.

During the 9:30 a.m. ceremony, Clements will receive the Clemson University presidential chain, seal and robe.

At 2:30 p.m., Clements will receive a framed copy of the will of university founder Thomas Green Clemson.

In the 6:30 p.m. ceremony, he will be given the states Act of Acceptance.

Clements was named Clemson president this past November. He joined the Clemson family following four and a half years as president of West Virginia University. Previously, he was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Marylands Towson University, as well as Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor and vice president for economic and community outreach.

Clements is a nationally recognized voice in higher education who currently serves as chairman-elect of the board of directors of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. He co-chairs APLUs Energy Forum; chairs the American Council on Educations Commission on Leadership and is a member of the Business Higher Education Forum that includes Fortune 500 CEOs and higher education executives. He previously served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Innovation Advisory Board.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and Master of Science and Ph.D. in operations analysis from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Master of Science in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. He has published or presented more than 75 papers on computer science, higher education, information technology, project management or strategic planning. He has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $15 million in grant funding.

Follow this link:
More than 3,200 Clemson students to receive degrees Friday

Inflammation Reduced with Behavioral Training

Posted on by

Subjects were taught to suppress their immune responses using physical conditioning

The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that people can learn to modulate their immune responses a finding that has raised hopes for patients who have chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Credit: Thinkstock

Dutch celebrity daredevil Wim Hof has endured lengthy ice-water baths, hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts and made his mark inGuinness World Recordswith his ability to withstand cold.

Now he has made a mark on science as well. Researchers have used Hofs methods of mental and physical conditioning to train 12 volunteers to fend off inflammation.

The results, published today in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that people can learn to modulate their immune responses a finding that has raised hopes for patients who have chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

The results are only preliminary, warns study first author Matthijs Kox, who investigates immune responses at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Kox says that people with inflammatory disorders sometimes hear about his experiments and call to ask whether the training would enable them to reduce their medication. We simply do not yet know that, he says.

Still, the work stands out as an illustration of the interactions between the nervous system and the immune system, says Guiseppe Matarese, an immunologist at the University of Salerno in Italy, who was not involved with the study. This study is a nice way to show that link, he says. Orthodox neurobiologists and orthodox immunologists have been sceptical. They think the study of the interactions between the nervous and immune systems is a field in the shadows, he says.

Cold blooded In 2010, as a graduate student, Kox was exploring how the nervous system influences immune responses. That's when he first learned that Hof had said that he could regulate not only his own body temperature, but also his immune system. We thought, Alright, lets give him a chance, says Kox. But we thought it would be a negative result.

Kox, and his adviser, physician and study co-author Peter Pickkers, also at Radboud University Medical Center, invited Hof to their lab to investigate how he would react to their standard inflammation test. It involves exposure to a bacterial toxin, made byEscherichia coli, to induce temporary fever, headache and shivering.

To Koxs surprise, Hofs response to the toxin was milder than that of most people he had less severe flu-like symptoms, for example, and lower levels of inflammatory proteins in his blood.

See original here:
Inflammation Reduced with Behavioral Training

Cutting Open Rats and Sewing Them Together Offers Clues to Fountain of Youth

Posted on by

Forever young, I want to be forever young / Do you really want to live forever? Forever young...

The unusual experiments ofStanford University School of Medicineneurology professorThomas A. Rando, MD, Ph.D on laboratory rats sound like the work of a twisted madman. But they're attracting serious scientific attention, and some believe they may hold the key to the fountain of youth.

I. Parabiosis -- the Human Centipede of the Rodent World

The basis of Professor Rando's experiment is a straightforward hypothesis that has been proposed from time to time -- could tissue transplants from a young person or hormone replacement revitalize aging tissues to resemble younger ones?

The methodology is the more controversial and unusual part of the lab leader's work. Professor Rando has revived a technique which was pioneered by Professor Clive M. McCay at Cornell University in the 1950s.

The unusual surgery yielded one particularly interesting result -- when old rats and young rats were combined, after they were killed and dissected the tissues (particularly the cartilage) of the older rat appeared rejuventated. At the time, medical science was unable to explain this unusual finding.

II. Rodent Fusion Enters the Modern Era

A little over a decade ago, parabiosis was relatively uncommon.

But reviewing the over half century old work of Professor McCay, a pioneer in nutrition and anti-aging, Professor Rando was intrigued. He hypothesized that signalling chemicals for stems cells might be responsible for the restoration of the older rats that Professor McCay had witnessed.

As mammals age, some populations of their stem cells don't die or go away, but they do fall into dormancy. Stem cells can differentiate to replace damaged cells, restoring aged tissue.

Go here to see the original:
Cutting Open Rats and Sewing Them Together Offers Clues to Fountain of Youth

NOVA SCIENCE NOW – THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE, MEMORY LEARNING – Discovery Universe (documentary) – Video

Posted on by


NOVA SCIENCE NOW - THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE, MEMORY LEARNING - Discovery Universe (documentary)
nova science now - the hubble telescope, memory learning (documentary). thanks for watching history life discovery science technology tech learning education...

By: Brandon Horton

Visit link:

NOVA SCIENCE NOW - THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE, MEMORY LEARNING - Discovery Universe (documentary) - Video