Soccer Mania Reaches New Heights

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Stratospheric Spain - Spain Soccer Team Shirt on a Balloon

"Barcelona, July 9th, 2010.
Location: 33 kilometers over Igualada (Barcelona, Spain).
Local Time: July 8th, 2010 at 10:15 am.
Object: Spain's Team Football Jersey for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
Occasion: XIV European Balloon Festival.
Reason: "La Roja" has reached unchartered heights. Their success is inspiring for all of us that believe there are no limits. This is our humble tribute."

Freezing Your Head May Anger Your Wife | Science Not Fiction

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thaw when is future plzConsidering cryonics? Before you sign up to freeze yourself — or just your brain! the whole thing (you) might be overkill–after you die so that you can be unfrozen and then un-deadened in the future, you might want to consider your current relationships. As it turns out, a lot of those who plan to go into cryonic suspension when they are “deanimated” have trouble with their loved ones, primarily wives. In Kerry Howley’s NYT Magazine piece “Until Cryonics Do We Part” about Robin Hanson, a George Mason University economics professor and forward thinker, and Peggy Jackson, a hospice worker and Hanson’s wife, we get a glimpse of the tension wanting to live forever can cause. You see, Hanson wants to cryonically preserve his brain, and Jackson thinks that idea is a bit absurd.

And she isn’t the only one:

Among cryonicists, Peggy’s reaction might be referred to as an instance of the “hostile-wife phenomenon,” as discussed in a 2008 paper by Aschwin de Wolf, Chana de Wolf and Mike Federowicz.“From its inception in 1964,” they write, “cryonics has been known to frequently produce intense hostility from spouses who are not cryonicists.” … Premonitions of this problem can be found in the deepest reaches of cryonicist history, starting with the prime mover. Robert Ettinger is the father of cryonics, his 1964 book, “The Prospect of Immortality,” its founding text. “This is not a hobby or conversation piece,” he wrote in 1968, adding, “it is the struggle for survival. Drive a used car if the cost of a new one interferes. Divorce your wife if she will not cooperate.”

Thankfully, Hanson and Jackson don’t seem to be heeding Ettinger’s advice. When asked to speculate why it might be that so many don’t see cryonics as a good decision, Hanson described cryonics as analogous to a “a one-way ticket to a foreign land.”

I suppose that works, but let’s flesh that analogy out a little bit more. Cryonics is like buying a ticket to a foreign land to which no one has been and may not even exist; in a vehicle that, if it stops working for just a couple of hours at any point on its indeterminately long journey, will kill (for real this time) everyone on board; all with the hopes that when you arrive the people of the foreign land will have the benevolence and the ability to not only bring you back to life, but also reverse the damage caused by rotting and freezing as well as the terminal issues that caused your death in the first place. Whew. Oh, and the ticket costs $100,000 and your current quality of life is reduced because you have to start paying for the ticket now.

You know what? I can see how that might strain my current friendships and/or sanity. You guys go on with out me. I’m going to keep holding out for Aubrey de Grey and the SENS Foundation to keep me from dying in the first place. Come ooooon, resveratrol.


Vicious Hogweed Plant Could Star in “Little Shop of Horrors” Sequel | Discoblog

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hogweedIt blinds; it burns; it looks kind of pretty. An invasive, poisonous plant known as giant hogweed, or Heracleum mantegazzianum, is attacking western Ontario.

The plant is a member of the carrot or parsley family, and as described in a brochure (pdf) from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, 20th century gardeners cultivated the giant for its impressive size and for its stem’s purple coloring. But it soon broke out of gardens and arboretums, its seeds finding soil outside of captivity.

Besides Canada, the plant has also appeared in the northern United States (both east and west) and as far south as Maryland. Ontario officials are concerned with the plants’ continuing spread–it was most recently sighted in Renfrew County–and have urged anyone who spots it to contact them immediately.

hogweed-burnGiant Hogweed can grow to almost twenty feet tall and five feet wide, and each plant can produce around 500,000 seeds. Sap on your skin can give you ugly blisters, the CBC reports, and sap in your eyes could cause blindness.

Jeff Muzzi, manager of forestry services for Renfrew County, told the CBC that, despite its heft, the weed is a stealthy attacker.

“[Exposure] could be inadvertent,” Muzzi said. “You might not even know it’s here, [just] walk into it and happen to break a leaf. The next thing you know, you’ve got these nasty burns.”

Renfrew County officials are attempting to thwart the toxic plant’s leafy grip by distributing pamphlet warnings and, as the CBC reports, through “weed-whacking campaigns.”

Related content:
Discoblog: The Iron Curtain Kept Invasive Species Out of Eastern Europe
Discoblog: For Guilt-Free Fur, Wear a Coat Made From an Invasive Water Rat
Discoblog: Does Fighting Forest Fires Help Invasive Species?
Discoblog: Crocs Chow Down on Invasive Toads, Instantly Regret It
DISCOVER: Humans vs Animals: Our Fiercest Battles With Invasive Species (gallery)

Images: Wikimedia, Michigan Department of Agriculture


Product Sensor

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Dear all,

Is there any sensor which can sence product inside the carton.

So that I can separate Cartons which are empty or without Product.

Regards.

Electric Motor Windings

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Has anyone ever heard of using aluminum wire or any other metal for motor windings? I wonder if something other than copper would be as good or better. The reason for this question is the high cost of copper.

Live stream of Rosetta’s July 10 asteroid flyby | Bad Astronomy

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At 15:45 UTC tomorrow, July 10, the European Space Agency probe Rosetta will fly to within 3200 km (2000 miles) of the asteroid 21 Lutetia. This close pass will reveal, for the first time, the shape and details of this roughly 100-km-diameter rock.

You can watch this event live as it happens; ESA is streaming the event. Around 01:00 UTC they’ll start presenting the images, too. Below is an embedded feed that will go live once the actual stream starts.

I’m very excited about this! This is all happening during TAM 8, but I’ll try to watch it live if I can too.


Hydrogen Super Highway Plans

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Here’s a great-sounding transportation project.

It relies on clean energy and think of all the jobs it could create.  This is not from the government, though projects like this should be funded or subsidized by the government because this is part of our infrastructure.  It’s from a group called Interstate Traveler Company, LLC.  Here is their website.

What is the Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway? It is a collection of vital municipal utilities bundled into what we call the Conduit Cluster providing a first of its kind full integration of solar powered hydrogen production and distribution system supporting a high speed magnetic levitation ( MagLev ) on-demand public transit network built along the right of way of the US Interstate Highway Systems, and any other permissible right of way where such a machine would be of benefit.  The Hydrogen Super Highway, also known as the HyRail, is accessed by Traveler Stations that are built within the right of way of the Interstate Highway within the land locked real-estate of the clover leaf interchanges providing maximum ease of access for people who live anywhere near the Interstate Highway.  The HyRail is much more than just a high speed rail system.

We should be building something like this all across the country.  Why aren’t we?  I can’t vouch for the accuracy of these numbers, but this is from the video page:

This project will create 30 million jobs all across America in every county &state.  [If only that were possible!]

At a price tag less than TARP I, $650 billion, this project will not cost American taxpayers anything, because it will be privately funded, and it will generate a handsome R.O.I. of 12-1/2% for its Investors…not to mention the Billions of Tax Revenues the system will generate for each City, County, State and Federal governments through “Right of Ways” usage revenue.

This High Speed Mag Lev Train is 100% Solar & Hydrogen powered and produces much more power than it consumes.  Each mile of rail produces over 1 Megawatt of Electricity using Solar Thin Film embedded into the rail system.

Once fully deployed across America’s entire 54,000 miles of Interstate, the system will produce the equivalent power of 20 Nuclear Plants per year, yet, it will provide 11,000% more jobs per Kwh.   The excess electricity is then converted to Hydrogen and transported throughout the rail system in piping that delivers it across the country to the gas stations to fuel our fleet of vehicles.

Tricky Project for Battery Charging Using Dynamo

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Hi. This is my first post so already sorry if this been asked before though I did try to look around for answers. Alright now for my question.

I have a little home made project of charging a Li-ion or NiMH battery using my bicycle and bicycle dynamo, something like 12 volt battery pack, so I ca

New NASA Online Game Snubs Macs And Other Operating Systems

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NASA Takes Gamers on a Lunar Adventure With New Online Video Game

"NASA has given gamers a taste of lunar adventure with release of Moonbase Alpha, an exciting new, free online video game. - It is the first game in NASA's Learning Technologies project. The project supports the delivery of NASA content through interactive technologies such as virtual worlds, games and software applications to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education. - Moonbase Alpha is a precursor to a planned NASA-based massively, multiplayer online game project. The project is being designed to have content and missions that require players to gain and demonstrate STEM knowledge to succeed."

Keith's note: Alas, this game only works on Windows-based computers. This is rather surprising given the large (and growing) market percentage of Mac OS computers in schools and the rising popularity of iOS platforms such as iPad and iPhone, and those devices running Android OS as well as Linux, Ubuntu, etc. Sure, you can go through extra hoops to make it run on a Mac by booting your Intel-based Mac in Windows, but there is no reason why the developers cannot make it easy - instead of hard for people to run this on the computers they use. The whole idea is to enlarge the audience for what NASA does, not limit it. Alas, if you go to the game's official website there is no page or link that leads you to information about what other platforms will be supported and when. Yet if you go to their Facebook page there is a note that says "No other platforms currently planned." FAIL.

On a Facebook Discussion thread, Ryan Hayle notes: "I have submitted the following email to several contacts at NASA and Virtual Heroes demanding the immediate release of Moonbase Alpha under an Open Source License. ... It is simply not acceptable for a government agency to release a product funded by our tax dollars which requires the purchase of an expensive, proprietary operating system from a single private corporation. ... While I can understand if you do not have the resources to invest in releasing a Linux version of the product at this time, I must insist that you release all of the source code, artwork and any other associated data files for this game to the American public immediately under an Open Source license. I am confident that we will be able to port this product to function on Linux, Mac OS and other operating systems, sharing our work back with our fellow citizens in a true spirit of cooperation."

Indeed, if NASA were to do what Ryan suggests, then you might suddenly find this game being used all over the world. Isn't this what the President wants NASA to do?

Keith's update: According to Ann Marie Trotta at NASA PAO: "As mentioned in the press release, the initial release of Moonbase Alpha is a proof-of-concept endeavor.  To stay within allocated resources for this trial, NASA opted to release it for the broadest online population, which uses the PC/Windows platform. The agency already is planning to expand to a broader application base for future games."

Genetic Switch Makes Female Mice Try to Mate With Other Females | 80beats

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PCWmice1Geneticists have found a way to alter the sexual preference of lab mice. When they bred mice who had one gene deleted, the females declined male companions and preferred instead to court other females, according to a study published yesterday in BMC Genetics. But whether these results have any implications for humans is still far from clear.

Chankyu Park and his team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology deleted the female’s fucose mutarotase gene and, as a result, changed the brain’s exposure to enzymes that control brain development.

The gene, fucose mutarotase (FucM), is responsible for the release of an enzyme by the same name, and seems to cause developmental changes in brain regions that control reproductive behaviors. The mice without the enzyme would refuse to let males mount them, and instead tried to copulate with other females. [AOL News]

The enzyme typically works with a protein to prevent a build-up of the hormone oestrogen in the mouse brain; extra oestrogen causes parts of female mice brains to develop like typical male mice brains. Explains Park:

“The mutant female mouse underwent a slightly altered developmental programme in the brain to resemble the male brain in terms of sexual preference.” [The Telegraph]

Park has not found a “gay gene”–it’s impossible to tell at this stage what relationship, if any, this study has with human sexual preferences. For one, the hormone that “masculinizes” human brains is testosterone rather than oestrogen, and the protein block isn’t the same either. Still, Park hopes to investigate further to see if the study will shed any light on human sexuality.

Now, Park and his colleagues are hoping to use gene screening studies to find out whether fucose mutarotase has any association with sexual orientation in humans. He admits this research may be “very difficult”, partly because it will not be easy to find a suitable number of volunteers. [New Scientist]

Related content:
80beats: A Gay Man’s Brain Looks a Lot Like a Straight Woman’s Brain
80beats: Gay Penguin Couple Adopts Chick in German Zoo
80beats: Familial Rejection of Gay Teens Can Lead to Mental Health Problems Later

Image: Wikimedia