We Were Promised Space Lasers: The State of the Union's Big Fibs

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This Tuesday, Jan. 20, President Barack Obama will honor an American tradition as old as George Washington: the State of the Union. The constitutionally ordained address to each new session of Congress has been a presidential ritual since 1790. Its a chance to check in on the present and make some pledges for our future.

Its that future bit that got us thinking: If all that talk had come true, even the crazy, far-out pledgesespecially the crazy, far-out pledgeswhat would our world look like today? Not political promises and posturing for lower taxes or immigration reform, but lifestyle manna such as supersonic jets and paralysis-curing implants.

So we read through 35 years of State of the Union addresses, from Obama back to Ronald Reagan, and found an interesting mix of science and science fiction with varying likelihoods of the prognostications ever becoming reality. Obama may have missed his goal of having 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015 (by 725,000 cars), but its bound to happen one day. Meanwhile, Reagans nuclear shield (popularly known as the Star Wars program) is a remnant of a time tormented by the Cold War. As for Clintons child-safe smart guns well, whos to tell?

Together, these visions offer a uniquely American version of Utopia. One wed be perfectly happy driving our Wi-Fi-enabled, 3D-printed, hydrogen-fueled car aroundbut maybe only for a day or two.

The Pledge: In 2013, Obama referred to a once-shuttered warehouse in the Rust Belt that became a state-of-the-art lab where new workers are mastering 3D printing and proposed replicating its success around the country.

The Reality? As Obama said, it has already happened in Youngstown, Ohio, thanks to his Manufacturing Innovation Institutes. But the likelihood of reviving former industrial towns with 3D printing hubs seems counterintuitive to the very idea of 3D printing, not to mention the fact that 3D printing is still pricier than the old-fashioned assembly line for most manufacturers.

The Pledge:In 2013, Obama also heralded the work of scientists who are developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs and urged Congress to keep making those investments.

The Reality? Things are looking good. Scientists have made great advances in regenerating organs using stem cells (doctors grew trachea way back in 2008). And ever since Obama removed some barriers for using stem cells in research, scientists have been steaming ahead.

The Pledge: In 2000, President Bill Clinton asked gun companies to invest in smart guns to keep weapons out of the hands of children, as well as other steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands.

The Reality? Despite the 15 years that have passed since Clintons call to action, its still a dreamone pretty much destined to fail, thanks both to the National Rifle Association and to lack of consumer interest. (We do have fingerprint-enabled gun casesand GPS locators that track when a gun is drawn and shot. Baby steps.)

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We Were Promised Space Lasers: The State of the Union's Big Fibs

Shark search continues, NSW beaches closed

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Labor has renewed it's call for clemency for the two members of the Bali Nine on death row in Indonesia.

Beaches along the Newcastle coast are expected to remain closed as authorities scour the sea for two sharks.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has criticised the 'patchwork quilt' approach to bikie laws in Australia.

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A man has been charged by police following the alleged murder of a woman found in a western Sydney carpark.

Tensions are high on Manus Island amid reports hunger-striking asylum seekers are refusing medical attention

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Australia will likely suffer worse weather in the future after 2014 broke global hot temperature records.

Police will conduct interviews as they search for the mother of a baby found buried at Maroubra Beach.

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Shark search continues, NSW beaches closed

Newcastle beaches to remain closed as shark search continues

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Surfers choosing to hit the water at Merewether Beach after Newcastle Beaches were closed due to shark sightings. Photo: Darren Pateman

Beaches along the Newcastle coast are expected to remain closed as shark spotters continue to scour the sea for the two fearsome ocean predators that have lurked offshore over the past nine days.

The five-metre great white, nicknamed Bruce, and a three-and-a-half metre shark that lunched on a dolphin last week, have not been seen since Friday.

A spokesperson for Heliservices Newcastle said crews will take to the air on Sunday to try to spot the sharks, before a decision is made to reopen the beaches.

On Friday a 17-year-old boy was bitten on the hand by a 1.5m shark at Mollymook Beach, about three and a half hours south of Sydney.

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Sam Smith was flown to a Sydney hospital with lacerations to his hand sustained after he tried to film the shark while spear-fishing.

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Newcastle beaches to remain closed as shark search continues

Newcastle's beaches closed all weekend but a dolphin pod pays a visit

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Newcastle's beaches will remain closed this weekend, but a few surprise guests on Saturday morning left lifeguards with a smile.

"We're starting to see a few dolphins back in the area," said Newcastle beach inspector Scott Hammerton, on a record eighth-day of beach closures in the area.

Several massive sharks were seen feeding on dolphins off two of Newcastle's beaches on Thursday, one, nicknamed Bruce, reported as afive-metre, 1700-kilogram great white shark, the other "as big as a car".

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One of the sharks spotted off the coast of Newcastle is said to be 'as big as a car' but how does it compare to some of the biggest Great Whites seen around the world?

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Newcastle's beaches closed all weekend but a dolphin pod pays a visit

Astronomy – Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (22 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Class – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (22 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Class
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain in more detail of stellar classification of spectra class. N...

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (22 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Class - Video

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 – Young Astrophotographers Shishir and Shashallach – Video

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Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 - Young Astrophotographers Shishir and Shashallach
The winners of the Young Astrophotographer category of our global search for the best images of the cosmos talk about their stunning shot. See all the winners in our free exhibition at the...

By: Royal Museums Greenwich

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Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 - Young Astrophotographers Shishir and Shashallach - Video

Maryland scientists in team studying oddball galaxy

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As part of a research team studying galaxies, two University of Maryland scientists recently helped find a wild one.

It doesn't fit into the two main galaxy shape categories and is even a bit too odd to belong with those astronomers call "irregulars," although loosely speaking it is. It appears in one respect a conventional spiral galaxy, but also in a class by itself, a cosmic eccentric dropping clues about galaxies and the mysterious objects believed to lie at the center of most of them: supermassive black holes.

University of Maryland astronomy professor Sylvain Veilleux and doctoral student Vicki Toy have been trailing this galaxy along with 11 researchers from other institutions, and in a recent development in the field help from amateur astronomers through such websites as Galaxy Zoo. Their research report appeared online last month and is scheduled to be in print next month in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Couched in the customary clusters of mathematical equations and graphs, the research report begins telling the story of a galaxy that like nearly all of the 700,000 galaxies loosely classified so far, a fraction of the total in the universe is identified only by catalog number: J1649+2635.

It's about 800 million light years from Earth, which in astronomical terms is in the neighborhood, and about the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way: roughly 80,000 light years across. For some sense of scale, consider that one light year the distance light travels in a vacuum in 365 days is nearly 6 trillion miles. That's about 100 million trips from Baltimore to California and back again.

J1649+2635 is a "grand design spiral," meaning it shows well-defined spiral arms emanating in unbroken lengths from the center. In that respect it resembles the Milky Way, also a spiral, and conforms to one of the main established galaxy types.

Other features, however, set it apart, challenging some standing notions about galaxies. The anomalies are yet to be explained.

It has two elongated structures shooting out of it: jets or plumes of subatomic particles mostly likely electrons and protons that are emitting non-visible radio energy.

That's odd, as such jets are usually found in elliptical galaxies, which contain stars that are older than those found in spirals. This is only the fourth spiral galaxy found so far to emit these jets. It is also the first "grand design" galaxy to show a "halo" of visible light around it, probably the glow of a vast cloud of stars.

The researchers got onto J1649+2635 by following up information compiled on the Galaxy Zoo website, which allows anyone to look at images of galaxies and sort them into categories.

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Maryland scientists in team studying oddball galaxy