Hubble Space Telescope Stunning Images : Nasa Astronomy Hubble Photos
a video created from images and visualizations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Photos from the deepest reaches of space in spectacular detail taken by Nasa Hubble telescope, deep space ...
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Hubble Space Telescope Stunning Images : Nasa Astronomy Hubble Photos - Video
Astronomy 101 Project- Black Holes
By: Kali Schwartz
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Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project - Fundraiser Prize Draw for 2014
Join Stephen W. Ramsden, Kevin Le Gore and Rob Black LIVE on Hangouts and Youtube, for the drawing of the 2014 Fund raiser Raffle.
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Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project - Fundraiser Prize Draw for 2014 - Video
Nick Suntzeff's professor profile on Texas A&M's website doesn't list his research awards.
Among the accolades earned by the distinguished professor of physics and astronomy are Science magazine's "Scientific Breakthrough of the Year" in 1998 across all science disciplines, the 2007 Gruber Prize in Cosmology, and his co-founding of a team whose research led to the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics.
It's by choice that he opts not to list these honors, so it comes as no surprise to those who know him that he'll likely leave his latest acknowledgement off: Earlier this month, he was among 50 other scientists to receive the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which recognizes major insights into the deepest questions of the universe. It comes with a $3 million prize to be shared by the recipients.
All of these distinctions -- each given over the past 14 years -- are tied to a 1998 discovery in which two teams of scientists simultaneously discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed.
"It's the mysterious substance known as dark energy -- we learned it accounts for 73 percent of all the mass and energy in the universe," said Suntzeff, whose passion for teaching is apparent as he excitedly breaks down the science to a reporter, pointing out that roughly 4 percent of the universe is composed of regular matter -- stars, planets, people -- and the remaining 23 percent is dark matter. "We don't know what the driving force is behind the acceleration -- we only know the cause. It remains the biggest puzzle in physical science and perhaps even all of science."
Suntzeff, who has been at Texas A&M since 2006, co-founded, along with astronomer Brian P. Schmidt of Australian National University, one of the two discovery teams. Theirs was a 21-person group from five continents called the High-Z Supernova Search Team. They used distant exploding stars to trace the expansion of the universe billions of light years away.
The names of Suntzeff and his 18 other teammates aren't on the Nobel Prize; the rules for the 113-year-old honor restrict the number to three living persons. From the beginning, Suntzeff requested his group do what many in research do not: Recognize those who do the most work, even though the role of each was critical to the final result.
For their group, that meant then-post-grad students Schmidt and Adam Riess, with Johns Hopkins University/Space Telescope Science Institute. Saul Perlmutter, with the University of California at Berkley, led the second discovery team.
Later, Schmidt, who was 27 at the time with Suntzeff as his mentor, would emphasize that the efforts were not his alone, rather a part of the team.
"As the [High-Z] group's leader, I tend to get more than my fair share of the credit, but a project like this really represents the blood and sweat of many people," Schmidt wrote on a website devoted to explaining their research and lists the names of all involved.
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Texas A&M's astronomy observatory recently was ranked third in the nation among college facilities, beating out scores of more established and older teaching programs.
Earlier this month, Michigan-based CollegeRank.net released a survey of the 25 Best College Astronomy Observatories, naming the U.S. Naval Academy's Observatory in Maryland as No. 1 followed by Hawaii-based Keck Observatory, jointly operated by Cal Tech and the University of California. College Rank describes itself as cutting through the "noise" of online college-related information by showcasing what different universities offer in hopes of giving prospective students a better understanding of options.
The 11-year-old observatory off Fishtank Road on the west side of Easterwood Airport has become a premier teaching institute under the leadership of Don Carona, who designed and monitored the construction of the upgraded facility.
"As I understand the premise, the observatories were selected based first on their devotion to astronomy teaching, outreach and/or research and second on their architectural uniqueness compared to other facilities," said Carona, who blends his IT expertise with his current job. The 37-acre tract has a 60-seat classroom, one 16-inch telescope housed under an 18-foot hydraulically operated dome, a robotic observatory with a 20-inch telescope that can be controlled remotely over the Internet, and a student observation deck that can support 16 telescope piers for 8-inch telescopes.
Carona, who has served as the only manager of the Physics and Astronomy Teaching Observatory, is credited by the head of A&M's astronomy department, Nicholas B. Suntzeff, as being responsible for other programs across the United States copying what's been built in College Station, including his efforts to host "star" parties for the community.
"In an effort to both attract and educate the world's best physicists, astronomers and others, a number of universities across the country have devoted significant time and effort to creating stunning observatories," CollegeRank.net states in its article. "Designed to combine the classic observatory with decidedly 21st-century design and cutting-edge technology, these facilities are helping to create an entirely new generation of leading astronomers looking to the heavens for new theories, confirmation of older theories, and experiences that will define human interaction with space for decades to come."
The article describes Aggieland's only observatory as being "rather small," but in the spotlight for being a connected, high-tech center of astronomical research, featuring full, gigabyte Internet connectivity and relying on powerful computers that can conduct complex processing of recorded imagines and radio sounds, making it more able to easily detect new stars or planetary bodies.
A&M's astronomy researchers also use telescopes from the Carnegie Institution for Science, European Southern Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and others.
To see all 25 observatories ranked, go to http://www.collegerank.net/amazing-college-observatories
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A malfunction of the Philae comet landers two anchoring harpoons designed to help secure the 100 kg lander to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may have inadvertently saved the European Space Agencys (ESA) Rosetta mission probe from being tossed back into space, Rosetta Project Scientist Matt Taylor told Forbes.
Taylor reckons that because the comet now appears to have a harder-than-expected icy subsurface, if the harpoons had deployed they may never have been able to penetrate deep enough to anchor.
He also notes that a small top-mounted gas thruster designed to exert a downward force during the last crucial moments before touchdown also seems to have failed. Thus, the combination of an impenetrable subsurface and a malfunctioning lander thruster might not have been enough to stymie the recoiling force from the two harpoons. Even so, Taylor emphasizes that the Rosetta team wont know for certain if this would have been the case until all the lander data are fully analyzed. At present, the lander seems to be sitting in only partial sunlight next to a wall of ice, atop perhaps as much as half a foot of dusty hydrocarbon soot.
This montage comprises four individual NAVCAM images taken from 30.1 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 26 November 2014. Credit: ESA
There appears to be a porous dust layer on the surface, with a cigarette ash-type feel to it, said Taylor. When you put these images out in grayscale, you lose the fact that this comet is in fact a very dark object.
After being hamstrung by a final landing spot that appears to suffer from limited sunlight, Philae was able to take more than sixty hours of science data from the surface before its batteries ran down and the probe put itself into hibernation on November 15th. If the lander had landed in a well-illuminated spot, its nominal mission of sniffing, sampling, hammering and drilling might have lasted until March of 2015.
We have data from magnetic fields, gas spectrometers which have sniffed the comet at different locations, as well as measurements of temperatures and surface quantities, said Taylor.
Despite Philaes premature hibernation, ESAs successful landing on a comet some 510 million km from Earth is a signal achievement for the ages.
Comets are a crucial part of the primordial detritus left over from the earliest formation of our solar system. And because what looks like comet reservoirs have also been spotted circling alien solar systems, planetary scientists think that comets are likely to also be ubiquitous throughout our Milky Way galaxy.
How well we understand them is vital in understanding not only how our own solar system has evolved over its 4.56 billion-year history, but how solar systems throughout the galaxy might have also evolved and delivered so-called volatiles, such as water to Earthlike planets both here and elsewhere.
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Harpoon Malfunction May Have Saved ESA's Philae Comet Lander
Prophet Fake Artificial Intelligent Program Psycho Kill God Deicide Soul Repent Keys Enoch Urantia
Thou shalt not steal kill soul; repay Queen Mary child; DNA fake gene hate; false love Jesus misled humans; fallen creation satan. Video photo is from Keys of Enoch dot org and the song is...
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Atec Aerospace Engineering
Don #39;t just tell people what your company is about and the great quality you offer, show them. http://zoomcreativesolutions.com for more details.
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By RTT News, November 28, 2014, 09:25:00 AM EDT
(RTTNews.com) - B/E Aerospace, Inc. ( BEAV ) said that in connection with its previously announced spin-off of KLX Inc., NASDAQ has informed the company about certain key dates relating to trading in common stock of KLX and B/E Aerospace in connection with the spin-off.
As previously announced, the record date for the distribution of KLX common stock to B/E Aerospace shareholders will be the close of business on Friday, December 5, 2014, and the distribution date will be December 16, 2014.
Starting on December 3, 2014, there will be a when-issued market in KLX common stock under the ticker symbol "KLXIV." This when-issued market will continue until regular-way trading in KLX common stock begins under the ticker symbol "KLXI" on December 17, 2014, the first trading day after the distribution date, the company said.
Also starting on Wednesday, December 3, 2014, there will be two markets in B/E Aerospace common stock: a "regular-way" market and an "ex-distribution" market.
Under the Regular way market, shares of B/E Aerospace common stock that trade on the regular-way market under B/E Aerospace's current ticker symbol "BEAV" will trade with an entitlement to shares of KLX common stock distributed in the distribution through December 16, 2014 and shares that trade on the ex-distribution market will trade under the ticker symbol "BEAVV" without an entitlement to shares of KLX common stock distributed in the distribution, according to the company.
The last day of trading in the ex-distribution market will be December 16, 2014.
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
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B/E Aerospace, Inc. Reports Spin-off Trading Information - Quick Facts
November 29, 2014
"Spider silk' is stronger than conventional silk and could be used for textiles
TOKYO: Japanese scientists have developed through genetic engineering using genes from spiders and silkworms a super resistant silk which could be used for textiles as well as in the surgical field, media reported on Friday.
Known as Spider Silk, which is stronger and smoother than conventional silk, it has been developed by researchers at Shinshu University, the Asahi daily newspaper reported.
Masao Nakagaki from the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology was the first person, in 2007, to implant spider genes in silkworms, resulting in the production of silk which had some components of spider webs.
Several years of research has now led to the development of spider silk which has less than 20 per cent of the components of spider webs.
Several prototypes of socks have also been manufactured using this new material.
It is expected that the hybrid silk would be used in the textile industry, and for manufacturing surgical threads and artificial blood vessels.
The university reached an agreement with the local government to commercially produced the hybrid silk.
Both institutions have decided to collaborate in areas of industrial development, training of personnel, academic research and use of facilities for commercial production of the silk, according to Asahi.
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Scientists develop hybrid silk using spider genes
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online
Behavioral scientists and other academic researchers are increasingly turning to social media to find subjects for their studies, but doing so could lead to erroneous results with serious implications, computer experts from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh and McGill University in Montreal report in a newly published study.
According to the authors of the paper, which was published in the November 28 edition of the journal Science, social media appears attractive to researchers behind behavioral studies because it gives them a quick and inexpensive way to gather massive amounts of data about peoples thoughts and feelings. Some of those dataset may be misleading, however, they explained.
In their paper, Carnegie Mellons Juergen Pfeffer and McGill Universitys Derek Ruths note that thousands of research papers each year are based on information gathered through social media. However, they contend that scientists need to find ways for correcting the inherent biases in information gathered from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, or at the very least acknowledge that there could be issues with such data.
Not everything that can be labeled as Big Data is automatically great, said Pfeffer, an assistant research professor in CMUs Institute for Software Research, explained in a statement. He said that while many researchers believe that if they can gather a large enough dataset, it will overcome any potential biases or distortions inherent in that data, but the old adage of behavioral research still applies: Know Your Data.
He and Ruths, an assistant professor of computer science at McGill, said that even though the problem is far from insignificant, social media is still difficult to resist as a source of data. People want to say something about whats happening in the world and social media is a quick way to tap into that, Pfeffer said. For example, following 2013s Boston Marathon bombing, he said he collected 25 million tweets related to the topic in just two weeks time.
The main problem, according to the researchers, is the attempt for study authors to generalize their results to a broad population. However, social media sites often have significant population biases in that different social networks attract different types of users. For example, Pinterests membership is primarily females aged 25 to 34 with average household incomes of $100,000, while Instagram appeals mostly to adults under the age of 29, African-Americans, Latinos, women and urban dwellers, Pfeffer and Ruths explained.
Other possible issues include the fact that publically available data feeds may not necessarily provide an accurate representation of the platforms overall data; the design of a social media platform may impact how users behave, and what behavior can be measured (for example, the lack of a dislike button on Facebook makes it harder to detect negative responses to content); and large numbers of bots and spammers may masquerade as human users, and thus their input may mistakenly be incorporated into behavior-related measurements and predictions.
Researchers often report results for groups of easy-to-classify users, topics, and events, making new methods seem more accurate than they actually are, McGill Universitys Chris Chipello explained. For instance, efforts to infer political orientation of Twitter users achieve barely 65 percent accuracy for typical users even though studies (focusing on politically active users) have claimed 90 percent accuracy.
The common thread in all these issues is the need for researchers to be more acutely aware of what theyre actually analyzing when working with social media data, Ruths noted, comparing the issue to the telephone survey errors that led to the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman headline during the Presidential election of 1948.
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Pitfalls Of Using Social Media For Scientific Studies Examined
WEST LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
Slapping your face to look younger? The concept garnered a lot of attention for one California massage therapist. The idea is to increase circulation and unblock energy. But is this trendy technique truly based in ancient practices?
Gam Pukkalanun is a certified Thai massage therapist in West Los Angeles. At her Thai Sabai salon, slapping is part of the routine.
"We use a chopping motion along the energy lines and to relax the muscles and open the energy lines," Pukkalanun said.
In Thai medicine, meridians or energy lines are called "sen." Like the rest of your body, the face also has specific ones. But can stimulating them make you look younger?
"The face slapping thing is, in my opinion, kind of a fad. I don't think it's a good treatment if anti-aging is what you're going to look for," said Dr. Shirley Chi, a dermatologist.
Chi says it's certainly not appropriate if you have irritable skin like rosacea patient Kristen Munoz.
"My skin is very, very sensitive. If I touch my skin, you'll see the mark on my face," Munoz said.
But gentle facial massage is something rooted in ancient tradition and common sense. Chi said when washing or massaging your face, use an upward motion.
"The concept behind the upward motion is that you're going against gravity and trying to get your skin to feel upward movement instead of downward movement," Chi said.
Next Media Video: NATO commander says Russia strengthening hold over Black Sea
General Philip Breedlove, NATO #39;s top military commander, is warning that Russian "militarisation" of the Crimean Peninsula could be used to expand its control over the entire Black Sea region....
By: The Malay Mail Online
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Next Media Video: NATO commander says Russia strengthening hold over Black Sea - Video
Russia: "Kiev #39;s plans to join NATO are highly negative," says Lavrov
Video ID: 20141128-020 SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (in Russian): "Our attitude [to Kiev #39;s plans to join NATO] is highly negative and we don #39;t conceal this. I think everyone...
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Russia: "Kiev's plans to join NATO are highly negative," says Lavrov - Video
NATO Spearhead Funding: Military bloc lacks finance plan for new eastern Europe spearhead force
NATO #39;s newly agreed rapid reaction force in eastern Europe is facing funding issues according to diplomats from the alliance #39;s member states. The force, known as #39;spearhead #39;, is expected to...
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NATO Navy Military Power 2014 Part 1
NATO Navy Military Power 2014!!. Just a little part of the NATO fleet. Part 2 with other NATO members will be launched soon! Subscribe today and become a Buzzkill!!
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William Binney: NSA had 9/11 foreknowledge
William Binney is the second most well known NSA whistleblower. He attended the worlds first mind control conference in Brussels, 20 November 2014. On that C...
By: Henning Witte
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Statements, NSA PUA, 27.11.2014
Statements der Obleute nach der 24. Sitzung des NSA Untersuchungsausschusses.
By: Daniel Lcking
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Provided by The Hill How to stop NSA from snooping on your phone
The first thing to know about securing your phone is that you cant secure your phone.
If [National Security Agency officials want] to get into your phone, theyre going to get into your phone, said Chris Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Spying on the content of cell phone communications is trivially easy, added Eva Galperin, global policy analyst with the digital rights advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
That said, the last year has seen a booming desire to make spying more difficult. Since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the government was collecting data on Americans phone records and Internet activity, average people now ask: How can I keep the NSA from snooping on my phone?
The market has responded.
Major tech companies like Apple and Google promoted their new phones by highlighting the encryption methods they claim will lock out the government. A slew of apps to encrypt text messages and voice calls have popped up. Previously obscure Internet encryption methods are being adopted by non-technophiles.
And though hacking teams at the NSA and FBI will almost always win-out when sufficiently motivated, the rise of widespread encryption has worried law enforcement officials.
FBI Director James Comey calls it the going dark problem.
Its set up a standoff. Law enforcement on one side, privacy advocates and major tech companies on the other.
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The Fourth Amendment in Extraterritorial and National Security Contexts
Topics: The Fourth Amendment, extraterritoriality, national security exception, foreign intelligence exception Source: This video is archived from Surveillance Law, first offered by Stanford...
By: Jonathan Mayer
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The Fourth Amendment in Extraterritorial and National Security Contexts - Video