which artificially triggers the light sensors in a person's eyes to make their brain believe the sun is coming up.
#Solar activity is linked NOT to global warming: Sunspot theory of climate change is the result of an ancient error in the data The theory that solar activity is linked to rising global temperatures has been cast into doubt after scientists corrected an ancient error in the calculations.
Until now, the general consensus was that solar activity-in particular sunspots -and temperatures have been trending upwards since the harsh winters of the 17th century when the spots were thought to have been at a low.
But when the error was corrected, the records show there was no such culmination in solar activity in the late 20th century,
suggesting climate change cannot be plotted using this sunspots method. Scroll down for video In fact, solar activity appears to have remained relatively stable
since the 1700s while global temperatures have fluctuated. According to the previous calculations, harsh winters in the 17th and 18th centuries corresponded with low numbers of sunspots,
which suggested a link between climate and solar activity. This period is known as the Maunder Minimum,
and solar activity is said to have peaked in the late 20th century, sometimes called the Modern Grand Maximum, around the time of the Industrial revolution.
known as the Wolf Sunset Number and the Group Sunspot Number, showed different levels of solar activity before 1885,
The Group Sunspot Number had a major error that showed a gradual increase in solar activity for the past 300 years.
we then consider the implications on our knowledge of solar activity over the last 400 years.''
''The newly corrected series clearly indicates a progressive decline of solar activity before the onset of the Maunder Minimum,
solar activity had returned already to levels equivalent to those observed in recent solar cycles in the 20th century.'
'And the trends recorded are over much longer periods than the well known 11-year cycle of the sun,
Stars shine by converting their mass into energy, as described by Albert Einstein's famous equation E=MC squared.
additional energy is constantly being released by stars as they fuse elements like hydrogen and helium together.'
or escapes into intergalactic space and travels until it hits something such as another star, planet, or very occasionally a telescope mirror.'
#Perseids meteor shower will show hundreds of shooting stars across Europe Stargazers across Britain were treated to a stunning lightshow overnight as hundreds of shooting stars filled the sky as the annual Perseids meteor shower neared its peak.
and the north of England as limited cloud cover allowed the hotly-anticipated meteor shower to light up the sky.
with the Perseids offering one of the greatest displays of the past seven years as the meteor shower coincides with a new moon for the first time since 2007.
which orbits earth every 90 minutes and will be visible for four minutes from 10. 28pm.
Scroll down for videolast night's dazzling display was just the beginning of this year's Perseids meteor shower,
the Perseids reach their peak tonight with more than 100 meteors an hour expected to be produced.
Professor Mark Bailey, director of Armagh Observatory in Northern ireland, called the Perseids the'best and most reliable meteor shower of the year'.
71, saying the'moon will be the biggest factor'.'He said:''If it is a full moon then you can't see much
but this year we've got a clear sky. We could be lucky and being able to see the ISS is added an bonus.'Robin Scagell,
these meteors are bright enough for a few to be visible.''The moon is out of the way
which makes a lot of difference because the sky will be much darker all night. For every bright shooting star you see there are always fainter ones,
and this will make it easier to see the fainter meteors and ring up the numbers.''The Perseids are usually fairly bright.
You can see the train hanging there glowing in the sky for a few seconds-sometimes for several minutes-after the meteor has gone.'
'It will move from the west below the bright star Arcturus and then move towards the south, fading out as it passes into the Earth's shadow at 10. 32pm,
'he said.''And it will be the brightest thing in the sky, apart from aircraft. It'll be in mid sky from southern England
'Meteors are the result of particles as small as a grain of sand entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed
'The Perseid's radiant is in the northeast constellation of Perseus. The Perseids make an August appearance each year as the Earth passes through debris shed by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
The streaks in the sky, sometimes known as shooting stars, are grains of dust and ice shed by the comet that enter the atmosphere at 37 miles per second (60 km/s). As they hit the atmosphere,
friction causes them to burn up as they heat the air around them, causing the trails seen from the ground.
The meteor show is named after the constellation Perseus as when viewed from the ground the shower seems to come from a focal point, known as a radiant, in the constellation.
Exceptionally dark skies will provide the best possible conditions for viewing the shooting stars this week due to an invisible new moon.
This is the first time since 2007 that the shower has coincided with a new moon, offering the best visibility of the light show.
The shower is active from around 17 july to 24 august but peaks between late evening on Wednesday and Thursday morning. i
While Nasa is busy testing its biggest ever rocket in the hope it will propel mankind to Mars,
reaching 12 miles (20 km) above the planet's surface. The space tower would be more than 20 times the height of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
By creating strong, far-reaching foundations deep into the Earth, the centre of gravity is shifted from above the ground, to below it.
such as a suitably sized asteroid, beyond geostationary orbit to balance the cable and save the excessive length.
#The moon has a NEON atmosphere: Ladee spacecraft confirms presence of the gas for the first time The presence of neon in the moon atmosphere has been a subject of speculation for decades.
Now, for the first time, scientists have confirmed the gas is not only present, but abundant on the moon. The discovery was made by analysing data sent back from Nasa Lunar Atmosphere and Dust environment Explorer,
known as Ladee. he presence of neon in the exosphere of the moon has been a subject of speculation since the Apollo missions,
but no credible detections were made, said Mehdi Benna of Nasa's Goddard Space flight Centre in Greenbelt,
show there is not enough neon to make the moon glow, but its thin atmophere is made up of mostly, helium, argon and neon.
there is not enough neon to make the moon glow visibly, because the moon's atmosphere is about 100 trillion times less dense that the Earth at sea level.
The moon atmosphere is referred technically to as an exosphere because it so thin. Exospheres are the most common type of atmosphere in our solar system,
so scientists are keen to learn more about them. t's critical to learn about the lunar exosphere before sustained human exploration substantially alters it,
Dr Benna said. Since the moon's atmosphere is so thin, rocket exhaust from spacecraft could easily change its composition.
Most of the moon's exosphere comes from the solar wind, which is a thin stream of electrically conducting gas blown from the surface of the sun into space at around a million miles per hour.
Most of the solar wind is hydrogen and helium but it contains many other elements in small quantities,
including neon. All these elements impact the moon, but only helium, neon, and argon are volatile enough to be returned back to space.
The rest of the elements will stick indefinitely to the moon surface. Ladee NMS instrument confirmed the moon exosphere is made up of mostly helium, argon, and neon.
The make-up of the mixture changes depending on the time of day, with argon peaking at sunrise, neon at 4am and helium at 1am.
The instrument conducted measurements of the gases for seven months, which allowed the team to understand how they are supplied to the exosphere,
and how they are lost ultimately. While most of the lunar exosphere comes from the solar wind,
the readings showed that some gas comes from lunar rocks. For example, Argon-40 comes from the decay of naturally occurring radioactive potassium-40,
found in the rocks of all the terrestrial planets as a leftover from their formation. e were surprised also to find that argon-40 creates a local bulge above an unusual part of the moon's surface,
The scientists found that argon-40 creates a local bulge above an unusual part of the moon's surface
the region containing Mare Imbrium (shown)+ 6 The scientists found that argon-40 creates a local bulge above an unusual part of the moon's surface,
trapped, frozen or absorbed in some material-from the surface that is triggered by tidal stress on the moon.
Ladee readings also revealed an unexpected source of some of the helium in the lunar exosphere. bout 20 percent of the helium is coming from the moon itself, most likely as the result from the decay of radioactive thorium and uranium
The spacecraft entered its science orbit around the moon's equator in Mid-november and its mission was extended.
including communications between Earth and spacecraft. Quantum teleportation depends on a phenomenon called quantum entanglement. This allows connections to be made between atoms,
which look remarkably similar to the star of 1986 film Short circuit, could be used to carry casualties to safety while under fire.
With caterpillar-style tracks and a head on top of a flexible neck, they look remarkably like Johnny Five-the malfunctioning mechanical star of the Short circuit films.
and safeguard entire species. Researchers claim to have worked out how to accurately predict the eruption of'supervolcanoes'that blanket the earth in giant ash clouds triggering a'nuclear winter'.
Repeatedly throughout Earth's history, when they become a super-eruption, the resulting gigantic volcanic outbursts that throw 100 times more superheated gas,
'said Guilherme Gualda, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, who directed the project.'
The movement and structure of these waves could then be used to map the earth beneath.
#MIT refreshes fusion reactor with modern superconductors Rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) superconducting tapes could mean earlier practical fusion reactors, according to MIT.
The technology, funded by the National Science Foundation, allows for natural clays found readily all over the planet to be turned into reliable masonry products and offers a sustainable alternative to traditional concrete masonry,
Tao likens the process to techniques used to discover exoplanets--new planets beyond our solar system.
evidence of their presence can be inferred from fluctuations in starlight due to gravitational effects caused by the unseen exoplanets.
"Xylochemistry could represent an important alternative to the climate-damaging use of the earth's finite resources of natural oil and gas in the production of chemicals."
"explains Sara Munk Jensen, Ph d. student at both the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution (Nordcee), Department of biology and the Department of physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark (SDU).
which involved an astronaut stranded on Mars growing potatoes while living in an artificial habitat, had a bit more science fact than fiction than people might think,
which is currently studying the dwarf planet Ceres. Ion thrusters are considerably more efficient than conventional rocket motors.
#uper-antennacould let Mars rover talk directly with Earth Right now, Mars rovers like Curiosity get roughly 15 minutes to talk to scientists back On earth, twice per day.
The idea is basically to use an array of 256 antenna elements (a 16 x 16 square) all working together to make a uper-antennacapable of directly communicating with Earth.
getting the rest of the way to an orbiter around the Earth isn hard at all.
Amazingly, this huge increase in signal strength will still run within the power limitations of NASA upcoming Mars 2020 rover:
For that power commitment, it will purportedly be able to maintain a signal with a satellite around Earth, 225 million kilometers away.
if it can serve as a proof of concept for direct communications between the Earth
and Mars. The additive characteristics of its compound antenna actually work in both directions; not only will it be able to create more powerful signals to transmit back to Earth,
but it will be able to pick up more powerful signals as well. This will give it a better ability to download information from the Earth,
widening the lines of communication for both scientists and their rover. The Mars 2020 rover won have the luxury of twisting around to make sure it pointing at the Earth at every moment,
and so the antenna is planned to be mounted on a gimbal arm that can lift the antenna and orient it in any direction.
too much sun can be worse than too little. The fact that chlorophyll absorption spectrum makes things surprisingly green reflects the compromises inherent in being able to capture every photon possible
#NASA confirms liquid water flows on Mars NASA has announced that it has discovered flowing liquid salt water on Mars during the Red planet summer months, in
what is the biggest indication to date that the planet either has supported already life, or can support life in the future.
The discovery comes thanks to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its imaging spectrometer, which enabled researchers to find telltale signs of hydrated minerals on streaked-looking slopes.
100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water.
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) ur quest on Mars has been to ollow the water, in our search for life in the universe,
albeit briny is flowing today on the surface of Mars. he flows are described as recurring slope lineae.
The darker color on Mars indicates that it probably a shallow subsurface flow, NASA said.
it appears to dry up in the planet fall season only to start up again the following Mars year.
and later paired those images with mineral maps from the spacecraft Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).
But the primary data source was the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2006 and contains four other primary science instruments
in addition to Hirise and CRISM. he ability of MRO to observe for multiple Mars years with a payload able to see the fine detail of these features has enabled findings such as these:
desert planet, said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program at the agency headquarters in Washington. t seems that the more we study Mars,
the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future. ack in March,
seemed to indicate that water persisted on the surface of the Red planet for at least a billion years.
as long as humans have been tooling around on planet earth, cancer has been nipping at our heelsnd brains, stomachs, kidneys, and so on.
and delivering on brand authenticity",states R"Ray"Wang, Principal Analyst and Chairman, Constellation Research, Inc i
That project takes 173,000 mirrors and focuses the sunlight to the plant solar receiver steam generator,
For example many movie inspired console games use third-person character action where the player can directly control the star of the film
Star K1 syringes are manufactured under licence by 13 companies around the world, giving them a substantial lead. here no other product in this space that
and Star have brought in more than $20m over the last years. Indeed, getting to this point has taken so long that the entrepreneur now has only two years left on his 20-year patent for K1 and Star.
Star has responded by offering to supply the syringes free of charge to manufacturers who also licence its needle-stick device,
which ensures that syringe needles are covered always when not in use another requirement of the new WHO edict. urs is the cheapest one for covered needles,
in turn bringing down planet-warming emissions. But for the first time in nearly half a century, that synchrony between economic growth and energy-related emissions seems to have been broken
and upticks in renewable electricity generation there using solar wind and hydropower could have contributed to the reversal.
The photoanode uses sunlight to oxidize water molecules, generating protons and electrons as well as oxygen gas.
converts 10 percent of the energy in sunlight into stored energy in the chemical fuel,
and can operate for more than 40 hours continuously. ur work shows that it is indeed possible to produce fuels from sunlight safely and efficiently in an integrated system with inexpensive components,
ripples in the fabric of space-time. ee been thinking a lot about using these methods to detect gravitational waves from pulsarsncredibly dense stars that are the mass of our sun compressed into a 10 km radius and spin at 10 to 100 times a second,
Kip Thorne a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech and others wrote papers saying that these pulsars should be emitting gravity waves that are nearly perfectly periodic,
theye not as flexible as their natural cousins. yanobacteria have adapted to live in ponds that are drenched by sun,
the inability to work in bright light, especially sunlight. The key is to gather only the bits of light the camera actually needs.
and sensing for robots used to explore the moon and planets. It also could be incorporated readily into most smartphones.
wee sending a lot more energy to that spot than the energy sent by the sun, he explains.
In polar regions of the moon, where the sun is always at a low angle, a vision system that is able to eliminate the glare is essential. ow-power sensing is very important,
Among other things, the sunlight that pours through them can raise the temperature in the office,
when exposed to strong sunlight and it's powered by that sunlight, too. The facade was developed via a collaboration between Fraunhofer and the Weissensee School of art in Berlin.
Based on a concept by design student Bára Finnsdottir, it's composed of an array of circular flower-like components.
that heat comes from direct sunlight. When that light heats the wires, they respond by reverting to a shape that draws the fabric discs closed,
Once the sun goes down or clouds roll in, however, the wires return to their previous shape
a crescent moon is about 0. 3 lux. Infrared illumination has made it possible to capture such dim environments previously,
but only 20 were built ever after an Anglo-french development program in the 1960s that was compared to the Apollo Moon landings in cost and complexity.
such as a mission to Mars, will mean small crews working in close confinement with very little to do for long periods of time a prime recipe for disaster.
and returned to Earth in October of last year for safety analysis at the Kennedy space center in Florida.
and preserved for later transportation to Earth, where they will be subjected to scientific analysis. According to NASA,
to see if they're structurally different from similar objects printed by the AMF at Earth atmosphere.
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope's 3. 2-gigapixel camera will capture an area of the sky 40 times the size of the full moon
In 2022, the camera and the LSST will begin a 10-year mission to take digital images of the entire Southern sky every few nights as part of a program to catalog the largest number of visible stars and galaxies yet,
It's hoped that this will help astronomers to gain a better understanding of galaxy formations, aid in tracking potentially dangerous asteroids,
trackers can be used to allow the panels to follow the sun throughout daylight hours. The advantages of trackers are dramatic,
presenting a basic question--should the utility go with a fixed mounted PV system or a system that tracks the sun during the day?
which would diffuse the sunlight. That raises an issue with a fixed system versus one with trackers--in cloudy areas
the benefits of trackers can be diminished due to the sunlight being scattered from clouds. Source: PV Watts Trackers will typically add additional upfront costs of 2 percent to 10 percent on large utility-scale projects.
Solarcity is already selling Tesla behind-the-meter batteries with its solar systems, and has been testing their ability to work in concert as an aggregated grid resource.
#Insanely Fuel efficient Engine Could Go to Mars And Back On One Tank Of Fuel An ion engine that smashes the fuel efficiency record has been registered for an innovation patent.
and back on a tank of fuel but its first application may be shunting networks of small satellites around in Earth orbit.
So you would need more fuel to get to Mars, but could get there faster. Neumann says metal fuels have advantages besides efficiency.
enon is hard to source away from Earth. Magnesium is found as olivine in asteroids,
but Neumann has achieved promising results with titanium, aluminium and other widely used metals. Spaceships using his drive might find capturing fuel made from a dead satellite a handy way to refuel,
Ion thrusters such as the one that took Dawn to Ceres are only suitable for use in vacuums
and Neumann says even getting off the Moon or larger asteroids will remain a job for rockets.
However, he says his drive could be suitable for lifting a spacecraft from low gravity objects like Mars'moons Phobos
and Deimos. sing very rough, very early calculations we think 20 kilograms 44 pounds of magnesium could get a 100 kilogram 220 pound ship to Mars and back.
It would take three to five years and there will be some weight for the craft, solar panels and communications,
but we think there would be 20 kilograms left over for the payload, Neumann told IFLSCIENCE. ith a higher thrust fuel in a Neumann Drive you could do it in nine to 11 months,
or parking fuel in Mars orbit, or on a refuelling station established at Phobos or Deimos, preparatory to the voyage.
Neumann says experiments with pulsed electric arcs on metals go back to the 1920s, and some of the data collected was useful to him in assessing
and likely exponentially more existing on the planet today. Determining an accurate number would require billions more dollars
or biofuels when exposed to the sun. Oxman said, uch functions will in the near future augment the wearer by scanning our skins,
#Concept the translucent battery, that charging from the sun A group of Japanese engineers at the University of Kogakuin developed translucent lithium-ion battery that can be recharged in the sun. Solar rays are converted into electricity, the fact
When the battery fall into the sun rays, it becomes slightly tinted: light transmission drops to 30%.
They will not only automatically obscure the sunlight, but also store energy for the consumer devices r
No one wants the aircraft engine that is holding them 35,000 feet above the earth to shatter like a vase.
using just the power of the sun. Chemists at the University of Reading say a new catalyst,
which mimics the way plants absorb energy from the sun, could make the energy-sapping job of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen relatively easy.
scientists use a photocatalyst-a material that absorbs light from the sun and uses it to excite electrons to higher energy levels.
which allow plants to convert sunlight into chemical energy, "said Grau-Crespo.""The challenge now is to incorporate these wonderful natural catalysts into materials capable of doing the specific chemical job we need.
and adventure races across some of Earth's harshest terrain, including to the south Pole. He would learn to make a meaningful life using a wheelchair
The colors show deformation in the earth caused by the 7. 8-magnitude earthquake. The eastest"fringes"cross the city,
and the United states Geological Society (USGS). The April 28 image was taken by NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite.
NASA Earth Observatory) Emitted light Kathmandu Satellite Image-Emitted Light This satellite image shows the city of Kathmandu and its surrounding areas after the April 25 earthquake.
Earth scientists had anticipated major aftershocks and even larger earthquakes in the area. In fact, a recent study found that smaller aftershocks strike within the main earthquake rupture,
#Perseid Meteor shower: Best Places to See'Shooting stars'This Week The annual Perseid meteor shower is typically the most spectacular"shooting star"display for people in the Northern hemisphere,
and this week, skywatchers could be in for a remarkable show. The meteor shower peaks during the overnight hours tomorrow (Aug 12) and Thursday (Aug 13),
and weather permitting, stargazers can expect to spot an average of one meteor per minute radiating from the constellation Perseus in the northern sky, somewhat near the North pole.
At the meteor shower's peak, skywatchers could see as many as 100 meteors per hour according to NASA.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth, on its orbital path through space, collides with particles from a comet or an asteroid.
The Perseids come from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last made its closest approach to Earth in 1992.
This week marks the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, but the sky show will continue through Aug 24.
Here are some of the best ways to enjoy the celestial show. Your own backyard You don't need any special equipment to see the Perseids.
For the best viewing experience, face northeast under dark skies and make sure to get as far away from city lights as you can,
because light pollution will wash out the fainter meteors. And be sure to give your eyes time to adjust to the dark.
This year, there will be a new moon, providing maximum darkness for stargazers. If you must look at a star map,
use a flashlight with red paper over it to preserve your night vision. National or State Parks If you're looking for a place far away from light pollution,
Even though a telescope is needed not to view a meteor shower your local observatory might have people on hand to tell you more about skywatching.
NASA'S MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER in Huntsville, Alabama, will be livestreaming views of the meteor shower from 10 p m. EDT tomorrow to 2 a m. EDT on Thursday (Aug 13.
Meteor experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw, all from NASA Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space flight Center, will also provide onair commentary.
though, meteor showers do occur throughout the year. Other prominent showers include the Leonids (in November) and the Quadrantids (in January) u
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