Ongoing important Science news thread

[HPLovecraft]

I wish they had kept the name "Nemesis." That is way cooler.

[Cheese]

The LHC is starting up again this month...


When the world's most powerful atom smasher comes back online this month, scientists are hoping for great things, including possibly the discovery of nature's most sought-after particle – the Higgs boson.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

I wish they had kept the name "Nemesis." That is way cooler.

Nemesis was the name of the "other" theoretical sun (making us a binary star system), not the theoretical planet. Tyche is the good sister of Nemesis in mythology.

Man, I didn't realize that besides Pluto, there were a bunch of other dwarf planets. Things change so much from what they taught us in elementary school.

The Sun · Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Ceres · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune · Pluto · Haumea · Makemake · Eris

[Cheese]

Brain function linked to birth size in groundbreaking new study


Did your mom record the weight of her placenta?

Scientists have discovered the first evidence linking brain function variations between the left and right sides of the brain to size at birth and the weight of the placenta.

[Cheese]

Mayo Clinic researchers confirm value of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest


Mayo Clinic researchers confirmed that patients who receive therapeutic hypothermia after resuscitation from cardiac arrest have favorable chances of surviving the event and recovering good functional status. In therapeutic hypothermia, a patient's body temperature is cooled to 33 degrees Celsius following resuscitation from cardiac arrest, in order to slow the brain's metabolism and protect the brain against the damage initiated by the lack of blood flow and oxygenation.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Brain function linked to birth size in groundbreaking new study


Did your mom record the weight of her placenta?

Scientists have discovered the first evidence linking brain function variations between the left and right sides of the brain to size at birth and the weight of the placenta.

so does this explain why I am left handed, as I was almost 13 pounds and and a month late and still had to be induced(sp) to come out

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

so does this explain why I am left handed, as I was almost 13 pounds and and a month late and still had to be induced(sp) to come out

13 lbs?

Are you Ukrainian or something!?

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

13 lbs?

Are you Ukrainian or something!?

Metis

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

13 lbs?

Are you Ukrainian or something!?

hey man...Im a Uke LOL!

[SeeBass]

I think I did read somewhere that babies do tend to stay in the womb longer and are born bigger if their genes are native to colder climates

[Cheese]

Scientists: We'll Find 'God Particle' by End of 2012


Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider think they'll probably prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” within two years—and that if they can’t, it likely doesn’t exist.

[Hanni]

"Thought-controlled wheelchairs and nerve-controlled prosthetic arms are some of the latest innovations in bionics being discussed at a science conference in Washington."

"The main focus of bionics to date has been on providing prosthetics for amputees. Prosthetic arms can now be controlled by nerve signals in the remaining arm, which can be picked up by electric sensors on the skin. Those with arms amputated above the elbow, where important nerves have been severed, can also potentially control such devices, thanks to what is called "Targeted Muscle Reinnervation" surgery (TMR)."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12490048


The next step in the 3D printing revolution may be body parts including cartilage, bone and even skin.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12507034

[Cheese]

A Space First: Spaceships From 4 Different Fleets Linked Together




The historic moment occurred at 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT), when Discovery arrived at a docking port at the front of the space station's U.S.-built Harmony module. It joined two Russian Soyuz space capsules and three robotic space freighters (from Europe, Japan and Russia) that were also docked to the orbiting lab.

[Cheese]

Venus and the Moon Offer Early-Bird Skywatching Treat





This sky map of Venus and the moon shows how they will appear at about 6:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 28, 2011 to the U.S. East Coast. Observers in other parts of the U.S. may see a similar sight at around the same time, weather permitting.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Scientists: We'll Find 'God Particle' by End of 2012


Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider think they'll probably prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” within two years—and that if they can’t, it likely doesn’t exist.

Maybe they can finally put Higgs to bed, they have spent a tonne of time and money on this theory.

[Stumptown]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Scientists: We'll Find 'God Particle' by End of 2012


Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider think they'll probably prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” within two years—and that if they can’t, it likely doesn’t exist.

If they do find proof of it, I hope that means that everyone will stop calling it the frigging "god" particle. I don't think there's any definition of "god" that means enabling matter to have mass. Never understood where that misnomer came from, and I'll be really glad to be rid of it.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Stumptown

If they do find proof of it, I hope that means that everyone will stop calling it the frigging "god" particle. I don't think there's any definition of "god" that means enabling matter to have mass. Never understood where that misnomer came from, and I'll be really glad to be rid of it.

I asked a professor specifically about this who happened to be sitting in my office one day.

Laymans warning here, this was my interpretation of his answer:

His explanation of it, from what I understood, was that it will pretty much unify the known laws of physics, and give physicists a complete understanding of how it all works, taking away any doubt of the origins of the universe. I guess some how this particle will confirm the theory of relativity, the structure, and the ultimate fate of the universe, as they will be able to confirm what model the universe falls into, and if it will cool off, rip apart, or collapse. And it will prove the dark matter theory and how atoms covert gravity/energy to mass, when they are essentially empty space.

Essentially, to a believer, the only being that would know these things, essentially would be god, if he did exist, and if he indeed was the creator (which he doesn't and isn't )

Anyway, that is what a dumb dumb like me took away from the conversation.

[Cheese]

By Tuning a Laser to Pull Rather Than Push, Researchers Design a Working Tractor Beam

The Fudan University team won’t be capturing rebel tranports with their beam any time soon--it only works (theoretically) at the nano-level--but it does achieve an interesting turnabout of physical force. We know photons exert an outward momentum; this is what allows solar sails to harness sunlight to generate small amounts of thrust. But carefully tuned to meet two conditions, a system can be created to turn “push” into “pull.”

[Cheese]

Time travel experiment demonstrates how to avoid the grandfather paradox (Update)


(PhysOrg.com) -- Among the many intriguing concepts in Einstein’s relativity theories is the idea of closed timelike curves (CTCs), which are paths in spacetime that return to their starting points. As such, CTCs offer the possibility of traveling back in time. But, as many science fiction films have addressed, time travel is full of potential paradoxes. Perhaps the most notable of these is the grandfather paradox, in which a time traveler goes back in time and kills her grandfather, preventing her own birth.

[Cheese]

New 'frozen smoke' may improve robotic surgery, energy storage


A spongy substance that could be mistaken for packing material has the nanotechnology world buzzing. University of Central Florida Associate Professor Lei Zhai and postdoctoral associate Jianhua Zou have engineered the world's lightest carbon material in such a way that it could be used to detect pollutants and toxic substances, improve robotic surgery techniques and store energy more efficiently