Ongoing important Science news thread

[LChoy]

An injection for men appears to be just as effective at preventing pregnancy as the birth control pill, finds new research that could revolutionize contraception.

The contraceptive is a form of testosterone that is injected into the buttocks once a month. It works by temporarily blocking sperm production.

They found the contraceptive was almost 99 per cent effective, with a failure rate of only 1.1 per 100 men.

There were no serious side effected reported in any of the men, unlike previous studies on hormonal male contraceptive. Some of the side effects of those formulations have been mood swings and a lowered sex drive.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories

Don't know if this should go into a new thread
This seems very promising and it would be the male equivalent to the pill for women.
The article does not say whether this drug was tested on animals...

[peter12]

I've just started Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time." Pretty pumped to become an armchair expert on physics.

[rockstar]

Originally Posted by peter12

I've just started Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time." Pretty pumped to become an armchair expert on physics.

He started really losing me around chapter 4 and my reading speed thus diminished exponentially.

I started reading it 5 months ago. I've yet to finish.

$@%!#$ physics.

[arsenal]

Gizmodo has a pretty cool article on some un-explained phenomena from space.

http://gizmodo.com/5238308/get-ready...s-a-freak-show

The WOW! Signal. Or, Holy Crap, Alien Avon Calling!
Called the WOW! signal, this 72-second beacon was detected by Dr. Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977. Because the unknown signal fit the parameters of what an artificial space signal might sound like so exactly, the awestruck Ehman jotted down "Wow!" when he first heard it. I'd also like to think he cartoonishly fell back in his chair and spit coffee out all over the terminal when it happened too, but that's just me.

Hubble Spies UFO. Or... Yeah, This One Really Was a Legitimate UFO
On February 21, 2006 (the paper was only published recently), the venerable space telescope spied a UFO in an area of space where there should have been nothing at all.

Excerpts from a few of the stories on the page.

Definitely things that make you go "Huh?".

[Thor]

If you missed this earlier, a great Astrophysics blog that everyone should have bookmarked.

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/

[photon]

Space shuttle's going up today on the big mission to refurbish the Hubble for the last time. It's a hugely complex mission but if they pull it off the Hubble will be better than it ever was! Hopefully nothing goes awry.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by photon

Space shuttle's going up today on the big mission to refurbish the Hubble for the last time. It's a hugely complex mission but if they pull it off the Hubble will be better than it ever was! Hopefully nothing goes awry.

Whaddya mean 'hopefully nothing goes awry?' Those are the only missions that are interesting. If something doesnt fly off the space shuttle then its just another boring old successful mission.

[Thor]

35,000 year old porn found.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2...as_a_rival.php

[Thor]

Lifes first spark recreated in lab

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...bonucleotides/

and a good write up on it:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lo...iotic-kitchen/

[SportsJunky]

NASA'S space shuttle Atlantis has been caught in a stunning snap silhouetted against the sun. The pic — the first ever image taken of a solar transit of a space shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope — was taken by an amateur astronomer from his back garden.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/15...is-from-earth/

[Thor]

Also in honour of the hubble repair going on, check out the 5 part "The Camera that Changed the Universe" on:

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/

Starts about halfway down, lots of nice pictures and great info.

[ricosuave]

^ my new desktop background

oh, and great reading too

thanks

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Thor

Also in honour of the hubble repair going on, check out the 5 part "The Camera that Changed the Universe" on:

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/

Starts about halfway down, lots of nice pictures and great info.

But when we see pictures like that, aren't they actually computer enhanced? I mean, our eyes wouldn't see those images in those colours because the radiation would be out of our optical range, wouldn't it? Lots of those images would actually be invisible to us, so they are more like renditions.

[photon]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

But when we see pictures like that, aren't they actually computer enhanced? I mean, our eyes wouldn't see those images in those colours because the radiation would be out of our optical range, wouldn't it? Lots of those images would actually be invisible to us, so they are more like renditions.

Depends on the instrument. The WFC2 actually operates in the visual range (as well as the near infrared and the ultraviolet), so images from that camera are possibly close to what we'd actually see.. IF our eyes were sensitive enough anyway, exposure times on those images are probably measured in hours or days or something (though I'm not sure). But yeah there's computer stuff going on I'm sure, compressing the entire visual range of the camera (or picking a part of it) into our visual range.

[EtchySketch9]

This video really puts the whole Hubble stuff into perspective. It really blew my mind and I haven't quite looked at life the same after watching this video...

I guess you can say it humbled me! I strongly encourage you folks to watch it (has some good music too!).

The Most Important Image Ever Taken (The Hubble Ultra Deep Field): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgg2tpUVbXQ

(Sorry, I suck at embedding)

[Phanuthier]

Better colour Kindle? http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr09/8907

In laymans terms - an electrofluidic display where colours can be controlled by a voltage to make a glossy magainze looking screen

[Thor]

Originally Posted by EtchySketch9

This video really puts the whole Hubble stuff into perspective. It really blew my mind and I haven't quite looked at life the same after watching this video...

I guess you can say it humbled me! I strongly encourage you folks to watch it (has some good music too!).

The Most Important Image Ever Taken (The Hubble Ultra Deep Field): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgg2tpUVbXQ

(Sorry, I suck at embedding)

I simple thanks wasn't enough, this is one oustanding video that gave me goosebumps watching it.

Don't miss this video.

[RougeUnderoos]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200...ng_missio.html

Not news, but cool pictures of the space shuttle.

[photon]

Looks like they finished early today, all the EVA work is done so hopefully everything checks out and we get to see pictures from the new instruments soon!

[Thor]

This is unreal, Body invaders, neat video but not for squeamish.

http://mindcrap.com/media/755/Body_Invaders/