Robonaut 2 Set to Launch in February

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 31, 2011

Robonaut 2, a dexterous humanoid robot explorer, is set to leave Earth in February to join the crew of the International Space Station.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/31jan_r2/

(Image copyright NASA)

Are We Alone for 01/31/11 - Skeptic Check: ESP or Think Again

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: ESP or Think Again

You’re right: it’s a show about ESP. And, correct again: we’re excited about the publication of a paper that claims precognition exists. You’ve already divined what our paranormal investigator says about the paper, whether the statistics that it cites are significant, and what the editor-in-chief of a major scientific journal has to say on the tricky matter of publishing such a result at all.

You’re not surprised that Brains on Vacation takes on the matter of Armageddon-by-exploding-star, because, you knew that. You also knew that it will be an excellent show. But, tune in anyway – consider it a repeat.

Guests:

• Bruce Alberts – Editor-in-chief of Science
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry – Los Angeles
• Jeff Rouder – Quantitative psychologist, University of Missouri
• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of the website badastronomy.com
• Steve Macknik – Neuroscientist, author of Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_ESP_or_Think_Again

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Double Blast on the Sun

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 28, 2011: http://spaceweather.com

DOUBLE BLAST: This morning, a spectacular double eruption on the sun produced the strongest solar flare of the year so far (an M1-class event). Plasma clouds produced by the event are expected to miss Earth, so no geomagnetic storms are in the offing. Today's edition of http://spaceweather.com highlights movies captured by SOHO and the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

STRANGE LIGHT PILLARS: A photographer has recorded extraordinary pillars of light shooting into the night sky from a corn mill in Nebraska. The tall luminous columns were capped with nested V-shaped tops that distinguish them from ordinary urban light pillars. Check http://spaceweather.com for must-see photos and an explanation of the icy phenomenon.

TEXT MESSAGES FROM THE SUN: Would you like a text message when the sun flares and geomagnetic storms erupt? Sign up for our new alert service, SpaceWeather Text: http://spaceweathertext.com .

A Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 26, 2011

Evidence is mounting that Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a bubbly subterranean ocean where conditions might be friendly to life.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/26jan_fizzyocean/

A Cassini image of vaporous, icy jets emerging from fissures on Enceladus.

(Image copyright NASA)

Solar Sail Stunner

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 24, 2011

In a stunning reversal of fortune, NASA's NanoSail-D spacecraft has unfurled a gleaming sheet of space-age fabric 650 km above Earth, becoming the first-ever solar sail to circle our planet.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/24jan_solarsail/

(Image copyright NASA)

Are We Alone for 01/24/11 - Gone Missing!

Are We Alone - Gone Missing!

We all hear about research discoveries, but what about what scientists don’t find? Tune in for a round-up of eureka moments that have yet to come, such as the hunt for the dark energy of the universe and the search for the elusive elementary particle responsible for the mass of objects.

Also, we miss the woolly mammoth so much, scientists plan to clone the hairy beast and bring the extinct animal back.

Plus, why the missing link is no longer missing, what extrasolar planets have now been found, and – NASA money for science: where’d it go?

Guests:

• Alan Stern – Aerospace consultant and planetary scientist
• Natalie Batalha – Deputy Science Team Lead for NASA’s Kepler Mission
• Leslea Hlusko – Biologist at the University of California, Berkeley
• Ian Sample – Science writer, author of Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science
• Saul Perlmutter – Physicist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Darin Croft – Professor of Anatomy, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Gone_Missing_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Article of interest: "Canada Explores New Frontiers in Astroinformatics"

There is a really interesting article by Nicole Hemsoth entitled "Canada Explores New Frontiers in Astroinformatics"on how Canada is using cloud computing to handle all the astronomical data now being made available to it's astronomers due to advances in instrumentation.

Here is a quote from the article:

"Researchers Nicholas Ball and David Schade discussed the concept of astroinformatics in detail, stating that, “in the past two decades, astronomy has gone from being starved for data to being flooded by it. This onslaught has now reached the stage where the exploitation of these data has become a named discipline in its own right…This naming follows in analogy from the already established fields of bio- and geoinformatics, which contain their own journals and funding."

I first came across this article first on the High Performance Computing (HPC) Group on Linkedin, and then again on Slashdot, and I thought I would point it out to the readers of this blog. If you are like me and have an interest in both astronomy and computers then take a few minutes and read this excellent article.

Are We Alone for 01/17/11 - You've Got Sol!

Are We Alone - You've Got Sol!

It’s the star of our solar system, but much about the Sun is still mysterious. Find out what a new NASA mission to our favorite fireball might discover about its super-hot outer regions.

Also, why the most common stars in the galaxy don’t shine thanks to nuclear energy as our Sun does. And, recreating Sol’s energy source on Earth at the National Ignition Facility.

Plus, an ex-Star Wars animator and photographer on how to film an atomic blast.

Guests:

• Peter Kuran – An animator on Star Wars, now a filmmaker, documentarian of “”http://www.atomcentral.com/trinity.html">Trinity and Beyond,” and author of How To Photograph an Atomic Bomb
• Davy Kirkpatrick – Astronomer, California Institute of Technology, and scientist for NASA’s WISE mission
• Stuart Bale – Physicist at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
• Mike Dunne – Physicist, and Program Director for Fusion Energy at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/You_ve_Got_Sol_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Solar Activity Surges on the Farside of the Sun

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 14, 201: http://spaceweather.com

FARSIDE SOLAR ACTIVITY: Solar activity has been low for weeks, but a new active region on the far side of the sun appears set to break the spell of quiet. For the past two days it has exploded repeatedly, hurling bright coronal mass ejections into space and sending shock waves billowing through the sun's atmosphere. Although the region cannot be seen directly from Earth, NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, stationed over the sun's eastern horizon, has a great view. Visit http://spaceweather.com for movies and updates as this region turns toward our planet in the days ahead.

TEXT MESSAGES FROM THE SUN: Would you like a text message when the sun flares and geomagnetic storms erupt? Sign up for our new alert service, SpaceWeather Text: http://spaceweathertext.com .

Sundiving Comet Storm

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 12, 2011

2010 ended with an unprecedented flurry of small comets diving into the Sun. Researchers say this could herald a much larger comet still to come.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/12jan_cometstorm/

Thunderstorms Make Antimatter

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 11, 2011

At any given moment, about 1800 thunderstorms are in progress somewhere around the globe. New observations by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope show that many of these thunderstorms may be making antimatter.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/11jan_antimatter/

Are We Alone for 01/10/11 - That's So Random!

Are We Alone - That's So Random!

Random is as random does… makes sense doesn’t even that anyway in tune hear to randomness how lives rules.

Brain chaos the drives, restoration role of help insight ecology may into randomness the, numbers sense of make statistics can’t why we or, ants not seem of erratic behavior why the may but is.

Guests:

• Leonard Mlodinow – Theoretical physicist and author of The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)
• Jon Chase – Biologist and director of the Tyson Research center at Washington University in St. Louis
• Lori Marino – Evolutionary biologist, Emory University
• Deborah Gordon – Biologist, Stanford University
• John Beggs – Physicist, Indiana University at Bloomington

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/That_s_So_Random_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Rare Double Eclipse Photographed

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 4, 2011: http://spaceweather.com

FANTASTIC SOLAR ECLIPSE: When the sun rose over Europe this morning, a piece of it was missing. The Moon had covered as much as 86% of the solar disk, producing a partial solar eclipse and a fantastic crescent-shaped sunrise. The most amazing apparition, however, may have occurred in the Sultanate of Oman, where for a split second the Moon and the International Space Station partially eclipsed the sun at the same time. Visit http://spaceweather.com for must-see photos.

TEXT MESSAGES FROM SPACE: Would you like a text message when the sun flares and geomagnetic storms erupt? Sign up for our new alert service, SpaceWeather Text: http://spaceweathertext.com .

A Meteor Shower and a Solar Eclipse on the Same Day (Jan. 4)

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 3, 2011: http://spaceweather.com

QUADRANTID METEOR SHOWER: Sky watchers in the northern hemisphere should be alert for meteors before sunrise on Tuesday, Jan. 4th. Earth is about to pass through a narrow stream of debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1, the parent of the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Forecasters say the encounter could produce a fast flurry of 100 meteors per hour during the early hours of Jan. 4th. Details and observing tips may be found at http://spaceweather.com .

GOT CLOUDS? No problem. You can stay inside and listen to the Quadrantids. Tune into SpaceWeather Radio for live meteor echoes from the US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas: http://spaceweatherradio.com .

PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: After the meteor shower, observers in Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia can witness a partial eclipse of the sun. In western Europe, as much as 86% of the solar disk will be covered by the Moon at dawn, producing a fantastic crescent sunrise on Jan. 4th. Check http://spaceweather.com for details, animated maps and live webcasts.

Are We Alone for 01/03/11 - Do Computers Byte?

Are We Alone - Do Computers Byte?

ENCORE: The march of computer technology continues. But as silicon chips and search engines become faster and more productive – can the same be said for us?

The creator of Wolfram Alpha describes how his new “computational knowledge engine” is changing – and improving – how we process information. Meanwhile, suffering from data and distraction burnout? Find out what extremes some folks take to stop their search engines.

Also, the Singularity sensation of humans merging with machines… and, why for the ancient Greeks all of this is “been there, done that.” A deep sea dive turns up a 2,000 year old computer!

Guests:

• Jo Marchant – Freelance science journalist and author of Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-Old Computer—and the Century-Long Search to Discover Its Secrets
• Stephen Wolfram – Mathematican, computer programmer, and founder of Wolfram Research and Wolfram Alpha
• Fred Stutzman – PhD student at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science
• Peggy Orenstein – author and contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine, which is where we found her article “Stop Your Search Engines”
• Ray Kurzweil – Inventor, futurist and author, most recently, of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Do_Computers_Byte_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.