Big Picture Science for 01/30/12 - Material Whirl

Big Picture Science - Material Whirl

What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made material. But while concrete may be here to stay,
plenty of new materials will come our way in the 21^st century.

Discover the better, faster, stronger (okay, not faster) materials of the future, and Thomas Edison’s ill-conceived plan to turn concrete into furniture.

Plus, printing objects in 3D… the development of artificial skin… and unearthing the scientific contributions of African-American women chemists.

Guests:

• Darren Lipomi – Chemical Engineering post-doc, Stanford University’s “Skin Lab”
• Linda Schadler – Professor of materials science and engineering, and associate dean for academic affairs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
• Nicolas Weidinger – Research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California
• Jeannette Elizabeth Brown – Retired research chemist; author of African American Women Chemists
• Robert Courland – Author of Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-made Material

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

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 Eclipse in the USA

Souce - NASA Science News for Jan. 27, 2012

A "ring of fire" solar eclipse is coming to the USA this spring. It's the first annular eclipse visible from the contiguous United States in almost 18 years.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/27jan_annulareclipse/

A video version of this story is included below, and is also available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YX2blo1eRk

X-class Solar Flare on Jan. 27th

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 27, 2012: http://spaceweather.com

X-FLARE: Earth-orbiting satellites detected a powerful X2-class solar flare today, Jan. 27th, at 1837 UT (1:37 pm EST). The source was departing sunspot 1402. The blast produced a spectacular CME (not Earth directed) and accelerated energetic protons toward Earth. A low-level radiation storm is now in progress around our planet. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when sunspots erupt? Solar flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

CME Impact on Jan. 24

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 24, 2012: http://spaceweather.com

CME IMPACT: As predicted by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 24 at ~1500 UT (10 am EST). A geomagnetic storm is brewing in the aftermath of the impact, but as this alert is being written it is too soon to say how weak or strong the storm might be. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after local nightfall; the hours around local midnight are often best for seeing the Northern Lights. Chances for a good display favor observers in northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Alaska, and possibly northern tier US states such as Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Incoming CME - Jan. 23, 2012

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 23, 2012: http://spaceweather.com

INCOMING CME: Big sunspot 1402 erupted on Jan. 23rd, producing a strong M9-class solar flare and a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME). Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the CME should reach Earth on Jan. 24th at 14:18 UT (+/- 7 hr) and Mars a little more than a day later. Strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud reaches Earth. Our magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME impact on Jan. 22nd, so another blow could spark impressive auroras at high latitudes. Sky watchers in northern Europe, Canada, Alaska, and northern-tier US states such as the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin should be alert for Northern Lights.

DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Big Picture Science for 01/23/12 - Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex

“I feel your vibe!” Well, that describes a number of fabled locales that claim to pulse with mysterious energy – perhaps prompting books to fly across the room or airplanes to vanish into thin air. But what’s the science behind it?

We examine spots marked with an X, for “extraordinary” – from a haunted house to the Bermuda Triangle – to sort out natural from supernatural phenomena.

Plus, what causes the aurora borealis… a haywire Russian space probe… and just what the heck is an “energy vortex,” anyway?

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog: badastronomy
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles
• Peter Williams – Hydrodynamicist at Agilent Technologies
• Guy P. Harrison – Writer and business owner in Southern California, author of 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True
• Rob Lillis – Space and Planetary Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

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

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.

CME Impact on Jan. 22nd

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 22, 2011: http://spaceweather.com

GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY: Earth's magnetic field is reverberating from a CME impact during the early hours of Jan. 22nd. The hit compressed Earth's magnetic field, briefly exposing some geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma, and disturbed the ionization structure of Earth's upper atmosphere. As night falls on Jan. 22nd, Arctic sky watchers are reporting bright auroras in response to a polar geomagnetic storm (Kp=5). Please check http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

STORM ALERTS: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

Comet Corpses in the Solar Wind

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 20, 2012

A paper published in today's issue of Science raises an intriguing new possibility--the presence of abundant comet corpses in the solar wind. The new research is based on dramatic images of a comet disintegrating in the sun's atmosphere last July.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/20jan_cometcorpse/

Earth-Directed Solar Flare Could Bring Geomagnetic Storms This Weekend

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 19, 2011: http://spaceweather.com

EARTH-DIRECTED FLARE: Active sunspot 1401 erupted today, Jan. 19th, for more than an hour around 16:00 UT. The long-duration blast produced an M3-class solar flare and a CME that appears to be heading toward Earth. Forecasters say strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives during the late hours of Jan. 21st. High-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend. Check http://spaceweather.com for movies and updates.

DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

What Happened to all the Snow?

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 19, 2012

Winter seems to have been on hold this year in some parts of the United States. Snowfall has been scarce in places that were overwhelmed with the white stuff at the same time last year. In today's story from Science@NASA, JPL climatologist Bill Patzert explains what's going on.

FULL STORY: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/

Related SCIENCECAST video is posted below and can also be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdUa820fT1g





Personal note: As a Seattleite I found this post a little ironic given our current weather :-)

Big Picture Science for 01/16/12 - Wired for Thought

Big Picture Science - Wired for Thought

A cup of coffee can leave you wired for the day. But a chip in your brain could wire you to a machine forever. Imagine manipulating a mouse without moving a muscle, and doing a Google search with your mind. Welcome to the future of the brain-machine interface.

Don your EEG thinking-cap, and discover a high-tech thought game that may be the harbinger of machine relationships to come.

Plus, the ultimate mapping project: the Human Connectdome Project aims to identify all the neural pathways in the human brain. It may help us understand what makes us human, but could it also point the way to making us smarter?

And, what all this brain research reveals about the mind and free will – who, or what, is really in charge?

Guests:

• Jan Rabaey – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley
• Arthur Toga – Neurologist at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA School of Medicine, and researcher on the Human Connectome Project
• Michael Gazzaniga – Neuroscientist, director of the University of California Santa Barbara’s SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind, and author of Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain
• Bradley Voytek – Neuroscientist, University of California, San Francisco

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

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.

Re-thinking an Alien World

- NASA Science News for Jan. 13, 2012

A distant super-Earth named "55 Cancri e" is wetter and weirder than astronomers thought possible. The discovery has researchers re-thinking the nature of alien worlds.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/13jan_rethink/

A video version of this story is below and is also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_CZCmJ2om0

Some Comets Like it Hot

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 12, 2012

Astronomers are still scratching their heads over Comet Lovejoy, which plunged through the atmosphere of the sun in December and, against all odds, survived. The comet is now receding into the outer solar system leaving many mysteries behind.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/12jan_cometlovejoy/

A video version of this story is posted below and is also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w75lBn1QIaI

Kepler Discovers a Tiny Solar System

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 11, 2012

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the tiniest solar system so far: a red dwarf star with three rocky planets smaller than Earth.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/11jan_smallestexoplanets/

Big Picture Science for 01/09/12 - Cosmos: It's Big, It's Weird

Big Picture Science - Cosmos: It's Big, It's Weird

It’s all about you. And you, and you, and you and you… that is, if we live in parallel universes. Imagine you doing exactly what you’re doing now, but in an infinite number of universes.

Discover the multiverse theory and why repeats aren’t limited to summer television.

Plus, the physics of riding on a light beam, and the creative analogies a New York Times science writer uses to avoid using the word “weird” to describe dark energy and other weird physics.

Also, people who concoct their own theories (some would say fringe) of the universe: is all matter made up of tiny coiled springs?

Guests:

• Brian Greene – Physicist and mathematician, Columbia University, and author of The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
• Dennis Overbye – Reporter, New York Times
• Simon Steel – Science educator at University College London
• Margaret Wertheim – Science writer, author of Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything

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

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.

Doomed Mars Probe Photographed

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 5, 2012: http://spaceweather.com

MARS PROBE PHOTOGRAPHED: Phobos-Grunt, a Russian Mars probe stuck in Earth orbit since November, is sinking back into the atmosphere. Best estimates suggest re-entry will occur on Jan. 15th or 16th. Meanwhile, citizen scientists can see the probe moving through the night sky sometimes shining as brightly as a first-magnitude star. French astrophotographer Thierry Legault recently photographed Phobos-Grunt through a 14-inch telescope, revealing its outlines and perhaps a clue as to why the probe has had difficulty communicating with Earth. His images and video are highlighted on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com .

Local flyby times for Phobos-Grunt may be found using SpaceWeather's online satellite tracker (http://spaceweather.com/flybys) or on your smartphone: http://simpleflybys.com

Meteors from a Shattered Comet

Source - Space Weather News for Jan. 3, 2012: http://spaceweather.com

FIRST METEOR SHOWER OF 2012: The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday morning, Jan. 4th, when Earth passes through a narrow stream of debris from a comet thought to have broken apart some 500 years ago. The shower is expected to be strong (as many as 100 meteors per hour), but elusive, with a peak that lasts no longer than a couple of hours. The shower's radiant near Polaris favors observers in the northern hemisphere. Images, live audio from a meteor radar, and more information are available on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.

Don't just watch meteors, wear them! Authentic meteorite jewelry is available in the Space Weather Store: http://www.shopspaceweather.com/ownameteorite.aspx

Big Picture Science for 01/02/12 - Light, the Universe, and Everything

Big Picture Science - Light, the Universe, and Everything

ENCORE What’s it all about? And we mean ALL. What makes up this vast sprawling cosmos? Why does it exist? Why do we exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Ow, my head hurts!

For possible answers, we travel to the moment after the Big Bang and discover all that came into being in those few minutes after the great flash: time, space, matter, and light. Plus, the bizarre stuff that makes up the bulk of the universe: dark energy and dark matter.

Also, what we set in motion with the invention of the light blub. How artificial light lit up our homes, our cities and – inadvertently – our skies.

Guests:

• Sean Carroll – Theoretical physicist at California Institute of Technology
• Leonard Susskind – Theoretical physicist, Stanford University
• Jane Brox – Author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light
• Peter Fisher – Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

First aired September 6, 2010

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.