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San Francisco, 4:46 AM
Wed Dec 23
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Discovery of 4.4-Million-Year-Old Hominid "Ardi" Is Greatest Scientific Breakthrough of 2009
Venerable journal Science has announced its top breakthroughs of 2009, and topping the list is a breakthrough in evolutionary biology. It's the discovery of Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4-million-year-old hominid skeleton that reveals how homo sapiens' ancient ancestors looked and lived. More »Transplanted Rat Brains Could Beat Alzheimer's
Transplanting small numbers of nerve cells directly into the brain has restored the learning ability of brain-damaged rats — and might be able to defeat the memory loss of Alzheimer's disease. More »We Can Replace Your Blood Cells With Synthetics
A few years from now, your blood transfusion may contain synthetic blood cells (pictured) almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Except in one important way: These synth-cells can be stuffed with drugs for special delivery via your circulatory system. More »Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Markus Haering probably didn't intend to emulate Lex Luthor when his company's drilling triggered a series of minor earthquakes. But the geothermal energy mogul is up on criminal charges for his earth-shaking exploits. More »Octopus Uses Coconut Shells as Portable Armor
Tools aren't just for vertebrates anymore. The veined octopus has been spotted lugging around coconut shells to serve as mobile shelters, the first time scientists have observed tool use in an invertebrate species. More »12/11/09
A CERN bulletin dated December 14 (that's in the future!) talks about the awesome progress the LHC is making on its way to achieve its planned 3.5 TeV per beam.
[cdsweb.cern.ch]
1 eV = 1 electron-volt is the energy that an electron would receive if you were to accelerate it through a potential difference of 1 volt.
1 TeV = 1 tera eV = 10^12 eV = 1 000 000 000 000 electron-volts.
To put that energy in perspective, 1 TeV is enough energy to create about 1000 protons at once.
The LHC is designed to achieve 3.5 TeV per beam, that is, 7.0 TeV when the two proton beams collide.
So, to grasp what this means, this is like throwing 2 protons against one another with enough energy to produce 7000 more protons.
(It doesn't actually happen that way, though. The proton-proton collision produces a lot of other stuff, rather than 7000 protons)
Another way to grasp how awesomely powerful 7 TeV is, consider the fact that *all* chemical reactions (that is, all of chemistry and all of the biochemistry of life) take place at an energy level of a few tens of electron-volts per reaction, that is, about 100 billion times smaller than what the LHC produces in a single collision.
#tips #LHC #CERN #madscience #physics
12/11/09
Artificial retina gives woman limited vision after decades of darkness
[edition.cnn.com]
#tips #madscience #technology
A Device That Lets You Type With Your Mind
Talk Monkey to Me: Monkey Language Contains Simple Sentences
While other primates have exhibited simple vocabularies, it has long been believed that syntax, the construction of sentences, was unique to humans. But a recent study suggests that at least one species of monkey communicates in vocalized sentences. More »Charting the Possible Evolution of Same-Sex Liaisons
Same-sex sexual behavior has evolved multiple times in various animals, including mammals, birds, fish, and even insects. Researchers are increasingly finding that the reasons such behaviors evolved are as varied as the animals themselves. More »Could New Therapies For Drug-Resistant Staph Help To Breed Even Worse Mutant Super-Bacteria?
Antibiotic-resistant staph bugs are a terrifying prospect: a potentially deadly skin infection that resists most traditional treatments. But now, researchers think they've found a weapon against MRSA: hitting it with low-temperature plasma. More »12/04/09
CNN article:
[edition.cnn.com]
UC San Diego research institution doing the dissection:
[thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu]
Watch it live here:
[thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu]
#tips #brain #madscience
Give Me A Biotech Apocalypse That I Can Believe In
Luke Skywalker's Robotic Hand Comes Even Closer to Reality
Are we coming upon the era of bionic limbs? Another company has created a robotic hand that can be controlled by the wearer's thoughts and restores tactile sensation — and the subject claims it feels almost like a real hand. More »The Mystery of Titan's Methane Lakes - Solved?
More »Paralyzed By Light
Just one beam of ultra-violet light left this nematode worm completely paralyzed. A second beam of visible-spectrum light allowed it to move again. That's right - scientists have created behavioral "light switches," a way to control animals with light. More »Mice With Two Mothers and No Father Live Longer
What happens when mammals have two mothers? In the case of mice, it seems that they live longer than mice with one male and one female parent. It could help explain why women typically live longer than men. More »Naked Mole Rats' Latest Superheroic Feat: Surviving Without Oxygen
Ugly though they may be, the naked mole rat might be the animal kingdom's greatest superhero. And their most recently discovered superpower — the ability to survive lengthy periods of oxygen deprivation — could help save human brains. More »Vat-Grown Meat Alive in the Lab, But Not Ready to Eat
Want real meat that's completely cruelty free? For the first time, scientists have grown a pork chop in a laboratory, a breakthrough that could lead to a future of meat that could be harvested without killing animals. More »Beautiful and Terrifying Creatures From The Edge Of Light
Deep in the ocean, beyond where light reaches, thousands of new species are being documented by the Census Of Marine Life. From the tiny and adorable to the nightmarish, all of these creatures from the Cthulian depths are entrancing. More »New Evidence Points to Fossilized Life on Mars
Thirteen years ago, a team of researchers studying the Allan Hills meteorite found evidence that the rock might contain fossils of Martian bacteria. Now, fresh evidence makes a stronger case that Mars once contained life very similar to Earth bacteria. More »