This image shows Dao, Niger, and Harmakhis Valles emerging from the flank of the Hecates volcano. The association between the volcano and the outflow channel may imply a hydrothermal origin for the channel. Credit: NASA
For decades NASA has been "following the water" on Mars with hopes of finding signs of alien life there; or at least signs that future colonists won't die of thirst. Now a Texas geologist has dared to revive an old, almost heretical idea -- backed up with all the latest data -- that the Red Planet has been bone dry for billions of years.
For decades NASA has been "following the water" on Mars with hopes of finding signs of alien life there; or at least signs that future colonists won't die of thirst. Now a Texas geologist has dared to revive an old, almost heretical idea -- backed up with all the latest data -- that the Red Planet has been bone dry for billions of years.
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Quantum memory is one of the basic building blocks needed for realizing a quantum computer one day. Atac Imamoglu, a professor of quantum electronics, and Renato Renner, a professor of theoretical physics, examined the issue of whether there can be long-term memory for quantum information at all using numerical models and theoretical analyses. In doing so, they studied one of the most promising candidates for storing quantum information today: so-called topological memory.
Material created at Purdue lets electrons 'dance' and form new state
A team of Purdue University researchers is among a small group in the world that has successfully created ultrapure material that captures new states of matter and could have applications in high-speed quantum computing.
Large scale qubit generation for quantum computing
(PhysOrg.com) -- "Many people are trying to build a quantum computer," Olivier Pfister tells PhysOrg.com. "One to the problems, though, is that you need hundreds of thousands of qubits. So far, scalability has been something of a problem, since generating that many qubits is difficult."
Happy 40th anniversary, Apollo 15!
This month is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 15 launch. This mission was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth to the Moon. The Apollo 15 mission is important because it was another step in manned exploration bringing more advanced scientific tools for exploration of the Moon. The mission demonstrates the importance that advanced technology has in further manned space exploration. This is perhaps an important thing to remember with the recent conclusion of the U.S Space Shuttle program.
NASA sees Tropical Storm Nock-ten knocking the Philippines
Tropical Storm Nock-ten, formerly tropical depression 10W continues raining on the Philippines, and a NASA satellite image shows the extent of the storm's clouds.
NASA sees dramatic temperatures around Tropical Depression 11W
Tropical Depression 11W appears as a huge and very cold area of clouds on infrared imagery from NASA. Infrared imagery basically provides temperature data of factors such as clouds and sea surface and there's quite a contrast between the two around Tropical Depression 11W.
Farmers more likely to be green if they talk to their neighbors
Besides helping each other plant and harvest, rural Chinese neighbors also influence each other's environmental behavior – farmers are more likely to reenroll their land in a conservation program if they talk to their neighbors about it.
The first true view of global erosion
Every mountain and hill shall be made low, declared the ancient prophet Isaiah. In other words: erosion happens. But for the modern geologist a vexing question remains: how fast does this erosion happen?
China launches navigation satellite: Xinhua
China launched its ninth navigation satellite on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing sources at the launch centre.
SpaceX pushes for mission to space station on next flight
NASA and SpaceX have “technically” agreed to allow the Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station this fall, according to SpaceX’s Twitter feed. The Dragon capsule is currently – and tentatively — scheduled to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on November 30, and berth with the ISS 9 days later. Originally, the Dragon was scheduled to just rendezvous and station-keep with the space station on this second flight for Dragon and then dock on a subsequent flight. But after the successful test flight for the first Dragon capsule in Dec. 2010, SpaceX asked NASA to combine the two missions.
VST looks at the Leo Triplet -- and beyond
(PhysOrg.com) -- A huge image, from the new VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and its camera OmegaCAM at ESO's Paranal Observatory, shows a triplet of bright galaxies in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). But the faint objects in the background, rather than the foreground galaxies, are what may capture an astronomer’s attention. The VST’s sharp view of these dim objects hints at the power of the telescope and OmegaCAM for mapping the distant Universe.
Efficacy of cool roofs varies from city to city
(PhysOrg.com) -- While cool roofs and pavements have been found to cool the planet by preventing energy from being radiated back into the atmosphere, previous studies have not accounted for atmospheric feedbacks that may result from changing the surface reflectivity of urban areas. A new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) breaks new ground by using a high-resolution model of the continental United States that incorporates land-surface feedback to probe the effects of deploying light-colored roads and rooftops.
Connecting the dots on aerosol details
Predicting future climate change hangs on understanding aerosols, considered the fine details in the atmosphere. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research used a new modeling tool to bring the picture of aerosols and their actions on clouds into sharper focus.
Largest recorded tundra fire yields scientific surprises
In 2007 the largest recorded tundra fire in the circumpolar arctic released approximately as much carbon into the atmosphere as the tundra has stored in the previous 50 years, say scientists in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature. The study of the Anaktuvuk River fire on Alaska's North Slope revealed how rapidly a single tundra fire can offset or reverse a half-century worth of soil-stored carbon.
Wave power can drive Sun's intense heat
A new study sheds light on why the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is more than 20 times hotter than its surface. The research, led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), may bring scientists a step closer to understanding the solar cycle and the Sun's impacts on Earth.
Reservoirs of ancient lava shaped Earth
Geological history has periodically featured giant lava eruptions that coat large swaths of land or ocean floor with basaltic lava, which hardens into rock formations called flood basalt. New research from Matthew Jackson and Richard Carlson proposes that the remnants of six of the largest volcanic events of the past 250 million years contain traces of the ancient Earth's primitive mantle—which existed before the largely differentiated mantle of today—offering clues to the geochemical history of the planet. Their work is published online July 27 by Nature.
ISS to be sunk after 2020: Russian space agency
Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, its space agency said Wednesday.
Study: Earth shares its orbit with tiny asteroid
(AP) -- Like a poodle on a leash, a tiny asteroid runs ahead of Earth on the planet's yearlong strolls around the sun, scientists report.
Astrophysicists apply new logic to downplay the probability of extraterrestrial life
David Spiegel of Princeton University and Edwin Turner from the University of Tokyo have published a paper on arXiv that turns the Drake equation on its head. Instead of assuming that life would naturally evolve if conditions were similar to that found here on Earth, the two use Bayesian reasoning to show that just because we evolved in such conditions, doesn’t mean that the same occurrence would necessarily happen elsewhere; using evidence of our own existence doesn’t show anything they argue, other than that we are here.
New X-ray camera will reveal big secrets about how chemistry works
Designed to record bursts of images at an unprecedented speed of 4.5 million frames per second, an innovative X-ray camera being built with STFC's world-class engineering expertise will help a major new research facility shed light on the structure of matter.
Pigment discovery expanding into new colors
Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered that the same crystal structure they identified two years ago to create what may be the world's best blue pigment can also be used with different elements to create other colors, with significant potential in the paint and pigment industries.
