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Science and Tech post
Nov. 4th, 2008 11:02 amJapanese researchers claim to have cloned frozen mice (that is, mice that were frozen, not that they created frozen clones) and postulate that the same could be done for woolly mammoths.
Richard Dawkin's next target is, according to the Telegraph, "anti-scientific fairy tales". According to the article, he plans to write a book aimed at children to contrast scientific thinking with mythological thinking. Although he is not certain that childhood belief in magic has a detrimental effect, he plans to at least explore the question.
British researchers propose that it may be practical for future manned missions beyond earth's magnetosphere to carry their own "mini-magnetosphere". Simulations show that a magnetic bubble only a few hundred meters across would be sufficient to protect the spacecraft's occupants. Edit: They also performed tests using a $20 magnet and a plasma stream that appeared to work well, but cautioned that scaling it up to a full space ship is more than 15 to 20 years off. The link has a video of the "hole" the magnet makes in a plasma beam.
Cassini's new mission is to check Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, for evidence of life by sampling material ejected in a giant plume from the moon's south pole for the presence of methane and other organic chemicals.
A little-known fungus in Padagonia makes diesel vapour as a bi-product of consuming plant waste, making it a possible cheap source of biofuel from cellulose waste.
Richard Dawkin's next target is, according to the Telegraph, "anti-scientific fairy tales". According to the article, he plans to write a book aimed at children to contrast scientific thinking with mythological thinking. Although he is not certain that childhood belief in magic has a detrimental effect, he plans to at least explore the question.
British researchers propose that it may be practical for future manned missions beyond earth's magnetosphere to carry their own "mini-magnetosphere". Simulations show that a magnetic bubble only a few hundred meters across would be sufficient to protect the spacecraft's occupants. Edit: They also performed tests using a $20 magnet and a plasma stream that appeared to work well, but cautioned that scaling it up to a full space ship is more than 15 to 20 years off. The link has a video of the "hole" the magnet makes in a plasma beam.
Cassini's new mission is to check Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, for evidence of life by sampling material ejected in a giant plume from the moon's south pole for the presence of methane and other organic chemicals.
A little-known fungus in Padagonia makes diesel vapour as a bi-product of consuming plant waste, making it a possible cheap source of biofuel from cellulose waste.