• Entertainment & Gaming

    What Can Movies Teach Us About Space Travel?

    By Posted on 5.1.2008 2 Comments

    5.6.2008 at 05:08pm - Comment by arbiture

    Anything that interests people in wanting a better understanding of science is priceless, and for the nation eventually improves our competitive position, compared to the rest of the world. I don't care if it's movies, TV shows, or newspaper articles, bring it on.

  • Science

    Electricity in the Air

    By Posted on 1.23.2008 17 Comments

    Scientists have known for nearly two centuries how to transmit electricity without wires, and the phenomenon has been demonstrated several times before. But it wasn't until the rise of personal electronic devices that the demand for wireless power materialized. In the past few years, at least three companies have debuted prototypes of wireless power devices, though their distance range is relatively limited [see "Power Brokers," next page]. Then last year, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set the stage for wireless power that works from across a room.

    5.6.2008 at 04:56pm - Comment by arbiture

    One very interesting application of this concept is the placing of solar cells in orbit, and the transmission of that power to a reciever on Earth. In time, such a project would pay for itself. To be on the safe side, untill we know more about biological effects and how strong the beam needs to be, we need to keep people out of the reciever area if located on land.

  • Science

    Modular Space System

    By Posted on 3.6.2008 3 Comments

    It's a name only a government agency could love: the Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information eXchange. Could DARPA possibly come up with a more tortured title for System F6?

    5.6.2008 at 04:36pm - Comment by arbiture

    Modular means redundant. That translates into security and it's attendent peace of mind. The destruction by another nation of a critical satallite could , and most likely would lead to war. The flexibility offerd by redundant satallites could mean the diference between war and a strong diplomatic protest.

  • Technology

    Put That On My NASA Account

    By Posted on 5.6.2008 4 Comments

    NASA has been catching some extra criticism in the past few days after The Houston Chronicle—Johnson Space Center's hometown paper—ran an expose on credit card abuses at the agency. The paper reportedly reviewed 451,000 transactions, and among plenty of apparently legitimate purchases, found that NASA employees had also bought iPods, video games and jewelry. The first two you might be able to slide past accounting, if you were, say, an astronaut doing isolation chamber testing, and needed a few gadgets and games to pass the time.

    5.6.2008 at 04:07pm - Comment by arbiture

    I was furious when I read this. With so many short sighted people who question the value of NASA, any excuse will be used to cut NASA's budget. I am a practicle man. The contributions to the developement of "spin offs", from almost every scientific ( as in pure science) can not I feel be overstated. From an industrial point of view, just two of the contributions that are a direct result of NASA R&D, are energy and medicine. In the near future if we have the commitment, we can place large orbital solar cells in orbit for 24/7 energy transmission down to Earth. And we have the ability to access vast raw materials on the moon and asteroids. The abuse of NASA funds by some, is an insult to the American people, and even the world. Not far fetched, it's cntributions in so many areas should demand a secure budget and robust R&D efforts with very practicle benifits to us on Earth.

  • Science

    Albert Hofmann, Dead at 102

    By Posted on 4.30.2008 2 Comments

    Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and discoverer of LSD died yesterday at the age of 102. Hofmann, who succumbed to a heart attack while at his home in Switzerland, first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938 while researching the alkaloid compounds of ergot, a fungus which grows on rye and wheat. It was deemed to be of no interest at the time and was set aside until Hofmann decided to reinvestigate the compound five years later. In mid April of 1943 while resynthesizing LSD, he accidentally ingested a small amount and was made aware of its effects.

    5.6.2008 at 03:17pm - Comment by arbiture

    An amazing man, and true research scientist in the classic sense. His many contributions provided great insight and helped ease human suffering in the 20th century. Contrary to a few articles I have read on his impact of discovering LSD, Written by people with political agendas or by those who just did not understand his work, when he discovered LSD he had no intention of wanting to develope a psychotropic compound in 1943 But after he discoverd it, his natural curiosity, the hallmark of a good scientist took over. To parraphrase a reference to gun control; LSD did not on it's own kill any one, but reckless use of this most potent drug, not to mention gornment experiments on unwitting individuals did.



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