Thursday, March 25, 2004
Improve brain power with music
Scientists say exercising to music (Verdi, in this case) helped recovering heart disease patients perform better on cognitive tests.
The researchers say since they know exercise improves cognition and music is supposed to, they wanted to see if combining them increased brain power for their cardiac patients, which it did.
MusicandExericise
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Bug-killer Paint
A British company discovered paint that makes walls too slippery for bacteria to gain a foothold. They were trying to develop a paint for a bakery when they made the discovery.
Read article
Thursday, October 16, 2003
This just in from NASA
The Patagonia Icefields of Chile and Argentina, the
largest non-Antarctic ice masses in the Southern Hemisphere,
are thinning at an accelerating pace and now account for
nearly 10 percent of global sea-level change from mountain
glaciers, according to a new study by NASA and Chile's Centro
de Estudios Cientificos.
Researchers Dr. Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Andres Rivera of Universidad de
Chile, Santiago, Chile; and Gino Casassa of Centro de Estudios
Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile, compared conventional
topographic data from the 1970s and 1990s with data from
NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, flown in February
2000. Their objective was to measure changes over time in the
volumes of the 63 largest glaciers in the region.
Results of the study, published this week in the journal
Science, conclude the Patagonia Icefields lost ice at a rate
equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.04 millimeters (0.0016
inches) per year, during the period 1975 through 2000. This is
equal to nine percent of the total annual global sea-level
rise from mountain glaciers, according to the 2001
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific
Assessment. From 1995 through 2000, however, the rate of ice
loss from the icefields more than doubled, to an equivalent
sea level rise of 0.1 millimeters (0.004 inches) per year.
In comparison, Alaska's glaciers, which cover an area five
times larger, account for about 30 percent of total annual
global sea-level rise from mountain glaciers. So what's
causing the increased Patagonia thinning?
Rignot and his colleagues concluded the answer is climate
change, as evidenced by increased air temperatures and
decreased precipitation over time. Still, those factors alone
are not sufficient to explain the rapid thinning. The rest of
the story appears to lie primarily in the unique dynamic
response of the region's glaciers to climate change.
Rignot said scientists are particularly interested in studying
how climate interacts with glaciers because it may be a good
barometer of how the large ice sheets of Greenland and
Antarctica will respond to future climate change. "We know the
Antarctic peninsula has been warming for the past four
decades, with ice shelves disappearing rapidly and glaciers
behind them speeding up and raising sea level," he noted. "Our
Patagonia research is providing unique insights into how these
larger ice masses may evolve over time in a warmer climate,"
he said.
The Northern Patagonia Icefield in Chile and the Southern
Patagonia Icefield in Chile and Argentina, cover 13,000 and
4,200 square kilometers (5,019 and 1,622 square miles),
respectively. The region, spanning the Andes mountain range,
is sparsely inhabited, with rough terrain and poor weather,
restricting ground access by scientists. Precipitation in the
region ranges from 2 to 11 meters (6.6 to 36 feet) of water
equivalent per year, a snow equivalent of up to 30 meters
(98.4 feet) a year. The icefields discharge ice and meltwater
to the ocean on the west side and to lakes on the east side,
via rapidly flowing glaciers. The fronts of most of these
glaciers have been retreating over the past half-century or
more.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is a cooperative project
of NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and the
German and Italian space agencies. Information about the
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is available at:
JPL/NASA
SOUTH AMERICAN GLACIERS MELTING FASTER, CHANGING SEA LEVEL
The Patagonia Icefields of Chile and Argentina, the
largest non-Antarctic ice masses in the Southern Hemisphere,
are thinning at an accelerating pace and now account for
nearly 10 percent of global sea-level change from mountain
glaciers, according to a new study by NASA and Chile's Centro
de Estudios Cientificos.
Researchers Dr. Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Andres Rivera of Universidad de
Chile, Santiago, Chile; and Gino Casassa of Centro de Estudios
Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile, compared conventional
topographic data from the 1970s and 1990s with data from
NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, flown in February
2000. Their objective was to measure changes over time in the
volumes of the 63 largest glaciers in the region.
Results of the study, published this week in the journal
Science, conclude the Patagonia Icefields lost ice at a rate
equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.04 millimeters (0.0016
inches) per year, during the period 1975 through 2000. This is
equal to nine percent of the total annual global sea-level
rise from mountain glaciers, according to the 2001
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific
Assessment. From 1995 through 2000, however, the rate of ice
loss from the icefields more than doubled, to an equivalent
sea level rise of 0.1 millimeters (0.004 inches) per year.
In comparison, Alaska's glaciers, which cover an area five
times larger, account for about 30 percent of total annual
global sea-level rise from mountain glaciers. So what's
causing the increased Patagonia thinning?
Rignot and his colleagues concluded the answer is climate
change, as evidenced by increased air temperatures and
decreased precipitation over time. Still, those factors alone
are not sufficient to explain the rapid thinning. The rest of
the story appears to lie primarily in the unique dynamic
response of the region's glaciers to climate change.
Rignot said scientists are particularly interested in studying
how climate interacts with glaciers because it may be a good
barometer of how the large ice sheets of Greenland and
Antarctica will respond to future climate change. "We know the
Antarctic peninsula has been warming for the past four
decades, with ice shelves disappearing rapidly and glaciers
behind them speeding up and raising sea level," he noted. "Our
Patagonia research is providing unique insights into how these
larger ice masses may evolve over time in a warmer climate,"
he said.
The Northern Patagonia Icefield in Chile and the Southern
Patagonia Icefield in Chile and Argentina, cover 13,000 and
4,200 square kilometers (5,019 and 1,622 square miles),
respectively. The region, spanning the Andes mountain range,
is sparsely inhabited, with rough terrain and poor weather,
restricting ground access by scientists. Precipitation in the
region ranges from 2 to 11 meters (6.6 to 36 feet) of water
equivalent per year, a snow equivalent of up to 30 meters
(98.4 feet) a year. The icefields discharge ice and meltwater
to the ocean on the west side and to lakes on the east side,
via rapidly flowing glaciers. The fronts of most of these
glaciers have been retreating over the past half-century or
more.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is a cooperative project
of NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and the
German and Italian space agencies. Information about the
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is available at:
JPL/NASA
Edgy Shows Promote Brand Recall
This study from Comedy Central, which may be self-serving, suggests that edgy shows such as SouthPark produce greater brand recall for their advertisers. If marketers find this so, we can probably expect to see more and more edgy shows with raunchy language, sexually explicit themes and subversive messages. Can you see this principal at work in the type of in-your-face advertising such as that in Spielberg's "Minority Report?" I can imagine standing in the checkout line at the grocery story and seeing SouthPark's Cartman saying, "If you don't want to be a fat ass like me, better buy this reducing aid..."
Read Article
Laser Embossed Bunny
I wrote a book about lasers in 1982 (Lasers, Lightwave of the Future, Arco). Something I left out was the possibility of a laser-embossed bunny on Playboy's special 50th anniversary pink lipstick.
Read article
The 'Times' Markoff on Science Fiction
John Markoff has been covering technology for the NY Times since Microsoft and Apple were unknown to most of us. Turns out he's a science fiction fan. Mentions John Barne's "Mother of Storms," Gibson's latest and other works in this interview on the Online Journalism Review.
Read article
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Injectable Eyes?
Researchers say by turning a known neurotoxin into a plastic gel, they may be able to make old eyes new with an injectable lens.
Injectable lens
Friday, August 22, 2003
Park Me, Baby
The Japanese have made a car that uses a video camera and a software package to park itself.
Will it kiss the girl for me, too?
Park It
Fiber Optics From the Sea
Scientists at Bell Labs say they've identified an ocean sponge capable of
growing thin glass fibers that transmit light "at least as well as
industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication" and are much
more flexible than man-made fiber optic cable.
One researcher: "You can actually tie a knot in these natural biological fibers and they will not
break -- it's really quite amazing." The sponge, nicknamed the "Venus
flower basket," can apparently grow the fiber at cold temperatures using
natural materials and can also accept additives such as sodium that
increase the ability of the fibers to conduct light.
A materials scientist commenting on the news: "It's such a wonderful example of how exquisite
nature is as a designer and builder of complex systems... We can draw it
on paper and think about engineering it but we're in the stone age
compared to nature."
Optic Sponge
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Fortune Cookies on Mars?
Weirdly shaped Martian dunes in the Space pic of the day. Yeah, don't tell me those things are aliens.
I wonder what the tabloids will make of this?
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Blue Origins: Rich Men Funding Private Space Programs
Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com founded Blue Origins, yet another privately funded space program. What's this all about and will it eventually lead to private orbital space programs? The British newspaper The Independent doubts it.
Blue Origins
