In the News:
Bird-Dinosaur Connection Stronger - Scientists
think that two eggs, still in the fossilized remains of their mother,
are further evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs. Scientists studying
the eggs say that they show that the dinosaur, a oviraptorosaurian, had
a reproductive system partly like that of reptiles and partly like that
of birds. The animal had two ovaries and two oviducts, just like many
reptiles (but unlike birds which only have one). Each oviduct produced
one large egg at a time, just like birds, but unlike reptiles. The dinosaur,
which measured between ten and thirteen feet in length, probably laid
her eggs two at at time until the nest was full.
Fetus Stolen From Science Display- Last month
thieves stole a preserved human fetus from the "Gunther von Hagens' Body
World 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" exhibit in Los
Angeles. The display which shows human bodies preserved through a "plastination"
process, has been controversial where ever it has appeared as some people
have complained that the display of donated corpses is disrespectful.
Police say that the thieves were captured on a surveillance camera and
authorities are working to solve the case.
TET Walker - NASA is working on a new kind of
robot that might eventually be used to explore the Moon or Mars. The tetrahedral
walker, or TET walker, is built out of a series of struts in the shape
of a three-sided pyramid. By lengthening or shortening the struts the
device's center of gravity changes and it "falls" over. By continuing
to change the length on the struts the robot can roll along over terrain
that might be too difficult to navigate with a wheeled or tracked vehicle.
A more advanced version of the device will be composed of 12 pyramids
and will be able to conform it's shape to the terrain is going over. Researchers
hope to be able to test the device on the moon as early as 2012.
Flying Taxis - Science Fiction stories from the
60's that pictured people commuting by flying cars into their jobs in
the city may not be as far-fetched as once thought. A London based company,
Designers Avcen, is working on an air-borne taxi that can take off and
land on a short 125 meter runway and carry seven people at speeds as high
as 350 mph. The company expects that they may be able to do a test flight
in less than a year. Approximately 50 aircraft would service a city the
size of London and take some 37,000 cars off the road.
Housefly Powered Robot - Scientists at the University
of the West of England have designed a robot that powers itself by catching
and eating houseflies. The robot, named EcoBot II, is designed to operate
outside away from normal power sources. It lures flies with human sewage
and then digests them using bacteria and turns their exoskeletons in electricity
which the robot can use to operate. So far the robot is just a research
project and can travel at only 10 centimeters an hour.
What's New at the Museum:
Leonardo's Notebooks - They started out as ways
for Leonardo da Vinci to improve his art, but they became a record of
his lifelong fascination with nature and his genius for invention >Full
Story
Ask the Curator:
Hard Disc for the Brain -
I was thinking about this and I'm not sure if it is possible in the near
future. My question is, is it possible to download your memory and transfer
it to a hard drive and if possible, vice versa. I was wondering, if they
know where the brain stores its memories then they could copy these impulses
and translate it to a hard drive. This will benefit people who suffered
from long term memory loss due to accidents. So is this possible? -Rowell
Scientists don't know as nearly as much they would like about the human brain. What they do know, however, is that not organized in the same way as your home computer. Despite their seeming complexity, most computers are just fancy, programmable adding machines. Brains are far more complex, and at this point, more mysterious.
Most computers are organized with their memory components separate from their computation elements. The machine's memory can be thought of as simply millions of little mailboxes. Each mailbox is capable of storing a number- or "byte" - between 0 and 255 (Computers store larger numbers by stringing several mailboxes together. It stores letters by giving each letter a number code). When a computer wants to do an operation like addition, part of it called the accumulator fetches the number out of the mailbox, and adds it with another number, then puts it back in a mailbox.
In the human brain memory and processing are not separated in the same way. Memory and processing seem to be mixed together. Both seem to depend on the strength of connections between nerves cells called synapses. Engineers have built computers based on this "neural net" model, but they are not, as yet, in wide-spread use. Because memory and processing are not separated, researchers have a hard time even agreeing on how much memory (in terms of computer bytes) the human brain holds. One group reported in 2003 in an article in the journal Brain and Mind, that the capacity was around 10 to the power of 8,432 based on the number of neurons times the number of connections. This is more capacity than every computer ever made added together. Another scientist, Thomas Landauer of Bell Communications Research, has estimated the size based on the functional capacity of the brain - that is based on how much information people actually remember from minute-to-minute or day-to-day. When this technique is used the number comes up to just a few hundred megabytes - the size of a small hard disc.
In either case, we don't have any idea yet about how you would unload or load stored information into a human brain making any storage solution irrelevant. There are some technical ways to assist people with memory problems, however. Companies are working on button sized devices a person could wear and record everything they hear and see during there entire lifetime. Engineers are looking at ways to make this mass of information retrievable in a form that people can actually use. These solutions are technically feasible in the near future, but the privacy considerations of having our whole life recorded are still a concern for many people.
To Read:
Subterranean Worlds - This anthology put
together by Peter Fitting is a must for any serious student of the history
of hollow earth theory or beliefs in underground civilizations. The selection
of works in the book includes material written by Athanasius Kircher,
Edmund Halley, John Cleves Symmes Jr and many others who have flirted
with such strange notions. He also incorporates writers such as Edgar
Allen Poe and Jules Verne who have pictured underground worlds in their
fiction.
Fittings, a Professor of French and Director of the Department of Cinema Studies Program at the University of Toronto, considers his work on the book "somewhere between a hobby and an obsession." Subterranean Worlds took Fittings ten years to research and put together and many of the selections have never been translated into English before.
The book is available from Wesleyan University Press - www.wesleyan,edu/wespress
Nuts! - On May 9th of 1867 Hazelnuts started
falling in great quanities over a small area of Dublin, Ireland. According
to Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine the nuts fell so hard "that
even the police, portected by unusually strong head covering, were obliged
to seek shelter from the aerial fusillade!" No explaination for this strange
occuranced has ever been found.
In the Sky:
In Opposition - On Wednesday, May 18, Mars and
Saturn will be in heliocentric opposition. That means the two planets
appear on opposite sides of the heavens, as seen from the sun. From on
Earth we can see them with Saturn in the evening sky and Mars in the morning
sky after Saturn sets.
Observed:
Robotic Camel Jockeys - Camel races in the Emirate
of Qatar will be changing forever as human jockeys are replaced by robotic
riders. The robot jockeys have been developed by the Swiss firm K-Team
in response to criticism of the dangerous sport which had employed children
as young as four years-old as drivers. Race organizers expect that by
the fall racing season they will have 20 riding robots ready for use.
By 2007 all jockeys are expected to be mechanical.
On the Tube:
Currently we are only able to give accurate times and dates for these programs in the United States. Check local listings in other locations.
NOVA: Hunt for the Supertwister - Tornado-chasing
scientists with an eye to better forecasting risk their lives to plumb
the secrets of nature's most terrifying killer. May 3 at 8 pm.
NOVA: Secrets of the Crocodile Caves - Rare
lemurs and crocodiles with bizarre cave-dwelling behavior draw scientists
to a remote corner of Madagascar. May 10 at 8 pm.
The Hindenburg Disaster: Probable Cause - When
the Hindenburg took to the skies in 1936, it became the largest flying
machine in history. What caused the Hindenburg's spectacular and tragic
demise in only 34 seconds is still not clear. Specialist investigators
re-examine this airship disaster. On the Science Channel: May 05 @ 10:00
PM, May 06 @ 01:00 AM, May 06 @ 06:00 AM, May 06 @ 09:00 AM, May 06 @
02:00 PM, May 06 @ 05:00 PM, ET/PT
Brilliant Minds Secrets of the Cosmos - Follow
the tumultuous lives of four of the worldıs greatest physicists: Galileo
Galilei, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. These rebels
and misfits overturned our vision of the universe. What were these brilliant
men really like? On the Science Channel: May 06 @ 09:00 PM, May 07 @ 12:00
AM, May 07 @ 05:00 AM, May 07 @ 08:00 AM, May 07 @ 01:00 PM, May 07 @
04:00 PM ; ET.
The Real Jules Verne - Jules Verne is recognized
as a founding father of science fiction with predictions of the future
that were uncannily accurate. Meet this extraordinary man through interviews
with fellow writers, academics, and even modern submarine pilots and astronauts.
On Science Channel: May 22 @ 10:00 PM, May 23 @ 01:00 AM, May 23 @ 06:00
AM, May 23 @ 09:00 AM, May 23 @ 02:00 PM, May 23 @ 05:00 PM
Living With Dinosaurs - Confront the formidable
predators that survived the cataclysm 65 million years ago that killed
off the T-Rex and other mighty reptiles. Crocodiles, giant lizards and
meat-eating turtles live among us, but are relics of the great age of
dinosaurs. On The Science Channel: May 16 @ 09:00 PM, May 17 @ 12:00 AM,
May 17 @ 05:00 AM, May 17 @ 08:00 AM, May 17 @ 01:00 PM, May 17 @ 04:00
PM, ET/PT.
Exploring Einstein: Life of a Genuis - Albert
Einstein's physics theories led to the creation of the nuclear bomb, space
travel, and an understanding of our universe. In the later part of his
life Einstein tried to disprove his theories as they clashed with his
personal beliefs. On Science Channel: May 27 @ 09:00 PM, May 28 @ 12:00
AM, May 28 @ 05:00 AM, May 28 @ 08:00 AM, May 28 @ 01:00 PM, May 28 @
04:00 PM, ET/PT.
Fireballs From Space - Asteroids and comets
roar across the solar system threatening to smash into distant planets
and occasionally the Earth. Probes like Deep Impact are watching these
dangerous space rocks. Some probes are attempting to land on these alien
terrains. On Science Channel: May 24 2005 @ 10:00 PM, May 25 @ 01:00 AM,
May 25 @ 06:00 AM, May 25 @ 09:00 AM, May 25 @ 02:00 PM, May 25 @ 05:00
PM ET/PT.
Investigating History Lincoln: Man or Myth? -Abraham
Lincoln remains our country's most beloved president--but nearly 200 years
after his birth, we're still trying to piece together a true picture of
this man who never fails to fascinate, surprise, and enlighten us. Scholars
and historians examine how Lincoln became a myth. Was he really the Great
Emancipator who deeply wanted to free slaves or a racist and white supremacist?
Did the writings that inspired a nation truly come from his pen? Do we
really even know what he looked like? On History Channel: May 9 @ 8pm
ET/PT.
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Science over the Edge Archives
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Copyright Lee Krystek 2005. All Rights Reserved.