Step aside NASA; it’s time to let private enterprise take hold of the wheel. That’s the message US President Barack Obama delivered when he handed down NASA’s budget.The US President has put the brakes on the space agency’s ambition to return to the Moon – a goal set by his predecessor George W Bush – and set in train the biggest fundamental change in space exploration in half a century.
Read more at ABC The Drum.
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Tagged: abc, analysis, NASA, space exploration
Spoke to Richard Glover on ABC 702 about NASA’s plan to ‘auction’ off its excess artefacts.
It’s based on this story I published on our website.
As NASA prepares the move from using the space shuttle to renting space vehicles from private industry, artefacts of the nearly three decade-old program are being distributed online.
With the shuttle program ending this year after nearly three decades of flying, the agency is turning to an eBay-style online service to find homes for surplus and historically significant wares.
Read more at ABC Science or listen to the interview.
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Tagged: NASA, radio, space exploration
This is a difficult question to answer, because the number keep growing.
Almost every year astronomers find new moons, using better telescopes on Earth and spacecraft flying through the solar systen. Some moons are so small that that their width is smaller than most cities on Earth.
The official list of moons in our solar system is kept by the International Astronomical Union, who are also in charge of naming them. Most of the names follow a theme.
For example, the moons of Jupiter are wives, girlfriends and daughters of the God Zeus, Saturn’s moons are named after ancient giants, and moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare’s plays.
As of September 2009 there are 151 moons orbiting planets and dwarf planets in our solar system.
You will find a full list of names at – http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/append7.html
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Tagged: astronomy, moons, q&a
In 1888 German scientist Friedrich Reinitzer extract a compound known as cholesterol from carrots. He found that when he heated the liquid it changed from an orange colour to clear due to the crystal structure within the liquid.
In 1962 electronics engineer Richard Williams found that he could make the crystals move when he applied an electric current to them. A few years later the first liquid crystals displays (LCD) were built. These simple back and white (silvery-grey) displays first appeared in watches and calculators. Today LCD are also found in televisions, mobile phones and laptop computers.
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Tagged: Technology, techknow, lcd, liquid crystal, tv
Senator Conroy, take note. At a speech overnight, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said the following.
“Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world’s networks. They have expunged words, names and phrases from search engine results. They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in nonviolent political speech. These actions contravene the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which tells us that all people have the right ‘to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Most people, including Ms Clinton, probably have China in mind when they read this. Pity Australia is in the same boat.
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Tagged: censorship, internet
Exposure to chemicals used in the manufacture of non-stick surfaces has been linked to an increased rate of thyroid disease.
But experts warn more research is needed to confirm whether the chemicals are the cause of the increased rate.
Read more at ABC News website.
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Tagged: chemical, disease, food, health, science
Forget what you know: Fish have a memory that lasts much more than three seconds and are capable of deception and learning, say Australian researchers.
Dr Kevin Warbuton, an adjunct researcher at the Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University in Albury, New South Wales has been studying fish for more than three decades and says they’re much better at memory than we give them credit for.
Warbuton’s research has been focused on Australian freshwater fish, particularly in southeast Queensland.
He says the idea that fish have a short memory is wrong.
“It’s absolute rubbish,” says Warbuton. “There’s been a lot of work done over the last 15 years on learning and memory in fish and it has been found that fish are quite sophisticated.
“Fish can remember prey types for months; they can learn to avoid predators after being attacked once and they retain this memory for several months.”
Read More at ABC Science Online.
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Tagged: fish, Helix, memory, urban myth
A new study suggests that it may be possible to reduce the degree of myopia in children by using bifocal lens.
Myopia, also known as short-sightedness, occurs when the eyeball becomes elongated, causing light to focus in front of, instead of on, the retina.
It is typically diagnosed in children around the age of 10 years and can become worse throughout their teenage years.
Previous research into the effect of single-focus and bifocal lens to reduce the progression of myopia in children have so far been inconclusive.
This latest study, led by Dr Desmond Cheng, then of the Queensland Institute of Technology, only recruited children diagnosed with rapidly progressing myopia.
Read more at ABC Science Online.
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Tagged: glasses, myopia, sight, vision
Had a great New Year’s Eve at home with friends and it got me thinking where I have spent my NYE and whether it says something about my life.
So here is my list:
2009 - at home with friends. A wedding was going on behind us and fireworks were set off above us.
2008 - at my Mum’s in Melton. Illegal fireworks went off in the park as we band saucepans.
2007 - last childless NYE. Nay was heavily pregnant so we watched Sydney fireworks alone with a 40″ flat screen television.
2006 - watched Sydney fireworks from point in Balmain. Sat at vantage point for 11 hours waiting for 20 minute display.
2005 - hottest NYE ever. First with Nay at Fat Boy Slim concert on Bondi Beach. Great night and very hot day that followed.
2004 - TJ and I planned to celebrate in Melton, but the venue closed at 10. Wandered back to Mum’s and drank flat coke while watching a possum on the roof. Rose early for swim at St Kilda beach.
2003 - rang in the New Year in South Island of New Zealand with a great group of friends and margaritas.
2002 - a quiet NYE in Melton with family.
2001 - a warm and wet night in Yeppoon trying to drink tequila shots with Kafir limes. Blahhhh! I must have drunk too much as I wasn’t keen on the ringing bells at midday the next day.
2000 - ringing in the new millenium freezing with friends on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. Watched sunrise on Capital Hill that morning.
An interesting list – a different spot each year. Wonder what this decade will bring.
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Tagged: new years eve, nye, party
Want to travel to Mars in in the next year or two? Well maybe you can’t go, but NASA is happy to take your name there instead.
The Mars Science Laboratory rover will leave Earth in 2011 and landing on Mars, driving and looking for signs of life and water.
On board will be a microchip full of names of people from planet Earth. To add your name to the microchip, visit the ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ web page (http://bit.ly/martianname) and enter your name, country and postcode.
You can print a certificate of participation to put on your wall and look at a map showing where other names are from.
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Tagged: mars, NASA, space exploration, spacecraft
