Science Updates

[Mattus]

He has no disease. Rather he has a genetic predisposition to a disease. A disease which itself is not contagious but gives a predisposition to a contagious disease.

This sets a very dangerous precedent.

[AiA in Atlanta]

This caught my eye b/c it is a best-seller at Amazon:

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.

The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia—but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. David Quammen tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field—netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo—with the world’s leading disease scientists. In Spillover Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?

[Super Nova]

Just that is the biggest risk to mankind.

Because there are so many of us now (7 billion isn't it) more than double what it was when I was a kid the odds of this cross over grow and the lose of life huge.

This is how nature maintains a balance I think. There will be a few humans that will survive and the cycle will start again.

Hope hope the next one turns us all into zombies that stand around the shopping malls with dumb looks on a face..... hold on....

[Super Nova]

It's coming.... finally.... cannot wait.....

Google develops computer inspired by Star Trek
A Star Trek-inspired computer interface that is always on standby to answer questions quickly and courteously is being developed by Google.



A computer interface that can supply answers to users without requiring them to dig their phones out of their pockets or tap away at a keyboard is being developed by Google.

Amit Singhal, Google vice-president and senior search engineer, said that the company has been inspired by sci-fi series Star Trek to develop the "ubiquitous computing" concept, where gadgets woven into users' daily lives seamlessly respond to questions.

"Why should someone stop their conversation because they're missing a tiny piece of information that you need to take that conversation further?" said Mr Singhal. "You have to pull out your phone. You have to unlock the phone. You have to type. Already you have lost valuable seconds and the conversation has become unnatural and awkward.

"I would make a bold prediction that in the next three to five years you will have a Star Trek assistant, with a lot more capability than your phone has now. We have built baby steps of this already."

In future, answers to questions could be delivered to users through devices for the living room and kitchen appliances that respond to spoken commands

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... -Trek.html

[Rorschach]

http://www.news.com.au/national/the-bla ... 6502899887" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Super Nova]

Black hole Sagittarius A, at the heart of our galaxy, erupts. But don't panic. Yet

IS THIS a sign of the impending Mayan apocalypse? NASA has observed an eruption - from a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy

Interesting article in that this event has been taken up by the main stream media and they try desparately to link it to the Mayan calendar. A mix of science and voodoo.

Personally I think the sky will fall in.

[Rorschach]

Well I was more interested in the science aspect of it than the "end of the world" spin...

but watch it bub.... I liked "Chicken Little"... there were some great things in that movie.
The spaceships, bits of the spaceships, the alien design, crop circles, little aliens, cloaking devices, etc, etc, etc.

[Super Nova]

Well I was more interested in the science aspect of it than the "end of the world" spin...

Same here but the connection stood out and made me laugh.

It just shows to what lengths the mainstream have to go to provide a story that the non-science literate community would be interested in. At least it get's them to read it and they have to cover the science content in that read.

The sort of audience that would not recognise what this table is for.

[Super Nova]

I shall look for this at sunset. Let me know if you see it. I havbe never looked for mercury before. Typically, you will have about 90 minutes to observe it once the sun has set if you look now. (if the sun is setting now that is)

THERE is little chance you will notice Alan Jones if he is standing next to Brad Pitt; the difference in magnitude is just too great. This is what happens when we try to spy Mercury. The smallest planet is almost always too near the sun to stand out.

Even so, two, maybe three times a year we might get a brief window of opportunity for a few days to see it in the eastern sky before sunrise - or as is the case now, in the western sky after sunset.

At a recent meeting of the Astronomical Society of Victoria attended by more than 100 astronomers, when I asked the question of how many had seen Mercury with their own eyes, fewer than half put their hands in the air. This underlines the difficulty of glimpsing the fleet-footed planet in our skies. Now is a good time to change all that.

Mercury races around our central star, completing one orbit in 88 days; hence it was given the name of the speedy messenger of the gods. Because it is only a third of Earth's distance from the sun, from our perspective it will never stray more than about 28 degrees from Sol in our skies. It also means we can never see this planet at midnight. The best chance to view it is when it is at its furthest east from the setting sun, or west of it at sunrise. Currently, it trails the sun across the sky and, when the sun sets, Mercury still has some way to go before it, too, disappears below the horizon. And there is your chance to nab it.

Typically, you will have about 90 minutes to observe it once the sun has set.

For the next week, Mercury will be as bright as the brightest stars, being one of the first to shine after sunset. Begin looking for it about 8pm and some 15-20 degrees above the western horizon. It will shine with a steady white light, and there are no comparably bright stars in that area of sky to confuse you. The red super-giant star, Antares, will be another 10 degrees higher than Mercury, and Mars slightly higher still.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z2AHMJS91G

[Neferti]

HERE is little chance you will notice Alan Jones if he is standing next to Brad Pitt; the difference in magnitude is just too great. This is what happens when we try to spy Mercury. The smallest planet is almost always too near the sun to stand out.

I saw a picture of Brad in the nuddy way back ...... you shouldn't be using magnitude in the same breath as Alan Jones .... not that I have seen him in the nuddy but .....

Sorry ...... please resume the conversation ..........