Science & Technology Snippets - April 30th 2008

Interesting news in the world of science …

By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger of two black holes the newly formed black hole was ejected from its galaxy. This extreme ejection event, which had been predicted by theorists, has now been observed in nature for the first time. The team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) thereby opened a new window into observational astrophysics.
The discovery will have far-reaching consequences for our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the early Universe, and also provides observational confirmation of a key prediction from the General Theory of Relativity (Astrophysical Journal Letters, May 10, 2008).
When two black holes merge, waves of gravitational radiation ripple outward through the galaxy at the speed of light. Because the waves are emitted mainly in one direction, the black hole itself is pushed in the opposite direction, much like the recoil that accompanies the firing of a rifle or the launching of a rocket. The black hole is booted from its normal location in the nucleus of the galaxy. If the kick velocity is high enough, the black hole can escape the galaxy completely.


Albert Hofmann, the pioneering Swiss chemist and advocate of psychedelics who discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, died Tuesday. He was 102. Hofmann reportedly died of a heart attack at his home in Basel, Switzerland. Hofmann’s most famous discovery happened on April 16, 1943. He was researching the synthesis of a lysergic acid compound, LSD-25, when he inadvertently absorbed a bit through his fingertips. Intrigued by the effect it had on his perception, Hofmann decided further exploration was warranted. Three days later, on April 19, he ingested 250 micrograms of LSD, embarking on the first full-fledged acid trip. …

More than half of Yellowstone National Park’s bison herd has died since last fall, forcing the government to suspend its annual slaughter program. More than 700 of the iconic animals starved or otherwise died on the mountainsides during an unusually harsh winter, and more than 1,600 were shot by hunters or sent to slaughterhouses in a disease-control effort, according to National Park Service figures …

agora-setpic Nowadays, computer-generated imagery makes it possible to create just about anything the mind can conceive, but there is nothing quite like a man-made recreation of an ancient civilization to inspire awe. As Monika Bartyzel told us last month, Alejandro Amenabar has been busy preparing his next film, Agora, which takes place in Ancient Egypt. Rachel Weisz will star as an astrologer/philosopher battling to save “the collected wisdom of the world” as religious riots flare and threaten the fabled Library of Alexandria. Max Minghella will also star as her slave (nice work if you can get it).
Agora is being filmed on the island of Malta, and Times of Malta has a picture of one of the giant sets. …
A set has been built at Delimara for the shooting of the ancient Egyptian epic, Agora, based in Roman Egypt in the fourth century AD. … The idea is to bring the ancient Alexandria back to life, allowing the audience to see, feel and smell a remote civilization as if it were as real as today … Agora marks a series of firsts for the island. Not only is the entire film of such a scale being shot here for the first time but also many Maltese are being employed in roles and crew positions that are usually taken by foreigners. Agora is also the longest movie to be shot on the island, with an estimated 76 shooting days (15 weeks) scheduled. The production has been in preparation since October and should wrap up the end of June.
Agora marks the long-awaited return to directing for Amenabar, who last made The Sea Inside. That claustrophobic drama was a change of pace for Amenabar, who previously had been known for making thrillers like Open Your Eyes and The Others. Agora is definitely his most ambitious production to date, but it sounds like it could be a promising combination of intelligent thrills and historical drama.

Marine scientists studying the carcass of a rare colossal squid said Wednesday they had measured its eye at about 11 inches across – bigger than a dinner plate – making it the largest animal eye on Earth. One of the squid’s two eyes, with a lens as big as an orange, was found intact as the scientists examined the creature while it was slowly defrosting at New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. It has been preserved there since being caught in the Ross Sea off Antarctica’s northern coast last year. … The squid is the largest specimen ever caught of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid. When caught, it measured 26 feet long and weighed about 1,000 pounds, but scientists believe the species may grow as long as 46 feet. … The squids can descend to 6,500 feet and are known to be aggressive hunters.

The sun blasts Earth with enough energy in one hour – 4.3 x 1020 joules – provide all of humanity’s energy needs for a year (4.1 x 1020 joules), according to physicist Steven Chu, directory of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The question is how to most effectively harness it. Thin-film solar cells may be the answer: One recently converted 19.9 percent of the sunlight that hit it into electricity, surpassing the amount converted into power by mass-produced traditional silicon photovoltaics and offering the potential to unleash this renewable energy source.

Archimedes, the so-called father of geometry, was noted for supposedly discovering a sphere inscribed in a right cylinder of a height equal to the diameter of the sphere (This was his epitaph), For this to have happened, Archimedes had to know, invent, or find the formula of the area of a sphere so that the sphere’s diameter would be equal in height to the rt. Cylinder. Moreover, the formula of the volumes of both the cylinder and the sphere had to be known as well. This was considered Archimedes greatest “invention,” but little did he know that the Egyptians who taught him his “invention,” kept papyrus scrolls which lasted thousands of years, and was discovered by archaeologists. V. V. Struve, an Egyptian scholar, published the Papyrus of Moscow in 1930 to the international scientific community.

Eight days ago, 17 aboriginal people were told that tests have proven they are descendants of Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi, the name given to the remains, which translates as Long Ago Person Found. … The body of the young aboriginal man, believed to be in his 20s, was found by three hunters at the foot of a melting glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, part of the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

A two thousand year old Roman gate thought to have been built by Emperor Nero has been discovered in the western German city of Cologne. The gate, and 11 metres of town wall alongside, were discovered by builders excavating Cologne’s new metro line.

For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion. [1 Timothy 1.7]

Dubbed BlueTDI, the engine produces 138 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. It’s good for 60 mpg on the highway, a 12-percent improvement over the 2006 Jetta TDI. And thanks to some emission tweaks – an engine-management system that mitigates toxic nitrogen oxide production by limiting combustion temperatures, and a maintenance-free trap that converts the remaining NOx to nitrogen and water – the Jetta BlueTDI meets the EPA’s Bin 5/LEV 2 emissions standards. That means it is 50-state legal without the need for urea injection. Even Californians can get one.

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 11:10 am and is filed under Archaeology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Automobiles, Biology, Chemistry, Critters, Ecology, Egyptology, Extraterrestrial, Marine Biology, On Camera, Psychology, Snippets, Tech Stuff, Zoology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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