clhs sciblog

We could have the first glimpse of our home planet deep space 45 years ago today. The fact is that on August 23, 1966, NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photo of Earth from the moon’s orbit when nobody knew how our home planet looked like. Actually we cannot really say that he took the first picture of the Earth since pictures had been taken before, which were by rockets in the 1940s, and satellites in the 1950s and 1960s. Unfortunately, those pictures were only showing parts of Earth, as opposed to a fill-on view of the planet. Nevertheless, that was about to change. Before they send people to the space, they needed to map the moon quickly. The first spacecraft, Lunar Orbiter 1, left Earth on August 10, 1966. Finally 92 hours later it was orbiting the moon. The Lunar Orbiter camera contained dual lenses, which can take photos at the same time. Rude Goldberg is very proud of the entire camera, which can travel around the moon constantly between hot and cold temperature extremes anywhere from approximately 27 to 3,700 miles about the lunar surface. It is the same way as television satellites would analog signals to TV stations. On August 23, the spacecraft took a photo of an earthrise successfully, which the blue planet rising above the moon’s horizon. They think the Lunar Orbiter’s mission may have been accomplished awhile ago, however its first image of the Earth continues to inspire.

I think it is a very usable invention to have a powerful ability to take photos of our planet. It gave us the new view and ideas of how our planet looks like. If God had never blessed us, nobody could invent this amazing camera ever. Scientists said that more and more of these kinds of cameras are coming out. I am truly grateful that people can have abilities to build numerous amazing things.

To learn more please click here.

Q4-2

Have you ever heard of getting too many X-rays is a bad thing; that the radiation may cause damage to your body?  Well an association of medical physicists have warned many people not to decline such procedures because they might believe them to be harmful.  They say the benefits far outweigh the risks, and that even the most radioactive scans have are very unlikely to cause damage.

For instance, the CT scan is often associated as being one of the most radioactive scans.  The physicists state that “45-year-old adult undergoing 30 annual full-body CT scans would have one chance in 50 of dying of cancer because of the radiation. Almost no one would have that many procedures. The odds of a person born in 1999 dying from a car crash is one in 77.”

Also not getting the X-ray could be very dangerous because then doctors would not be able to find the damage that needs fixing, like a broken bone as an example.  ”We believe that risk of radiation exposure from diagnostic imaging is much less than the risk of not having the examination if the examination is diagnosticall y warranted,” said Penny Butler, senior director at the American College of Radiology.

This article can be a big reassurance to many families with children and others around the world, who have a fear of getting X-rays because they were told they can be dangerous because of radiation.  I believe there should be no fear in getting an X-ray once and awhile, and there should be little fear in getting multiple X-rays

You can read the full article here.

Q4-1

There is only 96 days left to the landing of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory on the Gale Crater on Mars.  After 36 years of debate and confusion it is on its way to search for organic matter that eluded the two viking probes.  This rover, named Curiosity, will be the largest to land on Mar’s so far.  The main goal and mission for Curiosity is to tell us whether or not Mars harbors microbial life.  Gilbert Levin already claims the Viking probes discovered Martian life. The rest of his science team still disagrees and Curiosity will be able to put the confusion to rest.

I think this is interesting because people always wonder about aliens. And it is one of the most popular topics for science fiction movies. I don’t believe there has actually been life in human form anywhere else in outer space and there still isn’t.  Although the possibility of microscopic organisms is really possibly. I am excited to hear what Curiosity has to say.

For full article click here.

Q4-1

A team of scientists at Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University have renovated an old technology, that is used during wireless communication, and applied it to modern-day devices.  This new technology is called Touché, and it is able to recognize the position of your body and convey the information to the device it is hooked up to.  This may not sound all that great, but it has many cool applications in our world.  With the Touché, the scientists were able to create a smartphone that goes silent when the user puts their finger to their lips, a doorknob that knows whether to lock or unlock itself based on how it is being touched and a chair that adjusts the room’s lighting based on how the user is reclining.  Scientists are now looking to make Touché even better and find more applications for it.

I think this is an extremely cool innovation.  It has a lot of application to our world and  will be extremely useful in the future.  I think that it is amazing that a device can analyze our body position and make smart decisions based on it.  I am looking forward to seeing devices that use Touché technology in the future.  It is great that science is always moving forward and improving our lives

click here to go to the article

Q 4-(EC2)

A new restaurant in Ashland, Oregon has opened a Mongolian-style grill restaurant that uses grape seed oil infused with hashish to attract medical marijuana patients. Although not very successful in the past, restaurants like these are still pushing hard to get their product out. As well as everyday medical marijuana patients, the store focuses on chemotherapy patients that don’t have an appetite–encouraging them to eat enough. Marijuana historically has given people appetites. Of course, you must be a medical marijuana green cardholder to prevent everyday people from just walking in and getting high. The local government has made a huge fuss about the restaurant and are trying to get it banned because they believe they are violating the federal drug law prohibiting the sale of marijuana. The restaurant claims, though, that the hashish they are distributing is free, the customers are only paying for the food. To read more, click here.

A team at Princeton University discovered that folding the solar panels causes a dramatic increase in power. Studies show that there is a 47% increase in power from these new folded solar panels. These folds channel the light directly into the  photo voltaic material. The scientists at Princeton got this idea from folding a leaf. Flat surfaces absorb some light but reflects most of it. The new wave like shape absorbs all of the light producing more energy.

This is a super amazing revelation will male this earth a better place. Now that we have figured out how to increase the power of these solar panels, we will be able to use green energy a lot more. We could put these panels on cars to power them along the roads. These panels will be used for our houses and buildings. There will be solar panel power plants being built all over the world. Our lives will be better because our earth will be cleaner.

For more information click here.

Q4-1

Nanoparticles are extremely small for human beings to see them, however it is becoming possible for today’s scientists. They can not only to see them, but also to look inside at how the atoms are arranged in three dimensions unsing a technique, which is called nanocrystallography. Nevertheless, this powerful machines are only available at a handful of facilities around the world. One of them is U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. Scientists have shown a powerful methos called atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, which can carried out using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Scientists think that in both the synchrotron and TEM-based methods, the essential technique is the same. They bombard a sample with x-rays, in both the cases of a synchrotron, or electrons at a TEM.  Further more it measures how the rays/particles interact with and bounce off the atoms in the sample. Scientists did not think that electrons would be appropriate for obtaining reliable PDFs, because electrons scatter strongly, distorting the diffraction pattern. Another benefit is that the technique allows analysis of atomic-level structual arrangements, which uses the same tool already used to obtain low- and high-resolution images and chemical information for nanostructures.

Scientist also proved that the PDFs from the x-ray and electron data were highly the same. I think this super powerful machine is a quite useful invention from all genius scientist. Human beings are developing more and more which can allow us to have more useful technologies in the future.

To learn more click here.

Q4-1

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and also at the Humboldt University have created luminous plasma clouds underwater by using electrical discharges. They are trying to recreate the mysterious slow moving orbs rarely seen in thunderstorms. They are trying to understand how these orbs are created and how they can factor in to the fusion power plants. The encounterers say that the Spherical object that is about 40 centimeters across and has a faint glowing of red, blue, or even yellow. These phenomenons can last for a couple seconds to up to a few minutes. They have tried to recreate this ball by putting 2 electrodes in a tank which is insulated by clay. The voltage causes gigantic currents of up to 60 amps. The current enters the clay mold and cause they water to evaporate which then a luminous plasma ball is created. this ball can help physicists with fusion power plants.

I enjoyed learning about this article it really amazes me how these scientists can recreate certain phenomenons simply by using electrodes and clay. They have been extremely gifted in their vast knowledge of science. These floating plasma balls will help our scientists in the srtiving to further their fusion power plants. if you want to read more about this amazing article click here.

Q4-1

According to Einstein, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. But with some breakthroughs in technology, it seems that we may be able to break the universe’s ‘speed limit’. Experiments have been performed on light pulses in order to find out if light can go faster than we believe it can. By using four wave mixers, we can amplify the speed of light in minute amounts. Re-phasing light is not the most complicated process in the world. It consists of two laser ‘seed’ lights, an atomicly heated cell, and a seperate beam that has pumping qualities. First, the two seed lights pass through the heated atomic vapors, which speed the light up as other conjugate pump beams also enter the atomic vapors. The lights peaks combine and speed up to 50 nano seconds fater than the speed of light. The light that is combined becomes superluminal, meaning it travels faster than the speed of light.

This breakthrough will lead to faster computers and communication. As the quantum field of physics grows, our technology will become more efficient and quicker than ever.

To read the full article click here!

Scientists have discovered that planet Jupiter may be melting. It’s inner core appears to be liquefying  and combining with the planet’s insides. This recent finding could help explain a newly discovered planet outside of our solar system.

Previous theories explained Jupiter to be a layered planet with a gaseous outer covering outside the hard, rocky core. But these new discoveries could mean planets like Jupiter are actually mixtures of elements without defined borders.

Scientists on Earth use advanced computer programs to simulate the 7000 degree Celsius core of Jupiter to find that one compound element called magnesium oxide, found inside the planet, could be the cause of the liquefied conditions. This has surfaced a belief that new planets outside our solar system could have similar conditions to Jupiter.

Earlier this year, however, confused scientists found a planet with nearly the exact same volume as Jupiter, yet nearly five times more mass. Over half of this new planet would have to be its core in order for it to be this dense. This causes a problem for the previous theory of its internal makeup.

Planetary scientist Hugh Wilson suggested that if the new planet’s core is melting, the liquefied elements could spread out over the planet, explaining its greater volume. Other theories, such as a collision between two gas giants, try to explain the density of the new planet.

Researchers will have more tools to answer the question of  planet core melting once NASA’s Juno probe reaches Jupiter in 2016.

YOU can read the full article right here.

Q4-1