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Solar system moving 100000 mph faster than thought; 15% speed increase translates to doubling of mass of Milky Way By WcP.System.Thinker 07 January 2009 It turns out that our solar system is moving nearly 100,000 m.p.h. faster than previously thought — revolving around the center of the Milky Way at 568,000 m.p.h., announced Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on Monday at the American Astronomical Society's conference in Long Beach, Calif. Since velocity is related to mass, the 15% increase in solar-system speed translates into a near doubling of mass of the Milky Way, according to Reid's group — and all of that newfound bulk is composed of dark matter. Original estimates of the solar system's speed were based on what Reid calls "one- dimensional velocity" obtained solely from Doppler shifts. "Now," he says, "we have three-dimensional velocity and more exact measurements" — a huge advancement in the field. The findings debunk the notion that the Milky Way is a little-sister galaxy to her neighbor Andromeda. "They're more like fraternal twins," Reid says. And the fact that they are of equal size increases the likelihood that the two will someday collide. But humans needn't flee the galaxy anytime soon. First, there's so much room between stars that Earth likely wouldn't feel any effects of a galactic collision, though our constellations would certainly change. And second, a crash is still about 3 billion to 5 billion years away, by which time our sun will have transformed into a red giant and turned the Earth into a smidgen of charred dust. A flurry of recent findings has provided a clearer understanding of the Milky Way than ever before. Just a few weeks before Reid's announcement, Martin Pohl, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State University, revealed the most detailed map to date of the galaxy's spiral arms. Pohl's map establishes that there are two symmetric arms in the inner part of the galaxy that branch off into four — answering a question that astrophysicists have grappled with for 50 years. (According to Pohl, our solar system is located near one of the branching-off points, about 28,000 light-years — or 168 quadrillion miles — from the galactic center.) (unquote) Photos courtesy of scienceclass.ning.com, lns.mit.edu, and gcsescience.com Original Source: Time

When You want to buy a new TV, There are a lot of options that you have to consider. But the most important thing is the TV kind. Nowadays those large and old fashioned TVs (CRT or Projection) not be using anymore so the new high definition TVs (HD TV) have replaced them. In the whole HD TVs are include Plasma, LCD, LED & OLED. First of all we are going to define each displays PLASMA A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays 30 inches (76 cm) or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent lamps. LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose computer display) or fixed images which can be displayed or hidden, such as preset words, digits, and 7-segment displays as in a digital clock. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made up of a large number of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs are used in a wide range of applications including computer monitors, televisions, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and signage. They are common in consumer devices such as video players, gaming devices, clocks, watches, calculators, and telephones, and have replaced cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in most applications. They are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT and plasma displays, and since they do not use phosphors, they do not suffer image burn-in. LCDs are, however, susceptible to image persistence. The LCD screen is more energy efficient and can be disposed of more safely than a CRT. Its low electrical power consumption enables it to be used in battery-powered electronic equipment. It is an electronically modulated optical device made up of any number of segments filled with liquid crystals and arrayed in front of a light source (backlight) or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome. Liquid crystals were first discovered in 1888. By 2008, annual sales of televisions with LCD screens exceeded sales of CRT units worldwide; the CRT became obsolescent for most purposes. LED An LED display is a flat panel display, which uses light-emitting diodes as a video display. An LED panel is a small display, or a component of a larger display. They are typically used outdoors in store signs and billboards, and in recent years have also become commonly used in destination signs on public transport vehicles or even as part of transparent glass area. LED panels are sometimes used as form of lighting, for the purpose of general illumination, task lighting, or even stage lighting rather than display. OLED An OLED (organic light-emitting diode) is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound which emits light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor is situated between two electrodes. Generally, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. OLEDs are used to create digital displays in devices such as television screens, computer monitors, portable systems such as mobile phones, handheld games consoles and PDAs. A major area of research is the development of white OLED devices for use in solid-state lighting applications There are a lot of different technologies for Televisions going around at the moment, it can be confusing when trying pick one to be the centre piece of your living room.I’ll skip the old technologies such as CRT and Rear Projection, these are largely defunct, even more so CRT. I would completely recommend against buying a Rear Projection TV, they provide cheap access to HD content but provide a poor picture and have noisy fans and require the bulbs replacing eventually. This type of TV is also bulky and suffers badly from reflections on its plastic screen.So now onto the more up to date solutions to your TV watching needs. Let’s start with the oldest mainstream HD TV type, Plasma. Plasma – Plasma Panels were first implement in 1983 on an IBM PC, although the only colour it could produce was orange! The TV’s are called plasma due to the gas they contain in small cells that make up the image on the screen. When electricity is applied to the gas it turns to plasma and emits light, each pixel on the screen is coloured red, green or blue and mixes to produce the required picture. The advantage – of Plasma TV is the deep black colour they can produce, colours in general have historically been better realised on plasma panels. Contrast tends to go up into the millions on Plasma TVs and offers an excellent picture. Older Plasma TVs had a much lower resolution than modern models but now excel. The brighter the image the higher the power draw. The disadvantage – Plasma TVs use a massive amount of power compared to LCD, LED or the latest OLED (organic). They can also suffer from screen burn in, even on more recent models, this has been mitigated somewhat by manufacturer tech such as moving still images around the screen. Finally due to the glass used in the panels make up the TVs will tend towards weighing heavy and being more bulky, although less so in modern models. LCD – The “successor” to Plasma it works by cold cathode ray tubes behind LCD shutters equipped with colour filters and white. The CCRT’s emit light and the LCD shutters filter it into colours and produce the image. The advantage – LCD TVs tend to be slimmer and weigh less, due to using a plastic rather than glass screen. Power consumption is also lower than Plasma TVs and is not affected by the brightness of the image displayed. The manufacturing process is now also at its maturity and thus LCD is for the most part the cheapest option compared to plasma and LED. The disadvantage – Colour, fast moving images and dead pixels can all affect these TVs. The colour can be compromised as some of the backlight can come though when it shouldn’t. The response rate of older examples can be terrible and result in very blurry moving images, however modern versions have largely illuminated this problem. Lighting of the panel can be uneven as some have backlights at the corners. Compared to Plasma a lot of the time LCD comes off worse in most respects. LED – LED is really more of a stop gap technology, most LED TVs simply use LEDs to light the TV which results in a clean crisp picture, combined with LCD tech. The advantage – The TVs built using this process are very thin, light and produce an amazing picture at least on par with Plasma and sometimes better. The contrast ratio is high and the panel is lit evenly rather than at the corners, this produces a very bright TV picture and response times are lightning fast giving sports and games a fluid movement. Power consumption is low due to the inherent nature of LEDs. The disadvantage – None really except that these TVs will shortly be superseded by OLED. OLED – OLED stands for organic light emitting diode. OLED TVs work by being sandwiched between anodes and cathodes, electricity is then applied to the OLEDs producing the image. The advantage – High contrast ratio provides excellent colours and much wider viewing angles are present to. In future OLEDs will be able to be implemented in more ways than other technologies, such as flexible screens. Response times are considerably faster than LCD resulting in no lag. Reduced power consumption and thin displays round off the best TV tech today. The disadvantage – Currently the tech costs a lot to make and this is of course passed onto the consumer. Lifespan is also a potential problem at present. UV light can cause damage if applied directly. Final conclusions – forgetting CRT and Rear Projection, LED is likely the best option for most people, it offers good price to size ratio and of course has great picture quality, not to mention its thinness and lightness. Plasma TVs are cheap now, especially 3D models but do suffer from screen burn in, it is an option though for very large screens over 60″. LCD is being phased out by some companies such as Samsung and will likely not be made for much longer, plasma will likely outlive it, price wise plasma is still better and LED offers better tech. OLED is just far too expensive and has some kinks that need to be fixed.In closing get yourself an LED TV and love it! :)

Friction-Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process (the metal is not melted) that uses a third body tool to join two faying surfaces. Heat is generated between the tool and material which leads to a very soft region near the FSW tool. It then mechanically intermixes the two pieces of metal at the place of the join, then the softened metal (due to the elevated temperature) can be joined using mechanical pressure (which is applied by the tool), much like joining clay, or dough. It is primarily used on aluminium, and most often on extruded aluminum (non-heat treatable alloys), and on structures which need superior weld strength without a post weld heat treatment. This is how it works: First warm the two flats by friction Then move it back and forward to contact them A constantly rotated non consumable cylindrical-shouldered tool with a profiled nib is transversely fed at a constant rate into a butt joint between two clamped pieces of butted material. The nib is slightly shorter than the weld depth required, with the tool shoulder riding atop the work surface. Frictional heat is generated between the wear-resistant welding components and the work pieces. This heat, along with that generated by the mechanical mixing process and the adiabatic heat within the material, cause the stirred materials to soften without melting. As the pin is moved forward, a special profile on its leading face forces plasticised material to the rear where clamping force assists in a forged consolidation of the weld. This process of the tool traversing along the weld line in a plasticised tubular shaft of metal results in severe solid state deformation involving dynamic recrystallization of the base material The solid-state nature of the FSW process, combined with its unusual tool and asymmetric nature, results in a highly characteristic microstructure. The microstructure can be broken up into the following zones: The stir zone (also nugget, dynamically recrystallised zone) is a region of heavily deformed material that roughly corresponds to the location of the pin during welding. The grains within the stir zone are roughly equiaxed and often an order of magnitude smaller than the grains in the parent material. A unique feature of the stir zone is the common occurrence of several concentric rings which has been referred to as an "onion-ring" structure. The precise origin of these rings has not been firmly established, although variations in particle number density, grain size and texture have all been suggested. The flow arm zone is on the upper surface of the weld and consists of material that is dragged by the shoulder from the retreating side of the weld, around the rear of the tool, and deposited on the advancing side. The thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) occurs on either side of the stir zone. In this region the strain and temperature are lower and the effect of welding on the microstructure is correspondingly smaller. Unlike the stir zone the microstructure is recognizably that of the parent material, albeit significantly deformed and rotated. Although the term TMAZ technically refers to the entire deformed region it is often used to describe any region not already covered by the terms stir zone and flow arm. The (HAZ) is common to all welding processes. As indicated by the name, this region is subjected to a thermal cycle but is not deformed during welding. The temperatures are lower than those in the TMAZ but may still have a significant effect if the microstructure is thermally unstable. In fact, in age-hardened aluminium alloys this region commonly exhibits the poorest mechanical properties There are two tool speeds to be considered in friction-stir welding; how fast the tool rotates and how quickly it traverses the interface. These two parameters have considerable importance and must be chosen with care to ensure a successful and efficient welding cycle. The relationship between the welding speeds and the heat input during welding is complex but, in general, it can be said that increasing the rotation speed or decreasing the traverse speed will result in a hotter weld. In order to produce a successful weld it is necessary that the material surrounding the tool is hot enough to enable the extensive plastic flow required and minimize the forces acting on the tool. If the material is too cold then voids or other flaws may be present in the stir zone and in extreme cases the tool may break. Excessively high heat input, on the other hand may be detrimental to the final properties of the weld. Theoretically, this could even result in defects due to the liquation of low-melting-point phases (similar to liquation cracking in fusion welds). These competing demands lead onto the concept of a "processing window": the range of processing parameters viz. tool rotation and traverse speed, that will produce a good quality weld. Within this window the resulting weld will have a sufficiently high heat input to ensure adequate material plasticity but not so high that the weld properties are excessively deteriorated. The FSW process is currently patented by TWI in most industrialised countries and licensed for over 183 users. Friction stir welding and its variants friction stir spot welding and are used for the following industrial applications Shipbuilding and Offshore Two Scandinavian aluminium extrusion companies were the first to apply FSW commercially to the manufacture of fish freezer panels at Sapa in 1996 Aerospace Boeing applies FSW to the Delta II and Delta IV expendable launch vehicles, and the first of these with a friction stir welded Interstage module was launched in 1999. Automotive Aluminium engine cradles and suspension struts for stretched Lincoln Town Car were the first automotive parts that were friction stir at Tower Automotive, who use the process also for the engine tunnel of the Ford GT. Railway Since 1997 roof panels were made from aluminium extrusions at Hydro Marine Aluminium with a bespoke 25m long FSW machine, e.g. for DSB class SA-SD trains of Alstom LHB Fabrication Façade panels and athode sheets are friction stir welded at AMAG and Hammerer Aluminium Industries including friction stir lap welds of copper to aluminium Robotics KUKA Robot Group has adapted its KR500-3MT heavy-duty robot for friction stir welding via the DeltaN FS® tool. The system made its first public appearance at the EuroBLECH show in November 2012. Personal Computers Apple applied friction stir welding on the 2012 iMac to effectively join the bottom to the back of the device.

Wha past hurricanes have you been through? Share your stories here (other hurricane talk here is also welcome).

It's not showing up in the control panel files.

Invisible Shield This latest science invention is a spray-on invisible thin glass coating that sterilizes, protects and strengthens surfaces. The coating also repels water, dirt, stains, mildew, fungus, bacteria and viruses. A liquid coating invented at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials in Turkey and patented by Nanopool GmbH of Germany, is a flexible and breathable spray-on glass film. The film is approximately 100 nanometres thick (500 times thinner than a human hair) and has multiple applications and uses in numerous fields. The coating is environmentally friendly (Winner of the Green Apple Award). It can be applied within seconds to make any surface very easy to clean and safe from anti-microbes (Winner of the NHS Smart Solutions Award). The special glass coating known as "SiO2 ultra-thin layering" protects practically any surface against water, uv radiation, dirt, heat, acid, stains, mildew, fungus. bacteria and viruses. Trials by food processing plants in Germany have concluded that surfaces coated with liquid glass only need hot water for cleaning. In fact, the coating provided higher levels of sterility than surfaces cleaned with bleach or other chemicals. A year long trial at a British hospital in Southport, Lancashire is to be published soon with very promising results for a wide range of coating applications used on medical equipment, implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. Trials for in-vivo applications are confidential, but Neil McClelland, the UK Project Manager for Nanopool GmbH, describes the results as "stunning". "Items such as stents can be coated, and this will create anti sticking features. Catheters and sutures which are a source of infection, will also cease to be problematic," he says. Colin Humphreys, a professor of materials science at Cambridge University, commented that liquid glass appears to have a wide range of applications and that the product 'looks impressive'. The investment opportunities for this latest science invention seem endless - buildings, vehicles, appliances, clothing etc. can have dirt and germ free surfaces without using toxic coatings or chemicals. Sources: nanopool.eu;dailymail.co.uk Building Human Organs Oganovo is a company based in San Diego, California. Their latest science invention is a technology (novogen) which allows living tissue cells to be assembled into patterns and complex structures, such as organs. Organovo has partnered with Invetech. a company based in Australia, to develop a bio-printer. The device prints (places) human cells in a three-dimensional matrix to construct human tissue. "Building human organs cell-by-cell was considered science fiction not that long ago," says Fred Davis of Invetech. Currently, the bio-printer can grow blood vessels. It is anticipated that within five years the device will construct arteries and by 2020 sophisticated organs will be built by the device. Source: organovo.com Photo: Organovo Glass Nanobots Absorb Toxins A nanobot particle made from glass is being developed that can absorb pollutants from contaminated water. The glass particles act like sponges by attracting and binding contaminants to themselves and expanding eight times in size during the process. But unlike a sponge, these nanobots are hydrophobic, meaning they don't absorb water. Scientists claim this new technology could be used to clean petroleum spills or other hazardous chemicals from our waterways. After the particles are dropped into the water, they collect pollutants and then rise to the surface when fully expanded. The particles are then skimmed from the surface, cleaned and placed back into the water to repeat the process. Source: absmaterials.com Water Drop Lens Physicist and inventor, Bruno Berge, has created a liquid optical lens. Using a process known as electro-wetting, a water drop is deposited on a metal substrate and covered by a thin insulating layer. When a voltage is applied to the metal, it modifies the angle of the liquid drop. The liquid lens is comprised of two liquids, water and oil, one is a conductor while the other is an insulator. A variation in the voltage causes a change to the curvature of the liquid to liquid interface, which changes the focal length of the lens. The use of liquids allows for low cost construction. There are no moving parts and electrical consumption is extremely low. The lens has a large inverse focal length range, quick response, high optical quality and can operate in a wide temperature range. See Also: Future Contact Lenses Source: varioptic.com Batteries That Operate With Any Liquid Chungpin Liao, a professor at the Graduate School of Electro-Optic and Material Science of National Formosa University in Taiwan has invented an organic battery that creates electricity when wet. The "organic" battery generates a charge within 10 seconds and will last anywhere from two days to a week depending on the liquid. It works with water, beverages or even urine. Although it will only produce half the strength of traditional batteries, the organic battery has a storage capacity greater than water-powered fuel cells and is very cheap to manufacture. "Plus it contains no toxic substances and does not pose an environmental hazard" says Chungpin. Liao received his degree in nuclear engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He earned his Masters and Ph.D degrees in plasma science and fusion technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, United States. Source: www.nfu.edu.tw/eng/

the philippines is one of the location of a plenty of hardwater that is a source of energy aside from the marianas deep. the philippines deep is sitting on a goldmine of purely hardwater as i have read it in my research years back. the problem with this is how to mine it as it is deep enough to mine it by available technology. as the world is being depleted of of its oil and other fuels,one day the world will focus on hardwater as a source of energy and the philippines shall be rightfully name the pearl of the orient seas., and the philippines will be recognize by the world of its importance.

Please present your thought about global warming. How do you think people should act with this problem?

I just made a new site where you can post videos which are monitored to make it safe for kids! Plus I won't have to wait until im 18 for a real youtube channel. As an added bonus you can now view a video of my walking robot: The Strider! At kidztuber .webs .com

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424053111903703604576588422968704078-lMyQjAxMTAxMDIwMzEyNDMyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2011/PR19.11E.html

To the man who changed the world, with technology, innovation and simplicity, R.I.P. Steve Jobs. His words, "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." The apple symbol shud be changed to this...this wud serve as the best tribute

A breakthrough in understanding materials for next-generation electronic devices. Femtoscale atomic displacements in multiferroics (Image courtesy of Ghiandoni and Paolasini). An international team of scientists has developed a novel X-ray technique for imaging atomic displacements in materials with unprecedented accuracy. They have applied their technique to determine how a recently discovered class of exotic materials – multiferroics – can be simultaneously both magnetically and electrically ordered. Multiferroics are candidate materials for new classes of electronic devices. The discovery, a major breakthrough in understanding multiferroics, is published in Science dated 2 September 2011. The authors comprise scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France), the University of Oxford and the London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London. Everybody is familiar with the idea that magnets are polarised with a north and a south pole, which is understood to arise from the alignment of magnet moments carried by atoms in magnetic materials. Certain other materials, known as ferroelectrics, exhibit a similar effect for electrical polarisation. The exotic “multiferroic” materials combine both an ordered arrangement of atomic magnetic moments and ferroelectric polarisation, with a strong coupling between the two usually separate phenomena. This leads to the strange effect that a magnetic field can electrically polarise the material, and an electric field magnetise it. Interest in multiferroics was ignited following the discovery in 2003 by Kimura and co-workers in Japan of a gigantic coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity in a specific class of materials, opening up the possibility of harnessing such exotic properties for novel electronic devices. Proposals include a new type of electronic memory, in which an electric field writes data into the memory and a magnetic detector is used to read it. This process is faster, and uses less energy than today’s hard disk drives. However, the origin of the electric polarisation in multiferroics has remained elusive until now. The team’s work unambiguously shows that the electric polarisation in the multiferroic studied proceeds from the relative displacement of charges of different signs, rather than the transfer of charge from one atom to another. As the displacement involves a high number of electrons, even small distances can lead to significant electrical polarisation. The actual distance of the displacement still came as a surprise: about 20 femtometres, or about 1/100,000th of the distance between the atoms in the material. Measuring such small displacements was actually believed to be impossible. “I think that everyone involved was surprised, if not staggered, by the result that we can now image the position of atoms with such accuracy. The work is testament, amongst other things, to the fantastic facilities available in Grenoble to the UK science community,” says Prof. Des McMorrow, Deputy Director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology, leader of the UCL part of the project. Dr. Helen Walker, from the ESRF and lead author on the paper, developed with her colleagues a smart new experimental technique which exploits the interference between two competing processes: charge and magnetic scattering of a powerful, polarised X-ray beam. They studied a single crystal of TbMnO3 which shows a strong multiferroic coupling at temperatures below 30K (-243 degrees centigrade), and were able to measure the displacements of specific atoms within it with an accuracy approaching one femtometre (10-15 m). The atoms themselves are spaced apart 100,000 times this distance. The new interference scattering technique has set a world record for accuracy in absolute measurements of atomic displacements. Most significantly, identification of the origin of ferroelectricty in a multiferroic material is a major step forward in our understanding of multiferroics which may in the long term lead to the design of multiferroics for practical applications. "By revealing the driving mechanism behind multiferroics, which offer so many potential applications, it underlines how experiments designed to understand the fundamental physics of materials can have an impact on the wider world,” concludes Dr. Helen Walker. Artistic representation of the femtoscale (i.e. 10-15 m) atomic displacements measured by Walker et al. reported in Science on 2 September 2011. Multiferroic materials combine specific crystallographic and magnetic symmetries to produce oriented displacements of atomic, as represented in the image, leading to the possibility of controlling electric polarisation by a magnetic field and vice-versa (Image courtesy of Ghiandoni and Paolasini). High magnetic field superconducting 10T magnet used to induce femtoscale lattice distortion in TbMnO3. The inset shows the sample mounted in the electrified stick used to induce a single magnetic cycloidal domain at low temperature. Source: Here

any recent new ideas or information about anti matter,would be greatly appreciated as i am not fully updated

LONDON, Aug. 26, 2011 (Reuters) — Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond. "The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. An exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard in an undated image courtesy of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. REUTERS/Handou Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits. Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation. In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet. The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday. In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center. Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present. Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery. "In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here." Source: Here

This was just a class assignment so it's not very sofisticated. I like this picture better it looks more professional(I lined the backround with blank paper). The eyes are just the ultra-sonic sensor which senses the distance of objects in-front of it. This robot was built out of the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit. The thing you see with buttons is called the NXT Brick. The brain of the bot. The motor and ultra-sonic sensor are pluged up to it. It also containes the tracking program and all the other programs I've made and downloaded onto it. I said it wasn't very sofistocated because it doesn't turn, it just goes when you're in-front of it. The turning tracking bot was for the more advanced students.

Did anyone hear of the new wave spring? I saw it in one of my dad's engineering magizines. It's looks like a messed-up spring to me, but I imagine it's stronger than a normal spring. Here's a picture of it:

IBM and 3M Corp. are developing a new type of electronic “glue” that can be used to build stacks of semiconductors - 3D chips. The glue, shown in blue above, connects up to 100 separate chips as it conducts heat away from the silicon package. The innovation will create microprocessors 1,000 times more powerful than today’s PC chips. 3M and IBM announced that the two companies plan to jointly develop the first adhesives that can be used to package semiconductors into densely stacked silicon “towers.” The companies are aiming to create a new class of materials, which will make it possible to build, for the first time, commercial microprocessors composed of layers of up to 100 separate chips. Infrared Light Sources - MEMS based IR Light Sources for Gas Detection and Monitoring - www.Leister.com/axetris Such stacking would allow for dramatically higher levels of integration for information technology and consumer electronics applications. Processors could be tightly packed with memory and networking, for example, into a “brick” of silicon that would create a computer chip 1,000 times faster than today’s fastest microprocessor enabling more powerful smartphones, tablets, computers and gaming devices. The companies’ work can potentially leapfrog today’s current attempts at stacking chips vertically – known as 3D packaging. The joint research tackles some of the thorniest technical issues underlying the industry’s move to true 3D chip forms. For example, new types of adhesives are needed that can efficiently conduct heat through a densely packed stack of chips and away from heat-sensitive components such as logic circuits. “Today's chips, including those containing ‘3D’ transistors, are in fact 2D chips that are still very flat structures,” said Bernard Meyerson, VP of Research, IBM. “Our scientists are aiming to develop materials that will allow us to package tremendous amounts of computing power into a new form factor – a silicon ‘skyscraper.’ We believe we can advance the state-of-art in packaging, and create a new class of semiconductors that offer more speed and capabilities while they keep power usage low -- key requirements for many manufacturers, especially for makers of tablets and smartphones.” Many types of semiconductors, including those for servers and games, today require packaging and bonding techniques that can only be applied to individual chips. 3M and IBM plan to develop adhesives that can be applied to silicon wafers, coating hundreds or even thousands of chips at a single time. Current processes are akin to frosting a cake slice-by-slice. Under the agreement, IBM will draw on its expertise in creating unique semiconductor packaging processes, and 3M will provide its expertise in developing and manufacturing adhesive materials. “Capitalizing on our joint know-how and industry experience, 3M looks forward to working alongside IBM – a leader in developing pioneering packaging for next-generation semiconductors,” said Herve Gindre, division vice president at 3M Electronics Markets Materials Division. “3M has worked with IBM for many years and this brings our relationship to a new level. We are very excited to be an integral part of the movement to build such revolutionary 3D packaging.” Provided by IBM Source: here

AIDS was without doubt the defining epidemic of the late 20th century. Though the virus behind it was only identified in the mid-1980s, by the end of the century HIV had insinuated itself into over 36 million adults. AIDS ushered in an era of patient activism and brought money, health and politics together in ways that have changed the face of global health. Prehistory The exact origins of HIV are hotly debated, but genetic sequencing techniques are shedding some light on how the virus reached critical mass and began spreading around the world. HIV-1, the most common type, is descended from a virus still found in chimpanzees living in central Africa. The earliest virus found so far was in a lymph node taken from a man in 1959 in what was then Belgian Congo. Comparing that with other early samples shows that the virus must have crossed over from chimpanzees and started to circulate and diverge in humans by the first decade of the 20th century. HIV crossed a species barrier (Image: Sven Torfinn/PANOS) HIV probably crossed the species barrier in the bloody process of butchering chimps for food. The spread of the virus in the Belgian and French colonies of central Africa in the mid-20th century was probably accelerated by rapid, male-dominated urbanisation and the concentration of labourers in camps with attendant prostitution. Health campaigns where needles were repeatedly reused may also have contributed. The links between Francophone central Africa and Haiti provided HIV with a staging post to the western hemisphere; genetic analysis suggests that the virus was imported from Haiti to the US in the late 1960s. The sexual liberation of the 1960s and 1970s combined with homophobia concentrated large groups of sexually active gay men in small enclaves of tolerance in cities like New York and San Francisco. Anal sex is inherently more dangerous for passing on viruses than vaginal sex because it is more likely to cause small tears and lesions. That, together with a high turnover of partners, provided perfect conditions for the rapid spread of HIV. Because these men were young, otherwise healthy and largely well educated and white, their illness attracted attention in a way that earlier cases in Africa and the Caribbean had not. AIDS came out of the shadows. A virus fit for purpose HIV has spread so far partly because it is so good at its job. Like a computer virus that starts by knocking out anti-viral software, HIV targets the immune cells at the front line of our body's defences. It locks onto CD4 immune cells, which usually protect us against viruses and other microbes, and inserts itself into their DNA. When HIV first enters the body it replicates fast, causing a spike in the amount of virus present in the blood and genital fluids, known as the "viral load". Because we recognise the virus as foreign, we begin to make antibodies. These bring down the viral load, but crucially never manage to eradicate the virus, in part because some sit quietly in the DNA of apparently healthy CD4 cells, beyond the reach of the immune system. Over time, as the body confronts other infections, those apparently healthy cells get called up. That stirs HIV into action; the cell spews out more virus and dies. As the viral load continues to rise, the immune system becomes progressively more damaged and the number of CD4 cells falls. Other infections set in that a healthy immune system would beat easily, such asPneumocystis carinii pneumonia. These are the opportunistic infections that make up the syndrome known as AIDS, and this is what kills people. When first infected, most people feel mild flu-like symptoms at worst, then nothing for the nine or 10 years during which HIV typically lies latent within their immune cells. That means people often live with the infection, and, crucially, are able to pass it on, for many years without knowing it. Source: here