Thursday, October 26, 2006

Miss Manners in Space


Gizmodo compiled a list of tips on how to maintain proper decorum while floating in zero-G. The prescriptions, meant to maintain order and sanity while living inside cramp quarters, include things such as how to deal with mundane issues like nail clippings to more serious ones that involve carnal knowledge. The complete list can be found here.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Darth Vader Claims Space

George W. Bush recently signed a document that effectively extends Pax Americana to outer space. The document, called National Space Policy, underlines the strategic importance of having access to space. It stated that the national security of the US "is critically dependent upon space capabilities, and this dependence will grow." Hence, the US will "preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space... and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests."

Klingons, you have been warned.

The document can be downloaded here.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Simulation of Black Hole Collision

Aurora



A time-lapse movie of an aurora.

Heaviest Element Created

It seems periodic tables need to be reprinted again.
Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have created a new element.

Element 118 is touted to be the heaviest, yet a short-lived one, element created so far. The researchers were able to achieve the feat by using a cyclotron to bombard californium-249 with calcium ions. The three atoms created by the scientists lasted for less than 1/1000th of a second though.
The new element has 118 protons and 179 neutrons in its nucleus, and has an atomic weight of 297.

Friday, October 06, 2006

AMD Names its Next-Gen Chips After Stars

Microprocessor company Advanced Micro Devices is naming its next-generation K8L microprocessors after stars. The 65-nm chips, slated to be released in 2007, will be named Antares, Altair, Arcturus, and Spica.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Big Bang Scientists Win Nobel Prize

John C. Mather and George F. Smoot, who studied and discovered the nature of blackbody radiation and contributed to the big bang theory, won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics. The studies of the two scientists were based from the data collected by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE).

The Nobel Prizes will be presented on December 10.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two Unveiled

Take a peek at Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two, which will begin commercial space flights in 2009.

Armstrong was Grammatically Correct After All

Grumpy grammarians can get off Neil Armstrong's back at last. A computer programmer who studied the audio recordings of the first moon landing and found that Armstrong did say the oft-quoted words - one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind - correctly. It was previously thought that Armstrong omitted the "a," earning him the ire of anal grammarians everywhere.

Spacewoman's Blog

It seems that blogging has already reached outer space. If you're interested to read the thoughts of Anousheh Ansari, the first Muslim woman in space, while she was galivanting in the International Space Station, you can read her blog here.

Up next would probably be the lonely missives of a stranded Martian marooned somewhere in Uranus.