24617522
submission
gpronger writes:
Researcher John Hutchinson (Royal Veterinary College in London) and Peter Makovicky (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) built digital models and then added flesh using the structure of soft tissues in birds and crocodiles as a guide. This allowed them to project body mass. By doing this for a number of specimens of different age and size, they could also evaluate growth. At maximum, the adolescents could add 11 pounds in weight in a single day. The adult was found to be 30% heavier than earlier estimates at more than 9 tons.
With the size and appetite, it would lead also to the perspective that they would need a large range, and therefore also be relatively rare in the ecosystem of the time.
20873838
submission
gpronger writes:
NASA has awarded The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to manage a proposed exploration of the methane oceanon Titan. Next year APL will be submitting a project plan to NASA, which will be one of three submittals. If chosen launch would be in 2016 with arrival at Titan in 2023.
The "Titan Mare Explorer" or TiME would be the first exploration of an extraterrestrial ocean with the craft landing and floating on the ocean. The mission would be led by principal investigator Ellen Stofan of Proxemy Research Inc. in Gaithersburg, Md. Lockheed Martin in Denver would build the TiME capsule, with scientific instruments provided by APL, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
This is part of NASA's Discovery Program and would be the next mission, funded and supported by NASA.
15052538
submission
gpronger writes:
The journal Nature reports that newly discovered tool marks on bones indicates that we were using tools at minimum 800,000 years earlier than previously discovered. This places the start of tool use at 3.4 million years ago or earlier. The most likely ancestor in this time frame would be Australopithecus afarensis.
The researchers, led by palaeoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged of the California Academy of Science, San Francisco,and Shannon McPherron, (an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany) state that cut marks on the bones of an impala-sized creature and another closer in size to a buffalo, indicate butchering of the animals by our distant ancestors. However, they do not believe that they were in fact hunters, more likely scavenging the remains left behind by large predators.
6519209
submission
gpronger writes:
LHC scientist Steven Nahn comments on the article reported previously on Slashdot. Though he does not dispute the theoretical basis of the statements, it's pretty clear that at least for himself, he feels that the proposal is unlikely. Chasing info on the original article, which cites the NY Times, one of the original papers can be downloaded at arXiv.org with the abstract at; http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.2991 along with a link to download it (you'll need to register to download).
The point in the rebuttal is largely that the proposal is highly theoretical to the extent that according to Steven Nahn, the theory (by Nielsen and Ninomiya) could be applied to the "Cubbies" effect which basically states that; Nature (or should this be "God") hates the Cubs or at least doesn't want them to win the World Series, therefore their continued failure is maintained by back engineering events so as not to happen, (though I live in Chicago area I am at least smart enough to be a Sox fan thereby avoiding the wrath of God).
Now, though the Cubbies effect does seem real, if you read the article by Nahn and the article by Nielsen and Ninomiya, the later article does approach some of the theories postulated by Douglas Adams such as the Improbability Drive; not that I'm dismissing Douglas Adams, but simply that the proposal that nature is back-engineering events for the LHC to fail does come across as somewhat preposterous.
6196267
submission
gpronger writes:
"Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Glass Will Certainly Mend Them!"
The old school yard ditty may be changed to reflect developments using metallic glass which will dissolve in situ instead of the traditional stainless steel or titanium hardware which require removal by surgery once the bone has healed.
"Physics World" reports that researcher JÃrg LÃffler at ETH Zurich has created an alloy 60% magnesium, 35% zinc and 5% calcium, molded in the form of metallic glass. Through rapid cooling, the alloy forms a molecularly amorphous glass which slowly dissolves over time, supporting the injury long enough for healing, then slowly dissolving away. The break-through was in the cooling process. Typically, the alloy would form a traditional metallic alloy, but rate and potential toxic effects due to the corrosion process, required a different approach. This is where the controlled rapid cooling comes in; the formation of the material as a glass, changes it corrosion process, avoiding the issues experienced with the alloys in the metallic state. Further, by controlling the proportions of the alloys the rate the components dissolve can be controlled allowing for greater utility depending upon the extent and location of the injury.
