Robot scientist finds new drugs

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:45:29 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

A robot scientist that can make informed guesses about how effective different chemical compounds will be at fighting different diseases could revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry by developing more effective treatments more cheaply and quickly than current methods.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/robot-scientist-finds-new-drugs

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Groundbreaking human evolution book to be
released

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:40:28 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

A new book by eminent Darwin historians, which will revolutionise our understanding of Darwin's path to human evolution, will be launched at Imperial College London on Monday 9 February 2009.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/groundbreaking-human-evolution-book-be-released

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The crushing jaws of early humans

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:34:48 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

Your mother always told you not to use your teeth as tools to open something hard, and she was right. Human skulls have small faces and teeth and are not well-equipped to bite down forcefully on hard objects. Not so of our earliest ancestors, say scientists.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/crushing-jaws-early-humans

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How'd They Do That Tuesday: Rockets

post from Physics Buzz on 03 February 2009 10:33:00 AM. © Physics Buzz

The small family of space faring nations just got a little larger. Iran for the first time launched a small communications satellite into orbit, joining the ranks of the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, Israel and India. But how does a rocket really work you might ask. Well that's what Tuesdays are all about.

Newton's first law of motion tells us that in order to get an object moving, we need to exert a force on it. As you can probably tell, thousands of tons of space craft takes a whole lot of force to get moving. That's why when you look at the diagram of a rocket; the vast majority of it is actually fuel tanks. When the fuel is ignited in the rockets engine, its stored up chemical energy is converted into a lot of mechanical energy that pushes the rocket forward.

It's not difficult at all to figure out how much of a push is needed to move a rocket forward. Newton?s second law tells us that Force equals Mass times Acceleration (F=MA). In order to find out what kind of force we need to move the rocket, all we have to do is plug in some known facts. According to Boeing's website the mass of the Saturn V moon rocket with all of its fuel weighs nearly five million pounds, or roughly 2,250,000 kg. Gravity is always accelerating objects down at a constant 9.8 meters per second squared. Multiply the two together and you'll find it takes 22,050,000 newtons of thrust to send the astronauts on their way.

When a rocket enters orbit and everything starts floating around the cabin, people often call this feeling of weightlessness "zero gravity," but that's not quite right. Earth's gravity is still pulling on the rocket, but everything feels weightless because you're actually freefalling. It's the same sensation you get when you're going down a big plunge on a roller coaster. The rocket is actually falling the entire time its in orbit, but the difference is, it's moving forward so fast, the ground falls away at the same rate. In the time it takes the rocket to fall ten feet out of the sky, the Earth has curved away ten feet. This continues all around the globe, until a complete orbit is made, and the process repeats itself.

In order to totally escape the pull of Earth's gravity a spacecraft has to travel at least 11 km per second. That takes a lot of force to get going, which is why the moon rockets were taller than a football field and mostly fuel. Using Newton's second law, see if you can find out exactly how much force it would take to send the 45,000 kg Apollo spacecraft from Earth's orbit to the moon.
Always wondered how something worked? Suggest it in the comments section and we can do a How'd They Do That Tuesday based on your question!

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http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2009/02/howd-they-do-that-tuesday-rockets.h
tml

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Making electricity efficiently from straw

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:32:35 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

"Corn belongs in the kitchen, not in biogas facilities" ? objections like this can be heard more and more frequently. They are protesting against the fermentation of foodstuffs in biogas plants that generate electricity and heat.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/making-electricity-efficiently-straw

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Why boys have greater psychological well-being
than girls

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:21:28 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

Self-concept may be defined as the totality of perceptions that each person has of themselves, and this self identity plays an important role in the psychological functioning of everyone. To date, however, there has been no investigation into the relationship that physical self-concept has with psychological well-being or psychological unwellness.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/why-boys-have-greater-psychological-well-being-gir
ls

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Video: The works of Sigmund Freud

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 February 2009 10:16:00 AM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

In this video documentary, the life and work of Sigmund Freud is examined in detail.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/video-works-sigmund-freud

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GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre

post from British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) on 03 February 2009 10:11:00 AM. © British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the launch of the GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre (GIDAC) web site. This will provide access to

* GEOTRACES data
* information on past and future GEOTRACES cruises
* general information regarding data
* information about the GEOTRACES programme

Understanding biogeochemical cycling of important trace elements and isotopes in the oceans ©
GEOTRACES is an international programme that aims to improve our understanding of biogeochemical cycles and large-scale distribution of trace elements and their isotopes in the marine environment. The global field programme will run for at least a decade and will involve cruises, run by a variety of nations, in all ocean basins.

Although still in its infancy, the GEOTRACES programme's aim is to compile a global dataset for all key GEOTRACES parameters. This dataset will eventually be available to the wider science community in accordance with the GEOTRACES data policy.

Edward Mawji has been appointed the BODC coordinator. He will be working closely with the GEOTRACES scientists to establish common metadata and format protocols and will also be responsible for the quality control and secure archiving of data that will be collected during cruises.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bodc/~3/6uNxvk6UsYA/geotraces-international-data-a
ssembly.html

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Another reason I love living here

On my way to the airport to head to Pasadena last Thursday, I was in a bit of a hurry. I left on time, but several delays (getting gas, putting oil in the car, forgetting my PIN at the bank, and a half dozen more assininities) had me about 15 minutes[...]

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http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/02/03/another-reason-i-love-l
iving-here/

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Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 03 February 2009 09:59:59 AM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

"What species of bird was in the shortest Superbowl commercial in history?"

[Mystery bird] an image grab from the television in Seattle during the Superbowl 2009 .. this bird was featured in shortest Superbowl commercial ever shown (0.5 sec) -- can you identify this mystery bird?

Image: a Tweeters list subscriber, 1 February 2009. [larger view].

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

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ystery_bird_for_you_to_158.php

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