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The Week In Numbers: Fire In Space, The First Cloned Human Embryo, And More

Rose Pastore — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:00:00 GMT

Grains of interstellar dust stretching across a segment of the Orion Nebula ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

1,350 light-years: the distance to a "fiery ribbon" stretching across the Orion Nebula, captured recently by a submillimeter-wavelength camera inside Chile's Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope. The ribbon is actually a glow given off by cold interstellar dust at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see.

4: the number of toes you need on each foot

8 weeks: the time it took a team of nerds to create real-life Mario Kart, complete with bananas, shells, and mushrooms

2016: the launch year of a NASA spacecraft that will land on the asteroid Bennu, scoop up two ounces of its soil, and then fly the sample back to Earth. Scientists hope the soil will offer clues to the birth of the solar system and life on Earth.

11:18 a.m. ET: the time on May 14, 2013, at which the X-47B autonomous warplane became the first unmanned aircraft to ever complete a catapult launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier (video below)

2.64 billion years: the length of time that water discovered in a Canadian mine may have been untouched by Earth's atmosphere. The stream may be the oldest free-flowing source of isolated water ever known.

500 miles: the distance a robot plane flew over Europe carrying human passengers

2013: the year scientists created the first cloned human embryo

1,500 watts: the power of the metal-halide vapor lamps in the U.S. Army's brutal weather simulator, the only lab of its kind to use human test subjects (the lamps are so bright, it's impossible to look directly at them)

$10.7 million: the amount Google has just invested in a drone intelligence company

3,600 degrees Fahrenheit: the temperature on the surface of a distant, massive gas planet, which scientists recently discovered using Einstein's theory of relativity

40 million miles: the distance from Earth to NASA's exoplanet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, discoverer of distant worlds large and small. The beloved telescope suffered a critical failure this week, though there might still be a way to save it.

$300: the price of an animatronic robot kit designed to teach anyone robotics, one of the coolest inventions of the year

4,000: the number of teeth an American alligator can regenerate during its life. Dentists are studying the giant reptiles to figure out a way for humans to regrow teeth.

$50,000: the price of a sleek, comfortable space suit for space tourists

13,000: the number of customers the space tourism industry is expected to have by 2021. Scientists are warning that commercial spaceflights could fill the stratosphere with sunlight-absorbing black carbon.

2.2 millionths of a second: the lifespan of a muon, a negatively charged subatomic particle (scientists need a 600-ton, 50-foot-diameter magnet to measure them)

0.05 percent: the blood-alcohol content to which all states should lower their threshold for DUI, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (all states currently have a blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent for driving)

5 hours: the time it takes to build your own gene machine, a pipe that copies DNA using the heat of a lightbulb

8 Of The Year's Most Oddly Gorgeous Science Images

Francie Diep — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:20:00 GMT

Maze Dweller

A goby fish peeks out of the coral it lives in. Goby fish are good housekeepers--they may remove algae from the coral that would otherwise smother it, undergraduate Chhaya Werner explained. Werner took this photo while doing field work in Panama.

Chhaya Werner '14, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

A water slide for worms, the glorious C. instagram, and more

Click here to enter the gallery

Is this the era of C. instagram? That's the clever name of a cellphone photo one undergraduate took of a plate crawling with C. elegans (it kind of rhymes). Caenorhabditis elegans are microscopic worms that scientists commonly use to study genetics.

The student, Meredith Wright of Princeton University, initially snapped the picture after seeing the plate in lab and thinking it was "particularly lovely," she wrote in an explanation accompanying her photo.

Later, she submitted her image to Princeton's Art of Science contest. Princeton then picked 43 images, including hers, to display in the Friend Center campus. Click here for a look at some our favorites.

A Zombie Worm And Other Amazing Images From This Week

Dan Nosowitz and Rose Pastore — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Zombie Worm

This horrifying worm is an Osedax, also called a zombie worm or bone-eating worm, for a pretty obvious reason: it lives inside the bones of dead sea creatures, like whales, eating and mating and doing all kinds of other gross worm things. It was only discovered in 2002. Read more here.

Norio Miyamoto/Naturwissenschaften

Plus the most beautiful image of Earth, New York City on Venus, and the world's largest (deflated) rubber duck.

Click here to enter the gallery

Drone-Vision Rifle Goes On Sale For $22K

Kelsey D. Atherton — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

TrackingPoint XactSystem Series

1) The hunter marks his prey. 2) The ballistics computer determines where the shot will land in current conditions. 3) The hunter corrects his aim and fires.

Courtesy TrackingPoint

A special heads-up display lets you tag a target onscreen before firing.

The most inaccurate component of a rifle is the human behind the trigger, but starting Wednesday hunters can turn to drone-inspired vision for a little help. Provided they have $22,000 on hand for a new rifle, that is.

The rifle works by incorporating a ballistics computer, 14-megapixel camera, a Linux-powered scope, and a special heads-up display that lets the shooter tag a target in the system before firing. The augmented aiming system calculates how humidity, air temperature, and barrel incline will affect a shot, and then adjusts the crosshairs on the display accordingly.

Of course, given Moore's Law and interest from other gun manufacturers, expect this not to be a one-off novelty item but instead the shape of things to come.

[NPR]

7 Reasons Why 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Is A Beginner's Guide To Star Trek [Spoiler Alert]

Kelsey D. Atherton — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Star...Battles?

The USS Enterprises faces off against a much larger warship.

Paramount

Everyday science, familiar plotlines, and an absence of jargon make this the most accessible Star Trek yet.

Star Trek is hardly beginner-friendly. Five television series, 12 movies, and a nerd following that defines nerd followings present a serious obstacle to the casual moviegoer. J.J. Abram's 2009 reboot of the series was an attempt to make Star Trek more accessible, but it's the second movie of the reboot, Into Darkness, where he succeeded. Here's why (spoiler alert for much of what follows):

1. The opening sequence summarizes the entire original series.
In the first part of the movie, the crew of the USS Enterprise faces two major problems--an angry primitive alien world and an impending disaster--and manages to resolve those problems through hi-jinks, heroism, close calls, and technical ingenuity. That's pretty much the narrative arc of the original series: there's a mission with a new alien species, crew members go out of their way to protect it, break a few rules, and get into hijinks along the way. Into Darkness's opening sequence feels like a 30-minute standalone episode.

2. The plot is ripped from the headlines.
Set in 2259, Into Darkness revolves around a terror attack and the subsequent manhunt. The film also features a debate over the merits of targeted killing versus capture, and the tools that come into question--disguises, advanced missiles, etc.--all resemble the Global War on Terror. It could almost be called Star Trek Into Zero Darkness Thirty.

3. Explosions trump meetings.
It's a cliche and a punchline that Star Trek is about people sitting around a table having important discussions. You won't find any of that here. There's exactly one meeting at a table in Into Darkness, and it's interrupted by explosions.

4. Space is the setting, not the plot.
There's a tendency in space movies, especially the first Star Trek film, to be distracted by the setting--the enormity of space!--and to ignore that what matters to an audience is the people in that setting. Space certainly plays a part in Into Darkness, but it's secondary to the (much more interesting) struggle between characters.

5. The aliens require no backstory.
Star Trek started out as as a TV show. And you know how TV shows go: Plots could drag out for years, especially a Star Trek plot. Into Darkness has no time for any of that.

When we meet the Klingons, we're told that it is an empire, and it has tension with the Starfleet. And that's it. There are no negotiations, no seminars on Klingon culture, no elaborate attempts at understanding their motive.

Similarly, the alien species in the opening sequence goes unnamed--its appearance tells us everything we need to know. The aliens visibly aren't human, wear only loin clothes and their bows and arrows show they aren't technologically advanced. That's enough for a jaunt into the world, and Into Darkness doesn't bog itself down with potentially distracting detail.

6. The weapons and other technologies should be familiar to anyone who doesn't live under a rock.
In 2009's Star Trek, there was an awkward play around continuity loops and time travel, resulting in a film as much about techno-magic as about the actual plot and characters. Previous iterations of the show and movies have predicted everything from mobile phones to automatically opening doors to personal diagnostic devices, making it years ahead of its time. While technology certainly plays a major part in Into Darkness, none of it is too unbelievable. Here are some of the film's technologies have counterparts in the real world:

Sky-diving through space: See Felix Baumgartner.
Cryogenic freezing: Not impossible.
A warship designed to work with a small crew: The Littoral Combat Ship, flawed though it may be, is designed for exactly that.
A helmet that displays information in real time: There are already ski goggles for that, and DARPA is working on a helmet for soldiers that does it even better.
Highly advanced superfast experimental torpedoes: Every weapon gets pushed to high-tech extremes at some point, and torpedoes on earth are no different. For an airborne variation, there's the X-51 Scramjet, a modern supersonic "wingless planet."

7. The bones thrown to Trekkies aren't distracting.
For a franchise as established and and venerable as Star Trek, it's almost impossible to make the film without including some references to earlier iterations of the series. When they happen in Into Darkness, they are very much background. For example, one of the villains has a history nestled deep in the canon of the universe, involving genetic engineering and a world war on earth. When the Original Series was made, that war was set in the 1990s; given that Into Darkness is set in 2259, it's likely that the same war happened, but the dates in Into Darkness and the Original Series fail to match up precisely. That's fine, the film doesn't tie the plot down with an exact replication of Star Trek universe history. What matters is a villain with a past.

In fact, the whole of Into Darkness feels like a story free from the shackles of its past, content to use the trappings and touchstones but not bound by the crushing weight of its own history. Into Darkness ends with the same promise the show first offered: it's a brand new universe. Let's go exploring.

Cambrian Fossil With Scissor-Like Claws Is Named For Johnny Depp

Clay Dillow — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:02:50 GMT

Kooteninchela deppi Imperial College London

Pack it up, science, we're done here.

Academy Awards continue to elude Johnny Depp, but as of today no one can say he hasn't been immortalized. A 505-million-year-old Cambrian fossil of a creature with scissor-like claws has been named Kooteninchela deppi in honor of Depp's role as Edward Scissorhands in the movie of the same name.

"When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands," says researcher David Legg, who conducted the research into the fossil as part of his PhD at Imperial College London, in a statement. "Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as ‘chela' is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan and so what better way to honour the man than to immortalise him as an ancient creature that once roamed the sea?"

Kooteninchela deppi shares many attributes with Depp, who is a wealthy actor who owns his own island. For instance, Kooteninchela deppi lived off the coast of British Colombia some half a billion years ago and used its scissor-like appendages to scour the seafloor sediment for creatures hiding there. And Depp was in a movie about pirates.

But seriously, Kooteninchela deppi is an important find and an important ancestor in the tree of life. It belongs to a group called the "great-appendage" arthropods (in reference to the claw-like appendages they share) and are early ancestors to everything from scorpions and centipedes to insects and crabs. So it's legacy is quite extensive, branching out into everything from crustaceans to spiders. So in terms of its body of work, that's something even a prolific a thespian as Depp has to respect.

[Imperial College London]

America's Road To Energy Independence, Part 1

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

A four-part series on the clean technologies that will set us free

Our series follows editor-in-chief Jacob Ward on a trip across the country and around the world to see firsthand the ideas that could usher in a new era of true energy independence for the United States. First up: a solar cell in every bolt of fabric. Read about these ideas, and more, in the June issue.-Eds

Video: MIT's Cheetah Robot Trots, Then Gallops

Clay Dillow — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:56:06 GMT

MIT's Cheetah

The robot can course at 22 kilometers per hour.

Boston Dynamics' Cheetah robot may be the fastest, but MIT's version of the DARPA-backed quadruped robot is proving to be the most efficient. In a newly released video, MIT's Biomimetic Robotics Lab shows off it's new and improved Cheetah, which can move along at a respectable 13.7 miles per hour and carry its own power source. Outside of the lab on the open savannah, that's a critical capability.

But while MIT's Cheetah isn't the fastest--we've seen Boston Dynamics' Cheetah set a land speed record for running robots at 28.3 miles per hour--that's not really what we're looking for in the video below. There are two primary aspects of MIT's design that set it apart: one is it's biomimetic design that reduces stress on joints and improves efficiency (things like Kevlar tendons in the legs that act like real tendons, helping the limbs return to zero without requiring power from the Cheetah's electric motors). These gains in efficiency mean that the Cheetah can theoretically carry its own power source, something other running robots can't do (in the video below power is being supplied externally, but the lithium polymer batteries Cheetah would carry are simulated by the addition of nearly seven pounds of dummy weight).

The second breakthrough, which you can witness in slow motion in the second half of the video, is the gait transition from trot to gallop, which is pretty impressive (the video goes slo-mo at about 1:20). Right at about 13 miles per hour Cheetah shifts seamlessly from a stuttering trot to a loping run--much as a real cheetah would as it transitions into high gear.

Then there's a third major design breakthrough, which is the decorative cheetah print detail and wicked sculpted cheetah head that's been added to the front of the ‘bot. See it all come together in the video below.

First American Mission To Sample An Asteroid Gets Green Light

Francie Diep — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:28:16 GMT

Illustration of OSIRIS-REx University of Arizona

OSIRIS-REx will scoop up a couple of ounces of dirt from the asteroid Bennu and bring it back to Earth.

Earth-bound scientists are on track to get their hands on asteroid soil, straight from the source, in 2023. An asteroid-sampling mission, planned for launch in 2016, is moving into development, NASA and the University of Arizona announced yesterday.

The mission, called the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer or OSIRIS-REx, will land a spacecraft on the asteroid Bennu, scoop up at least two ounces of its dirt, and bring the sample back to Earth for testing. OSIRIS-REx's planners hope Bennu's soil will contain molecules dating from the origin of the solar system. Bennu may contain water and amino acids, which would offer clues to the birth of the solar system and of life on Earth.

OSIRIS-REx will also map Bennu's other properties, such as non-gravitational forces on the asteroid, while it spends more than a year hovering near the asteroid's surface. Ultimately, OSIRIS-REx's findings will help NASA in its plans to rope an asteroid into the moon's orbit for human visits, the agency said in a statement.

With the new NASA approval, engineers will now build OSIRIS-REx's capsule and instruments, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

Bennu is more than 1,600 feet in diameter and contains carbon. It swings relatively close to Earth in its orbit, and has a 1-in-2,000 chance of a collision in the 22nd century, according to the University of Arizona, which is leading the mission. Scientists chose Bennu for a sampling mission because of its accessible orbit, carbon makeup and large size, the Los Angeles Times reported.

NASA first announced plans to visit Bennu in 2011. The mission will cost $1 billion, according to the University of Arizona.

High School Students Devise More Accurate Climate Modeling Method

Clay Dillow — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:01:57 GMT

Fossilized leaves can tell us a lot about out climate history Frank Kovalchek via Wikimedia

By studying the way leaves shrink when they fossilize, a team of more than 100 high school students could build more accurate models of climate change.

A team of high school students have co-authored a scientific journal paper with their University of Arizona grad student instructor that could have a serious impact on the reliability of climate models. Their work details the impact of shrinkage on dried, fossilized leaves--shrinkage that is often unaccounted for in climate models. By better accounting for this change in leaf size, the students found that researchers could significantly improve the accuracy of their climate models.

Climate models are usually a mash-up of all kinds of data collected from various sources, much of which is stored up in the fossil record. And one of those sources is fossilized leaves, which researchers look at to determine what kind of climate reigned in a geographical region at a given point in time. Generally speaking, larger leaves are indicative of warmer, more favorable climates.

But when fossilized leaves are measured they aren't perfect representations of the living leaves they once were. They shrink as they dry out and fossilize, as one might expect them to. And yet, though this is readily known, most climate models don't account for this shrinkage. Many studies and scientists have long considered such shrinkage during fossilization to be negligible. But more than 100 high school students in Arizona would beg to differ.

In a paper published in the American Journal of Botany--40 of the students completed enough of scientific requirements to qualify them as co-authors on the paper--the students carried out various experiments in leaf shrinkage, accelerating the fossilization process by drying leaves at about 140 degrees. They found that leaves tend to shrink when they dry out much more than previously thought--in some cases by up to 80 percent, a value that is certainly not negligible. Some species of ragwort lost more than 40 percent of their size when dried out, and on average leaves lost anywhere from 10 to 30 percent.

In other words, to treat the measurement of fossilized leaf size as roughly the same as living leaf size introduces errors into the computer models used to generate pictures of Earth's climate history. Depending on the species of leaf, those errors can be quite large--large enough to lead to conclusions that are flawed.

To flesh out their work, the students did additional experiments, hydrating leaves after drying them, placing dried leaves in damp environments, and leaving them in mud throughout the drying process. Doing so helped them to qualify the impact of various variables on drying leaves and how those variables impact shrinkage. The results were good enough to get the students published--and perhaps to sharpen the resolution of historical climate models going forward.

[Nature]

Mapping The Simpsons' Slow Descent Into Suckitude

Shaunacy Ferro — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:30:00 GMT

The Simpsons' Popularity Over Time Andrew Clark

Plus: how other shows fare over time

Who can predict how a TV show will fare two or three seasons out? Some shows only gain momentum after a dull first season, while others break out of the pack early on only to flounder or manage to remain consistently awesome.

Andrew Clark of PremierSoccerStats created these handy scatterplots of that process using data originally culled from the Global Episode Opinion Survey (GEOS), a web-based survey that allows GEOS members to rank more than 145 TV shows, from 24 to Twin Peaks to Nip/Tuck.

The graphs show the average ratings for a program over time. The intensity of the scatterplot changes based on how many people responded (The Simpsons had an average of 29 rankers.)

Rankings for some shows, like the 1985-1992 series MacGyver, vary fairly widely:

Other fan favorites stay essentially consistent over time, like HBO's Six Feet Under:

Fiddle with the interactive graphic here, and try not to be taken aback by how popular The Vampire Diaries actually is.

[FlowingData]

Internet-Enabled Laser Pointer Lets You Play With Your Pet From Anywhere In The World

Dan Nosowitz — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:31:22 GMT

Petcube helps your cat stay active/frustrated by chasing a laser pointer.

Playing a game of "chase the laser pointer" with a cat is one of the most compelling reasons to get a cat in the first place. But what to do when you go to work, or on a trip? How will you induce hilarious chirping and pouncing then?

Petcube, a little gadget currently in pre-production, couples a Wi-Fi-connected 720p camera with a laser pointer. Through either a website or an app (currently apps are planned for iOS and Android), you can control the laser, or open controls to the public, allowing anyone in the world to play with your pet. The Petcube also has a microphone, which, with the camera, actually makes it a nice way to see what your pet is up to while you're away. (Spoiler: mostly sleeping.)

It's a pretty simple idea, but it seems well thought out; there's also a speaker, so you can yell at your cat, which sounds fun for you and alarming for your cat. The laser is low-intensity, so even if it's beamed directly into your pet's eyes, it won't cause any damage. You can also record especially hilarious/adorable videos and upload them directly to YouTube.

The Petcube isn't finished yet, but you can sign up and be notified when it's ready to purchase. And now, here's a video of big cats playing with laser pointers.

Wanna Know How You're Going To Survive The Apocalypse?

PopSci Staff — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Annalee Newitz Jonathan Wilkins and Breanne Willoughby

Join us today on Facebook for a chat with Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief of io9.com and author of "Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction." [UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who participated! To check out the chat, go here.]

Earlier this week, we ran an excerpt from the awesome new book Scatter, Adapt, and Remember about how humans will survive a mass extinction. Author Annalee Newitz is joining us on Facebook today from noon to about 12:45 p.m. EST to answer your questions. To join in, just like us on Facebook. And if you can't make it, but still want to ask a question, fire away in the comments below.

From Jaguar, A 495-Horsepower Monster

Lawrence Ulrich — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT

Jaguar F-Type V8 S Courtesy Jaguar

Can the long-awaited E-Type successor live up to its lineage?

In 1961, Jaguar debuted the E-Type, a road-ready two-seat version of the company's champion racecars. It quickly became legend, praised by Enzo Ferrari as "the most beautiful car ever made." But in 1974, Jaguar discontinued the E-Type and shifted its focus to genteel luxury coupes and sedans. This summer, the company will resurrect the two-seater in the F-Type, which features a 495-horsepower engine, adaptive controls, and, of course, a look reminiscent of its beloved predecessor. Even against Porsche and Corvette, which have been consistently updating their sports cars in the interim, the F-Type does plenty to make up for the 40-year hiatus.

Optimized Airflow

The 564-pound aluminum chassis is Jaguar's lightest to date. An active rear spoiler deploys at speeds above 60 mph and generates 264 pounds of downforce to keep the comparatively light F-type close to the road even at the highest speeds. Designers looked to reduce drag everywhere they could; for example, the door handles retract when they're not needed, smoothing airflow.

Supercharged Cylinders

Jaguar will release three F-Type variants, the most powerful of which squeezes 495 horsepower out of a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engine. Dubbed the F-Type V8 S, the car goes from zero to 60 in just 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of 186 mph. (The base V6 model tops out at 161.)

Intelligent Eight-Speed

Designers gave the F-Type an intelligent eight-speed automatic transmission. The system tracks conditions and driving style-how a driver accelerates, brakes, and takes turns-and selects one of 25 preprogrammed shifting models. By monitoring G-forces, for instance, the transmission knows that it should hold off on an upshift until the car exits a turn.

Adaptive Suspension

A double-wishbone suspension logs chassis motions 100 times per second and steering inputs 500 times per second, so it can adjust individual shocks to keep the car level and the ride smooth. The system knows, for example, that much of the car's weight will wind up on the front-right tire during a left turn and stiffens the shocks accordingly.

Custom Performance Controls

Owners can create custom settings in the F-Type to match their driving habits. Using a touchscreen on the dash, they can save presets that soften or stiffen the steering and suspension, adjust the shifting sensitivity, and modify engine responsiveness. The F-type's "dynamic launch control" also times the throttle to create drag-strip starts with a single button push.

Jaguar F-Type V8 S

0-60: 4.2 seconds
Top speed: 186 mph
Price: From $92,000

This Bacterium Can Do Division, Compute Logarithms And Take Square Roots

Shaunacy Ferro — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:01:55 GMT

Bacterial Calculation Ramiz Daniel, Jacob R. Rubens, Rahul Sarpeshkar, Timothy K. Lu via MIT

MIT researchers engineered bacterial cells to function as living calculators.

A group of engineers from MIT have created analog calculators out of living cells, according to a paper published online in Nature yesterday. By tweaking the genes of bacterial cells, the researchers were able to create circuits that can perform calculations--including division, multiplication, logarithms and square roots--in a much more efficient way than many existing biocomputers.

Using analog circuits, which harness a cell's natural biochemical functions, allows for more nuanced computations than imposing digital logic. While digital circuits classify all values as zeros and ones, analog circuits can handle a continuous range of inputs, allowing for values in between. In addition to computing whether or not a molecule like glucose is present, these circuits can tell its concentration, for instance.

"Analog computation is very efficient," senior author Rahul Sarpeshkar said in a press statement. "To create digital circuits at a comparable level of precision would take many more genetic parts."

A synthetic circuit that calculates square roots, for example, requires more than 100 parts, while the MIT team's analog circuit only uses two parts.

To create a circuit that could multiply, researchers combined two circuits that both turn on the genes for green fluorescent protein, or GFP. One used a sugar called arabinose, and the other used a signaling molecule called AHL. The combined input from both are then calculated using the total amount of GFP.

The cell divides using the same enzyme mechanism that helps it calculate the ratios of different molecules. The researchers modified the circuits to expand their range and compute inputs up to 10,000.

The researcher's future goal is to replicate their success with bacterial cells in larger cells, including mammalian cells. Karpeshkar aims to create new circuits that can improve gene expression, molecular sensing and computation, according to MIT. "We have just scratched the surface of what sophisticated analog feedback circuits can do in living cells," he said.

[MIT]

Giving White People The Illusion Of Darker Skin Makes Them Less Racist

Shaunacy Ferro — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:51:46 GMT

Illusions And Biases Dreamstime

A change of skin tone can bring a change of heart, apparently.

An optical illusion can change the implicit biases of Caucasian people against people with darker skin, according to a study published in the August 2013 edition of Cognition.

The research, a collaboration between Royal Holloway University of London, the Central European University in Budapest and Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, analyzed the implicit racial biases of 34 Caucasian participants, then subjected them to something called the Rubber Hand Illusion, where they watched a rubber hand being touched by a paintbrush as they felt their own hand being stimulated out of sight. The illusion creates the sense that the fake hand is part of the subject's body, even when it's of a completely different skin color.

The more the participants felt like the darker skinned fake hand was their own, the less racist they came off in a second implicit bias test.

In another test, participants underwent the same process, but some saw a white hand, while others saw a dark hand. The implicit bias test showed that the opinions of those who saw the white hand didn't change, while again those who felt ownership of the darker hand felt less racial bias.

"Across two experiments, the more intense the participants' illusion of ownership over the dark-skinned rubber hand, the more positive their implicit racial attitudes became," the authors write.

"It comes down to a perceived similarity between white and dark skin," lead author Lara Maister of Royal Holloway University of London said in a press statement. "The illusion creates an overlap, which in turn helps to reduce negative attitudes because participants see less difference between themselves and those with dark skin."

The study suggests that racial biases aren't necessarily cemented by adulthood, but that they can be altered. "Changes in body-representation may therefore constitute a core, previously unexplored, dimension that in turn changes social cognition processes," the authors write. They suggest that future research into different social groups and stereotypes could expand on their work, since this research only explored the attitudes of white individuals.

[LiveScience]

The First Round Of Apps For Google Glass Is Here

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:35:03 GMT

Google Glass Sans Person Google

Our first clue at how people might actually use Google Glass in the real world.

Google announced today at the I/O developer conference in California that the first wave of apps, aside from the few that had already been announced, are here.

Google Glass is a first-generation beta product. The way Google would like you to think of it is like the original iPhone: a totally new platform that won't really come into its own until developers can release apps for it. Remember that the original iPhone could do very little; it had email and maps and text messaging and a camera and a web browser, but it didn't have apps until the iPhone 3G, the second phone in the iPhone line. That was when the App Store launched, and that was when other companies stopped making fun of the iPhone and started copying it.

The first wave of apps includes apps from Evernote, CNN, Facebook, and Elle. Facebook is perhaps the most important; until now, Glass was limited to sharing photos, videos, and notes with Google services like Google+. But now you can upload what you see right to Facebook, and give captions or status updates with voice commands and dictation.

CNN's works a bit more like Google Now, the service that guesses what you want to know before you ask. But instead of telling you when your Amazon package will arrive or when your commuting train will leave, it lets you tell it what kind of information you want and when. So you can tell it to give you stock news in the morning, or sports news at lunchtime, that kind of thing.

We've still yet to really see what Glass can do; Google is relying on developers to turn the platform into something people really want, rather than a novelty. These apps are a nice little start, though nothing too surprising yet.

[via NYTimes]

Scientists Create Bone Using Layered Clay

Clay Dillow — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:00:00 GMT

Synthetic silicate nanoplatelets, or layered clay, can stimulate stem cells to turn into bone cells Image courtesy of Khademhosseini Lab

A common industrial material turns stem cells into bone cells, a discovery that could throw open the door to major tissue engineering breakthroughs.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's hospital have discovered that layered clay-that is, synthetic silicate nanoplatelets used in everything from glass and ceramics to food additives-can induce stem cells to become bone cells without needing any additional bone-inducing factors. In other words, the presence of this synthetic material can coax human stem cells into becoming bone all on its own, and that could have huge implications for the future of tissue engineering.

That's because we're getting old. And as the nation (and much of the rest of the world) gets grayer, there's a prevailing need for more and better materials that can simulate bone in corrective medical implants and other applications (think: hip replacement and the like). Various ceramics and other silicon-based materials are already used in such implants, but the fact that synthetic silicate nanoplatelets could actually stimulate the transformation of stem cells into bone cells opens the door to bioactive filler materials, injectable tissue repair matrixes developed from layered clay, and, more broadly, various therapeutic agents that generate specific stem cell responses (for the engineering of specific bone structures from stem cells).

All that is a ways off, of course, as the mechanisms that control this are still not very well understood. Researchers are now working to better understand the relationship between layered clay and stem cells, and how to turn those into better-performing tissue engineering outcomes.

[Harvard Gazette]

Earth's Core Is Weaker Than We Thought

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Earth's Core Wikimedia Commons

Like so many of our own! No judgments, Earth.

A new study in Nature Geoscience, from two Stanford researchers, indicates that our planet's super-dense, super strong core may not be as strong as we'd thought.

It's very difficult to replicate the kind of ultra-high-pressure environment of Earth's iron core; we can't dig down there and monitor it, so researchers have relied on reading and tracking seismic waves and extrapolating other information from there. The outer core, which is more liquid, produces the geomagnetic field that stretches all the way out past the ionosphere and into space, where it meets the solar wind. That geomagnetic field protects our atmosphere from solar radiation, which could strip away the ozone layer and make life on Earth impossible.

The study is the first to use a tool called a DAC, or diamond anvil cell, to measure the core. A DAC smooshes a very tiny amount of material between two diamonds with incredible force: it's able to exert up to a 300 gigapascals. That's about three million times the pressure on Earth's surface.

In this particular experiment, the researchers stuck a piece of pure iron in there to emulate what goes on in the Earth's core. They found, according to the lead author of the paper, that "The strength of iron under these extreme pressures is startlingly weak." In fact, it's only 40% as strong as previous estimates had indicated, and prone to shearing.

The researchers don't really know what this means. It'll probably impact our understanding of the geomagnetic shield and its effects, however.

[via Stanford]

A Guide To Not Saying Dumb Things About Angelina Jolie's Double Mastectomy

Shaunacy Ferro — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Angelina Jolie Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

A refresher in genetic mutations, breast cancer risk and the perils of overawareness

Angelina Jolie's announcement in Tuesday's New York Times that she has undergone a preventative double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer as a carrier of a BRCA gene mutation has garnered praise, sparked debates over genetic testing, and of course, encouraged people to say stupid things on Twitter. But what does the science say? How does Jolie's experience echo that of other women? And what does it reveal about the state of modern medicine? Here are your most pressing questions answered.

What are BRCA mutations?
Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, tumor suppressors that produce a protein to repair DNA. In some people, one of those genes develops a mutation that increases their risk of getting breast cancer by a large margin. Women with a BRCA mutation can have a 60 to 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer, as well as a high chance of developing ovarian cancer.

Are mutations common?
Not really. It's hard to estimate how much of the general population carries these mutations--the National Human Genome Institute puts the estimate at .1 to .6 percent. (The average woman has a 12 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. ) Women of Eastern and Central European Jewish ancestry face a higher risk of having either a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation--a 2012 study cited that up to 2.5 percent of Jewish women carry it. According to the CDC, for people with the mutation, about half of their first-degree relatives will also carry it.

Some other genetic variations seem to be associated with increased breast cancer risk, including the TP53 and PTEN genes, but they are much rarer, and the link isn't as well established. "Even though this last decade has bought remarkable advancements in our understanding of the genetic basis of the disease, we still have a long way to go," says Shicha Kumar, an assistant professor at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.

Only 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer diagnoses overall are associated with gene mutations, many accounted for by the BRCA mutations. For the most part, breast cancer is sporadic, meaning it occurs independent of direct genetic inheritance.

Should everyone get tested?
No. For one thing, it's expensive: Testing can cost upwards of $3,000. A company called Myriad Genetics holds a controversial monopoly on the BRCA gene tests. (Their right to patent the BRCA genes is being challenged in the Supreme Court.)

Plus, not all mutations will result in cancer. "Many of us have many gene mutations that are completely clinically irrelevant--they don't manifest in any clinical problem," Kumar explains. Most people go through genetic counseling to assess their risk of having certain mutations. A genetic counselor can help evaluate a person's family history and risk to determine whether a blood test is necessary, and can work with insurance companies to make sure the test is covered.

Does everyone with a gene mutation get a preventative mastectomy?
Not everyone. "There is this potpourri of options available to women," says Anees Chagpar, as associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine and the director of The Breast Center. "It's really a choice, which fits best with a patient in terms of their own values and their own risks." Some women opt for increased screenings, while others take medications like tamoxifen that can reduce the risk of cancer by up to 50 percent.

"Preventative surgery is not for everybody, and it's not an easy thing to go through," Kumar warns. Both mastectomy and reconstructive surgery come with their own risks, including pain, infections and a change in skin sensation.

Yet mastectomies in general are on the rise in the U.S. "I think that as people are beginning to get more and more aware of their risks," Chagpar says. "Whether it's genetic or any other cause, they're becoming more really proactive. While the decision is a personalized one, preventative surgeries like the prophylactic double mastectomy is an accepted [decision]."

Todd Tuttle, the University of Minnesota's chief of surgical oncology, has been an outspoken critic of the trend, saying that in many cases, women overestimate their cancer risk. "You could attribute the rise in mastectomies to a better understanding of genetics or better reconstruction techniques," he told The New York Times, "but those are available in Europe, and you don't see that mastectomy craze there. There is so much ‘awareness' about breast cancer in the U.S. I've called it breast-cancer overawareness. It's everywhere. There are pink garbage trucks. Women are petrified."

"Some of our understanding is that a lot of it has to do with fear," Kumar explains. A 2012 study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that about 90 percent of women who elected to have a double mastectomy after having cancer in one breast did so out of fear that they would develop cancer in the other breast, but about 70 of them actually had a very low risk of that occurring. "The risk of a contralateral breast cancer in the general population of women with a prior breast cancer is approximately 0.7% to 1% per year, with a cumulative lifetime risk of approximately 15%," according to a 2005 study.

In response, Kumar says doctors have begun to focus on greater education of the risks of developing breast cancer in one breast after having it in the other, but with BRCA mutations, mastectomies are a more medically accepted decision. "With BCRA, the risk is actually really high," Kumar says. "Our guidelines dictate that that's an important conversation to have with the patient." For women with a BRCA mutation, bilateral prophylactic mastectomy, a preventative surgery designed to removal all breast tissue, reduces risk of breast cancer by an estimated 90 to 95 percent.

BRCA mutations also increase a woman's risk of ovarian cancer. Though the risk of developing cancer is not as high--20 to 40 percent--doctors often recommend preventative surgery because ovarian cancer has a low survival rate. "We recommend removal of both ovaries, since ovarian cancer is much more difficult to diagnose early," Kumar explains.

Both surgeries dramatically reduce the risk of cancer, but there isn't 100 percent certainty. Any residual, microscopic tissue can still become cancerous, so women still undergo surveillance, typically by physical exam, after surgery. But generally there's not a need for future mammograms or MRIs, according to Kumar.

Will Angelina Jolie make mastectomies more prevalent?
Jolie's public announcement was meant to encourage more women to get tested. "For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices," she writes.

The decision to undergo preventative surgery is obviously a personal one, but for some, removing the risk of getting cancer can be psychologically beneficial. "For many women this will allay a lot of their anxiety and still give them a body image that makes them feel whole," Chagpar says. Jolie has been praised for declaring that her sex-symbol breasts aren't a core part of her femininity. In a 2005 study, though many were satisfied with their choice, 26 percent of women surveyed felt a decreased sense of femininity after undergoing a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.

A 2000 study in Journal of the American Medical Association found that "positive outcomes following prophylactic mastectomy include decreased emotional concern about developing breast cancer and generally favorable psychological and social outcomes." However, the authors wrote, "These must be weighed against the irreversibility of the decision, potential problems with implants and reconstructive surgery, and occurrence of adverse psychological and social outcomes in some women."

And Jolie's announcement certainly raised awareness of BRCA gene mutations, with thousands of news sources nationwide covering her story. A whiff of celebrity can have a powerful reach when it comes to medical decisions, as Pacific Standard points out. A 1998 study found that coverage of Nancy Reagan's 1987 mastectomy influenced women, especially those demographically similar to her, to opt for mastectomies rather than breast-conserving surgery. "Celebrity role models can influence decisions about medical care," the researchers wrote. "The influence appears strongest among persons who demographically resemble the celebrity, and those of lower income and educational status."

While BRCA mutations don't make it into the news very often, breast cancer awareness in general has come under fire recently for being more hype than substance. Just last month, a feature by Peggy Orenstein in The New York Times magazine warned of the harms of over-awareness of breast cancer and covering the world in pink ribbons--over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment, as well as a misconception that screening or early detection could be a panacea.

Scientific progress is erratic, unpredictable. "We are all foundering around in the dark," said Peter B. Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. "The one thing I can tell you is some of that foundering has borne fruit." There are the few therapies, he said - like tamoxifen and Herceptin - that target specific tumor characteristics, and newer tests that estimate the chance of recurrence in estrogen-positive cancers, allowing lower-risk women to skip chemotherapy. "That's not curing cancer," Bach said, "but it's progress. And yes, it's slow."

Google Bets $10.7 Million On Drone Intelligence

Kelsey D. Atherton — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

An MD-200 Quadrotor

Two years ago Google purchased one of these quadrotors from German manufacturer Microdrones

wikimedia commons

The company's venture capital arm has just made a big investment in unmanned systems.

Echoing a company belief in autonomous systems, clever algorithms, and replacing fallible humans with smart machines, Google's venture capital arm announced yesterday that it is investing $10.7 million in a company that makes drone brains.

The company, Airware, builds autopilots for unmanned aerial systems. Because space and weight are at a premium on drones, especially small ones, Airware's systems can get pretty tiny-one model weighs 32 grams, or about the same as a pocketful of coins.

Airware made news in January (under their previous name of Unmanned Innovations, Inc.) when a Kenyan wildlife conservation group purchased one of its drones to fly over a nature preserve and watch for poachers.

Google itself has a history with robot vehicles. In August 2010, a German firm reported that Google was testing one of its drones, most likely for Google Street View and Google Earth projects. And Google also spent years developing a driverless car, some of which are now licensed drivers in Nevada.

All of this means that Google is well poised for 2015, when the FAA is set to allow drones to fly alongside planes in U.S. commercial airspace.

The next thing to watch out for? Google investing in tacos, burritos, or beer delivery.

[Business Insider]

Harvesting Wind Energy By Covering Skyscrapers in Piezoelectric 'Hairs'

Clay Dillow — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:12 GMT

Belatchew's STRAWSCRAPER vision for Södermalm's South Tower in Stockholm, Sweden Belatchew Arkitekter

In the future, all buildings will resemble massive toilet brushes. Perhaps not, but that's the net-zero energy future of skyscrapers envisioned by Belatchew Arkitekter in an idea called STRAWSCRAPER which, in spite of the toilet brush comparison, is actually pretty cool. The general idea here is to cover tall buildings in a skin covered with piezoelectric fibers that harvest energy to power the building from the wind.

Belatchew's model for this concept is Södermalm's South Tower in Stockholm, Sweden, which was completed in 1997 but at only 26 stories rather than the originally-planned 40 stories (the architect that designed the building apparently left the project after losing control of the design). Belatchew's STRAWSCRAPER would return the building to its original proportions, extending it 14 stories skyward by way of adding huge vertical rods covered in piezoelectric filaments. The other 26 stories would also be sheathed in piezoelectric ribs that would ripple in the breeze, thus creating electricity.

Piezoelectricity is, simply put, an electric charge that builds up as the result of mechanical stress. Think of it as a small jolt of electricity generated by the flexing of a material. Covered in these piezoelectric fibers, even a light breeze rippling through the South Tower's fibers would generate power, which in turn could keep the building running without pulling energy from the grid.

And, being the brainchild of an architecture firm, there's an aesthetic aspect to STRAWSCRAPER as well. Covered in these functional fibers buildings, once static monoliths, become undulating, rippling, living things in the urban landscape. Like trees. Or cleaning implements.

[David Report]

Concept Skyscraper Generates Its Own Energy, Looks Like A Toilet Brush

Clay Dillow — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Belatchew's STRAWSCRAPER vision for Södermalm's South Tower in Stockholm, Sweden Belatchew Arkitekter

The, erm, splashy future of skyscrapers

In the future, all buildings will resemble massive toilet brushes. Perhaps not, but that's the net-zero energy future of skyscrapers envisioned by Belatchew Arkitekter in an idea called STRAWSCRAPER which, in spite of the toilet brush comparison, is actually pretty cool. The general idea here is to give tall buildings a skin of piezoelectric fibers that harvest energy to power the building from the wind.

Belatchew's model for this concept is Södermalm's South Tower in Stockholm, Sweden, which was completed in 1997 but at only 26 stories rather than the originally planned 40 stories (the architect who designed the building apparently left the project after losing control of the design). Belatchew's STRAWSCRAPER would return the building to its original proportions, extending it 14 stories skyward by way of adding huge vertical rods covered in piezoelectric filaments. The other 26 stories would also be sheathed in piezoelectric ribs that would ripple in the breeze, thus creating electricity.

Piezoelectricity is, simply put, an electric charge that builds up as the result of mechanical stress. Think of it as a small jolt of electricity generated by the flexing of a material. With piezoelectric fibers, even a light breeze would generate power. That in turn could keep the building running without pulling energy from the grid.

And, being the brainchild of an architecture firm, there's an aesthetic aspect to STRAWSCRAPER as well. Covered in these functional fibers, buildings--once static monoliths--become undulating, rippling, living things in the urban landscape. Like trees. Or cleaning implements.

[David Report]

Robot Plane Flies Humans 500 Miles

Kelsey D. Atherton — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT

Remotely Piloted Jetstream ASTRAEA

Up, up, and away-without a pilot.

The great thing about robots is that they take boring, repetitive tasks from humans, which frees up our superior minds for more creative endeavors (like building more robots.) Flying a commercial airplane, much like driving down long stretches of undifferentiated Eurasian steppe or piloting a cargo helicopter back and forth over the same route, typically consists of a few moments of human input mixed in with long stretches of automated tedium.

As such, it was only a matter of time before machines took over the cockpit: Last month, a robot plane safely carried passengers 500 miles from England to Scotland and back again, the British consortium operating the plane revealed Monday.

Dubbed "the Flying Test Bed," the plane is a normal 19-seat Jetstream-the kind a corporate executive might fly in-that was converted to fly autonomously. The group behind the plane is Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment (Astraea), a business consortium funded by the British government and private businesses.

The test flight wasn't completely autonomous-a human pilot onboard entered the cockpit to steer the plane through take-off, and then later the landing. The majority of the flight, however, that long tedium of maintaining a plane at cruising altitude, was in control of the remote pilot, with autonomous systems doing much of the actual flying.

While this was a test flight, it didn't interrupt normal air traffic, and it's 500-mile round-trip between Warton, England, and Inverness, Scotland, occurred in regular commercial airspace, shared with other airplanes.

Next up for the plane? Testing weather avoidance systems over the Irish sea and then using a system based around infrared sensors to test obstacle avoidance on emergency landings. Following that, Astraea is planning to test systems that can communicate with air traffic controllers and sense and avoid other aircraft.

The next big goal for robotics is commercial airplanes that can autonomously take off and land themselves. Earlier this week, the U.S. military showed off a drone nearly at this point, and technology is improving fast.

With each boring task taken over by autonomous machines, the future becomes a little bit more more exciting for us creative humans.

State Drops Charges Against High School Student Arrested For Science Experiment

Clay Dillow — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Crime Scene? Dreamstime

Florida state attorneys have decided not to file felony charges against a 16-year-old whose science experiment was actually not boring.

Good news coming out of Florida this week: 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot won't be charged with dual felonies for conducting a science experiment on school grounds at her public school in Bartow, Fla., the Florida State Attorneys office has announced. The announcement comes after 195,000 people from across the country signed an online petition demanding the charges be dropped.

On April 22 in the hours before school started, Wilmot mixed a household chemical with aluminum foil inside a water bottle and placed the cap on it as part of a science experiment. She reportedly expected the reaction to create a little smoke, but instead the bottle popped with a firecracker-like sound and produced more smoke than anticipated.

No one was injured and no property was damaged, but nonetheless the school administration phoned the police, who arrested Wilmot for "possession/discharge of a weapon on school grounds" and "discharging a destructive device"--charges that could have led to Wilmot finishing high school in a juvenile facility and entering her adult life with a record. Wilmot has an outstanding school record and her principal describes her as both a "good kid" and one who has no record of being in any kind of serious trouble.

Her story set off a wave of criticism in the science community and led to an online petition supporting Wilmot--and encouraging scientific curiosity among American youth in general. Whether it was the public outrage or a bout of common sense that seized Florida's State Attorneys office, the felony charges have been dropped and Wilmot is free to continue being a high school student genuinely curious about science and the world around her.