Select Category Select Tag Select Archive ...read more

The wildfires show up clearly in these animations of satellite imagery An animation of images from NASA’s Terra satellite shows fires burning across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The first image in the sequence is in natural color; the second is in a false color scheme that highlights burned areas; and the third shows where the satellite detected active burning. (Images: NASA Worldview. Animation: Tom Yulsman) Fierce winds, temperatures in the 80s, and low humidity, have whipped u ...read more

Blue Origin today unveiled a video demonstrating takeoff and landing procedures for its New Glenn rocket. Feel like you’ve seen this act before? You’re not alone; the process looks very similar to the maneuvers performed by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on its trips to space. The short presentation shows the rocket lifting off, delivering a payload to orbit and touching back down on an oceanic barge. From the neat flip the rocket performs on the way down to the barge landi ...read more

The work of the Norwegian Young Sea Ice Cruise is providing insights into rapid Arctic changes caused by human-induced global warming The research vessel Lance was frozen into the Arctic ice pack in the midst of the polar night in January 2015, under the auspices of Norwegian Polar Institute. The expedition, known as N-ICE2015, was launched to study the effects and feedbacks of the thinning of Arctic sea ice. (Source: Norwegian Polar Institute) Note: This story was written by guest b ...read more

“I could take the oldest person here, make a little hole right here on the side of the head, and put some depth electrodes into their hippocampus and stimulate. And they would be able to recite back to you, verbatim, a book they read 60 years ago.” So said Ben Carson, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, yesterday. Carson is known for his unorthodox claims, such as his attempt to rewrite the Egyptology textbooks, but this time, as he’s a former neurosurgeon ...read more

The first underwater images of True’s beaked whales offered insights into their coloration patterns and group behavior. (Credit: Roland Edler) True’s beaked whale sightings are so rare, that scientists who devote careers to studying these animals may never actually witness one swimming in the wild. But thanks to an international team of scientists that compiled True’s beaked whale sightings, we can all watch the first underwater video of True’s beaked whales swimmi ...read more

A system that interprets brain signals enables human operators to correct the robot’s choice in real-time. Credit: Jason Dorfman, MIT CSAIL Baxter the robot can tell the difference between right and wrong actions without its human handlers ever consciously giving a command or even speaking a word. The robot’s learning success relies upon a system that interprets the human brain’s “oops” signals to let Baxter know if a mistake has ...read more

(Credit: jukurae/Shutterstock) When an oil tanker runs aground or a deep-sea well suffers a leak, millions of gallons of oil can flood into the ocean. Once there, oil slicks can be tremendously difficult to contain, and pose risks to ocean-dwellers and coastlines when they wash ashore in waves of sticky sludge.[embedded content] Normal containment measures involve burning or skimming the thin layer of oil off of the surface, but these aren’t perfect and pose their own risks. Materia ...read more

Select Category Select Tag Select Archive ...read more

What happens in the brain when we die? Canadian researchers Loretta Norton and colleagues of the University of Western Ontario examine this grave question in a new paper: Electroencephalographic Recordings During Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy Until 30 Minutes After Declaration of Death Norton et al. examined frontal EEG recordings from four critically ill patients at the point where their life support was withdrawn. Here are some details on the four: Here’s the EEG recordings. No ...read more