sábado, 30 de mayo de 2015

Scientific reveals that size are extraterrestrials

Aliens in movies are always shown as small creatures, but in reality could be much larger.

The scientific Fergus Simpson University of Barcelona, ​​calculated the minimum size required for that to exist intelligent life on other planets to survive.

According to his calculations, the aliens would have to weigh and measure the equivalent of a medium polar bear 650 lbs y 6 a 8 pies (300 kilograms y 2 a 2.5 metros) or more.





The expert came to this conclusion by applying a mathematical formula, assuming that aliens obey the same laws of conservation of animals on Earth.

Simpson calculations were achieved based on the minimum size necessary for life outside our planet can be made.

Therefore, throughout the universe, such as Earth, is likely smaller than large animals, says Simpson, since the number of planets inhabited by relatively small animals outnumber the number of worlds dominated large, chances are that we are on a planet with relatively small animals-and ourselves, probably one of the smallest intelligent beings.

jueves, 28 de mayo de 2015

The universe in which we live is a simulation on a supercomputer?

Although it seems science fiction, a group of physicists at the University of Washington has now succeeded in designing a test to prove if indeed we live in simulated on a computer universe.





The idea that humanity could be living inside an artificial universe came in an article by Nick Bostrom, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. The work was published in 2003 in the journal Philosophical Quarterly and since then has not left anyone indifferent.

A group of physicists from the University of Washington are developing a test that could take place in the near future and could help to resolve the question of whether or not actually live inside a computer simulation. 

To do Professor Martin Savage considers it necessary to model only a small part of our world, ie also create a sufficiently large simulation.

Starting from the basic laws of physics that govern the universe have been able to simulate relative success tiny portions thereof on a scale of a billionth of a meter, slightly higher than an atomic nucleus.

"If you get a simulation big enough it would emerge much like our universe," Savage says. Therefore, according to the scientist, it's just a matter of looking at the universe we live in an analog "signature" that they are using in our small-scale simulations.

Something also to Savage and his colleagues, is perfectly feasible. In fact, they suggest that the "signature" that would prove that ours is an artificial universe could appear as a limitation on the power of cosmic rays (the radiation reaching us from distant stars and galaxies).

According to the idea of ​​Savage, the highest-energy cosmic rays could not travel on the edges of the artificial grid that simulates space-time in a hypothetical computer model, but should travel diagonally, so that their interactions would not be equal in all directions, as expected. If it can be shown that such "unnatural" limitation exists, there would be no question that we live within a simulation.


source(in spanish):http://actualidad.rt.com/

viernes, 22 de mayo de 2015

Discover the brightest galaxy in the cosmos

Imagine what it would be three hundred billion (10 ^ 12) suns. If you look directly to our central star can blind us forever, the thought of a brilliant mass of this caliber is unimaginable. Well that's WISE J224607.57-052635.0. It is not the friendliest in the world name, but it is the brightest galaxy ever seen by mankind in our universe. And it has been recently discovered by the space telescope WISE, which has cataloged this and other giants like within a new category called ELIRGs or extremely bright infrared galaxies. These are the most luminous galaxies in the known space. And of them, this is the queen of all.

galaxia mas brillante

Photo: NASA



This is the brightest galaxy

The brightest galaxy in the universe is very, very far from here. We've detected only through the issuance of its infrared light. And the data, the researchers believe is a mass mammoth with a monstrous black hole at its center. So very huge and colossal revolves around a disk of matter heated plasma composed of billions of degrees. The amount of energy emitted such an object is simply indescribable. High energy jets consist of X-rays, visible light and ultraviolet. But if so, should not we see the visible light? At the end of the day, it is the brightest galaxy in the universe, observe how the galaxy was made 12.5 million añoses a galaxy right? Well, the visible light actually strikes the dust clouds around, warming.It is these that transmit infrared light outside. And it is thanks to that that WISE has detected the galaxy. WISE telescope carries the universe in infrared observing only since 2010. Since then discovered for the first time ELIRGs, galaxies hitherto never observed and are characterized by extremely bright. According to calculations, the light has traveled about 12.5 billion years to reach us, so we're seeing a galaxy of long ago. Yet even then this galaxy had a black hole equivalent to billions of solar masses about our sun and has since gone ten million years. Now simply it has to be tremendous.


ELIRGs and evolution of the universe


How can black holes become so huge? There are several hypotheses about which are the subject of study in this research and other partners. First, it could be that his "seed" was exceptionally large. That is, that the black hole from which embryonic were already huge. Much more than was thought until now. The other two explanations, as discussed from NASA involve breaking or forcing some laws on the limits of black holes. Specifically, it is explaining the Eddington limit which is the maximum size that should be able to reach a black hole feeding on surrounding matter. This limit, explained, "The ELIRGs are among the objects discovered more recently" has been overcome in other specific occasions. But achieving such a size required to "break the limit" several times.


On the other hand, the black hole could be feeding material much faster than expected (and what they thought could happen), forcing its growth limit. In any case, astrophysicists are fascinated with the implications this has on the cosmic evolution of galaxies. The ELIRGs are very new galactic objects, still not well understood and that keep many mysteries. Mysteries universally, that is. Understanding how it appears, how they develop and how they will end you can tell us much of our universe. So far, only they have been discovered about 20 ELIRGs, including the brightest galaxy is cosmos. But we have only begun to explore this aspect of the sky. There are still many surprises waiting in between the huge black holes and galaxies brighter.



Source(in spanish):http://hipertextual.com


miércoles, 20 de mayo de 2015

Scientist Michio Kaku surprised with finding irrefutable evidence: God does exist



The American physicist and science writer, one of the most respected in the field of quantum physics luminaries, ensures that there is an unknown force that governs everything.



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image: http://www.flickr.com/people/34458623@N03
The renowned American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, famous for making the revolutionary string theory (fundamental physics model that assumes that seemingly specific material particles are actually "vibrational states") recently caused a small tremor in the community then scientist who claimed to have found evidence of the existence of an intelligent man unknown force that governs nature that is, something quite similar to the concept that many have of God as creator and director of the universe entity.

In reaching this conclusion Michio Kaku used a new technology created in 2005 that allowed him to analyze the behavior of matter at the subatomic scale, relying on a "primitive semi-tachyon radio." Tachyons, of course, are all those hypothetical particles able to move at superluminal speeds, ie, are theoretical particles able to "take off" the matter of the universe or the vacuum contact with it, thus leaving the matter in its purest form, totally free from the influences of the world around them.
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According to the physical, observing the behavior of these tachyons in several experiments, concluded that humans lived in a kind of "Matrix", ie, a world governed by laws and principles conceived by a kind of great smart architect . "I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence, not unlike a favorite computer game, but of course, more complex and unthinkable," said the scientist.

Michio Kaku added, "analyzing the behavior of matter at the subatomic scale, hit by the pitch radius semi tachyon for the first time in history, a tiny point in space, totally free of any influence of the universe, matter, force, or law, is perceived in an unprecedented way absolute chaos. So, what we call chance no longer makes more sense, because we are in a universe governed by established rules and hazards not determined by universal plane. This means that, in all probability, there is an unknown force that governs everything, "said the scientist".

Michio Kaku added, "Someone did Einstein once the big question: Is there a God? And Einstein replied that, first, to be a scientist you have to specify well what is understood as God. If you understand God as a figure that is prayed, a figure that gives and takes part, then the answer is no. But he believed in a God represented by the order, harmony, beauty, simplicity and elegance, the God of Spinoza. The universe could be chaotic and ugly, but instead is beautiful, simple and governed by simple mathematical rules.

martes, 19 de mayo de 2015

NASA's plan to send a digital message to other beings on the spaceship 'New Horizons'

A team of researchers, professors, artists and engineers has proposed to NASA to rise an interstellar message to the New Horizons spacecraft, which is about Pluto.



90139736200131683222.jpgThis project, known as One Earth Message (The Message of the Earth), is being led by Jon Lomberg, who was design director for the gold discs that were placed aboard the Voyager spacecraft of NASA prior to release 1977, with the idea of ​​showing any aliens that might intercept the probes how humankind and its planet. We will never know if our initiative will reach extraterrestrials, but we do know that the people of Earth to participate can literally change your life.
 The goal now is similar, but the new project would be a more global and collaborative effort, asking people worldwide to contribute pictures, sounds and ideas for this 'message in a bottle'. "This is really an opportunity to try to think of ourselves from a broad perspective," said Lomberg to Space.com. "We will never know if our initiative will reach extraterrestrials, but we do know that the people of Earth to participate and play a role in it, you can literally change your life"
33064648492410941011.jpg Unlike metal discs with recordings of Voyager, Earth Message One would be digital. The space agency has expressed his enthusiasm, but has yet to officially approve it, Lomberg said. To have the approval, it will be allowed to team up 150 megabytes of data to the memory of the New Horizons spacecraft.
The message would have the same amount of information as the gold records Voyager, maybe 100 pictures and about an hour of audio, Lomberg said. "We are writing a haiku, not a novel," he said. The digital format allow this message to be more flexible and integrated than was possible with gold records, Lomberg added. For example, the message can be changed over time by transmitting more files to New Horizons. It could also include a map of the world, and every image and sound could be labeled the place from which it came. There is another key difference between messages Voyager and New Horizons: While gold records carry information chosen by a small committee (which was chaired by astronomer Carl Sagan), One Earth Message be composed and funded with contributions from people all the world. "It is not just a photo contest" Lomberg said. "It's a process that will find out what people want to send." Lomberg and his colleagues hope to raise at least half a million people around the world through a campaign of Fiat Physica, to build and maintain a Web presence and to find the best way to program the message.


Source (in spanish):http://www.20minutos.es

lunes, 18 de mayo de 2015

Freeze a girl two years to revive in the future where there is a cure for cancer

Freeze a girl two years to revive in the future where there is a cure for cancer

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image: motherboard
Matheryn Noavaratpong was a thai girl of who died of a brain tumor.
The little girl was rushed to Bangkok hospital that the girl did not react, doctors surgically intervened on sevral occasions as a result he lost 80% of left side of this brain.

Alcor Life Extensions Foundations, an organization devoted to search on cryonics contact the parents of the child. His parents decided cryogenate (freeze) the body of the girl wating for science to discover the cure.
Matheryn brain was removed to be kept in a stainless Steel container filled with liquid nitrogen in Arizona, United States.
His body remains in a cryorefrigerator awaiting a curre for cáncer is found and she returns to life.      






with information:http://www.news.com
more info: http://www.news.com

sábado, 16 de mayo de 2015

Earthquake Nepal: Himalaya displaces six meter according to NASA


94375825190245739895.jpgThe 7.8 magnitude quake that killed more tan 8000 people and left 19 000 wounded, changed the shape of the Earth rising and sinking several meters tectonic plate of the range.
The researchers say that the release of tensión the Earth´s crust caused by the earthquake had greater effects in Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. Thus, the edges of the tectonic plates of Eurasia and India moved up to 6 meters.









jueves, 14 de mayo de 2015

NASA may have found a way to travel as fast as in 'Star Trek'



Fly to the moon in FOUR hours: The British scientist who says he's found the secret of Star Trek's 'warp speed'

Anyone who has ever watched an episode of Star Trek or a Star Wars film will know how it works.

The good guys are minding their business in outer space when suddenly the Klingons or the Dark Empire bear down on them out of nowhere.
There is only one way out. At the flick of a switch, our heroes are flashed — in a blur of passing stars — to safety elsewhere in the universe. 
Call it warp drive or a hyper drive, it adds up to the same thing: a miraculous power source that allows a spacecraft to fly at unimaginable speeds.
But while it’s so far confined to the realms of sci-fi, the concept could become reality.
U.S. space agency Nasa is thought to have successfully tested a revolutionary new power source that could enable spacecraft to travel to the Moon in just four hours instead of more than three days and to Mars in two or three weeks instead of seven months.
Compact enough to fit into a suitcase, this whizzy new device could — it is claimed — keep flying for eons, at the equivalent of an astonishing 450 million miles an hour.
Load up the spacecraft, we’re all off for a long weekend on Venus!
The invention fuelling such hopes is called an electromagnetic drive or EmDrive — and it’s powered by a device similar to that found in a microwave oven.
It was invented by British scientist Roger Shawyer, who has endured years of ridicule since he unveiled it nearly a decade ago.
Critics insisted his invention was a scientific impossibility because it broke one of the basic laws of physics governing the universe.
This rule is Sir Isaac Newton’s third law: that if you push in one direction, you accelerate in the opposite.
Indeed, every rocket engine ever made has fired burning rocket fuel out behind it, thus powering the craft forward.
But the EmDrive doesn’t use a propellent. It works by converting electric power — from solar panels or a small on-board nuclear reactor — into forward thrust. According to some scientists, it is the ‘impossible drive’.
The scepticism, however, hasn’t stopped EmDrive’s development rights being bought by aircraft giant Boeing and the UK Government funding the early development of Mr Shawyer’s ideas.
Now retired, he acts as a consultant to a British company that is continuing the research, and he says other countries are developing similar designs. In fact, five years ago the Chinese claimed they had built an EmDrive and proved it worked — but no one believed them.
It’s harder to be sceptical when the news comes from Nasa — an organisation that put men on the Moon and sent rockets to Mars.
According to Nasa engineer Paul March, it has conducted the first successful tests of an EmDrive in a vacuum, to recreate the emptiness of outer space.
Some suggest the EmDrive is set to become one of many wonderful British inventions which — for lack of investment and vision — end up being hijacked by someone else.
Examples of this lamentable tendency include the tank, the jet airliner and the programmable electronic computer.
When I tracked down Mr Shawyer to his base in Havant, Hants, he said he was pleased Nasa was ‘having fun’ with his creation and felt some vindication after years of scepticism.
That said, he seemed a bit peeved that the Americans were grabbing all the attention.
An aerospace engineer who worked for the Galileo space project to build a European satnav system, Mr Shawyer unveiled his idea in 2006.
He promised it would not only speed us to new galaxies, but ‘put an end to wings and wheels’ by making traditional forms of transport redundant.
His prototype looks like something sci-fi writer Jules Verne might have dreamt up to blast Victorians to the Moon.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3080846/Fly-moon-FOUR-hours-British-scientist-says-s-secret-Star-Trek-s-wrap-speed.html#ixzz3aApwtKSA

miércoles, 13 de mayo de 2015

Giant asteroid will pass close to earth



A giant asteroid, measuring over a kilometer across, will pass very close to the Earth on Thursday (May 14, 2015), according to NASA.


asteroid image



The asteroid called 1999-FN53 is the largest object (more than 10 times bigger than other meteorites) currently visible on NASA's Near Earth Object radar.

First discovered in March 1999, will brush close to Earth at a distance of 26.4 lunar distances, about 10 million kilometers from Earth, said NASA.

There are speculations that if the asteroid strikes the Earth, the impact would be catastrophic, leading to the deaths of 1.5 billion people.

According to Bill Napier, a professor of astronomy at the University of Buckinghamshire, if the asteroid were to hit the sea, it would send a plume of halogen gasses into the stratosphere destroying the ozone layer.

“This would allow unrestricted sunlight to hit the Earth, the sky would heat up becoming strong enough to burn vegetation,” he added.

The asteroid 1999-FN53, which is currently dashing through space at a speed of about 14 kilometers per second, is an eighth of the size of Mount Everest.

In March, asteroid 2014-YB35, came within 3 million miles of Earth.

NASA predicted that the next huge asteroid to hurtle past Earth is Icarus, which is also a kilometer across and will fly by our planet on June 16 at just 21 lunar distances.


source:http://zeenews.india.com/news/space/huge-asteroid-to-pass-close-to-earth-on-thursday_1594676.html

domingo, 10 de mayo de 2015

Mysterious sound captured by NASA



Eerie sounds from the edge of space were recorded for the first time in 50 years aboard a NASA student balloon experiment.


Infrasound microphones captured the mysterious hisses and whistles 22 miles (36 kilometers) above the Earth's surface last year. Daniel Bowman, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, designed and built the equipment. The instruments eavesdropped on atmospheric infrasound, or sound waves at frequencies below 20 hertz. Infrasound is below human hearing range, but speeding up the recordings makes them audible.

 
The infrasound sensors were dangling from a helium balloon that flew above New Mexico and Arizona on Aug. 9, 2014. The experiment was one of 10 payloads flown last year on the High Altitude Student Platform (HASP). The high-altitude balloon flight is an annual project conducted by NASA and the Louisiana Space Consortium that is meant to spark student interest in space research. Since 2006, HASP has launched more than 70 experiments designed by college students across the United States.

During the 9-hour flight, the balloon and its payloads floated some 450 miles (725 km) and reached a height of more than 123,000 feet (37,500 meters). This is a region of near space — above where airplanes fly, but below the boundary marking the top of the stratosphere, 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth's surface.

No infrasound experiment has ever reached such high altitudes, Bowman said. (Interest in atmospheric infrasound peaked in the 1960s as a way to detect nuclear explosions, but then died off as scientists switched to ground-based sensors.)

As the HASP balloon drifted over New Mexico, the infrasound sensors picked up a knotty mix of signals that the scientists are working to interpret, Bowman reported April 23 at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America in Pasadena, California. The researchers had never "heard" many of the stratospheric signals.

Here are some of their guesses so far: There were signals from a wind farm under the balloon's flight path, crashing ocean waves, wind turbulence, gravity waves, clear air turbulence, and vibrations caused by the balloon cable. The scientists have another payload planned for the 2015 HASP balloon launch, which could help reveal more about strange infrasound sources.

Bowman, who has been building and launching his own high-altitude balloons since high school, hopes that his experiment will revive interest in atmospheric infrasound. "There haven't been acoustic recordings in the stratosphere for 50 years. Surely, if we place instruments up there, we will find things we haven't seen before," he said.

Infrasound carries for long distances. (Think of how the deep rumble of faraway thunder travels farther than a high-pitched lightning crack.) Storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, avalanches and meteors all produce infrasonic sound waves. There's even potential for monitoring clear air turbulence or wake vortices from jets, Bowman said. With his faculty adviser, Jonathan Lees, Bowman hopes to record infrasound above an erupting volcano.

Scientists have even proposed sending infrasound sensors to Mars and Venus, where the microphones could detect unusual weather or earthquakes.

Some natural infrasound signals may be clearest in the atmosphere, noted Omar Marcillo, a geophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who was not involved in the study. The atmosphere refracts some sound waves away from the ground, so some infrasound signals may never reach the ground. In the sky, there is also less interference from human noise.

 

A scientist says can live 150 years





A scientist says he expects to live to 150 after uncovering the secrets of how to slow down the ageing process.

Dr Alex Zhavoronkov, an anti-ageing expert, believes medical advances and knowledge of lifestyles will lead to a far longer life expectancy than has been seen to date.

He is following a strict regime of regular exercise combined with drugs and supplements and regular health checks, while shunning marriage, children and material assets to focus on anti-ageing research instead.

A director of the UK-based Biogerontology Research Foundation think tank, which is dedicated to longer life and improving the health of the elderly, Dr Zhavoronkov remains confident that his lifestyle will allow him to reach the 150-year milestone.

He also makes sure he is administered with vaccines as soon as they are available, according to The Sunday telegraph, while monitoring his blood biochemistry and cell counts.

'All of the supercentenarians alive today lived through tough times, when no antibiotics were available and our understanding of human biology was not that far from the Stone Age,' he said.

'I think that in two to three years we will have effective pharmacological solutions based on already approved drugs that will help people remain younger and healthier until other advances in regenerative medicine and gene therapy become available.'

According to the Office for National Statistics, a boy born in the UK today is expected to live to 78.8 years and a girl to 82.8 years. 

Many health experts think most people can exceed that by walking regularly, cutting down on fat, sugar and salt in their diets and using existing drugs such as statins.In fact, Austrian researchers said a few weeks ago that old age begins at 74, such has been the advancement in medicine and health. 

Source and image:   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3056223/Growing-old-gracefully-twice-long-Scientist-believes-unlocked-key-slowing-ageing-process-expects-live-15
 

jueves, 7 de mayo de 2015

SUPER OJOS: La vision del futuro

Super-ojos, ¿es así el futuro de la visión artificial?


¿Hasta dónde podemos llegar con un ojo biónico? ¿Podríamos tener una supervisión? ¿Podríamos hacer fotos y compartirlas? El futuro de nuestra visión artificial se muestra muy positivo. ¿Pero dónde termina la ciencia y comienza la ficción?
Algunos medios se han hecho eco de una interesante propuesta por parte de una compañía "biotech" para crear ojos artificiales. Estos supuestos ojos biónicos serían capaces de aumentar el enfoque, cambiar la visión o incluso sacar fotos y mandarlas por WiFi. Lo más curioso del asunto es que estos supuestos ojos son completamente orgánicos y lo único malo sería tener que reemplazar los nuestros naturales por estos otros artificiales. Pero antes de sacar nuestras carteras y comenzar a buscarlos como locos, vamos a pararnos un momento. ¿Es esto posible? No. No lo es. Que quede clarísimo. Entonces, ¿no existen los ojos biónicos? Por supuesto que existen; son muy reales y están bastante avanzados. Pero vamos a ver hasta dónde podemos llegar con la ciencia realmente y no con la ciencia ficción.

EYE, el super-ojo biotecnológico

Cierta empresa de diseño se ha puesto en marcha desarrollando una idea que me parece fantástica. El supuesto EYE, de MHOX, estaría desarrollado utilizando las últimas técnicas de bioimpresión y estaría diseñado en tres modelos. El básico, para reemplazar a ojos lesionados, el mejorado, capaz de filtrar la visión y el avanzado, que permite, incluso, compartir las imágenes. Todo muy bonito pero totalmente falso, por supuesto. Eso sí, la idea pone de manifiesto unas cuantas cuestiones la mar de interesantes. ¿Podemos diseñar ojos a la carta con biotecnología? ¿Y mejorarlos? ¿Seríamos capaces de desarrollar un ojo capaz de darnos habilidades adicionales? Bueno, en principio la respuesta a las preguntas anteriores es que sí. Pero en la práctica, actualmente, no. Por ejemplo, el concepto de diseñar órganos mediante la biotecnología es un hecho actual. Ahora mismo somos capaces de hacerlo. Es más, lo hacemos. Por eso existen proyectos como el del Homo chippiens, del que ya os hablamos.
Podemos, además, usar la bioimpresión para diseñar tejidos histocompatibles, es decir, que estén hechos a medida del paciente y minimicen el rechazo. Pero de ahí a "cultivar" un ojo a medida... hay mucho trecho. En primer lugar, el ojo es un órgano complejísimo, desarrollado en ciertas circunstancias particulares y envuelto por el cuerpo. Es, conceptualmente, posible desarrollar un ojo a partir de células madre y con los factores adecuados. Pero ahora mismo está totalmente fuera de nuestras posibilidades. Por otro lado, suponiendo que lo hiciésemos, trasplantarlo sería otro problema. Un tejido, aunque fuese histocompatible, está finamente inervado por nervios complejísimos. Una operación de estas características no tendría como resultado un ojo completamente normal, casi con total seguridad. Al menos en el estado actual de la cirugía. Además, aunque salvásemos estos dos problemas, como ya os contamos es imposible conseguir una supervisión por cuestiones físicas (y ya no hablamos de una "glándula" de WiFi o de filtros para la luz). Miremos hacia otras opciones. ¿Qué hay de los ojos biónicos?

Ojos biónicos, pero de verdad


Los ojos biónicos existen. Todavía son muy rudimentarios si los comparamos con un ojo normal. Pero lo cierto es que funciona y están avanzando a una velocidad increíble. Las estimaciones preven que los ojos biónicos serán capaces de devolver la vista en un 30% a las personas invidentes en solo 3 años desde ahora. Actualmente existen varias empresas (reales) trabajando en ojos biónicos, aunque todos son de naturaleza artificial y no orgánica. Algunos de los más prometedores son el Argus Retinal Prosthesis, el MVIP o el ASR. Mientras que los dos primeros conectan el nervio óptico, a través de la retina, con una cámara externa, que transmite la señal, el ASR es un ingenioso implante que sustituye la retina dañada, de manera que el ojo sigue siendo (o más bien pareciendo) un ojo real, aunque su capacidad óptica es muchísimo menor. El que un ojo sea "natural" es uno de los objetivos de la cirugía optométrica, ya que el aspecto es una parte importantísima. Entonces, si podemos implantar ojos biónicos, ¿Ahora sí podemos crear un súper-ojo?
Ojos biónicos
 

Veamos la situación. Los ojos biónicos serán capaces de devolvernos hasta un 30% de la visión en el mejor (y casi fantástico) de los casos. Esto se debe, como hemos dicho, a la dificultad de la cirugía que conlleva. Además, cuando un ser humano pierde la visión durante el suficiente tiempo, su cerebro ha de ser "reentrenado" para que comprenda cosas como la profundidad o la diferenciación de objetos, ya que sin la experiencia natural, un ojo solo ve líneas y colores sin sentido. Todo esto unido a los problemas derivados de una operación (rechazo del tejido etc) hacen del todo imposible, al menos a corto plazo, desarrollar un "súper-ojo". ¿Será posible en el futuro? Bueno, usando tecnología externa, es posible que sí, aunque hay muchas barreras que sortear antes. Lo primero será conseguir que funcionen bien y ya nos preocuparemos de ponerle láser y cámaras de rayos X más adelante.
 
 

Ártico podría no tener hielo en el verano de 2040



Especialistas norteamericanos registraron que el repliegue de la capa de hielo se ha adelantado "entre dos y tres semanas" en los últimos años, una aceleración que preocup

La extensión de capa de hielo en el Ártico ahora es la menor desde finales de la década de 1970, cuando comenzaron los registros con satélite, debido al cambio climático y elcalentamiento global, y cada vez es más delgada, indicó hoy la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica de EE.UU. (NOAA).
"Tenemos ahora menos hielo en el Ártico en marzo, la temporada pico, que en ningún momento desde el inicio de los registros con satélite, y además cada vez es más delgada", aseguró Jeff Key, jefe del Centro de Investigación y Aplicaciones de Satélite de la NOAA.
La tasa de declive para el mes de marzo es del 2.6 % por década, desde finales de 1970, de acuerdo a los datos recogidos por la agencia federal.
Además, Key advirtió que el inicio del repliegue de la capa de hielo se ha adelantado "entre dos y tres semanas" en los últimos años.
Esta tendencia conlleva importantes implicaciones para las rutas marítimas, la pesca, la fauna local como los osos polares, la explotación de recursos naturales y las comunidades nativas de Alaska.
"Estamos avanzando hacia lo que potencialmente podría ser un Ártico sin hielo en verano cerca del año 2040", precisó el científico de la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison.
Por su parte, Ed Farley, director del Programa de Vigilancia y Evaluación del Ecosistema Pesquero de Alaska, en Juneau, destacó los crecientes problemas que enfrentan las comunidades nativas en el norte de Alaska para llevar a cabo su pesca de subsistencia de ballenas ante el menor grosor del hielo en el Mar de Chukchi.
También los osos polares, agregó, han sufrido las consecuencias porque se ven obligados a replegarse hacia el continente ante la incapacidad de sobrevivir en témpanos de hielo cada vez más frágiles, donde la comida les aporta menos grasa de la necesaria para sobrevivir los duros inviernos.
Ambos científicos advirtieron que los efectos de la reducción de la capa hielo no se concentran solo en el Ártico y zonas cercanas, sino que tienen influencias notables en el clima del resto del planeta como en la formación de huracanes o en el conocido como tercer polo, la cordillera del Himalaya.

miércoles, 6 de mayo de 2015

La nave rusa descontrolada caerá a la Tierra entre el 7 y el 11 de mayo






La nave rusa Progress-59, un carguero espacial no tripulado que ha quedado fuera de control tras un fallo en su puesta en órbita la semana pasada, volverá a entrar en la atmósfera terrestre entre el 7 y el 11 de mayo “dependiendo de las condiciones atmosféricas”, según ha indicado el Centro Espacial Johnson (en Houston, EE UU). La mayor parte de la nave se destruirá en el aire por el rozamiento y “la zona de caída de restos que no se quemen en la atmósfera, puede ser cualquiera en el rango comprendido entre los 52 grados de latitud Sur y los 52 norte”, continúan los expertos de la NASA. La mayor parte del vehículo no sobrevivirá a las altas temperaturas de la reentrada atmosférica, pero puede haber piezas que sobrevivan, como el pesado mecanismo de enganche en la Estación Espacial Internacional (ISS), a la que se dirigía el carguero con suministros. En cualquier caso, señala la agencia espacial estadounidense, es “altamente improbable que suponga una amenaza para nadie”. No son raras las reentradas incontroladas y normalmente los restos que puedan quedan de una nave caen al mar, al desierto o en zonas despobladas, añaden los expertos: “Ni una persona ha resultado nunca herida por una pieza de reentrada de un satélite o un trozo de basura espacial en seis décadas de vuelos espaciales”.
Los responsables espaciales rusos aún no han determinado la causa de la pérdida de la Progress 59, pero la han dado ya por pérdida tras repetidos intentos de recuperar el control del vehículo. Con casi tres toneladas de alimentos, combustible y piezas de repuesto para la ISS, el carguero fue lanzado desde el cosmódromo de Baikonur (en Kazajstán) el pasado 28 de abril con un cohete Soyuz 2-1A. La primera parte del ascenso se desarrolló sin contratiempos y, ya en órbita, la Progress 59 incluso abrió sus dos paneles solares. El paso siguiente era desplegar las antenas, incluida la denominada Kurs, de navegación. Y en ese momento se vio que había problemas. El centro de control en Moscú no logro establecer una comunicación estable con la nave pero, por las imágenes recibidas, se constató que la Progress 59 estaba indebidamente girando sobre sí misma. Los repetidos intentos de recuperar el control de la nave han sido infructuosos. El enganche en la ISS ha sido descartado porque incluso el sistema de manual, alternativo al automático, exige la plena comunicación del centro de control con el carguero, y no se ha logrado.

Es “altamente improbable que suponga una amenaza para nadie”

Los astronautas de la ISS (actualmente seis están en la base espacial, en órbita a 400 kilómetros de altura) recibieron la semana pasada instrucciones de intentar ver el carguero ruso y efectivamente lo han fotografiado, a gran distancia, aún en rotación. La nave descontrolada no supone ningún peligro para la estación, insiste la NASA.
La principal línea de trabajo de los expertos rusos que analizan la situación se centra en algún problema originado en la separación de la Progress 59 de la tercera etapa del cohete Soyuz 2-1A para iniciar su vuelo en solitario, pero aún no lo han confirmado, señala la NASA.
Los seis astronautas de la ISS tiene suministros suficientes hasta principios o mediados de agosto aunque no llegará hasta entonces ninguna otra nave de carga. En el peor de los casos cabría reducir la tripulación. Pero está programado el vuelo de una nave de carga estadounidense CRS-7 Dragón para las próximas semanas. También se podría contar con la siguiente Progress prevista, que partiría con un cohete Soyuz –U y no con el modelo Soyuz 2-1A con el que parece haberse originado el problema actual.