Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Earthshine Helps in Search for Life on Other Worlds | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://m.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/earthshine-other-worlds/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher


Dr. Art Trembanis
Associate Professor
CSHEL
109 Penny Hall
Department of Geological Sciences
The College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
University of Delaware
Newark DE 19716
http://cshel.geology.udel.edu
302-831-2498
"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
-T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding

"Il faut aller voir" -JYC

The Inside Story of Virgin Oceanic's Mission To the Mariana Trench

The Inside Story of Virgin Oceanic's Mission To the Mariana Trench
starSlashdot
February 29, 2012 5:15 PM
by samzenpus

The Inside Story of Virgin Oceanic's Mission To the Mariana Trench


the_newsbeagle writes "Millionaire adventurer Chris Welsh, the driving force behind Virgin Oceanic, wants to name his sub "Scarlett" after Scarlett Johansson—that's how sexy this vehicle is. Welsh plans to pilot the experimental, cutting-edge sub to the bottom of the Mariana Trench sometime this year, in what would be only the second human descent to the deepest spot in the world's oceans (the first trip down was in 1960). This inside account of the Virgin Oceanic mission describes a team fueled by ego, science, and derring-do, and explains how their high-tech sub could usher in a new kind of marine exploration. The article also tells the story of an adventure on the high seas last summer, when Welsh & co visited the trench to test some robotic deep-sea landers... and ran smack into a typhoon."

Share on Google+

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

science


Dr. Art Trembanis
Associate Professor
CSHEL
109 Penny Hall
Department of Geological Sciences
The College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
University of Delaware
Newark DE 19716
302-831-2498
"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
-T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding

"Il faut aller voir" -JYC

Seti Live Website To Crowdsource the Search For Alien Life

Seti Live Website To Crowdsource the Search For Alien Life
starSlashdot
February 29, 2012 6:44 PM
by samzenpus

Seti Live Website To Crowdsource the Search For Alien Life


bs0d3 writes "Scientists need your help in the search for life beyond Earth. The SETI Institute is asking the public to join in its hunt for signals from intelligent civilizations out there in the universe. Anyone can register on the new website, SETI Live, to help analyze data from SETI's radio telescope devoted to scanning the heavens for signals from E.T.."

Share on Google+

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

internet



Tuesday, February 28, 2012

“Don’t Be Bored. Do Something”

"Don't Be Bored. Do Something"
starMAKE
February 27, 2012 3:31 PM
by Dale Dougherty

"Don't Be Bored. Do Something"

Joey Hudy at World Maker Faire. Photo by Aaron Fedor/Cognizant Technology Solutions

Joey Hudy's visit to the White House left a lasting impression on the President. Not only did Joey demonstrate his Extreme Marshmallow Cannon, but he handed out his business card with his own inspiring quote. Here are President Obama's remarks today from a White House event:

So let me wrap up by saying a few weeks ago I held, right here in this room and in the adjoining room, one of my favorite events and that is the White House Science Fair.  We invited students from a lot of your states and they showcased projects that covered the full range of scientific discovery.

We had a group of kids from Texas, young Latino women, who came from the poorest section of Texas and yet were winning rocket competitions.  And they were so good because they could only afford one rocket, so they couldn't test them and they had to get it just right.  (Laughter.)  And their parents ran bake sales just so they could travel to these events.

You had a young woman who was from Long Island, had been studying mussels and wanted to be an oceanographer, and won the Intel Science Award while she was homeless.  Her family had lost their home and she was living out of a car and out of her family's — on her family's couch, and yet still was able to stay focused and achieve what was just remarkable.

There was a kid — the kid who actually got the most attention was a young man named Joey Hudy of Arizona.  That's because Joey let me fire off a extreme marshmallow canon.  (Laughter.)  We did it right here in this room.  We shot it from here.  We pumped it up — it almost hit that light.  (Laughter.)  I thought it was a lot of fun.  (Laughter.)  And while the canon was impressive, Joey left a bigger impression because he had already printed out his own business cards — he was 14-years-old.  And he was handing them out to everybody, including me.  (Laughter.)  He's on our short list for a Cabinet post.  (Laughter.)

Under his name on each card was a simple motto:  "Don't be bored, do something."  Don't be bored, do something.  Don't be bored, make something.

All across this country there are kids like Joey who are dreaming big, and are doing things and making things.  And we want them to reach those heights.  They're willing to work hard.  They are willing to dig deep to achieve.  And we've got a responsibility to give them a fair shot.  If we do, then I'm absolutely convinced that our future is going to be as bright as all of us want.

So this is going to be something that I want to collaborate with all of you on.  If you've got ideas about how we can make our education system work better, I want to hear them today, and Arne Duncan is going to want to hear them for the rest of the time that he's Education Secretary and the rest of the time I'm President.

So, join me in speaking up about making and what bringing more of it to education might do. Congratulations again to Joey.

More:
Joey Hudy Goes to Washington


Kids Maker Faire Makers


Dr. Art Trembanis
Associate Professor
CSHEL
109 Penny Hall
Department of Geological Sciences
The College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
University of Delaware
Newark DE 19716
302-831-2498
"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
-T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding

"Il faut aller voir" -JYC

Grid Coverage

A useful little website plug in for creating grid surveys.
http://gridcoverage.appspot.com/

CSHEL Google Earth

We now have a new (beta) website which shows the plots of all our AUV missions around the world to date.

http://cshel.geology.udel.edu/GoogleEarth/

Asteroid training underwater: NEEMO 16 mission scheduled for June | NASASpaceFlight.com

Description of NEEMO 15 and the plans for NEEMO 16.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/02/asteroid-training-neemo-16-mission-scheduled-june/

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Academics Not Productive Enough? Sack 'em

Academics Not Productive Enough? Sack 'em
starSlashdot
February 23, 2012 8:50 AM
by timothy

Academics Not Productive Enough? Sack 'em

ananyo writes "One hundred academics at the University of Sydney, Australia, have this week been told they will lose their jobs for not publishing frequently enough. The move is part of a wider cost-cutting plans designed to pay for new buildings and refurbishment to the university. Letters were posted to researchers on Monday 20 February, informing them their positions were being terminated because they hadn't published at least four 'research outputs' over the past three years. It is unclear which research fields the academics work in. Another 64 academics were told they had a choice between leaving and moving to a teaching-only position, he said."

Share on Google+

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

education


Dr. Art Trembanis
Associate Professor
CSHEL
109 Penny Hall
Department of Geological Sciences
The College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
University of Delaware
Newark DE 19716
302-831-2498
"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
-T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding

"Il faut aller voir" -JYC

Google Street View Is Coming to the Great Barrier Reef

http://gizmodo.com/5887555/google-street-view-is-coming-to-the-great-barrier-reef

Been thinking and saying this should be done for several years.

Now how can we McGuyver a solution to put on the AUV? Collar of go pro cameras?!

The Powers of Ten

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleEarthBlog/~3/he0o99r15dQ/the_powers_of_ten.html

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The Top 6 Exploration Stories of 2012 | Wired Science | Wired.com

http://m.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/6-exploration-stories-to-watch-in-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher&pid=3157&viewall=true

Octopus Soft-Robot Tentacle, Suckers!

Octopus Soft-Robot Tentacle, Suckers!
starMAKE
February 18, 2012 8:30 PM
by Keith Hammond

Octopus Soft-Robot Tentacle, Suckers!

Everyone loves a soft robot, and I'm fond of the marine variety. This bioinspired prototype tentacle, made of silicone rubber, not only curls and extends in eerily squidlike fashion, it's also got pressure sensors embedded beneath its suckers so it can grasp objects, like a cephalopod should.

The tentacle was built by a team of Italian and Israeli scientists led by Cecilia Laschi (Che-cheelia, that's fun to say), associate professor of biorobotics at the Scuole Superior Sant'Anna near the coast of Tuscany. They say it'll be good for undersea exploration and rescue. I'm thinking naval cephalobots will envelop enemy ships in huge suction cups and drag them down to silent doom. Kraken!

Perhaps robotic cuttlefish could be also trained to tend the world's seagoing salmon pens, or "ride herd" on schools of free-range calamari. Now I'm hungry for Italian seafood.


Biology Robotics ocean Science sensors technology