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[pwhodges]

aimed at replacing thumb drives that it said are difficult to insert into computers.

Hang on, we are now being told it's too hard to plug in a USB stick, and the world needs something easier?  What will happen when people are no longer capable of picking up a glass of water and guiding it to their mouth, or of wiping their bottoms (which they can't see), I wonder.

[ChaoSera]

To be fair, at times USB ports, especially those at the back of a desktop pc, do seem to have at least 8 dimensions, when you try to insert the thumb drive.

[ankhtahr]

USB-B plugs are even worse, as their basic form fits in four ways instead of two. I usually end up turning them 8 times.

[cesium133]

The worst computer I've dealt with for that was an old Dell we had in the lab (which later succumbed to capacitor blowout), which had two USB ports, at the bottom of the front panel, oriented downward. It was impossible to put a USB stick into one of those ports, because it was longer than the clearance distance between the port and the floor.

[pwhodges]

I seem to remember that my children discovered how to put things in holes the right way round as young toddlers - we even bought them things to learn with!

[celticgeek]

I recall a saying about 5.0 inch floppy discs:  There are eight ways to insert a floppy disc - more if you fold them - only one way works.

[cesium133]

I seem to remember that my children discovered how to put things in holes the right way round as young toddlers - we even bought them things to learn with!

Now let's train those children to put things in holes the right way around when they can't see the thing they're putting in the hole, or the hole itself. Either that, or throw out the computers with USB ports only on the back. 

[Akima]

The only complaint I have with USB insertion is that the icon that indicates the "top" of cables is often not moulded so that it is detectable by touch. It is not uncommon for the manufacturer's logo or serial number on the reverse side to be more prominent, and on the micro-plugs used to connect to phones, Kindles etc. the icon is barely visible (I usually mark it with indelible ink, paint etc.). According to The Economist, Ajay Bhatt, the engineer who invented USB, is working on making the interface symmetrical so that we don't have to worry about flipping the plug.

Of course there is the issue of those stupid novelty thumb-drives made to look like dogs, cars, hamburgers, ladybirds etc. that are too big to fit in many sockets, especially alongside other devices. That is not the fault of the USB standard, but "flippability" would reduce the problem.

[Masterpiece]

I've also had cases where the position of the logo was misleading, ergo on the wrong side. That is really annoying as shit.

[GarandMarine]

Scientists at CERN have produced an Anti-Matter beam.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/scientists-create-anti-atom-beam-use-it-good-not-evil-2D11959528

[cesium133]

I watched a talk by one of the scientists working on the antimatter trapping project at a conference I went to last year. If I remember correctly, they form the antihydrogen atoms in the trap by independently cooling antiprotons and positrons in traps, and then overlapping the traps to get them to combine. I guess since they have to form them that way, the trap experiments have to come before the beam experiments. With normal atoms, it is usually a lot easier to form a beam than to actually trap the atoms.

[ChaoSera]

Have to write a 10 page paper about Bioinspired Manufacturing Systems. Meh.

[GarandMarine]

More science! Mars edition! The rover found a rock!

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/mystery-white-rock-inexplicably-appears-near-nasa-mars-rover

[Pilchard123]

*ALIENS*

[Carl-E]

All I can think of is the Charlie Brown halloween special. 


"I got a rock..."

[GarandMarine]

Another extremely cool science follow up! http://www.nbcnews.com/science/there-life-ceres-dwarf-planet-spews-water-vapor-space-2D11970722

[LTK]

On Medium, The man who destroyed America's ego. It describes how the idea of boosting self-esteem to create moral, succesful people took hold in the US, but was later shown to cause an increase in narcissism, which is actually associated with higher aggression, self-superiority and lower self-criticism. It's a very interesting look at how psychological science can sometimes go in completely the wrong direction because, ironically enough, the people who research this are too narcissistic themselves to see anything but what they want to see.

[Akima]

On gaining a better understanding of metastasis.

[Barmymoo]

[GarandMarine]

http://www.fox.com/watch/183733315515

You owe it to yourself to watch the new Cosmos.

[J]

indeed. the first episode was just beautiful.

[LeeC]

Watched it with my girlfriend on Sunday in HD.  Was magnificent.  She cried.  I wont spoil on why.

[mustang6172]

Jupiter's red spot isn't a hurricane; it's an anticyclone.  This is an oversight of proportions approximately three times the size of Earth!

[Akima]

Confusing a cyclone (hurricanes are cyclones) with an anticyclone is rather more than an oversight; it's getting things backwards. I imagine they were going for drama; "it's big and stormy and rotates so its a hurricane!" Or perhaps someone was confused by the GRS' direction of rotation, forgetting that it is in Jupiter's southern hemisphere.

And I can't watch it...

[J]

as a university film professor i once knew used to say "If only there were some sort of Beautiful Technology that could help you overcome this problem.


having listened to tyson's podcast regularly for several years now, i have a hard time imagining him not catching that if it was a mistake. i figure they decided to go with the word most people would be familiar with. i don't think most people realize that the term cyclone/hurricane indicates a specific direction of rotation, and stopping to explain that would have absolutely murdered the pacing.

one of the main points of the show is to communicate the love of science to people who might have previously been turned off by seemingly dry, passionless facts & figures they learned in school. for that, pacing and presentation are of prime importance.

[J]

now this is interesting...

n a rather intriguing twist, it appears that NASA is now mandated by law to fly a robotic mission to Jupiter’s watery moon Europa. Europa is an incredibly exciting science target, as it’s believed to have a 100-kilometer-thick (62 miles) outer layer of water, with water ice on top (it’s very cold out there) and a liquid water ocean beneath that. It’s believed that there’s more water on Europa than the entirety of Earth, despite being just a quarter the width of Earth. As we continue to learn more about the tenacious lifeforms found in deep, cold waters here on Earth, excitement grows over the possibility of Europa’s oceans harboring extraterrestrial life.

Up until the ’70s, the prevailing theory was that all life on Earth was dependent on energy from the Sun (i.e. everything ultimately revolves around photosynthesizing plants). Then, in 1977, an exploratory dive in the Galapagos Rift discovered giant tube worms, clams, and other crustaceans that survived without any access to the Sun. As it turned out, they were feeding on bacteria that got their energy from hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide emanating from underwater volcanic vents. There was a whole food chain down there that didn’t rely on the Sun at all. Cue much excited theorizing about the possibility of finding life in Europa’s massive oceans.

Europa (bottom left), Moon (top left), Earth (right) – size comparison

By the time the Voyager probes had flown through the Jovian system in 1979, scientists were fairly sure that Europa had an icy crust, and possibly a liquid ocean beneath. Further investigation by Galileo and New Horizons have provided yet more data (and some lovely images, such as the one at the top of the story, captured by Galileo). Now, we’re almost certain that there’s liquid water on Europa — and so the next stage is sending some kind of robotic probe or rover out there, to do some real, up-close-and-personal science.

And this is the weird bit: It seems, thanks to Houston Congressman John Culberson, who appears to be a bit of a science nerd, that NASA is now mandated by law to develop a mission to Europa. Culberson is basically forcing this mission upon NASA: In 2013 and 2014, despite NASA not requesting any money for a Europa mission, Culberson gave it $43 million and $80 million respectively. In the 2014 budget bill, finalized in December, there’s not a single mention of Mars or the Moon, but Europa’s right there on page 159. Culberson is expected to become the next chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee, too — and if that happens, NASA may find itself very flush indeed. This is rather refreshing, after years of budget cuts/stagnation!

Europa poster diagram, showing its (theorized) structure

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Culberson had these rather uplifting words to say about Europa in specific and space exploration in general:

    If I’m successful in becoming chairman of the subcommittee that’s going to be right when the Europa mission will need its maximum funding. It needs to be a flagship mission. The biggest and best we’ve ever flown … I got on this incredible committee where I will be in exactly the right place at the right time to be able to help turn NASA around, to not only preserve America’s leadership role in space, but I also hope to be a key part in discovering life on another world for the first time. We’re only going to have one chance at this in our lifetimes. We’ve got one shot. I want to make sure you and I are here to see those first tube worms and lobsters on Europa.

As for an actual timeline for those first tube worms, if they exist, it’s still very, very early days. It seems, after two years of having money forced upon it, NASA finally caved and actually asked for $15 million in 2015 to help plan the Europa mission. All we really have to go on right now are the words of NASA’s CFO, Elizabeth Robinson, who said the launch could come as soon as the mid-2020s — probably after we launch the next Mars rover in 2020.

We are living in interesting times! Who knows, maybe it won’t be the next generation of space telescopes that discovers the first instance of extraterrestrial life — maybe it’ll be a NASA rover, right here in our own Solar System.

[ev4n]

Enceladus > Europa, but both are cool.

[Case]

http://www.fox.com/watch/183733315515

You owe it to yourself to watch the new Cosmos.

COSMOS!?! Weeeeeeeearfghlblrlrb ...

The original series, and Carl Sagan, were a major influence in my life -> I'm earning my croissants as a physicist right now thanks to the virus that was planted into my defenseless, susceptible mind watching Cosmos as a kid. I recall that Mom told me about it because there was 'space' in the announcement in the listings magazine, and me being all exited because I thought it'd be something like Star Trek ... I was so very pissed during the first five minutes of watching it - I honestly felt cheated! "Meh! No Lasers, no aliens, no space battles. And who's that dude in the corduroy jacket? And a spaceship that looks like a flowerseed? You've got to shittin' me ... eeeeeeeee? Nuuuuuurrrrrrrrhh?Hmmmmmmmmmh!". This guy with his Gedankenexperiment-spaceship and his infectious enthusiasm and his curiosity - for everything, from supernovae to Heikegani crabs - did something to my brain.

It's a good thing Cosmos is continued! Get 'em while they're young ...

Anybody here read Contact?

P.S.: VeryVery sorry for the gushing & reminiscing, but ... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ... Ahem ...!

P.P.S: GM? Broken link in the previous post about ceres & water vapors ...

Another extremely cool science follow up! http://www.nbcnews.com/science/there-life-ceres-dwarf-planet-spews-water-vapor-space-2D11970722

[J]

unfortunately, it seems not everyone shares your enthusiasm

In what appeared to be an editing error, a Fox affiliate in Oklahoma managed to remove the only mention of evolution from Sunday night’s Cosmos science documentary by cutting only 15 seconds from the broadcast.

The much-anticipated reboot of Carl Sagan’s legendary Cosmos premiered on Sunday with an overview of the history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the advent of humans.

It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the show that host Neil deGrasse Tyson hinted at human evolution.

“We are newcomers to the Cosmos,” he explained. “Our own story only begins on the last night of the cosmic year.”

“Three and a half million years ago, our ancestors — your and mine left these traces,” Tyson said, pointing to footprints. “We stood up and parted ways from them. Once we were standing on two feet, our eyes were no longer fixated on the ground. Now, we were free to look up and wonder.”

But for viewers of KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, that 15 second paragraph was replaced by an awkwardly-inserted commercial for the evening news. The edit was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube by Adam Bates.

At least one of the segments advertised in the news promo — a story about a 12-year-old bow hunter — did air on that evening’s newscast.

Watch the edited and original versions of Cosmos below, broadcast March 9, 2013.

[GarandMarine]

Oh there's plenty of morons butt hurt about Cosmos out there: http://thedailybanter.com/2014/03/the-christian-zealot-reaction-to-last-nights-cosmos-debut-is-about-what-youd-expect/

[cesium133]

unfortunately, it seems not everyone shares your enthusiasm

In what appeared to be an editing error, a Fox affiliate in Oklahoma managed to remove the only mention of evolution from Sunday night’s Cosmos science documentary by cutting only 15 seconds from the broadcast.

The much-anticipated reboot of Carl Sagan’s legendary Cosmos premiered on Sunday with an overview of the history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the advent of humans.

It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the show that host Neil deGrasse Tyson hinted at human evolution.

“We are newcomers to the Cosmos,” he explained. “Our own story only begins on the last night of the cosmic year.”

“Three and a half million years ago, our ancestors — your and mine left these traces,” Tyson said, pointing to footprints. “We stood up and parted ways from them. Once we were standing on two feet, our eyes were no longer fixated on the ground. Now, we were free to look up and wonder.”

But for viewers of KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, that 15 second paragraph was replaced by an awkwardly-inserted commercial for the evening news. The edit was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube by Adam Bates.

At least one of the segments advertised in the news promo — a story about a 12-year-old bow hunter — did air on that evening’s newscast.

Watch the edited and original versions of Cosmos below, broadcast March 9, 2013.

Heh. Now I kinda wish I had watched that.

[LeeC]

reminds me of this:

which is further funny because Family guy creator Seth MacFarlane is producing the new COSMOS 

[mustang6172]

Scientists are now quite certain that neither Planet X or Nemesis exist.

http://news.yahoo.com/planet-x-myth-debunked-030652774.html

I always figured debunking Nemesis would require pointing an X-ray telescope along the plane of the ecliptic for a couple years.

[Loki]

Hm. It sounds more like "we have been certain for years, here is another guy confirming this". At least I remember learning the bit about scientists overestimating the mass of Neptune years ago when I learned of Planet X.

[Patrick]

I seem to remember that my children discovered how to put things in holes the right way round as young toddlers - we even bought them things to learn with!

damn you, Paul, I bit my tongue so hard I'm bleeding

[mustang6172]

Hm. It sounds more like "we have been certain for years, here is another guy confirming this". At least I remember learning the bit about scientists overestimating the mass of Neptune years ago when I learned of Planet X.

Another post-Kuiper Belt dwarf planet makes everyone sound like, "Ok, let's have another look at this."

http://www.newsmax.com/SciTech/Planet-X-Space-com-NASA-search/2014/03/28/id/562397/

[Sorflakne]

Since we're talking about space, how about an asteroid that has a ring system?

[Akima]

Another post-Kuiper Belt dwarf planet makes everyone sound like, "Ok, let's have another look at this."

From The Economist, with a little more detail.

[LTK]

Scientists find out why water is splashy.



I enjoy learning about something I didn't know I didn't know. Why does water do this? Why doesn't a water droplet merge with the rest of the surface in an orderly fashion? It never occured to me to ask. And honestly, I haven't even read the whole article, I'm already satisfied having learned that I don't know.

[LTK]

Feeling irritable or aggressive? Eat a cookie.

[Patrick]

When you see it...

[LTK]

A satellite that has been in space for 35 years is passing Earth in August, and it's still working. The news is that NASA has given another company permission to try and reboot it so it can be put to use further. NASA themselves won't do it because all the equipment that they used to communicate with back then has been decomissioned and it's too expensive to bring it back. It's pretty awesome that they're letting someone else give it a shot!

[GarandMarine]

Huh.

http://www.mendeley.com/catalog/correlation-between-oral-sex-low-incidence-preeclampsia-role-soluble-hla-seminal-fluid/

So swallowing when pregnant might lead to a healthier pregnancy.

[Masterpiece]

Correlation does not imply causation.

[mustang6172]

A satellite that has been in space for 35 years is passing Earth in August, and it's still working. The news is that NASA has given another company permission to try and reboot it so it can be put to use further. NASA themselves won't do it because all the equipment that they used to communicate with back then has been decomissioned and it's too expensive to bring it back. It's pretty awesome that they're letting someone else give it a shot!

We have made contact!

http://news.yahoo.com/success-private-group-makes-contact-36-old-nasa-115401204.html

[GarandMarine]

Universal translators: http://www.geek.com/microsoft/microsoft-emulates-star-trek-turns-skype-into-a-universal-translator-1595044/

and your reminder that Thorium reactors can and WILL change the universe. If we pull our heads out of our asses.

[J]

Astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly will take part in an unprecedented study of identical twins to better understand the effects of prolonged weightlessness by comparing the twin in space with the twin on the ground.

When Scott Kelly embarks on a one-year space station stint next spring, his twin brother and retired astronaut Mark Kelly will be joining in from Earth, undergoing medical testing before, during and after his brother's American-record-setting flight.

Mark Kelly draws the line, though, at mimicking his brother's extreme exercise in orbit or eating "crappy space station food."

Longest stay in space ever

This is the genetic double of the 50-year-old astronaut who has volunteered to spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning next March, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, 54, a former paratrooper.

No American has come close to a year; seven months is NASA's maximum for a single human mission. The Russians, on the other hand, are old hands at long-duration spaceflight, claiming title to a record-setting 14 ½-month mission back in 1994-95.

"No second thoughts — I'm actually getting kind of excited about the whole idea as we get closer," Scott said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Scott knows what he's getting into: He spent five months on the orbiting lab in 2010-2011. He began counting down the days on Twitter in late March.

Eager to explore new medical territory, Scott offered to have a pressure sensor drilled into his skull to study the impaired vision experienced by some long-term space fliers.

He's also volunteered for spinal taps in orbit. He'll share quarters at one point, after all, with an emergency medical doctor-turned-NASA-astronaut. The space station crew typically numbers six.

"As a test pilot, I like to push the envelope on things and, in this case, I feel like I'm maybe trying to push the envelope on data collection as well," explained Scott, a retired Navy captain.

But NASA scientists insist there's no compelling need for implants and spinal taps. They admire his gung-ho attitude, though, and marvel at their good fortune in having a set of identical twins for comparison.

The Kellys represent a scientific gift, said Craig Kundrot, deputy chief scientist for the human research program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

10 times more time in space for Scott

"Not only are they the same genetically, but one is an astronaut, one's a retired astronaut. So they've followed very similar career paths. After Scott's mission is done, he'll have 540 days of spaceflight (in four missions). Mark will have 54. So exactly a 10-fold difference," Kundrot said.

"That's just an uncanny opportunity that we're taking advantage of."

NASA has selected 10 proposals for the twin study, involving the immune system, gut bacteria, reaction time, fluid shift in space and its potential connection to visual impairment, DNA and RNA molecular science, hardening of the arteries, among others. The researchers will receive a combined $1.5 million from NASA over three years.

A Stanford University sleep specialist and immunologist, Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, wants to give each brother a standard flu shot before, during and after the one-year mission. Blood draws will highlight any differences between the space twin and ground twin, and help researchers better understand changes to the body's immunity in weightlessness.

"No one really knows what happens to the immune system in space for a long period of time and, sooner or later, people are going to need to confront this issue," Mignot said

That's the whole point of Kelly and Kornienko's one-year mission: to identify physical challenges that need to be overcome before astronauts venture to Mars and beyond.

The pair will launch from Kazahkstan aboard a Russian rocket and return via a Russian capsule. Midway through their mission, they'll have a real change of pace.

English soprano Sarah Brightman — perhaps best known for her starring role on stage in The Phantom of the Opera — intends to fly up as a paying passenger in a private deal with the Russians.

"It would be hard to beat her" for breaking the monotony of space, said Scott, a longtime fan of the singer.

Mark, also a retired Navy captain with two daughters, is married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt —while Scott was on the space station. Mark commanded NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight four months after the shooting, then left NASA. They live in Tucson, Arizona.

[Akima]

and your reminder that Thorium reactors can and WILL change the universe. If we pull our heads out of our asses.

I'm ashamed to admit that until I read this article in The Economist, I didn't know that Thorium was named after Thor. It is so obvious when pointed out. Asgard's Fire indeed.

[Loki]

This short essay on sex in different species popped up in my Twitter feed. Really fascinating stuff, although I already knew roughly a third of it.

[GarandMarine]

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/holy-crap-nasas-interplanetary-spaceship-concept-is-fr-1589001939

This is your reminder that OUR FUCKING SPECIES IS WORKING ON A FUCK MOTHERING WARP DRIVE!

I just hope we're ready. The moon landings were able to bring a nation and, at best large parts of the West together, could a mission beyond our Solar system unite us all as we make those first, tentative steps into the universe?