Rock of Ages

Another way of getting rid of carbon dioxide

2008 Best Inventions of the Year

Space Industry : Do We Have Lift-Off?

Which countries have launched most rockets into space?

Nothing New Under The Sun

Anthropogenic global warming started when people began farming

Galileo, Four Centuries On As important as Darwin

In praise of astronomy, the most revolutionary of sciences

Maized And Confused : Does Ethanol In Iowa Cause Deforestation In Brazil?

Steering Sunbeams

Solar power is becoming less of a luxury

Techs And The City : Lab By lab In And Around San Francisco

Un Panache De La Taille Du Système Solaire

Total Solar Eclipse, July 21 2009

Total Solar Eclipse 2009:Millions of people in Asia will see the longest total solar eclipse this century on Wednesday as swaths of India and China are plunged into darkness.
Scores of amateur stargazers and scientists will travel long distances for the eclipse, which will last for about five minutes.
The eclipse will first appear in the Gulf of Khambhat just north of Mumbai.
It will move east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific.
The eclipse will cross some southern Japanese islands and will last be visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.
Elsewhere, a partial eclipse will be visible across much of Asia.
The previous total eclipse, in August 2008, lasted two minutes and 27 seconds. This one will last six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
Alphonse Sterling, a Nasa astrophysicist who will be following the eclipse from China, scientists are hoping data from the eclipse will help explain solar flares and other structures of the sun and why they erupt.


A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses.[1] Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra.
A total solar eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomenon and many people travel to remote locations to observe one. The 1999 total eclipse in Europe helped to increase public awareness of the phenomenon, as illustrated by the number of journeys made specifically to witness the 2005 annular eclipse and the 2006 total eclipse. The most recent solar eclipse occurred on January 26, 2009, and was an annular eclipse. On July 22 2009, the next total solar eclipse will occur.
In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes.

It will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
Totality will be visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Dinajpur, Guwahati, Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shanghai, as well as over the Three Gorges Dam.[5][6] According to some experts, Taregana[7][8] in Bihar is the "best" place to view the event.
A partial eclipse will be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.
This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point is Akusekijima, where the eclipse will last 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

Human Spaceflight : Over The Moon

On the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, America wonders whether to go back

Solar Cycle Linked to Global Climate

Scientists find link between solar cycle and global climate similar to El Nino/La Nina.

A Revealing One-Finger Exercise

Seals Quickly Respond To Habitat And Climate Change

Preserved Elephant Seal mummy, Antarctica

New Way To Make Sensors That Detect Toxic Chemicals

Patricia Morris

Forest Fire Prevention Efforts Will Lessen Carbon Sequestration

Robot Learns to Smile and Frown

The Einstein Robot Head At UC San Diego Performs Asymmetric Random Facial Movements As A Part Of The Expression Learning Process.

Are We Nearly There Yet?

Motorists could learn a thing or two from ants

Plants Put Limit on Ice Ages

Plasma Waves Studied for New Electronics

William Stillman evaluates the effects of focused terahertz radiation on ring oscillator circuits.

European Union: Bio-Preparedness

Les Abeilles Menacées

Flights of Fancy

Why airborne automobiles will never take off

Discovery of a Water Snake That Startles Fish in a Way That Makes Them Flee Into its Jaws

To View the High Speed Video :
http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news/video/2009/06/18/video-tentacled-snake-in-action.82827

Desert Dust Alters Ecology of Colorado Alpine Meadows

Unlike Rubber Bands, Molecular Bonds May Not Break Faster When Pulled

All Shook Up

CO2 Higher Today Than Last 2.1 Million Years : Study Offers Detailed Look at Past Greenhouse Gas Levels

Researchers Putting a Freeze on Oscillator Vibrations

University of Oregon work could boost quantum information processing, allow more precise measurements. Hailin Wang, a member of the Oregon Center for Optics and a professor in the UO physics department, and his doctoral student Young-Shin Park performed the research under grants from the National Science Foundation and Army Research Laboratory through the Oregon.

Stream of Sand Behaves Like Water

Algae : A New Way to Make Biodiesel

Newly Uncovered Enzymes Turn Corn Plant Waste into Biofuel

CORN STOVER: The remnants (or 'stover') of corn after it's harvested can be a good source of biofuel, especially when combined with the right enzymes.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ROYALBROIL

Large 2009 Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' Predicted

Mississippi dead zone in 2004. This year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery. (Credit: Photo courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio)

Scientists Bring 'Light' To Moon's Permanently Dark Craters

Cold Case Techniques Bring Mummy’s Face To 'Life'

Avoiding Catastrophes

It is easy to destroy an ecosystem but difficult to rebuild it

Scientists Create First Comprehensive Computer Model of Sunspots

Sudden Collapse in Ancient Biodiversity : Was Global Warming the Culprit?

Rich Countries and Climate Change : Hot, Wet and Costly

Protein that Triggers Plant Cell Division Revealed by Researchers

Advance in Understanding Cellulose Synthesis

Exploring High-Temperature Superconductivity and the Pseudogap

Using both scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy (ARPES) gives researchers a more complete understanding of high-temperature superconducting materials. STM can show actual atoms on the material's surface. ARPES uses the photoelectric effect by aiming a beam of light (photons) at the material's surface. The photons excite atoms in the material, causing them to eject electrons, which are then captured by a detector. The momentum (speed and direction) of the ejected electrons give researchers information about the momentum of electrons inside the material.

Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

Betelgeuse, Red Supergiant In Constellation Orion, Has Shrunk By 15 Percent In 15 Years

Common Fish Species Has Ability To Learn

Shuttle Launch Derailed Again by Hydrogen Leak

Meteorite Grains Divulge Earth's Cosmic Roots

Pacific Volcano Blows Top, Grounds Flights

Sarychev Peak : Location: 48.1N, 153.2E
Elevation: 4906 feet (1496 m)
Sarychev Peak, a stratovolcano, is the most active volcanoes in the Kurile Islands. Sarychev Peak erupted at least 14 times between 1765 and 1989. The largest eruption (VEI=4) was in 1924. Most eruptions are moderate to moderate-large (VEI=2-3) and explosive. An eruption in 1960, the last major eruption, produced a 3 mile (5 km) high ash cloud. An eruption in 1964 lasted only 6 minutes.

Different Genes Cause Loss of Body Parts in Similar Fish

Global Warming Can Impact Monsoons and Lower Crop Production

International Year of Astronomy

Seven Deadly 'Shrooms

DON'T EAT ME: Some of the world's most toxic mushrooms look dangerously similar to those harvested for food--or recreation.
TAYLOR LOCKWOOD