This weekend I went to Santa Fe with my college roomates. Our plans included walking, wine, galleries and good eats, but of course some science-related moments popped up amidst the art and the appetizers...
When sending mail to a secret laboratory... While on a restaurant tour of some of Santa Fe's best eateries, we stopped into La Casa Sena Wine Shop and Lounge. Turns out that in addition to some lovely bottles, the wine shop is also know for its address, 109 E. Palace. This was where all the mail from Los Alamos was sent during the Manhattan Project so that no one would find out why a whole bunch of physicists were sequestered on a mesa 35 miles outside Santa Fe. For more on the history of the Manhattan Project, check out Jennet Conant's 109 East Palace.
Sci Fi Art Canyon Road features gallery after gallery, so we spent one early afternoon strolling through town checking out the artistic offerings. My favorite by far was Chalk Farm Gallery, which bills itself as "The world's leading gallery for visionary art." It was a treat to see fantastical works by Daniel Merriam, Robert Bissell and Michael Parkes up close. I was particularly thrilled to catch an exhibit from science fiction and fantasy artist Stephan Martiniere, who has done work in a variety of entertainment fields including feature films, animation, video games, theme parks, editorial, commercial and book covers. His work as a concept artist for live action films includes such movies as Star Wars Episodes II and III, The Time Machine, Red Planet and I,Robot. Seven 36" x 24" fine art canvas giclees of his pieces were on display - I wish I could have jumped into them to explore some of the worlds he's dreamed up.
World Too Near Pic from www.martiniere.com, where you can purchase the artists' work and find out more about him.
Confession: I am not into video games. I realize this takes my geek status down a notch, but c'mon, I've got enough other things that should qualify me...like my love of science...which in this case, boomerangs right back into video games with Portal 2. The New York Times' review of the game describes it as"The achingly brilliant new game from the Valve Corporation that wrings more fun out of physics than all of the shoot-’em-ups in the world."
Reviewer Seth Schiesel says the key to the game is that it helps the player to undersand the beauty of physics without the pesky math that often gets in the way.
...the brain seems to understand this science at a basic level. Gently toss a ball to a dog or a small child, and he or she will catch it without the faintest conscious understanding of acceleration, momentum and gravity. Throw the same ball as hard as you can, and that dog or child will try to defend against it or dodge, instinctively understanding complex calculations of velocity and potential impact.
With Portal 2, it's not a ball but rather a portal ray gun that is the player's toy of choice as (s)he attempts to escape what the game describes as a "funhouse of diabolical science," complete with robots, shifting wall panels and some very cool boots. Intrigued? Here's a look at the TV launch ad; for more videos, check out the official game site. This might just be the game that turns me into a player...
2. EVOLUTION VIDEO COMPETITION
Here's the scoop on a video contest from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). Application deadline is Friday, June 10, 2011.
Submit your best evolution-themed video for screening at this year’s Evolution meeting!
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) invites scientists of all stripes — graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty — to enter the first annual Evolution Video Competition. To enter, please submit a video that explains a fun fact, key concept, compelling question, or exciting area of evolution research in three minutes or less. Entries may be related or unrelated to your own research, and should be suitable for use in a classroom (K-12, undergraduate, graduate…your choice). Videos should be both informative and entertaining. (In other words, no taped lectures or narrated Powerpoint presentations!) Animations, music videos, and mini documentaries are all fair game. To enter your video, please complete our online registration form.
With natural disasters such as the recent Missouri tornado becoming all too common, everyone should have an emergency kit ready to go, and an agreed upon emergency plan that has been reviewed by all family members. However, when you're not caught in the eye of the storm, taking the time to put these things together often claims a very low position on the priority list.
Enter the Center for Diseases Control's (CDC) Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Guide, a cheeky exploration of how the CDC would handle a Zombie outbreak. Turns out that just as with hurricanes and earthquakes, having an evacuation route and a list of emergency numbers is key when the Zombies show up.
At last year's Sundance, I was horrified when I saw Josh Fox's documentary GasLand and learned about the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Not familiar with the topic? For an intro, check out My Water's on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song), a project spearheaded by NYU journalism student David Holmes.
While not strictly science-related, I saw Inception last night and had to post about this smart, gorgeously shot movie that will satisfy your desire for
popcorn action thrills as well as provide some more deeply nourishing
food for thought. If The Matrix, 2001 or Blade Runner hold any fascination for you, get your butt into a theater to check out Christopher Nolan's latest. I won't give away any other details from the film because you should see it without
knowing too much about it, but I'll just add that Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) continues to remain one of my favorite filmmakers.
2)ONLINE SHOWS: JOE GENIUS
If you don't feel like hoofing it to the theater for your entertainment, check out Joe Genius, the new online show from Revision3. As described by their PR materials, "Joe
Genius highlights home-grown Newtons who experiment, tinker, and yes,
blow stuff up in the name of science. And it's all caught on tape! Join [comedian]
Jonah Ray as he whizzes through these geniuses' most epic failures and
thrilling successes -- and of course, the science behind it all."
The
show features online vids from citizen scientists and students - some
that go well, others which go horribly wrong. The first episode focus
on chemistry, and includes such experiments as mixing rubbing alcohol
and chlorine, concocting homemade rocket fuel, and an endeavor titled
"watermelon versus liquid nitrogen."
Much like G4's new show It's Effin' Science,
the show approaches science like an extreme sport, accompanied by
comedic commentary. I am curious about the very last line of the show,
which states that the show is "brought to you in part by the National
Science Foundation"...interesting...will let y'all know when I find out
more...
3) PBS'S HISTORY DETECTIVES
The PBS show History
Detectivestraces the history, mythologies and family legends
behind found objects. This year, as part of the 8th season space-themed premiere, the show made a
direct interactive pitch to viewers to help solve the mystery of whether
or not a miniature piece of collaborative art was snuck aboard the Apollo
12 space mission, possibly created by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and others. It's a story of collaboration between engineers and artists, cryptic telegram messages and the fascination with getting a teeny bit of oneself up into space. The show's producers ask the public to help solve the mystery
here and over 170 viewers have already done so.
Many folks get through the hot summer by heading out to the pool club. The folks at the NSA have a different idea of how to blow off steam. A post
on Wired's Danger Room blog details how NSA staffers get down
& dirty after work. Turns out that hacking at top levels during the
day isn't enough for these guys - they continue their exploits in 12
different "Learned Organizations" after the work day is done. From the Wired post:
Most of the clubs revolve around cryptoanalysis, communications
analysis and language translation. Which is pretty much what employees
at the NSA do from 9 to 5 — and, it seems, still shell out $15 in
annual fees to do on evenings and weekends, too. But at least on evenings and weekends, snacks are involved...
The clubs offer more than chips & dip. In addition to the work
they do, the Crypto-Linguistics Association (CLA) has an International
Cookbook; the KRYPTOS Society has an annual literature contest; and the
Crypto-Mathematics Institute (CMI) has a fondness for word puzzles.
I'd love to sit in on a meeting of the Pen & Cursor Society (P&CS), which sponsors
“creativity seminars,” where members are invited to “explore childhood
memories,” “break rules!” and “fertilize the garden in which you grow
ideas.” I'd even bake some killer cupcakes if they'd let me come play, but alas, the clubs are only open to NSA Staff.
When one thinks art, "cockroach" isn't the term that usually comes to mind. However, a group of visual artists profiled in THE NEW YORK TIMES article "Of Compost, Molecules and Insects, Art Is Born" find their inspiration in such unlikely, organic subjects. Examples of such art are currently on display in the show “Dead or Alive,” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Reports Natalie Angier:
The museum recently hosted a round-table luncheon in which scientists
and artists addressed the hardy evergreen issue of how much the arts
and sciences had in common and where they differed. The basic
conclusion: both enterprises are important, difficult, creative, driven
by insatiable curiosity and a desire to solve problems, but artists are
allowed to make stuff up and scientists really shouldn’t.
Helen Altman creates skull-shaped, spice-enhanced sculptures to turn death into a "sweet" thing; this made me think of my trip to Rome in 2008 during which I visited the Capuchin Crypt. The small space features artwork created out of the bones of over 4000 Capuchin friars who died between 1528 and 1870. Though some might find it a bit macabre, I was fascinated by it. Clearly, the bones hadn't just been thrown up on the walls - someone had to sort the bones and design the intricately constructed images I was now looking at, such as that of a skeleton surrounded by angel wings created out of pelvic bones.
As a writer, the Crypty piqued my curiosity about what kind of person would have been able to find the beauty in the bones. Did he or she see him/herself as an artist? As someone sentenced to a horrible task? Did they view it as a service to the dead? Angier's article shows that finding inspiration in such unusual materials is not a lost art.
Perhaps a clue from an inscription in the Crypt:
"Quello che voi siete noi eravamo; Quello che noi siamo voi sarete." What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be."
2. NEANDERTHAL + MODERN HUMAN SITTIN' IN A TREE...K-I-S-S-I-N-G...
Next time someone says you're acting like a Neanderthal, you may be able to reply, "Well, that's because we share DNA." As reported by Chris Stringer in TimesOnline,
In this week’s issue of the journal Science, a truly
international team of more than 50 researchers have published their findings
from a reconstructed Neanderthal genome of more than three billion bits of
DNA coding...Using
massive improvements in DNA recovery techniques and computing power, three
small fragments of bone excavated from the Croatian cave of Vindija have
provided most of the sequence. These three female Neanderthals who died
around 40,000 years ago have been immortalised through their DNA.
The Neanderthal genome was compared to those of 5 modern day humans. Turns out that if you are European, Asian or New Guinean,
the research suggests you may have between 1%-4% in common with the Neanderthal genome. Not so much so if you are from Africa, although researchers only looked at the genomes of a west African and a south African. A mixture would have been more likely to occur in someone from northeast Africa.
For a more in depth look at this story, including video commentary and a timeline of Neandertal-related discoveries, check out Science Magazine's special online feature on the Neandertal Genome.
3. LOS ANGELES EVENTS
If you're looking for something fun & science-y (& free!) to do in Los Angeles on Friday, May 7th, stop by Griffith Observatory for ALL SPACE CONSIDERED, their monthly astronomy update. Topics this month include the first images of the sun from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, volcanoes in the solar system, the May sky report, and birthday celebrations for both Griffith (75!) and the Hubble telescope (20). The event is held in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater from 7:30-9:15pm
1. CAPE WIND After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government has finally approved the nation's first offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod. According to an article inThe New York Times, the approval is just the first step in launching the the project, dubbed Cape Wind, which has been the subject of great debate. Those supporting it include the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Governor Deval Patrick. Benefits cited include the creation of a renewable source of clean energy, as well as the jobs the project would bring to the area.
Those on the other side include Senator Scott Brown (R), environmental groups such as the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and the coastal Wampanoag tribe, which requires unobstructed views of the sunrise for sacred ceremonies. Reasons for opposition include increased energy costs to consumers, possible violations of current environmental regulations and concerns about how the farm will affect the beauty of the area and the tourism market. Others are not thrilled that the a private developer, Cape Wind Associates, is in charge of the project.
If you like your story told in images, for more background on the endeavor from a pro-farm p.o.v., take a look at "Cape Wind Project: Everything You Need to Know," on The Huffington Post. If you're a text fan, read the NY Times editorial supporting the project. For a look back at some of the history of the opposition to Cape Wind, read this piece from GRIST, which focuses on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s problems with the project.
2. EARTH DAY OIL SPILL While the benefits for Cape Wind have stirred debate, no one can argue that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from the explosion on a BP offshore oil rig last week is a tragedy. The estimated rate of spill was originally estimated at 1,000 barrels a day, but has now been upgraded to 5,000 barrels (more than 200,000 gallons). Here's an update from Democracy NOW! on the situation. One of the saddest lines from the report: "The clean ocean has become a thing of the past in that region for the future."
3. SCIENCE OF IRON MAN We could really use a superhero right about now to help with the situation in the Gulf, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen. Perhaps the closest we can get at the moment is heading to the multi-plex to catch IRON MAN 2, the latest installment of the Marvel franchise. For a look at the science behind the suit, check out Marvel.com's piece by Ryan Haupt, who holds two Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Geology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of
California, Santa Cruz, and co-hosts the podcast "Science...sort of."
Shameless plug: I also did some looking into the story of Iron Man, though my exploration was decided less scientific. I had the verrry fun job of hosting Marvel's Red Carpet coverage of the Hollywood premiere of the film. You can check out my interviews with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, ScarJo, Don Cheadle and more here.
4. 10 SONGS FOR SCIENCE NERDS This week for your listening pleasure, Flavorwire has compiled a virtual mixtape for, in their words, "those of you who maybe spent a little too much time in the chem lab, who cheered for Weird Science’s
Anthony Michael Hall as if he were one of your own, and who still might
have a poster of the periodic table on your bedroom walls." The collection is a mix of usual suspects such as "She Blinded Me With Science" (Thomas Dolby) and "Weird Science" (Oingo Boingo), as well as more obscure choices like performance artist Laurie Anderson's "O Superman (For Massenet)."
1. Thursday, April 22nd was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, with celebrations of Mother Nature around the globe. The Earth Day 2010 Action Center, a project of the Earth Day Network, has a variety of resources including sections for campaigns, events, petitions, action pledges and organizing tools.
On Sunday, April 25th, the Earth Day Climate Rally will take place in Washington, DC, on the National Mall from 11am - 7pm, with the goal of urging the government to enact comprehensive climate legislation. If you can't make it to DC, the event will be streamed live on EarthDay.org. The line up looks pretty dang impressive, as well as entertaining. According to the Earth Day Network:
The Climate Rally will include notable speakers Reverend Jesse Jackson,
film director James Cameron, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,
Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong, producer Trudie Styler, author
Margaret Atwood, NFL player and television personality Dhani Jones,
environmental photographer Sebastian Copeland and many more.
The rally will also feature live music from Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pit and Joss Stone, among others.
Need some inspiration? In a piece at The Huffington Post, Gene Karpinski, President, League of Conservation Voters, urges the public to look at Earth Day as more than just a yearly opportunity to install energy efficient light bulbs.
We can let ourselves once again be inspired to act boldly and think
big. We can rally for new laws to ensure that all Americans can enjoy
the clean air and water we asked for forty years ago. We can demand
legislation that curbs global warming pollution and creates the jobs of
the future. Perhaps most importantly, we can tell our legislators that
the time for action is now. Since January 1st, over one million
Americans have contacted their senators urging them to pass a
comprehensive clean energy and climate bill this year.
National DNA Day is a unique day when students, teachers and the public can learn more about genetics
and genomics! The day commemorates the completion of the Human Genome
Project in April 2003, and the discovery of DNA's double helix.
A moderated chat was held from 8am - 6pm during which NHGRI Director Eric Green,
M.D., Ph.D. and genomics experts from across the institute and around
the nation took questions from students, teachers and the general
public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic
basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy. My favorite li'l tip: when a 9th grader asked the easiest way to remember the complementary base pairs, Sarah Harding, M.P.H. responded:
I'm sure people have different ways to remember, but one option is to
remember that G and C are both curvy letters, so they go together. That
leaves A to pair with T.
3. For a little piece of outer space you can touch, head out to southwestern Wisconsin. If you're lucky, perhaps you can find a bit of debris from the that fireball streaked across the sky on the night of Wednesday, April 14th. As described by Space.com:
A camera mounted to a campus building at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison caught the Wisconsin
meteor's explosive demise. The meteor's sonic boom and explosion were also
seen and heard by numerous witnesses, and sparked frantic 911 emergency calls
across six different states, according to the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
1. The annual TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) took place from February 9-13, 2010, in Long Beach, CA, and videos of talks from the event are slowly rolling out online. Overwhelmed by all the video goodies? GOOD has put together a collection of their 10 favorites so far. Lots of science & medical folk features in their picks, including biochemist and cell biologist Mark Roth, vaccine researcher Seth Berkeley and spider silk scientist Cheryl Hayashi.
2. Y'all know my fondness for well-crafted commercials. In honor of the just-finished Olympics, here's a trippy gem from AT&T of Gretchen Bleiler snowboarding into space set to Lou Reed's "Perfect Day."
3. And speaking of random collisions of space and pop culture, Dancing with the Stars will take on a whole new meaning when this season debuts on March 22nd. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be joining the cast, which also includes the likes of Shannen Doherty, Kate Gosselin and skater Evan Lysacek.
4. I've been keeping an eye on the new interactive series Future States, a project from ITVS (Independent Television Service). Eleven fictional digital shorts explore possible future scenarios through the lens of
today’s global realities. ITVS asked a group of filmmakers to take the current state of affairs in the
United States, and extrapolate them into stories of the nation in the
not-so-distant future. The result is an exploration of social issues, with elements of speculative and science fiction. Along with the shorts, there are also a variety of interactive elements featured on the Future States site, including the usual sharing tools plus a nifty Predict-O-Meter. This allows users to enter their own future predictions, as well as see what others think is in store.
Right now I'm consumed with all things film, as I get ready for the Sundance Film Fest. So here's a special movie edition of the Lush List, highlighting some of the science-related films that will be playing at this year's fest (descriptions courtesy of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Guide).
1. Splice The classic monster film gets a deliciously sadistic twist in Vincenzo
Natali's contemporary dissection of the genetic-engineering dilemma. Clive
and Elsa are young, brilliant, and ambitious. The new animal species
they engineered has made them rebel superstars of the scientific world.
In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. The result is
something that is greater than the sum of its parts: a female
animal/human hybrid that may be a step up on the evolutionary ladder.
They think they may have created the perfect organism—until she makes a
final, shocking metamorphosis that could destroy them—and the rest of
humanity.
In an age where creating life is a near-scientific possibility, the terrifying premise of Splice
takes on hauntingly powerful implications. Sarah Polley and Adrien
Brody deliver nuanced performances, and Natali's lurid special effects
and dazzling visual design create a modern-day horror film that will
make you scream, squirm, and think.
2. Climate Refugees If global warming is our planet’s most pressing issue, large-scale
population displacement is the human consequence. Massive continental
migration is already under way, and diminished natural resources
continue to threaten the lives of millions. The quickly
submerging islands of Tuvalu in the South Pacific, drought-affected
regions of Sudan, storm-susceptible coastlines of Bangladesh, and
rapidly expanding deserts in China are forcing millions to relocate
beyond their borders. Who will accept these refugees, and how will they
impact their adopted homeland?
Filmmaker Michael Nash spent
two years traversing the globe, visiting these and other hot spots
where rising sea levels are threatening millions of people’s survival.
Strong visuals and potent testimony from the victims of climate change,
politicians, scientists, relief organizations, and authors help sound
the alarm for instituting new policies and working together to create
solutions to cope with this imminent crisis. Climate Refugees fervently captures the human fallout of climate change.
3. Space Tourists Anousheh Ansari has dreamt of going into outer space since she was a
child. A number of years and $20 million later, with the help of the
Russian space program, her dream is realized—Ansari becomes the first
female space tourist. In recent years, a number of private citizens
like Ansari have been willing to endure rigorous training in Star City,
Kazakhstan, and part with significant funds to spend time aboard the
International Space Station.
Director Christian Frei (The Giant Buddhas,
Sundance Film Festival 2006) explores the impact of space tourism in
the heavens and on Earth by adeptly weaving together multiple strands:
Ansari’s joyous experience in orbit; the efforts of local villagers to
claim black-market rocket debris; the observations of photographer
Jonas Bendiksen; and the training of the next space tourist in line. Space Tourists examines the intersections of human enterprise and commerce in the final frontier.
4. Cane Toads: The Conquest The cane toads are ba-a-a-ck! But this time those pesky varmints are
coming at you in glorious 3-D. In 1988, filmmaker Mark Lewis had
tongues wagging when he unleashed his celebrated documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History,
exposing a bizarre biological blunder. Here, Lewis takes a giant leap
forward as he revs up the technology, once again tracking the
unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent.
Reviled by many, adored by a few, the toad has gripped Australia's
consciousness, achieving both cult and criminal status. Imported to
save the sugar cane crop, the toad’s spread is considered one of
Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes. Yet for a world
awakening to the daunting prospect that we have forever altered our
ecosystem, this is a story of global implication. With its tongue not
so firmly in its cheek, Cane Toads: The Conquest is a comic, yet provocative, journey of a species that has already invaded planet Earth.
5. And one final piece of film news that's not Sundance related...Leonardo DiCaprio Gets Spacey
Leonardo DiCaprio will narrate Hubble 3-D, a new Imax film set to be released in theaters on March 19th. According to Variety, the film includes spacewalks by astronauts required to service the telescope. The project brings back the Space Station 3D filmmaking team, led by producer/director Toni Myers; James Neihouse is director of photography and the astronaut crew trainer.
Over the past several days, I've stumbled across several fantastic vids and pics, some old, some new. I'll let the images speak for themselves.
1)Symphony of Science: "We Are All Connected"
From melodysheep's YouTube note (full lyrics avail there):
"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.
Inhabitat.com has some incredible images of icebergs featuring stripes and beautiful blues taken by Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen on a research ship 660 miles north of the Antarctic. Apparently, the pics made the rounds via email, which skipped my in-box, so glad to have a chance to see them featured here.
3)A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...
The Department of Energy honored 10 of this year’s best scientific
visualizations with its annual SciDAC Vis Night awards, at the
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing conference (SciDAC) in
June, and Wired.com has showcased them for our viewing pleasure. Warning: If you live in Southern Cali, you might not want to watch the simulation of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault...
THE LUSH LIST An irregularly posted list of SciCultureTech that makes me go ooh!
1. It's all about the ring(s) Nothing says "I love you" like the perfect diamond, and Saturn's rings are the gem of the solar system, inspiring deep devotion around the globe. The Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn for the last five years, has a prime view of the rings right now due to their particular tilt. The resulting shadows have brought the rings' features into stark relief, allowing for some pretty amazing pics.
The unique geometry of equinox has thrown into relief small moonlets
within the rings and the structures they create around them.
Propeller-like features, a few kilometers long, centered on and created
by the action of small embedded moonlets only about 100 meters across,
were discovered early in the mission (see PIA07792 and PIA07790). These
previous findings constituted the first recognition of the presence in
Saturn's rings of bodies bigger than the largest ring particles (about
10 meters, or 30 feet, across) but smaller than the 8-kilometer-wide
(5-mile-wide) ring moon, Daphnis, in the outer A ring.
For more on the mission, read The New York Times' profile of Dr. Carolyn Porco, a senior researcher at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, CO and the leader of the camera team on the $3.4 billion Cassini mission.
2. An AIDS Vaccine? Maybe Not. Earlier this week the news was all abuzz with stories of a potential AIDS vaccine based on the results of a 16,000 person U.S./Thai trial. But a closer look reveals that perhaps there's not much there to celebrate. The Lay Scientist offers a dissection of the results.
3. Swimming on the Moon Widespread but small amounts of water have been discovered on the surface of the moon. MSNBC.com reports:
While the findings, detailed in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal
Science, don't mean there are pools of liquid water sitting on the
moon, it does mean that there is — entirely unexpectedly — water
potentially tied up or mixed in the minerals that make up the lunar
dirt.
The new observations from India's Chandrayaan-1 satellite, NASA's Cassini spacecraft and NASA's Deep Impact probe challenge the previous assumptions about the make-up of the lunar surface. Suddenly, a trip back to the Moon begins to look a lot more interesting...don't forget your snorkel.
4. Rock Stars of Science The band Aerosmith doesn't usually conjure images of research labs, but the "Rock Stars of Science" (Rock S.O.S.) campaign is attempting to change that. Created by GEOFFREY BEENE GIVES BACK®, Rock S.O.S is a public education campaign to create awareness and support greater funding for medical research across diseases. It pairs celebrities with leading scientists to highlight the “rock star” genius that drives scientific innovation.
On September 24th, Rock S.O.S. presented an event on Capitol Hill featuring Aerosmith's Joe Perry and some of the nation’s top scientific minds, including Dr. Francis
Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Rudy
Tanzi, Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University. The event was moderated by Terry Moran of ABC News and included panel discussions and interviews with a focus on promoting cures and improving therapies for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV/AIDS and PTSD.
