The chameleon reorganizes its nanocrystals to change colors
Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Mar 16, 2015 -
Many chameleons have the remarkable ability to exhibit complex and rapid color changes during social interactions. A collaboration of scientists within the Sections of Biology and Physics of the Faculty of Science from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, unveils the mechanisms that regulate this phenomenon.
In a study published in Nature Communications, the team led by professor ...
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Anti-robot march held at SXSW
Austin, Texas (UPI) Mar 16, 2015 -
At South by Southwest this weekend, the week-long event commonly known as SXSW featured an outburst of dissent. The target wasn't what one might expect - police brutality or border security. The demonstrators gathered to shout down robots.
The Sunday afternoon gathering wasn't a joke, but a serious attempt to raise awareness about the risks of the development of artificial intelligence ...
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Rosetta: OSIRIS detects hints of ice in the comet's neck
Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
The Hapi region on the neck of Rosetta's comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reflects red light less effectively than most other regions on the comet. It thus appears slightly blueish. The Hapi region is located between the comet's two lobes and has in the past months proven to be particularly active and the source of spectacular jets of dust and gas.
Scientists from the OSIRIS team are using ...
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New clues from the dawn of the solar system
Tucson AZ (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
A research group in the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has found evidence in meteorites that hint at the discovery of a previously unknown region within the swirling disk of dust and gas known as the protoplanetary disk - which gave rise to the planets in our solar system.
Led by Kelly Miller, a doctoral student in the lab of Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-R ...
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Advances of alternating EM field for earthquake monitoring in China
Beijing, China (SPX) Mar 16, 2015 -
The paper summed the progress of the alternating EM field technique for earthquake monitoring and prediction after 1966 when Xingtai earthquake in Hebei province occurred, expounded the theoretical basement on electromagnetic field for this method, outlined new developed CSELF technique and the experimental examples and the study using satellite EM technologies, and introduced the new data proce ...
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The physics of clouds
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Mar 16, 2015 -
In 1941, Russian physicist Andrey Kolmogorov developed a theory of turbulence that has served as the basic foundation for our understanding of this important naturally occurring phenomenon.
Turbulence occurs when fluid flow is characterized by chaotic physical changes. Kolmogorov's theory has been interpreted to imply that transitions from one state of turbulence to another must be a smoot ...
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Detumbling a Spacecraft
Bethesda MD (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
Uncontrolled tumbling of a spacecraft may result from collision, malfunction or other disabling event associated with the application of a large disturbing torque or breakup of a vehicle. Since there is no preferred axis of rotation associated with such motion, a hazardous environment for in-orbit rendezvous and docking is created for such missions as debris removal and crew rescue operations. ...
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Predicting which African storms will intensify into hurricanes
Tel Aviv, Israel (SPX) Mar 16, 2015 -
Hurricanes require moisture, the rotation of the earth, and warm ocean temperatures to grow from a mere atmospheric disturbance into a tropical storm. But where do these storm cells originate, and exactly what makes an atmospheric disturbance amp up full throttle?
A new study published in Geophysical Research Letters by Tel Aviv University's Prof. Colin Price and his graduate student Naama ...
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ESA minisatellites to follow Europe's solar eclipse
Paris (ESA) Mar 17, 2015 -
On Friday morning, 20 March, Europe will experience a partial solar eclipse. Only a partial solar eclipse will be visible from continental Europe, but the Agency's Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite, up in its 820 km-altitude orbit, will see two periods of near-total eclipse for a few dozen seconds.
Meanwhile, other members of ESA's Proba minisatellite family - each smaller than a cubic me ...
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New Mercury surface composition maps illuminate the planet's history
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
Two new papers from members of the MESSENGER Science Team provide global-scale maps of Mercury's surface chemistry that reveal previously unrecognized geochemical terranes - large regions that have compositions distinct from their surroundings. The presence of these large terranes has important implications for the history of the planet.
The MESSENGER mission was designed to answer severa ...
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NASA spacecraft in Earth's orbit, preparing to study magnetic reconnection
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
Following a successful launch at 10:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, NASA's four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft are positioned in Earth's orbit to begin the first space mission dedicated to the study of a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. This process is thought to be the catalyst for some of the most powerful explosions in our solar system.
The spacecraft, positioned one on top of ...
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Spacetime Foam Not Slowing Down Photons From Gamma Ray Burst
Jerusalem, Israel (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
One hundred years after Albert Einstein formulated the general theory of relativity, an international team has proposed another experimental proof. In a paper published in Nature Physics, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Open University of Israel, Sapienza University of Rome, and University of Montpellier in France, describe a proof for one of the theory's basic assumptio ...
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A second minor planet may possess Saturn-like rings
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
There are only five bodies in our solar system that are known to bear rings. The most obvious is the planet Saturn; to a lesser extent, rings of gas and dust also encircle Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. The fifth member of this haloed group is Chariklo, one of a class of minor planets called centaurs: small, rocky bodies that possess qualities of both asteroids and comets.
Scientists only r ...
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Clyde Space wins Outernet contract
Glasgow UK (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
Clyde Space has signed a 1 million pound deal to build three CubeSats for American global broadcast company Outernet Inc in an international partnership deal funded by the UK Space Agency.
Outernet's aim is to make web access free and unrestricted all over the world through space-based telecommunications. As the project develops, Clyde Space hopes to secure business from the New York based ...
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Sixth Galileo satellite reaches corrected orbit
Paris (ESA) Mar 17, 2015 -
The sixth Galileo satellite of Europe's navigation system has now entered its corrected target orbit, which will allow detailed testing to assess the performance of its navigation payload.
Launched with the fifth Galileo last August, its initial elongated orbit saw it travelling as high as 25 900 km above Earth and down to a low point of 13 713 km - confusing the Earth sensor used to point ...
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Scientists fly kites on Earth to study Mars
Tucson AZ (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
Scientists of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have taken to kites that they fly above lava flows blanketing the Hawaiian landscape to unravel the past mysteries that shaped Mars.
A kite, equipped with off-the-shelf instruments such as a camera, a GPS, and orientation sensors, scans the terrain from high above. The team then employs parallel computing and powerful ...
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Colorful life-form catalog will help discern if we're alone
Ithaca NY (SPX) Mar 17, 2015 -
While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be found on planet surfaces throughout the cosmic hinterlands. The new database and research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, gives humans a better chance to learn if we ...
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