Apr 30, 2012

Fountain of Youth and Zoo Jail Breaks

Only the unflushed die Young.

In November 2011, gerontologists showed that flushing old cells from the bodies of mice slowed their aging. The same trick can't be performed for people as was done in this one strain of genetically modified mice, but the findings could seed a whole new generation of aging research. Too bad we can't be flushed. I was looking forward to a very 'refreshing' new body wash. LEARN MORE




In Zoology ...

Scientists discover we're far from the only animals capable of empathy.

With a few liberating swipes of their paws, a group of research rats freed trapped labmates and raised the possibility that empathy isn’t unique to humans and a few extra-smart animals, but is widespread in the animal world. LEARN MORE





 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)



Well, that was a lot of help from our rodent friends in 2011. And this brings AtoZ to a close. Exhausting, but a blast.



Apr 27, 2012

Xploring Wistful Nebulae

I have an interview up on Kela McClelland's blog, Teardrops on my Book. Come pop by.


What is a nebula?

Dust. More scientifically, an interstellar cloud of dust and ionized gases. There are nebulae which are remnants of dead or dying stars, and nebulae which are forming new stars.

From dead or dying stars, there are two types of nebulae. One is supernova remnants. A notable example is the Veil nebula in Cygnus. It's not very visible by telescopes unless you have an Oxygen III filter. Then it appears as a greenish smudge in the eyepiece. We don't get the spectacular color the computers add in for the Hubble shots.



The second type from a dying star is the planetary nebula. The final stages of a main sequence star's life (our own Sun will die this way), it's shedding off its gases. Prime examples are the Ring nebula and the Dumbbell nebula.

The Ring appears as named and has a blue tint in eyepieces. Bigger telescopes which gather more light can show a star in the center of the nebula. It's in the Lyra constellation near Cygnus.



The Dumbbell is in the Cygnus constellation. It's a planetary nebula sideways. It appears with a greenish tint in the eyepiece. This photo taken by the camera attached to the 24" Cassegrain at Pine Mountain Observatory.



Prominent examples of nebulae forming new stars are the Orion nebula (in Orion's sword--the closest region of star formation to Earth) and the Lagoon nebula near Sagittarius. Since Orion is a winter constellation, the Lagoon is what I usually show to visitors at the observatory in the summer. The Orion nebula is below it. Both photos also taken at PMO.



There are also H II Region nebulae which include diffuse, bright and reflection nebulae. By definition they contain no well-defined boundaries, which actually applies to almost all nebulae. A nebula can have more than one classification. It can have dark and bright regions, be forming new stars and parts of it may reflect light.

The Swan nebula, also know as Omega, Checkmark, Lobster and Horsehead nebula is a group of newly formed stars. It's also a nebula we often show in the summer, located near Sagittarius.



My favorite nebula is Orion. But since it isn't visible most of the summer (unless I stay up until dawn), the Lagoon is my favorite summer nebula.

OK, my X, Xploring, is really lame. The observatory opens in one month though. So, I'm Xcited, too. It's possible one or more of the nebula contain Xenon, and I'm sure they've all been looked at by X-ray telescopes. There we go, PaX.





The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


Do you have a favorite nebula? Is my X lamer than yours? Go ahead, you can say yes.

Apr 25, 2012

Ultralight Microlace and Vesta

Ultralight Metallic Microlace. So light and squishy, it can rest on the seed heads of a dandelion. It weighs less than one milligram per cubic centimeter, bounces back after compression, and is made of a repeating lattice. It has incredible potential for use as thermal insulation; acoustic, vibration or shock dampening; energy absorption and recovery; and electronic parts. Spaceships? Maybe a space elevator. LEARN MORE




The Dawn mission has been at the asteroid Vesta for several months.


This image obtained by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. Click on the image for a larger view.

Scientists believe their could be ice on Vesta.

Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years, according to the first published models of Vesta's average global temperatures and illumination by the sun. LEARN MORE

After study is complete at Vesta, Dawn will move onto Ceres.

I love looking at photos of other worlds. They're fantastic. Some of those craters look big enough to hide a Milenium Falcon.




 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


That ultra light lattice looks neat. What would you build from it? I'm thinking spaceships. Not surprising, huh? The mission to the Asteroid Belt fascinates me. What new things will we learn?

Apr 23, 2012

Space Elevator and Tool Using Fish

Apparently the fact that a Japanese company announced it would build a Space elevator by 2050 is hype. READ MORE

Bummer. With that said, NASA may still be considering it. However, the article claiming so was written 12 years ago in 2000. LEARN MORE

Either way, it was a great book by one of my writing heroes, Arthur C. Clarke. Fountains of Paradise.





Professional diver Scott Gardner has captured what are believed to be the first images of a wild fish using a Tool. The picture below, captured in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, shows a foot-long blackspot tuskfish smashing a clam on a rock until it cracks open. What makes this exciting? Tool use by fish is quite rare. LEARN MORE


Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh and Laura Eno for the mentions on Saturday. Most kind. I think I'm still blushing.




 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


My U might solve the space elevator problem. Or perhaps spider goats can. It doesn't really surprise me that some fish might use tools. Does it surprise you? What do you think about a space elevator?

Apr 20, 2012

On the Red Planet

I forgot O. Blushing. Well, I'll get to it now.

O is for Otherworldly and oops.



For six years now, a message about Mars has been making its way into email inboxes. It tells readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and look up at the sky. "Mars will look as large as the full moon," it says. "No one alive today will ever see this again."

Nope. So not true.  LEARN MORE



Eight years after landing on Mars, the Rovers are still going. My story The Tumbas, coming out in Wandering Weeds anthology later this year, is set on Mars.




Click on the photo for a larger image. Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) took the component images as part of full-circle view being assembled from Greeley Haven. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

LEARN MORE










 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


Have you heard that rumor about the giant Mars? Isn't it cool to look at photos from other planets? I think so.

Apr 18, 2012

Plot Quantum Chronodynamics

Plotting is a lot like partical physics ... maybe. The letter P is hosted by the beautiful and amazing Madeleine Maddocks of Sribble & Edit.



How I plot: This has been changing the more I write. I do more preplanning than I used to. I do an outline chapter by chapter. I'll sketch out chapter 2, then write it. When I'm happy with 2, I outline 3 and then write it. I do more character development before I start, too--figuring out how all the characters interconnect, what their story is before the novel opens. Usually a vision comes to me as a character, a world or a situation, then I work out how to "sci-fi" it up, and think of ways to make it uniquely M. Pax. I must know how I plan to end the story before I can start.




Quantum Physics. CERN, the Hadron Collider is working on four experiments. LEARN MORE

1.  LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment) is an experiment set up to explore what happened after the Big Bang that allowed matter to survive and build the Universe.

2.  Alice Detector Experiment--study the physics of strongly interacting matter at extreme energy densities, where the formation of a new phase of matter, the quark-gluon plasma, is expected.

3.  The Atlas Experiment--will learn about the basic forces that have shaped our Universe since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate.

4. CMS Detector Experiment--To record the Universe’s tiniest constituents we need the world’s largest network of scientific instruments.




 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)



How do you plot? Or, don't you? What do you think about the physics experiments?

Apr 16, 2012

Mind Movie and Nanogenerator

Neuroscientists have been able to recreate Movies from brain activity.

Researchers at UC Berkeley used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and some seriously complex computational models to figure out what images our minds create when presented with movie and TV clips. LEARN MORE Makes me wonder if they can then eventually create dream images and fantasies, or whether it's something we physically have to see. Interesting.





Movement-powered Nanogenerators.

Back in March, scientists announced the world's first viable "nanogenerator" — a tiny computer chip powered by body movements like clapping or, eventually, our heartbeats. We may not need a plug to recharge our electronic gadgets in the future. We'll be the recharger. Cool. LEARN MORE







  The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE


 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)

What movie is in your mind? I'm still kind of stuck on that dream I had a few weeks ago about a crayfish invasion. What are your thoughts on nanogenerators? I'd love a few. Especially for my camera.

Apr 13, 2012

Kepler's Search and Life as We Know It



NASA's Kepler probe has discovered 61 planets so far, searching just a small section of our galaxy--just off the upper wing of Cygnus (aka The Northern Cross and the Swan). They have a total of 2,321 planet candidates to confirm or not at this point. To learn more about Kepler, its mission and discoveries, VISIT HERE






Life comes in many forms. We have been manipulating our environment since our evolution--making better crops, domesticating animals.

Cloning--copies of DNA/cells. Why clone? Recombinant DNA technology is important for learning about other related technologies, such as gene therapy, genetic engineering of organisms, and sequencing genomes. Gene therapy can be used to treat certain genetic conditions by introducing virus vectors that carry corrected copies of faulty genes into the cells of a host organism. Genes from different organisms that improve taste and nutritional value or provide resistance to particular types of disease can be used to genetically engineer food crops. LEARN MORE

Bioengineering--manipulating DNA to make a better organism. Bioengineering is the key to sustaining the growing population on this planet, since we do not have the ability to leave Earth and colonize other planets yet. Through this discipline, we can create better food, more food, and healthier plants, animals and humans. LEARN MORE

Synthetic Biology--It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a variety of definitions. The common goal is the design and construction of new biological functions and systems not found in nature. LEARN MORE



 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.

Sign up is HERE

 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


Life on other planets. Life Sciences. What do you think?

Apr 11, 2012

Immortal Desires, Implants and Journey from Africa

A quick shout out for Immortal Desires by Laura Eno (Well of Souls)

It's a paranormal, time-travel romance. 

I will add that it's very good. I have it on my Nook and started it.


 Brain Implant by IBM allows primates to feel virtual objects.

Already demonstrated successfully in primates, the interface could soon allow humans to use prosthetic limbs (or even robotic exoskeletons) to actually feel objects in the real world. It could also lead to holodeck technology. Everyone get your Sherlock Holmes caps and pipes ready. :) LEARN MORE



Humanity's Journey from Africa may have taken place earlier than thought. Human artifacts recently discovered in the United Arab Emirates date back at least 100,000 years, which means our ancestors might have left Africa up to 125,000 years ago...twice as long ago as previously thought. LEARN MORE






 The Backworlds Blog Tour May 7th, 2012

 If you'd like to help me get the word out of my next release, The Backworlds, I'd be most appreciative. Sign up below for the launch party, and I'll see to it you're emailed what you need to post up.Will give you a break when AtoZ ends. Post up any time the week of May 7th. And you don't have to visit anybody. The Linky link is so I can be organized.



 2012 AtoZ Challenge hosted by Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


Virtual touch and our global emigration earlier than thought. What do you think?