Good Morning All,
Today there were so many great articles that I actually had eliminate a few! I tried to get the most interesting and fun, and GOOD news articles available. Let me introduce you to three. First is the article about the robot that was programmed to lead an orchestra in Detroit, and managed to do so quite successfully! Though there still isn't a market for robot conductors, I found it interesting that the article stated there were about 12 robots like Asimo in the world.
The next article I would like to mention is about the bust of Julius Caesar that was found in France. It may be the oldest one in the world, and it is said to date back to 46BC. That's pretty fantastic!
The third article is the one about the vatican, and aliens. I don't usually put religious materials in my choices. However, I made an exception for this one because the Vatican influences so much of the world's religion, and because I think it's awesome that believing in aliens isn't against doctrine. Religious progress, and evolution, is being made.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's posts! I enjoyed finding them for you today. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Detroit Symphony Orchestra Led by Robot Maestro (Detroit Free Press)
2. Divers Find Caesar Bust that May Date to 46 B.C. (Las Vegas Sun)
3. Pregnant Woman Rescued from Quake Rubble in China (Newsvine)
4. 10-year-old Scholar Takes Calif. College by Storm (Yahoo News)
5. Ancient Church Emerges from Flooded Valley For First Time in 50 Years in Most Striking Image of Barcelona Drought (Daily Mail UK)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Vatican: It's OK to Believe in Aliens (Physorg.com)
2. Microsoft's Free World Wide Telescope Brings Windows Users up Close to the Universe (Seattle Times)
3. Bangladesh Rifes Paramilitary Force Rescued 29 People from Traffickers (The Daily Star)
4. Teenage Custodian Returns Bag With $108,000 (CBS News)
5. Using Fruit to Aid the Sun's Work (Science Daily)
Today's Top 5:
1. Detroit Symphony Orchestra Led by Robot Maestro
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/ENT04/805140432/1039
Asimo nails waltz with lifelike skill
BY MARK STRYKER • FREE PRESS MUSIC CRITIC • May 14, 2008
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If this keeps up Leonard Slatkin, the new music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, might be out of a job before he starts his tenure.
Asimo, Honda's humanoid robot, made its conducting debut Tuesday at Orchestra Hall, leading the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in "The Impossible Dream" of Broadway fame.
Let's say right away that the display was a technological marvel and as cool as all get-out. But it was conducting in only the most limited definition. In other words, Slatkin's job is safe, and Asimo shouldn't quit its day gig.
Which is not to pooh-pooh the achievement. Asimo -- which stands 4-foot-3, weighs 119 pounds and favors a white jump suit rather than black tie -- walked confidently on stage, waved and said in a high chirp, "Hello, everyone!"
An engineer cued Asimo wirelessly. It lifted its arms and gave the downbeat, conducting waltz time with fluid, lifelike gestures. It deliberately slowed down for the big finish, shifting into 6/8 time and ending with a dramatic held note. Bravo!
"I'm worried that they'll teach it to multitask," said cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the evening's eloquent soloist, speaking earlier Tuesday at rehearsal.
DSO resident conductor Thomas Wilkins led the rest of the concert, but Slatkin flew in from Washington to thank Honda for its recent $1-million gift to DSO education programs and to kid Asimo: "I'll believe it when you conduct Mahler 7."
Musicians are tough on conductors, but the buzz Tuesday afternoon at rehearsal included enthusiastic praise for Asimo's wizardry. Wits also were sharp. "The beautiful thing about this conductor is that it always does the same thing twice," trumpeter Bill Lucas said.
He was reminded that Asimo doesn't talk either: "That's another nice feature."
The crowd adored it.
"It's unbelievable," said a dazzled Shayna Silverman of Farmington Hills.
How did Asimo do it? Honda filmed DSO education director Charles Burke conducting the piece and programmed Asimo to copy his movements. Of course, true conducting is more than arm-waving. It's shaping musical expression and communicating ideas. Asimo can't think or react; it does only what it's been programmed to do.
The product of 22 years of research and tens of millions of dollars, Asimo has attracted international press for its ability to run, climb stairs, grab objects, talk and recognize faces and voices. Honda envisions it helping elderly people in the future, among other tasks. Meanwhile, Honda uses Asimo to inspire kids to study science.
There are about two dozen Asimos worldwide and a support staff of engineers and marketing folks. That's right, the robot has "people."
Honda corporate affairs manager David Iida came up with the idea to teach Asimo to conduct as a way to put an exclamation point on the company's DSO partnership. Honda also is sponsoring a master class for students led by Ma.
By the way, Honda's rival Toyota is building robots that can play trumpet and violin. Memo to both companies: Don't even think about teaching robots to be music critics.
1. Detroit Symphony Orchestra Led by Robot Maestro (Detroit Free Press)
2. Divers Find Caesar Bust that May Date to 46 B.C. (Las Vegas Sun)
3. Pregnant Woman Rescued from Quake Rubble in China (Newsvine)
4. 10-year-old Scholar Takes Calif. College by Storm (Yahoo News)
5. Ancient Church Emerges from Flooded Valley For First Time in 50 Years in Most Striking Image of Barcelona Drought (Daily Mail UK)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Vatican: It's OK to Believe in Aliens (Physorg.com)
2. Microsoft's Free World Wide Telescope Brings Windows Users up Close to the Universe (Seattle Times)
3. Bangladesh Rifes Paramilitary Force Rescued 29 People from Traffickers (The Daily Star)
4. Teenage Custodian Returns Bag With $108,000 (CBS News)
5. Using Fruit to Aid the Sun's Work (Science Daily)
Today's Top 5:
1. Detroit Symphony Orchestra Led by Robot Maestro
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/ENT04/805140432/1039
Asimo nails waltz with lifelike skill
BY MARK STRYKER • FREE PRESS MUSIC CRITIC • May 14, 2008
Post a CommentRecommend Print this page E-mail this article
Share this article: Del.icio.us Facebook Digg Reddit Newsvine What’s this?
If this keeps up Leonard Slatkin, the new music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, might be out of a job before he starts his tenure.
Asimo, Honda's humanoid robot, made its conducting debut Tuesday at Orchestra Hall, leading the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in "The Impossible Dream" of Broadway fame.
Let's say right away that the display was a technological marvel and as cool as all get-out. But it was conducting in only the most limited definition. In other words, Slatkin's job is safe, and Asimo shouldn't quit its day gig.
Which is not to pooh-pooh the achievement. Asimo -- which stands 4-foot-3, weighs 119 pounds and favors a white jump suit rather than black tie -- walked confidently on stage, waved and said in a high chirp, "Hello, everyone!"
An engineer cued Asimo wirelessly. It lifted its arms and gave the downbeat, conducting waltz time with fluid, lifelike gestures. It deliberately slowed down for the big finish, shifting into 6/8 time and ending with a dramatic held note. Bravo!
"I'm worried that they'll teach it to multitask," said cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the evening's eloquent soloist, speaking earlier Tuesday at rehearsal.
DSO resident conductor Thomas Wilkins led the rest of the concert, but Slatkin flew in from Washington to thank Honda for its recent $1-million gift to DSO education programs and to kid Asimo: "I'll believe it when you conduct Mahler 7."
Musicians are tough on conductors, but the buzz Tuesday afternoon at rehearsal included enthusiastic praise for Asimo's wizardry. Wits also were sharp. "The beautiful thing about this conductor is that it always does the same thing twice," trumpeter Bill Lucas said.
He was reminded that Asimo doesn't talk either: "That's another nice feature."
The crowd adored it.
"It's unbelievable," said a dazzled Shayna Silverman of Farmington Hills.
How did Asimo do it? Honda filmed DSO education director Charles Burke conducting the piece and programmed Asimo to copy his movements. Of course, true conducting is more than arm-waving. It's shaping musical expression and communicating ideas. Asimo can't think or react; it does only what it's been programmed to do.
The product of 22 years of research and tens of millions of dollars, Asimo has attracted international press for its ability to run, climb stairs, grab objects, talk and recognize faces and voices. Honda envisions it helping elderly people in the future, among other tasks. Meanwhile, Honda uses Asimo to inspire kids to study science.
There are about two dozen Asimos worldwide and a support staff of engineers and marketing folks. That's right, the robot has "people."
Honda corporate affairs manager David Iida came up with the idea to teach Asimo to conduct as a way to put an exclamation point on the company's DSO partnership. Honda also is sponsoring a master class for students led by Ma.
By the way, Honda's rival Toyota is building robots that can play trumpet and violin. Memo to both companies: Don't even think about teaching robots to be music critics.
2. Divers Find Caesar Bust that May Date to 46 B.C.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/14/divers-find-caesar-bust-that-may-date-to-46-bc/
The Associated Press
Wed, May 14, 2008 (12:07 a.m.)
Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known.
The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the Caesar bust and a collection of other finds in the Rhone near the town of Arles _ founded by Caesar.
Among other items in the treasure trove of ancient objects is a 5.9 foot marble statue of Neptune, dated to the first decade of the third century after Christ.
Two smaller statues, both in bronze and measuring 27.5 inches each also were found, one of them, a satyr with his hands tied behind his back, "doubtless" originated in Hellenic Greece, the ministry said.
"Some (of the discoveries) are unique in Europe," Culture Minister Christine Albanel said. The bust of Caesar is in a class by itself.
"This marble bust of the founder of the Roman city of Arles constitutes the most ancient representation known today of Caesar," the ministry statement said, adding that it "undoubtedly" dates to the creation of Arles in 46 B.C.
Among other things, researchers are trying to uncover "in what context these statues were thrown into the river," said Michel L'Hour, who heads the Department of Subaquatic Archaeological Research, whose divers made the discovery between September and October 2007.
The site "has barely been skimmed," L'Hour told The Associated Press, adding that a new search operation will begin this summer.
He said the Arles region, in the Provence region of southern France, with its Roman beginnings, and the Rhone are "propitious" for discoveries.
Albanel called the find "exceptional" and said that the Caesar bust is "the oldest representation known today" of the emperor.
3. Pregnant Woman Rescued from Quake Rubble in China
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/05/14/1487340-pregnant-woman-rescued-from-quake-rubble-in-china
Wed May 14, 2008 4:49 AM EDT
Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer
Rescue workers pulled a woman who was eight months pregnant to safety Wednesday after she spent 50 hours trapped under earthquake rubble.
A second woman was rescued minutes later in the same place in a bit of rare good news in Sichuan province, where the official death toll has risen to nearly 15,000 from Monday's massive quake.
Safety officials could speak to Zhang Xiaoyan but had to proceed slowly in trying to dig her out for fear that the rubble above her would shift and collapse on her.
"It is very moving. It's a miracle brought about by us all working together," said Sun Guoli, the fire chief of nearby Chengdu, the provincial capital.
"It's a miracle of life, using one's life to save a life," she said as she watched Zhang being taken away in an ambulance.
Sun was on the scene for the whole of the 50-hour rescue operation.
Zhang and the other woman were trapped about 18 feet up in a pile of concrete slabs and other debris after their building collapsed. There was no immediate word on the fate of the baby.
Both women looked shaken but not seriously injured when they were pulled out. They had been given water during the rescue.
"We were told by engineers that the building was very dangerous and highly unstable so the rescue operation was very risky. But it shows how much value we put on saving lives," Sun said.
The rescues were not the only ones Wednesday. In the Beichuan region farther north in Sichuan, a 3-year-old girl who was trapped for more than 40 hours under the bodies of her parents was pulled to safety, the official Xinhua New Agency said.
It said rescuers heard Song Xinyi on Tuesday morning, but were unable to pull her out right away due to fears the debris above her would collapse. She was fed and shielded from the rain until rescuers extricated her from the rubble.
Premier Wen Jiabao looked over her wounds, part of his highly publicized tour of the disaster area aimed at reassuring the public about the government's response to the quake.
Xinhua said that 84 people had been saved so far in Sichuan.
4. 10-year-old Scholar Takes Calif. College by Storm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_re_us/college_genius
By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
DOWNEY, Calif. - With the end of another school year approaching, college sophomore Moshe Kai Cavalin is cramming for final exams in classes such as advanced mathematics, foreign languages and music.
But Cavalin is only 10 years old. And at 4-foot-7, his shoes don't quite touch the floor as he puts down a schoolbook and swivels around in his chair to greet a visitor.
"I'm studying statistics," says the alternately precocious and shy Cavalin, his textbook lying open on the living room desk of his parents' apartment in this quiet suburb east of Los Angeles.
Within a year, if he keeps up his grades and completes the rest of his requirements, he hopes to transfer from his two-year program at East Los Angeles College to a prestigious four-year school and study astrophysics.
One of his primary interests is "wormholes," a hypothetical scientific phenomenon connected to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. It has been theorized that if such holes do exist in space, they could — in tandem with black holes — allow for the kind of space-age time travel seen in science fiction.
"Just like black holes, they suck in particulate objects, and also like black holes, they also travel at escape velocity, which is, the speed to get out of there is faster than the speed of light," Cavalin says. "I'd like to prove that wormholes are really there and prove all the theories are correct."
First, he has statistics homework to finish. Later, he'll work with his mother, Shu Chen Chien, to brush up on his Mandarin for his Chinese class. Then it's over to the piano to prepare for his recital in music class.
His father, Yosef Cavalin, frets about the piano-playing, noting that his only child recently broke his arm pursuing another passion, martial arts. He has won several trophies for his age group.
"Finals are coming and everything and he cannot play with both hands. He'll just try to play with the right hand," he says. "I don't know how his grade's going to be in piano. It worries me a bit."
If past success is any indication, his son will find a way to compensate. Cavalin, who enrolled in college more than a year ago, has maintained an A-plus average in such subjects as algebra, history, astronomy and physical education.
College officials couldn't immediately say whether he is the youngest student in the school's 63-year history. Among child prodigies, Michael Kearney, now 24, is often cited as the world's youngest college graduate, having earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama at age 10.
Cavalin's professors can't recall having a younger student in their classes.
"He is the youngest college student I've ever taught and one of the hardest working," says Daniel Judge, his statistics professor. "He's actually a pleasure to have in class. He's a well- adjusted, nice little boy."
Cavalin was an 8-year-old freshman when he enrolled in Guajao Liao's intermediate algebra class in 2006. By the end of the term, Liao recalls, he was tutoring some of his 19- and 20-year-old classmates.
"I told his parents that his ability was much higher than that level, that he should take a higher-level course," Liao says. "But his parents didn't want to push him."
Cavalin's parents avoid calling their son a genius. They say he's just an average kid who enjoys studying as much as he likes playing soccer, watching Jackie Chan movies, and collecting toy cars and baseball caps with tiger emblems on them. He was born during the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac.
Cavalin has a general idea what his IQ is, but doesn't like to discuss it. He says other students can achieve his success if they study hard and stay focused on their work.
His parents say they never planned to enroll their son in college at age 8, and sought to put him in a private elementary school when he was 6.
"They didn't want to accept me because I knew more than the teacher there and they said I looked too bored," the youngster recalls.
His parents home-schooled him instead, but after two years decided college was the best place for him. East L.A. officials agreed to accept him if he enrolled initially in just two classes, math and physical education. After he earned A-pluses in both, he was allowed to expand his studies.
"He sees things very simply," says Judge, his statistics teacher. "Most students think that things should be harder than they are and they put these mental blocks in front of them and they make things harder than they should be. In the case of Moshe, he sees right through the complications. ... It's not really mystical in any way, but at the same time it's amazing."
5. Ancient Church Emerges from Flooded Valley For First Time in 50 Years in Most Striking Image of Barcelona Drought
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=566368&in_page_id=1811&ito=1490
Last updated at 13:00pm on 14th May 2009
An ancient church has emerged from a flooded valley for the first time in 50 years as Spain's worst drought in decades forced the city of Barcelona to begin shipping in drinking water.
For the majority of the past four decades, all that has been visible of the village of Sant Roma has been the belltower of its stone church, peeping above the water beside forested hills from a valley flooded in the 1960s to provide water for the Catalonia region.
This year, receding waters have exposed the 11th-century church completely, attracting crowds of tourists who stand gazing around it on the dusty bed of the reservoir.
A ship carrying 5million gallons (19,000 cubic meters) of water from nearby Tarragona docked in Barcelona's port this morning. A second vessel from Marseille, France, is scheduled to arrive in the coming days.
The bustling port city on Spain's Mediterranean coast is among the areas hardest hit by the worst springtime drought in the country since records began 60 years ago.
With reservoirs at dramatically low levels and no substantial rainfall in sight, authorities hope a new desalination plant - one of the biggest in Europe - will be operational in May of next year and resolve much of Catalonia's water woes.
Crowds of tourists have been attracted to the site
The regional government of Catalonia said six ships a month will bring in a total of 438million gallons (1.66million cubic meters) of water in an unprecedented effort to avoid water restrictions before the start of the holiday season.
That is roughly enough to satisfy six per cent of the monthly needs of the region's 5.5million inhabitants. Shipments are scheduled to last at least three months.
Leonard Carcole, director-general of Aguas de Barcelona, the city's water company said: "It has been one of the driest years ever, and Barcelona has found itself in need of water."
Receding waters have exposed the 11th-century church completely
Catalonia's reservoirs are at about a fifth of their capacity, compared with reservoirs that are on average half full nationally.
Authorities fear reservoirs could drop to 15 per cent of their capacity, a level at which it is no longer recommended that water be used for human consumption.
"I try and show my children how to be responsible with water," said a Barcelona housewife and mother of two, Ana Rosa Martinez.
"My children don't leave the water running while they brush their teeth. And I've shown them how to flush the toilet so as to avoid unnecessary waste, once to flush and once again to cut the flush short."
With the busy summer tourist season ahead, the region has been moving frantically to avoid serious cuts in supply. Already city fountains and beach showers have been turned off and restrictions placed on filling large swimming pools.
Last month, Catalonia reached an agreement with Spain's central government for a temporary water transfer from the Ebro River.
That has upset two southern regions, Valencia and Murcia, that were denied permission for a permanent, major diversion of water from the Ebro. The two areas are dependent on tourism and agriculture.
Meanwhile, farmers based in Tarragona, where the water for Barcelona was originally headed, say they need it more than the city.
Ecologists say Spain's agriculture sector, with out-of-date irrigation systems and crops that need disproportionate amounts of water, uses up to 70 per cent of the country's water.
They add that a tourism model based on huge resorts and golf courses is also unsustainable.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Vatican: It's OK to Believe in Aliens
http://www.physorg.com/news129920030.html
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
Published: 14 hours ago, 17:53 EST, May 13, 2008
(AP) -- Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.
The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.
Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.
The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."
Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."
In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.
"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."
Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."
The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.
The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.
2. Microsoft's Free World Wide Telescope Brings Windows Users up Close to the Universe
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004409651_telescope13.html
By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times technology reporter
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
MICROSOFT RESEARCH has created a downloadable astronomy program that stitches together images from the world's biggest telescopes to form an interactive map of the universe. The free software is available for download from www.worldwidetelescope.org. Here are some minimum requirements:
Operating system: Windows XP with SP2, or higher. Can run on Mac with Windows installed
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 gigahertz or faster, recommended
Memory, storage: 1 gigabyte of RAM, (2 gigs is better) and at least 1 gigabyte of hard drive space.
Graphics, monitor: 3-D accelerated card with 128 megabytes of RAM and XGA or higher-resolution monitor
Internet connection: 56 kilobits per second, or higher.
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft Research is launching a free application today that lets people navigate deep into the universe and view galaxies, nebulae, planets and other celestial objects through the lenses of the world's best observatories.
The WorldWide Telescope draws on more than 12 terabytes of imagery — bigger than the print collection of the Library of Congress — from several orbiting and land-based telescopes.The desktop application downloads the images on demand and stitches them together to form an interactive, browsable universe supplemented with information from top astronomical databases and guided tours that put it all into context.
The project was the dream of Curtis Wong, a Microsoft researcher who collected bottles as a kid in Los Angeles to earn money for a first telescope. He recalled reading about the Milky Way but being frustrated because he could never see it between the smog and the city lights.
The WorldWide Telescope makes up for that in spades, giving people a perspective that has even veterans in the field excited.
Michael Bakich, senior editor of Astronomy Magazine, called it "fantastic" and praised the program's "highly detailed, accurate model of the sky."
"Nothing to this extent has been done," said Bakich, who has been using a preview version of the software. "... I just think people are going to fall in love with it."
From the first printed star atlases of the Renaissance to desktop planetarium software in the 1980s to the totally Web-based Google Sky — which offers access to some of the same images as the WorldWide Telescope — scientists and technologists have explored ways to document the night sky and objects in deep space.
Wong said the WorldWide telescope addresses the challenge with the proliferation of astronomical images available to the public today.
"You don't really get the larger context of these images," he said. "They're beautiful, but you don't know where they are, how big they are and what the other larger story is around them."
Wong has spent his career working on interactive media, starting with early CD-ROMs on Beethoven, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Leonardo da Vinci, among others.
"All of them were these environments where we bring together story, exploration and source information to develop ... a framework to learn in a deep and substantive way," Wong said.
Elements of community
The WorldWide Telescope refines the model and adds elements of community and social media that characterize so-called Web 2.0 applications.
One of the most powerful features lets astronomers, educators or any user create tours of the sky that other people can follow and rate.
In one tour that highlights the program's breadth of resources, Robert Hurt of the Spitzer Space Telescope explores the "Exploding Cigar Galaxy." Hurt narrates over spacey rock music as the viewer moves from a line drawing of the Ursa Major constellation through 12 million light years into space to M82, as the galaxy is technically known.
As the tour continues, the distant galaxy comes into brilliant focus. An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows it in the visible light spectrum. It resembles an exploding cigar but is actually a disk seen from the side. Red filaments of hot, hydrogen gas extend above and below the galaxy.
Hurt asks, "What's causing this gassy fireworks display?"
The tour switches to images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to answer that question. Beautiful, glowing pastel colors fill the screen as Hurt explains the images, from the high-energy end of the spectrum.
"These X-rays originate from million-degree gas in M82, heated by violent star-forming activity, known as a starburst," he says.
Next, red clouds appear as the tour switches again to the Spitzer Telescope, which captures images in the infrared spectrum.
A huge dust halo, more than 20,000 light years across, surrounds the galaxy.
"This dust is made of organic compounds similar to those found in car exhaust or on a barbecue grill. The cigar is indeed smoking," Hurt says. "... When we combine the X-ray, visible infrared views from Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer, we see this tortured galaxy in a way the human eye never could."
At any time during the tour, people can pause, look around at nearby objects or view additional images and get more data on what they're seeing.
Support from Gates
Wong said the project got support within Microsoft all the way up to Chairman Bill Gates. The astronomy community, not surprisingly, has strongly supported the effort as well, he said.
Wong hopes the WorldWide Telescope will help scientists who are rushing to keep pace with the huge amount of data generated by improved telescope and imaging technology.
By letting more people look at these images, he said, the program could get "citizen scientists involved in the process of discovery."
Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com
3. Bangladesh Rifles Paramilitary Force Rescued 29 People from Traffickers
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=36461
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 05:37 PM GMT+06:00
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) rescued 29 people from traffickers at bordering village Charboairmari under Godagari upazila in Rajshahi on Monday night.
BDR arrested Md Asaduzzaman of Charboairmari village in this connection.
Acting on a tip, a BDR team of Chapainawabganj raided the house of Hannan Member of Charboimari village under Godagari upazila in Rajshahi on Monday at around 8:30pm and rescued them from there, BDR said.
They had been brought from different areas in Narail district on Monday for being trafficked to India, sources said.
Operation Officer of 39 Riffles Battalion Major Syed Abu Hasan said they found information about an organised gang who were involved in the crime.
BDR handed over the rescued people to Godagari Police Station.
4. Teenage Custodian Returns Bag With $108,000
Southern Utah University Employee Finds Bag Of Cash, Doesn't Hesitate To Turn It In To Police
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/12/national/main4087176.shtml
CEDAR CITY, Utah, May 12, 2008
(CBS/AP) Jared Gray could've taken the money and run.
But when the 18-year-old custodian at Southern Utah University found more than $100,000 in cash in the school's parking lot last month, he didn't hesitate. He turned it in to campus police.
"I showed up about 5:45 p.m. and as I was walking in, I found a bag laying in the parking lot," Gray told The Early Show. "When I picked it up, I realized it was one of the deposit bags and it had $108,000 written on it."
Gray said his dad, a police officer, raised him to do the right thing.
School officials said the bag was accidentally dropped as it was being transferred from the school to the bank.
The Early Show did a little math to help Gray, who makes $7 an hour, figure out how long it would take him to earn $108,000. It comes roughly to 15,428 hours of work - that would be 7 1/2 years. Does Jared have any second thoughts?
"No," he says. "Of course not. My parents raised me to do the right thing always."
The college said if Gray wants to attend the school, they will foot part of the bill to show its thanks.
"And I got $20 and a batch of M. & M. Cookies," Gray added.
5. Using Fruit To Aid The Sun's Work
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080512143743.htm
ScienceDaily
May 13, 2008
Blackberries, blueberries, oranges and grapes—chemistry students at Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) are loading up on their fruits these days, but it has nothing to do with the food pyramid.
The students (John Manganaro, 21, a senior chemistry major from Monroeville; Dave Lawrence, 23, a junior chemistry and physics major from Jackson; Anthony Antonelli, 21, a senior chemistry and biochemistry major from Bellmawr; and Bill Green, 22, a senior chemistry major from Port Norris) are using the fruit to produce solar energy.
Actually, they are using the dye from the fruit in a process to create solar cells, under the guidance of Dr. Darius Kuciauskas, an assistant professor of chemistry.
Currently, commercially available solar cells are efficient and robust but expensive, according to the team.
“To develop efficient—and most importantly inexpensive—solar cells, scientists are following the design of photosynthetic systems,” the professor said. “Research on so-called ‘third-generation’ solar cells is being carried out at Rowan University.”
He explained that commercially available solar cells—such as the ones people can put on their roofs— are “first generation” solar cells. They are based on crystalline silicon, the same material from which computer chips are made, and they are expensive. “Second-generation” solar cells are also based on crystalline semiconductors, but use only thin films of the expensive material. “Third-generation” solar cells are still in the research stage and some years away from wide commercial use. There are several different solar cell designs under this umbrella, including Rowan’s “dye-sensitized solar cells,” which were invented by a chemist in Switzerland. The common idea of the “third-generation” field is to use inexpensive material—like paint—but to assemble that material into well-defined biomimetic structures, structures that are manmade but mimic nature.
The Rowan researchers are working to refine a process in which they extract dye from a range of fruit and blend it into a kind of scientific “smoothie.” They separate out the heavy particles using filters and a centrifuge to obtain a liquid, which they freeze dry. The process leaves the researchers with sugar and a dye. They separate the components and obtain pure, brightly colored dyes in an acidic solution.
“We completely developed this process ourselves,” said Manganaro.
From there, they place the dye on a conductive glass coated with a porous film of titanium dioxide—a material found in everything from toothpaste to sandwich cookies to white paint—which bonds the dye to the glass. Finally, they add iodine and potassium iodide electrolyte for dye regeneration.
When light hits the processed fruit dye on the glass, it “excites” the electrons, which mobilizes or “frees” them. The electrons travel to a conductive glass electrode. That, in turn, produces electricity.
“There’s less output from these organic solar cells than a traditional silicon cell,” admitted Green, but the production from fruit is “dirt cheap.” While similar work has been done, the extraction process is new, to the best of the team’s knowledge.
“You can make the components from store-bought items,” Lawrence said.
Added Antonelli, “Construction of the cells is so simple and inexpensive that anyone can build his or her own given fruit, white paint, iodine and glass.”
“This project was completed as a part of a chemistry laboratory course,” Kuciauskas said. “Students who continue this work will attempt to develop better light-harvesting dyes by assembling larger aggregates of photosynthetic pigments. Such a biomimetic approach is based on green plants and photosynthetic bacteria.”
The Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society will support future solar energy research at Rowan University.
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