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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 10, 2014 at 6:30am

Blame slow jet stream for US deep freeze not Polar Vortex!
As temperatures fell in North America, some blamed a mysterious polar vortex, but this is a system of winds in the stratosphere that spins around the Arctic and Antarctic during their respective winters, many kilometres above the weather. There is nothing unusual about the polar vortex, according to the UK Met Office. Instead, cold Arctic air has reached North America thanks to a weakened jet stream – the continent's atmospheric conveyor belt.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24824?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2014-0109-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&#.Us9aq_vngb4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 10, 2014 at 6:27am

GPS satellites suggest Earth is heavy with dark matter
GPS is handy for finding a route, but it might be able to solve fundamental questions in physics too. An analysis of GPS satellite orbits hints that Earth is heavier than thought, perhaps due to a halo of dark matter.

Dark matter is thought to make up about 80 per cent of the universe's matter, but little else is known about it, including its distribution in the solar system. Hints that the stuff might surround Earth come from observations of space probes, several of which changed their speeds in unexpected ways as they flew past Earth. In 2009, Steve Adler of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey, showed how dark matter bound by Earth's gravity could explain these anomalies.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129503.100?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2014-0109-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&#.Us9Z0Pvngb4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 9, 2014 at 10:28am

Google search fails to find any sign of time travelers
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/google-search-fails-find-a...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 7, 2014 at 7:16am

Scientists have made a breakthrough in their efforts to understand what causes so-called supervolcanoes to erupt.
Supervolcanoes are capable of eruptions thousands of times larger than normal outpourings.

It was thought that an external trigger, such as an earthquake, was needed to bring about a giant blast.

But tests at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble show the sheer volume of liquid magma is enough to cause a catastrophic super-eruption.
There are about 20 known supervolcanoes on Earth - including Lake Toba in Indonesia, Lake Taupo in New Zealand, and the somewhat smaller Phlegraean Fields near Naples, Italy.

Super-eruptions occur rarely - only once every 100,000 years on average. But when they do occur, they have a devastating impact on Earth's climate and ecology.

When a supervolcano erupted 600,000 years ago in Wyoming, in what today is Yellowstone National Park, it ejected more than 1,000 cubic km of ash and lava into the atmosphere - enough to bury a large city to a depth of a few kilometres. This ejection was 100 times bigger than Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1992 and dwarfs even historic eruptions like Krakatoa (1883).
Being able to predict such a catastrophe is obviously critical. But the trigger has remained elusive - because the process is different from conventional volcanoes like Pinatubo and Mt St Helens.

One possible mechanism was thought to be the overpressure in the magma chamber generated by differences between the less dense molten magma and more dense rock surrounding it.
But whether this buoyancy effect alone was enough was not known. It could be that an an additional trigger - such as a sudden injection of magma, an infusion of water vapour, or an earthquake - was required.
the transition from solid to liquid magma creates a pressure which can crack more than 10 kilometres of Earth's crust above the volcano chamber.

"Magma penetrating into the cracks will eventually reach the Earth's surface. And as it rises, it will expand violently - causing an explosion,"

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2042.html

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 6, 2014 at 7:15am

Now vegetable milk for lactose intolerant people!
scientists have formulated substitutes for yoghurt from grain and nuts using probiotic bacteria.

Researchers at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia have obtained new products fermented with probiotic bacteria from grains and nuts - what is known as plant-based or vegetable "milks" - are an alternative to conventional yoghurts.

The products are specially designed for people with allergies to cow's milk, lactose or gluten intolerance, as well as children and pregnant women, reports Science Daily.

From the laboratories at the Institute of Food Engineering for Development, a team worked with almonds, oats and hazelnuts and will soon evaluate the use of walnuts and chestnuts as raw material for these new products.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/vegetable-milk-f...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 6, 2014 at 7:07am

Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation (2013,2014-) Yoichi Ochiai
Sound wave 3Dvolution: Japanese scientists move objects using acoustic levitation
In order to move expanded polystyrene particles of 0.6 mm and 2 mm in diameter, the Japanese scientists at the University of Tokyo and the Nagoya Institute of Technology had to place the objects inside a complex set-up of four arrays of speakers. Using a refinement of the existing technology of sound wave management, bubbles, a screw and a tiny piece of wood were airlifted and moved around in all direction within the experiment’s confines.
“The essence of levitation technology is the countervailing of gravity. It is known that an ultrasound standing wave is capable of suspending small particles at its sound pressure nodes,” Yoichi Ochiai from University of Tokyo said.

Currently, acoustic levitators are used mostly in industry and for researchers of anti-gravity effects such as at NASA.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 4, 2014 at 9:30am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 3, 2014 at 8:19am

Do Brain Training Programs Really Make You Smarter?
Apps for ‘brain training’ claim to use games or tasks as a way of enhancing cognitive abilities. However, a new study the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that these games may only improve a person’s capacity to perform the specific training task and lack evidence that this skill translates to other cognitive abilities.

Study researchers looked specifically at a brain training program that caused a positive shift in inhibitory control. Because the team only looked at the effects on inhibitory control, they said they were unable to determine if any improvement extends to other kinds of cognitive abilities such as working memory.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113038003/do-brain-training-p...

Comment by Georgescu Dan on January 1, 2014 at 8:53pm

Comment by Georgescu Dan on January 1, 2014 at 8:47pm

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