The Herschel Space Observatory has shown galaxies with the most powerful, active black holes at their cores produce fewer stars than galaxies with less active black holes. The results are the first to demonstrate black holes suppressed galactic star formation when the universe was less than half its current age.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/herschel/news/herschel20120509.html

NASA Dawn Mission Reveals Secrets of Large Asteroid

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has provided researchers with the first orbital analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta, yielding new insights into its creation and kinship with terrestrial planets and Earth’s moon.

Vesta now has been revealed as a special fossil of the early solar system with a more varied, diverse surface than originally thought. Scientists have confirmed a variety of ways in which Vesta more closely resembles a small planet or Earth’s moon than another asteroid. Results appear in today’s edition of the journal Science.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20120510.html

Smartphone ownership skyrocketing: IDC

Technology industry analysts IDC have released a new report suggesting smartphone ownership in New Zealand households has risen from 13% in 2011 to a massive 44% in 2012. 

High demand and increased competition in the mobile market are cited by Glen Saunders, senior analyst, Telecommunications for IDC NZ, as the factors driving the trend.

http://www.techday.co.nz/netguide/news/smartphone-ownership-skyrocketing-idc/23638/6/

Electronic nose prototype may be worn for safety-sniffing

A UK company has developed an electronic nose that the company says can make a real difference, as a fast-acting device for detecting harmful substances in the environment. Peratech claims its electronic nose can pick up the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) quickly and that its fast-acting sniffer has a large response signal (change in electric charge). The company also says its sensors have low power requirements that could be supplied by a small dedicated power source integrated into clothing.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-electronic-nose-prototype-worn-safety-sniffing.html

Gaseous emissions from dinosaurs may have warmed prehistoric earth

Sauropod dinosaurs could in principle have produced enough of the greenhouse gas methane to warm the climate many millions of years ago, at a time when the Earth was warm and wet. That’s according to calculations reported in the May 8th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

Animal physiologists have studied methane production from a range of modern animals to derive equations that predict methane production from animals of different sizes. It turns out that those calculations depend only on the total mass of the animals in question. A medium-sized sauropod weighed something like 20,000 kilograms, and sauropods lived in densities ranging from a few large adults to a few tens of individuals per square kilometer.

Wilkinson, Ruxton, and Nisbet therefore calculate global methane emissions from sauropods to have been 520 million tons (520 Tg) per year, comparable to total modern methane emissions. Before industry took off on modern Earth about 150 years ago, methane emissions were roughly 200 Tg per year. By comparison, modern ruminant animals, including cows, goats, giraffes, and others, produce methane emission of 50 to 100 Tg per year.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-gaseous-emissions-dinosaurs-prehistoric-earth.html

Penn astrophysicists zero in on gravity theory

Most people take gravity for granted. But for University of Pennsylvania astrophysicist Bhuvnesh Jain, the nature of gravity is the question of a lifetime. As scientists have been able to see farther and deeper into the universe, the laws of gravity have been revealed to be under the influence of an unexplained force.

By innovatively analyzing a well-studied class of stars in nearby galaxies, Jain and his colleagues — Vinu Vikram, Anna Cabre and Joseph Clampitt at Penn and Jeremy Sakstein at the University of Cambridge — have produced new findings that narrow down the possibilities of what this force could be. Their findings, published on the Arxiv, are a vindication of Einstein’s theory of gravity. Having survived a century of tests in the solar system, it has passed this new test in galaxies beyond our own as well.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-penn-astrophysicists-gravity-theory.html

An operating system designed to power the smart cities of the future will be put through its paces in London.

Living Plan IT has developed its Urban OS to provide a platform to connect services and citizens.

With partners including Hitachi, Phillips and Greenwich council, it aims to use the Greenwich peninsula as a testbed for new technologies running on the system.

The OS aims to connect key services such as water, transport, and energy.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17940797

Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted

Two British men who have been totally blind for many years have had part of their vision restored after surgery to fit pioneering eye implants.

They are able to perceive light and even some shapes from the devices which were fitted behind the retina.

The men are part of a clinical trial carried out at the Oxford Eye Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17936302

Esa selects 1bn-euro Juice probe to Jupiter

The probe, called Juice, has just been approved at a meeting of member state delegations in Paris. It would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.

The mission has emerged from a five-year-long competition to find the next “large class” space venture in Europe.

Juice stands for JUpiter ICy moon Explorer. The concept proposes an instrument-packed, nearly five-tonne satellite to be sent out to the Solar System’s biggest planet, to make a careful investigation of three of its biggest moons.

The spacecraft would use the gravity of Jupiter to initiate a series of close fly-bys around Callisto and Europa, and then finally to put itself in a settled orbit around Ganymede.

Emphasis would be put on “habitability” – in trying to understand whether there is any possibility that these moons could host microbial life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17917102

The Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK ISPs, court rules

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK internet service providers, the High Court has ruled.

The Swedish website hosts links to download mostly pirated free music and video.

Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must all prevent their users from accessing the site.

“Sites like The Pirate Bay destroy jobs in the UK and undermine investment in new British artists,” the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said.

“I know it’s fashionable to say ‘oh, it just won’t work’, but we should keep trying,” said Mark Little, principal analyst at Ovum.

“We should keep blocking them – they are stealing music illegally.

“The biggest culprits of this, really, are the younger demographic who just haven’t been convinced that doing this is somehow morally uncomfortable.

“The principle that downloading music illegally is a bad thing to do has not been reinforced by schools or parents.”

But Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, called the move “pointless and dangerous”.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17894176

China launches two more Beidou navigation satellites

China has moved a step closer to completing its own navigation and positioning satellite network with the launch of two more navigation satellites.

It brings the Beidou system, which became operational with coverage of China last December, to 13 satellites.

To have global coverage, the country eventually aims to have 35 satellites in orbit by 2020.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17896353

Traditionally, network switch manufacturers have competed on the speed, features and software running and monitoring their products. But a new standard is quickly gaining momentum in Japan and the US that is likely to turn this $6 billion+ category on its head.

The change has been driven by customers who are unhappy with different manufacturers of switching equipment each having their own planning, configuration and management systems. These systems in general will not interact with each other, causing what is known as ‘vendor lock-in”. While the issue is not new, it is being exacerbated as enterprises expand their virtualisation beyond servers and storage into the network itself.

http://www.techday.co.nz/itbrief/news/what-is-openflow-and-why-should-enterprises-c/23267/6/

Cassini sees ‘snowball fight’ in Saturn ring

Scientists working on the Cassini probe have witnessed small clumps of ice ploughing through one of the gas giant’s main rings – its F-ring.

As they plunge through, the km-sized ice balls leave glittering trails behind them referred to as mini-jets.

Some of these collisions trace quite exotic shapes in the F-ring that look like barbs on a harpoon.

The research has been presented here at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna, Austria, by Carl Murray, a Cassini imaging team member based at Queen Mary University of London, UK.

The F-ring is the outermost of Saturn’s main rings. It is located 3,000km beyond the bright A-ring and has a circumference approaching 900,000km.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17822755

Watchdog finds undeleted data on second-hand disk drives

One-in-10 second-hand hard drives still contain the original user’s personal information, suggests an investigation by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

It purchased devices from auction sites such as eBay and computer fairs.

Of the 200 hard disks collected, 11% contained personal information.

At least two of the drives had enough information to enable someone to steal the former owners’ identities, the watchdog said.

A separate survey by the ICO indicated that one in 10 people who had disposed of a mobile phone, computer or laptop had not wiped the device.

21% of users now chose to sell their old mobile phones, computers and laptops rather than get rid of them, it suggested. It added that the trend was even more common among 18-24 year-olds among whom the figure rose to 31%.

“We live in a world where personal and company information is a highly valuable commodity,” said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.

“It is important that people do everything they can to stop their details from falling into the wrong hands.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17827562

Tethr: Getting online in a crisis

“I’m five years too early with everything. I don’t know if that’s a bug, or a feature, but it is what it is,” says Aaron Huslage with a laugh. He’s explaining to me how, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he came up with the idea for tethr, a shoebox-sized set of hardware designed to help anyone get internet and phone connections from any spot on the planet.

At the time of the disaster, Huslage helped a group of volunteers build a working wireless network from Gulfport, Mississippi, to the Louisiana border. Using donated equipment, expertise and time, the group managed to create a network that provided free internet and phone service to between 70,000 and 80,000 people for half a year following the hurricane. Huslage did most of his work on the project remotely as he was living at the other end of the country in Portland, Oregon at the time. “I was mostly just wrangling things,” he says. “Making sure people were going where they were supposed to go and that things were delivered to the right place at the right time.” But he did eventually go down to the Gulf Coast for a week to work the project.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120413-communicating-in-a-crisis/1

Inventor preps robot to cut through ice on Europa

Robots are being developed all the time to do what we wish and to go where we can’t. This week, inventor Bill Stone told attendees at NASA’s Astrobiology Science Conference in Atlanta that he intends to get an autonomous robot ready to visit the icebound sea of Jupiter’s moon Europa, cut through the icy crust, and explore the waters below. He told the participants that his goal is to send his robot Valkyrie to Europa, where it will use lasers to cut through the ice to explore the waters below, collecting samples, in search of life. His company, Stone Aerospace, has been working on the six-foot by ten inch robotic cylinder called Valkyrie.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-inventor-preps-robot-ice-europa.html

A proposal to study Jupiter’s icy moons is now the front runner to be chosen as a billion-euro space mission.

However, formal selection of the concept will have to wait until a key European space committee meets to discuss the various contenders in May.

The Juice mission would launch in 2022 and would help assess whether Jupiter’s moons could support life.

It has been up against two other concepts in the European Space Agency’s (Esa) Cosmic Vision competition.

The Juice (JUpiter ICy moon Explorer) proposal envisages an instrument-packed, near five-tonne satellite at launch that would be sent out to the Solar System’s biggest planet, to make a careful investigation of three of its Galilean moons.

The spacecraft would use the gravity of the gas giant to initiate a series of close flybys around Callisto, Europa, and then finally to put itself in a settled orbit around Ganymede.

Emphasis would be put on “habitability” – in trying to understand whether there is any possibility that these moons could host microbial life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17756628

Honda will recycle rare-earth metals from batteries

Honda says its process move is a world-first–in that its decision does not merely involve a research experiment but rather a process that will be done on a mass production basis at a central recycling plant. The recycling will start very soon; Honda says the work is to begin at the end of this month. The process allows for the recovery of more than 80 percent of the rare-earth metals used in the nickel-metal hydride batteries. The process involves extractions coming from used batteries from Honda hybrids at Honda dealers inside and outside Japan.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-honda-recycle-rare-earth-metals-batteries.html

Hundreds of thousands may lose Internet in July

Unknown to most computer users, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

Quantum dot LEDs get brighter, more efficient

While quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are not made of organic materials, they share many of the same advantages as organic LEDs (OLEDs). For instance, both QLEDs and OLEDs outshine semiconductor-based LEDs in terms of their greater flexibility, better color quality, and potential for lower cost since they can be fabricated using a simple process on a large-area substrate. But ever since the first QLEDs were demonstrated in the mid-’90s, about a decade after OLEDs, their performance has lagged behind OLEDs despite ongoing improvements. Now in a new study, a team of researchers from South Korea has designed and demonstrated QLEDs with an improved efficiency and unprecedented brightness that matches the brightness of today’s best fluorescent OLEDs.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-quantum-dot-brighter-efficient.html

Serious blow to dark matter theories? New study finds mysterious lack of dark matter in Sun’s neighborhood

The most accurate study so far of the motions of stars in the Milky Way has found no evidence for dark matter in a large volume around the Sun. According to widely accepted theories, the solar neighbourhood was expected to be filled with dark matter, a mysterious invisible substance that can only be detected indirectly by the gravitational force it exerts. But a new study by a team of astronomers in Chile has found that these theories just do not fit the observational facts. This may mean that attempts to directly detect dark matter particles on Earth are unlikely to be successful.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-dark-theories-mysterious-lack-sun.html

IsAnyoneUp’s Hunter Moore: ‘The net’s most hated man’

Hunter Moore’s business plan was simple: he got rich by publishing pornographic pictures of men and women without their permission.

He would encourage visitors to his site to “submit noodz” (nudes) of their former girlfriends and boyfriends, as well as details about who the subject was and why they deserved to be featured.

This information would be posted up in full on his site, IsAnyoneUp.com.

As well as the person’s full name and location, links to social networks, usually Facebook, would also be included.

Below each post appeared a stream of comments from visitors critiquing – to put it lightly – the victim’s looks and body.

If anyone complained, they were ridiculed. If they threatened legal action, Mr Moore ignored it. As many of the site’s victims soon discovered, they were largely powerless to do anything about it.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17784232

Dotcom trial may not occur – Judge

The criminal charges against Kim Dotcom in the United States may never get to trial, the judge overseeing the case has told the FBI.

United States district court judge Liam O’Grady said he didn’t know if “we are ever going to have a trial in this matter” after being told Dotcom’s file-sharing company had never been formally served with criminal papers by the US.

The comment has been seized on by Dotcom’s lawyers, who say it could lead to the extradition case in New Zealand being tossed out.

It follows a paperwork error by New Zealand authorities, who seized Dotcom’s property without giving proper notice. The restraining order on his property was finally granted last week.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10800409

First Raspberry Pi computers to be delivered

A group of schoolchildren in Leeds are the first to get their hands on production models of the bare-bones computer.

Costing only £16, the tiny computer has been designed to inspire anyone, especially children, to get started with computer programming.

Eager fans who were the first to order a machine should get their Raspberry Pi by 20 April.

Since the Raspberry Pi project began, the plan has garnered huge interest from developers, hobbyists and others keen to get their hands on a cheap, easy-to-use computer.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17703852

Dual-focus contact lens prototypes ordered by Pentagon

The lenses are designed to be paired with compact head-up display (HUD) units – glasses that allow images to be projected onto their lenses.

Much bulkier HUDs are already deployed by the US Army and Air Force to superimpose data about targets and other status updates over users’ views.

The tech could help troops enhance their awareness on the battlefield.

The iOptik system’s developer, Innovega, told the BBC it had signed a contract earlier this week to deliver a fully-functioning prototype to the Pentagon’s research laboratory, Darpa.

The US Department of Defense had previously funded part of the Washington-based firm’s initial engineering work on the project.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17692256

Oracle and Google’s Android copyright row trial begins

In one of the biggest such tech lawsuits to date Oracle is claiming about $1bn (£630m) in compensation.

The Java developer claims Google’s Android system infringes intellectual property rights relating to the programming language.

The judge warned both companies that sensitive financial details about each company would be made public.

“This is a public trial,” US District Judge William Alsup said.

In a court filing made on Sunday, Oracle said it expected its chief executive officer Larry Ellison and Google CEO Larry Page to be among its first witnesses.

Software engineers have warned the case could set a worrying precedent.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17705873

A molecular ruthenium catalyst with water-oxidation activity comparable to that of photosystem

Scientists in Sweden have developed a molecular catalyser with the ability to quickly oxidise water to oxygen. Presented in the journal Nature Chemistry, the results are a significant contribution to the future use of solar energy and other renewable energy sources, especially since gasoline prices continue to soar.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-molecular-catalyser.html

Cars that drive themselves are not just the stuff of sci-fi movies. The technology is real, the cars can now drive legally and the debate is starting on whether society is better off when software is behind the wheel.

Competing telcos Vodafone, Telecom and 2degrees have agreed to form a joint venture along with electronic payments provider Paymark to create the infrastructure for large-scale adoption of Near-Field Communications (NFC) mobile payment technology.

The initiative will eventually allow customers to make in-store payments simply by holding their mobile phone within a couple of centimetres of an NFC-enabled payment terminal. 

http://www.techday.co.nz/netguide/news/telco-deal-brings-nfc-one-step-closer/22650/6/

LHC is back with big energy boost

Early on Thursday, opposing stable beams of protons were smashed into each other at four observation positions. The total collision energy in these bunches of sub-atomic particles was eight trillion electron volts – a world record.

Scientists expect the big boost in capability to significantly increase the collider’s chances of discovering “new physics”. The great expectation is that they will definitively confirm or deny the existence of the Higgs boson, the elusive particle that would help explain why matter has mass.

“The experience of two good years of running at 3.5 TeV per beam gave us the confidence to increase the energy for this year without any significant risk to the machine,” explained Steve Myers, the director for accelerators and technology at Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17625123

Google announces Floor Plan app for venue owners

This week the team from Google Maps launched its Floor Plan Marker for Android in a bid to improve the accuracy if its indoor maps. Inside and outside Google, developers have seen real opportunity in introducing indoor location apps; Google made its mark on indoor maps with a November 2011 launch of indoor maps for Android. In doing so, Google wanted the public to know that this step was only the beginning. The indoor maps for Android were being made available at malls, airports, and some super-sized retailers — but Google said the application could ideally expand to many more venues. “We’ll continually add new indoor maps to public buildings across the world,” said Google. The November launch was confined to venue partnerships in the U.S. and Japan.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-google-floor-app-venue-owners.html

Google unveils Project Glass augmented reality eyewear

Google has revealed details of its research into augmented reality glasses.

It posted a brief introduction to Project Glass, photos and a concept video at its Google+ social network.

The images show a minimalist design with a microphone and partly-transparent video screen that places information over the view from the users’ right eye. The product’s developers said they wanted feedback on the idea. They did not give any indication about when the device might go on sale or what it would cost.

“A group of us… started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment,” said a statement from Google X – the firm’s experimental lab.

“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17618495

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-google-glimpse-internet-glasses.html

Half a million Mac computers ‘infected with malware’

More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm. Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware – potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a “botnet”.

The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US. Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.

Flashback was first detected last September when anti-virus researchers flagged up software masquerading itself as a Flash Player update. Once downloaded it deactivated some of the computer’s security software. Later versions of the malware exploited weaknesses in the Java programming language to allow the code to be installed from bogus sites without the user’s permission.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422

Lenses can bend light and sound in almost any direction

When an optical fiber is bent by 90° or more, the light begins to leak away, posing a problem for fiber optics communications. But by using special lenses that can bend light by not only 90°, but also 180° (i.e., a U-turn) or 360° (i.e., a full loop), scientists may limit light leakage in optical fibers and overcome this problem, not to mention provide a useful material for many other applications. Recently, a team of scientists has theoretically investigated materials for achieving this kind of advanced light control, which could work equally well for sound waves.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-04-lenses.html

In a back-street in Manchester’s old garment district, now buzzing with students and bars, 20 or so people have gathered to do something unimaginable even a few years ago.

They are here for a session of MadLab, a science club, and this evening is devoted to amateur biology.

But this is not your typical study of butterflies or pond life. This is DIYBIO, part of a movement that began in the US, and the goal is to play with genes, to manipulate nature.

The task tonight is to assemble a newly-delivered piece of equipment: a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) machine, a device which takes short strands of DNA and copies them.

Until recently it would have been affordable only to scientific institutions.

But this one cost a few hundred pounds. Advanced technology is tumbling in price, and is becoming a new power accessible to all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17511710

Icy Moons through Cassini’s Eyes

Cassini passed Enceladus first on March 27, coming within about 46 miles (74 kilometers) of the moon’s surface. The encounter was primarily designed for Cassini’s ion and neutral mass spectrometer, which “tasted” the composition of Enceladus’ south polar plume. Other instruments, including the Cassini plasma spectrometer and composite infrared spectrometer, also took measurements.

Before the closest approach of this encounter, Cassini’s cameras imaged the plume, which is comprised of jets of water ice and vapor, and organic compounds emanating from the south polar region. Later, the cameras captured a nine-frame mosaic of the surface of the moon’s leading hemisphere as the spacecraft left the moon.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20120328.html

Bend-it e-books get real with EPD in factory mode

LG Display has set the production clock ticking for a plastic EPD (electronic paper display) product which in turn is expected to set e-book marketability fast-forward. In an announcement Thursday, Korea-based LG Display, which manufactures thin film transistor liquid crystal display, said it has already started up mass production of EPD for e-books. That leaves little guesswork as to the form factor and no suspicions that LG Display might instead be sending out vapor about a futuristic project that is still in R&D.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-bend-it-e-books-real-epd-factory.html

Cognitive researcher designs and builds a real-world modular working tricorder

To say it’s about copying the tricorder from Star Trek, of television and movie fame, is to belittle the ingenuity and thought that has gone into the devices that Peter Jansen has created; his tricorders, which were designed to look like the devices used by the TV characters, are both far more advanced and far less than their fictional counterparts. Far more, because unlike those represented on the silver screen, his actually work in real life. Far less, because its capabilities are still of the stone-age compared to those we see Captain Kirk or Picard and crew using to identify pretty much anything alien encountered at a moment’s notice.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-cognitive-real-world-modular-tricorder.html

The future of power

What is power, and how can the United States effectively project power in the information or cyber age? This was the focus of a recent lecture by Joseph Nye as part of a seminar series on U.S. foreign policy sponsored by the Center for Global Security Research.

According to Nye, power is “simply the ability to affect others to get the outcome you want.” There are three kinds of power: coercion (military might), payments (foreign assistance) and persuasion. The first two are considered “hard power,” the third “soft power.” And the appropriate use of both hard and soft power yields “smart power,” which has been the watchword of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-future-power.html

Survey gets a grip on dark energy

Astronomers have measured the precise distance to over a quarter of a million galaxies to gain new insights into a key period in cosmic history.

The 3D map of the sky allows scientists to probe the time six billion years ago when dark energybecame the dominant influence on the Universe’s expansion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17559286

Climate change has accelerated in the past decade, the UN weather agency said Friday, releasing data showing that 2001 to 2010 was the warmest decade on record.

The 10-year period was also marked by extreme levels of rain or snowfall, leading to significant flooding on all continents, while droughts affected parts of East Africa and North America.

“The decade 2001-2010 was the warmest since records began in 1850, with global land and sea surface temperatures estimated at 0.46 degrees Celsius above the long term average of 14.0 degrees Celsius (57.2 degrees Fahrenheit),” said the World Meteorological Organisation.

Nine of the 10 years also counted among the 10 warmest on record, it added, noting that “climate change accelerated” during the first decade of the 21st century.
The trend continued in 2011, which was the warmest year on record despite La Nina — a weather pattern which has a cooling effect.
The average temperature in 2011 was 0.40 degrees Celsius above the long term average, said the WMO.

“This 2011 annual assessment confirms the findings of the previous WMO annual statements that climate change is happening now and is not some distant future threat,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
“The world is warming because of human activities and this is resulting in far-reaching and potentially irreversible impacts on our Earth, atmosphere and oceans,” he added.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-warmest-decade-wmo.html

Solar storm dumps gigawatts into Earth’s upper atmosphere

A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles. NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years.

“This was the biggest dose of heat we’ve received from a solar storm since 2005,” says Martin Mlynczak of NASA Langley Research Center. “It was a big event, and shows how solar activity can directly affect our planet.”

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-solar-storm-dumps-gigawatts-earth.html

Online shopping: Price of a bargain

The world has become a much smaller place for the 21st century consumer. These days, a shirt with a $300 price tag at a Newmarket shop might be picked up for $150 or less from a web-based store in the United States.

Price discrepancies between markets are not a new phenomenon. In pre-internet times New Zealanders had to take a trip Stateside, or to Hong Kong or Singapore, where greater economies of scale have benefited shoppers for decades.

But the meteoric rise of online stores such as Amazon, which has reported sales of about US$48 billion ($59 billion) over the past year, have made overseas prices available to anyone with an internet connection and credit card, changing the face of retailing forever.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10794167

With the aim to make it easier to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (LEO), two researchers have turned to maglev technology to catapult a payload hundreds of miles above the Earth. While the concept may sound far-fetched, the researchers argue that the potential benefits to humanity far outweigh the costs.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-maglev-track-spacecraft-orbit.html

Magnetically Suspended Superconducting Cables

It’s easy to levitate objects electromagnetically. If you push enough current through two conductors in opposite directions, the conductors will be subject to a force pushing them apart. The more current the greater the force. With the advent of superconducting cables being developed for superconducting power grids, it is now possible to construct cables which can carry hundreds of megamps of current. These amperages are sufficient to supply a levitating force of 4 tons per meter of startram guideway, even when the conductors are separated by 20km.

Magneto Hydrodynamic (MHD) Pumps

MHD applications such as pumps, generators and thrusters have been used for decades. The Startram system uses a “MHD Window” which allows one end of the launch tube to be open the atmosphere, thus permitting launch of the vehicle. Normally, atmospheric gases would immediately fill up the tube and the launch vehicle would be subject to extreme heating and stresses associated with traveling 8km/sec in air. However, the MHD window allows ionized gasses to be continually expelled from the tube, thus maintaining a near-vacuum in the tube at all times.

High-strength Structural Tethers

One of the challenges of the Space Elevator concept is to engineer tethers that have breaking lengths (i.e. the length of tether can attain before it breaks under its own weight) of thousands of kilometers. Startram tethers, in contrast, needs tethers with breaking lengths of only tens of kilometers, which is well within the specifications of modern fibers.

http://www.startram.com/startram-technology

Consumers jump at Maxnet unlimited deal

Maxnet recently started offering unlimited broadband plans for $99.95 per month, with the only caveat being that consumers had to go on a wait list before being connected, so that the company could add users gradually to make sure the sudden influx of heavy usage didn’t harm connection speeds. 

http://www.techday.co.nz/netguide/news/consumers-jump-at-maxnet-unlimited-deal/22255/6/

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett has laid down the gauntlet for New Zealand’s other ISPs, announcing today that Orcon will charge the same amount for fibre internet plans as it currently charges for plans using the current copper network. 

That means plans will start at $75 per month for a plan with 30MBps download speed, 10MBps upload speed, and a data cap of 30GB. 

Bartlett also announced plans for users who want higher data caps, with an $89 package for 60GB, a $99 package for 100GB, and a $199 package for 1TB, or 1000GB.

http://www.techday.co.nz/netguide/news/we-wont-charge-more-for-fibre-orcon/22155/6/

Cassini Detects Hint of Fresh Air at Dione

 NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has “sniffed” molecular oxygen ions around Saturn’s icy moon Dione for the first time, confirming the presence of a very tenuous atmosphere. The oxygen ions are quite sparse – one for every 0.67 cubic inches of space (one for every 11 cubic centimeters of space) or about 2,550 per cubic foot (90,000 per cubic meter) – show that Dione has an extremely thin neutral atmosphere.

At the Dione surface, this atmosphere would only be as dense as Earth’s atmosphere 300 miles (480 kilometers) above the surface. The detection of this faint atmosphere, known as an exosphere, is described in a recent issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20120302.html

Where is Curiosity?

After its successful launch on Nov. 26, 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover is in its Cruise Phase on its way to Mars! The trip from Earth to Mars will take about 36 weeks (254 days).

Cruise ends when the spacecraft is 45 days from entry into the Martian atmosphere, when the Approach Phase begins.

Follow Curiosity on her journey, through these simulated views, which are updated daily.

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/whereistherovernow/

Sunspot 1429 Not Done Yet – Releases 2 More M-Class Flares

On March 10, 2012, the sun released another two M-class flares. One, rated as an M5.4, peaked at 12:27 AM EST. The second, rated as an M 8.4, peaked at 12:44 PM EST.

These two flares came from the same Active Region (AR) on the sun, designated number 1429, that has already produced three X-class and numerous M-class flares over the past week.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News030812-M6.3flare.html