Archive for Science
03.05.07
Posted in Science at 1:27 pm by bobbyjoe
How cool is getting a Dinosaur named after you! You will have to ask Nesmo the owner of a Alberta ranch known for decades as a rich area for fossils. Albertaceratops nesmoi is the name of the recently discovered species of dinosaur. “It’s quite an honour for me,” said Nesmo, 62, who’s lived for 58 years on a ranch near Manyberries, a small town about 290 kilometres southeast of Calgary.”
Michael J. Ryan is shown here with the holotype skull of the recently discovered horned dinosaur, Albertaceratops nesmoi, named for Cecil Nesmo, an Alberta rancher who helped the fossil hunters.
(Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Chad Kerychuk/Digital Dream Machine/Associated Press)
Ryan said the large, plant-eating reptile roamed the earth some 78 million years ago. It was as heavy as a half-tonne pickup, he said, with horns as thick as a human arm.
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02.24.07
Posted in Science, Space, World News at 12:40 am by bobbyjoe
At 8:57 p.m. ET time the Rosetta space probe will be entering a critical phase in its epic journey to land on Comet Churyumov- Gerasimenko. The probe will attempt a flyby of Mars using the planets gravity to reduce its speed and adjust its course back to earth. The probe will need to pass Earth three times and Mars once before reaching the comet in 2014.
Like the planets, comets are thought to have spun out of the sun during the formation of the solar system 4½ billion years ago. But unlike planets, comets have remained largely unchanged in composition, making them a unique time capsule of the process and elements at work during the formation of the planets.
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02.20.07
Posted in Science, Healthcare, World News at 11:36 am by bobbyjoe
Bill Gates has teamed up with Canada in the fight against HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. A new multimillion-dollar agreement has been signed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper and billionaire Bill Gates to produce the facility in which the battle will take place.
“HIV/AIDS is one of the most heartwrenching health crises the world has ever seen,” said Harper. “It is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time.”
“AIDS is a very tough problem,” said Gates. “The long-term solution is a vaccine.”
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02.19.07
Posted in Science, World News at 3:10 am by stark
On Wednesday, scientists in Mexico City discovered a tiny tree frog, completely preserved in amber, that is estimated to have lived approximately 25 million years ago. Mirroring somewhat the story of Jurrasic Park, the frog is entirely preserved by its amber casing, and was discovered by a miner who later sold it to a private collector.
Plans have already been put in motion to extract a sample of the frog’s remains in the hopes of retrieving DNA and identifying the frog’s species. These plans, however, are contingent on the private owners cooperation, which at this point has not been confirmed. A very interesting find for sure with the power to shed some much needed light on the evolutionary process that occurred to reach modern day frogs. Let’s hope the scientists have the opportunity to research it thoroughly.
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02.16.07
Posted in Science, Healthcare at 12:49 am by stark
The trial testing phase of a new retinal prosthesis is about to begin following the preliminary success of a prototype. The prototype has reportedly enabled six different people to regain their sight where they previously had lost it entirely. Within a few weeks of the new prosthesis, all the patients could detect light, identify objects, and perceive motion. This is indeed promising news for the vision impaired, and I look forward to seeing just how well it works in more wide spread use.
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02.14.07
Posted in Technology, Hardware, PC, Science at 10:15 pm by stark
Canadian manufacturer D-Wave Systems Inc., announced today their self proclaimed, “world’s first commercially viable quantum computer.” The rollout event took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and was hailed as a big step toward the age of quantum computing.
The system is only designed to solve Sudoku puzzles and experts say the announcement may be a bit premature. Assuming the machine works perfectly in its current form, it is still at least 1,000 times too small to solve problems that current machines cannot. This is also assuming it can be scaled up that high, which has not been tested at all.
“There are still a lot of ifs and maybes here,” says quantum computing researcher Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But he credits D-Wave for its willingness to test the idea. “From the scientific perspective,” he says, “what they’re doing is very interesting.”
A working quantum computer is the dream of every techno savvy person in the world, even if they don’t realize it yet. While current systems remain restricted to linear calculations (ie. if this, then do this, followed by that), a quantum system has the capability of being in many states simultaneously, which allows for much more complex calculations.
In theory, a quantum computer would be able to solve problems in a fraction of the time it requires today’s systems, and would make even the most complex of encryption algorithm obsolete. A hackers dream. While we can’t pick one up just yet, quantum computing technology seems to be improving by leaps and bounds and is no longer just a pipe dream. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
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02.13.07
Posted in Science, Environment, Offbeat at 3:18 am by stark
Are you one of those people who takes the time to thoroughly read the ingredient list on many of the items you use on a daily basis? Most of us aren’t. Well, you may want to start now (or never start, cause ignorance is bliss) after you read our list of surprising ingredients found in foods and products that many of us use every day.
Read the rest of this entry »
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02.07.07
Posted in Science, General Science, World at 8:32 pm by stark
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has recently confirmed a diagnosis of mad cow disease (aka Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in a mature bull from the province of Alberta.
The animal’s carcass is under CFIA control for BSE, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems, the agency said in a release Wednesday.
In recent years, Canadian animals have been found with eight other confirmed cases of BSE, which includes five in 2006 which prompted a temporary ban on beef trade with the United States. Three cases of BSE have also been previously been reported in the USA.
It is important to note that this case was found as a result of the strict safeguards put in place to prevent spread of the disease. Canada has over 13 million cows and calves, and over 40% of them are in the province of Alberta. One isolated case, such as this, is nothing to panic over. The exact findings of the case are under review and will be made available to the public once their analysis is complete.
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