SpaceX’s primary rocket engine craft, the Falcon 9, debuted in 2010 along with their Dragon spacecraft.  The engine is a very advanced, twin-engine rocket.  Unfortunately, the engine suffers from all the same problems as other engines, it’s single use.  Like all other rockets, the engine is used to propel the spacecraft into orbit, then it falls back to Earth in two stages.  On September 29, 2013 SpaceX tested a prototype replacement engine, the Falcon 9 v1.1.  What makes this so exciting is that it is able to restart itself after detaching from the rocket and slow its decent to Earth, allowing the rocket to be used multiple times.  According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the engines are 75% of the cost of the rocket.

The new Falcon 9 v1.1 launching from Vandenberg AFB in California.  Source: Discovery

After dropping off its payload, Falcon 9 v1.1 reignited its first-stage engines, slowing its decent as it passed through Earth’s atmosphere.  For an engine to survive re-entry, this is the most important step.  Eventually, the rocket can make a soft ocean landing or even return to the launch pad and land itself.  This stage required two engine re-ignitions, the first of which was successful.  The second re-ignition was stopped after it was discovered that the engine was spinning in mid-air, causing the gas-lines to choke due to centrifugal forces.  According to Musk, “It caused the boost stage to run out of propellant… before hitting the water. It hit relatively hard. We recovered portions of the stage, but the most important thing is we now believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle”.

SpaceX has been developing a different engine which is codenamed Grasshopper.  This engine has the capacity to take-off and land itself, which aims to solve one of the greatest problems facing interplanetary travel at the moment.  Currently, all trips to other planets are strictly one-way.  In conjunction with tests run with Grasshopper and Falcon 9 v1.1, scientists believe they have sufficient data covering all aspects of a round-trip back to Earth.  Musk claims that “[we] have all the pieces necessary to achieve a full recovery of the boost stage … That’s actually what has got me most excited about this flight”.

SpaceX expects to demonstrate a full recovery of Falcon 9 v1.1 in 2014.

A couple of weeks ago an article was published in the journal Science, detailing a study in which researchers determined that reading literary fiction can help improve “mind-reading abilities”. That is to say, people who read literature as opposed to popular fiction or non-fiction tend to be better and discerning social motivations and emotions.

Conducted by the New School for social research in New York City, the study gave samples of literary works (by Don DeLillo, Wendell Berry, and others) to one group of test subjects, and excerpts of supermarket dime novels to another group. In some cases, subjects were even given pieces of the driest non-fiction that the researchers could get their hands on, (How the Potato Changed the World and Bamboo Steps Up, among others), to compare against other two groups. After reading for 15-30 minutes, or sometimes not reading at all, the subjects were asked to take several tests that monitored their abilities to decode emotions and judge people’s conviction in certain statements or scenarios. These consisted of “eye” tests, in which subjects tried to guess the emotions being expressed by people solely by looking at pictures of their eyes, and other picture/audio-based tests.

Much to the researchers’ surprise, those who had been assigned literary fiction scored almost twice as high as the others. After some discussion and further investigation, the researchers decided that the results probably turned out as they did because of the way that literature forces readers to judge the motivations of deep, complex characters as well as foresee dynamic plot twists and developments. The key, they say, is empathy. Just as a sad movie draws viewers into the lives of its characters, literature draws readers into the lives of its characters, happy and sad, causing them to filter their own perceptions and adapt their modes of thinking to the patterns of others’ emotions. Reading literature, in a sense, can prime people to “walk in others’ shoes”.

The implications of this research are still being examined, but researchers say that it could potentially result in more non-fiction being assigned in educational curriculums. What is still unclear is whether habitual reading results in amplified empathetic effects, or if this phenomenon can only result in a short-term “primer”. Regardless- if you’re looking to read minds, you might want to try starting off with some Tolstoy.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/?ref=science

We have been studying the yeast S.pombe microbe for a while now, using it as a model for living organisms for sixty years. You would think that we would have already found everything that there is to know about this beer cell. But turns out, this cell still has a lot to offer. Most cells reproduce by replicating itself. When a cell ages, it starts to develop defects and as a means of self preservation, it duplicates itself and separates a young, healthy cell, the daughter cell, while the original, old cell, the mother cell, with slowly die out. This is how most cells replicate themselves, asymmetrically. But the yeast cell is different.

It has been known for decades that the yeast cell replicates symmetrically, and it is not alone with that feature. But usually, the cells still leave a healthy cell and an aging cell. On the other hand, the yeast cell divides the damage between the two cells of the next generation. The researchers tested so by following a protein aggregation and the replication speed of the yeast cells. First, protein aggregation is a very common aging-related damaging condition. By following the traces of damage in each generation, the researching actually recorded that each pair of cells in a generation holds half the damage of the previous one. The second way they tested it was by recording the replication speed of the yeast cells. Usually, an aging cell takes longer and longer to replicate itself each generation. For example, if it takes a few seconds to replicate the first generation, it may take 20 seconds to divide the 75th generation. But the results of the speed of each generation’s replication were astounding – the number of generations did not affect the cell’s dividing speed, implying that these cells do not age.

Even though these cells do not age, it does not mean that they are immortal. Under ideal conditions, true, they can divide the damage evenly and spread it thin across the board. But under stressed conditions, the cells do leave a mother cell and a daughter, leading the mother cell to die off.

Perhaps the most important lesson about the discovery of this phenomenon is that there is always more than what meets the eye. Even though we’ve been learning about the yeast cell for decades, we still learnt about its non-aging feature these recent few years. This shows that we do not know everything there is to know about life. And that we should always keep a humble mind in the field of science, or in life for that matter.

http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/5722/a-microbes-fountain-of-youth

Recently while reading Popular Science, I came across an article that named ten scientist and engineers that the editors felt to be the cream of the crop. Interestingly enough one of the ten was a scientist named Heather Knutson who’s current research involves predicting the weather, temperature and atmosphere on exoplanets. Knutson, who works at Cal Tech, measures the brightness of planet in the infra-red spectrum and then uses this data to infer about the planet’s atmosphere and weather patterns. For example a planet with brighter IR emissions means a hotter atmosphere, while cooler temps are shown by dimmer IR light. Then a temperature map can be created, which can be used to determine weather patterns. Basically if a planet’s temperature map is uniform through out it points to strong winds. A dotted or mixed temp map would point to less sever weather. Currently most of her work is focused on gas giants, but she hopes to begin using the same technique to study rocky, cooler planets that could hold liquid water.

Temperature Profile of an Exoplanet

(Image credit: H. Knutson, NASA/JPL-Caltech)

This research could be useful in many different ways. Related to what we’ve been talking about in class it can help to narrow our search for habitable or life-sustaining planets in the universe. It’s amazing that we can tell so much about planets so distant from us only using infra-red light. Hopefully Knutson’s research also leads to many interesting discoveries about the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system. No matter what she is definitely doing some pretty cool work.

When it comes down to it, technology is one of the main limiting factors when it comes to space travel; we simply have not yet created efficient enough machines to sustain life for extended periods of time in space. This is such an issue because the sheer distance in between the many planets that scientists would like to study and the Earth is so great that the travel time to these planets could be many months or even years. For instance, if scientists plan to send a man to Mars and have him return safely back to Earth, they not only have to engineer machines capable of safely transporting life through extremely hostile conditions, but they also have to provide enough food, water, and other necessary amenities for an astronaut to survive for almost a year away from the Earth. On top of this, they also have to consider the amount of time the astronaut will be spending on Mars conducting studies. Not only are the expenses of all these requirements great, but it is also worth noting that the current energy sources for space travel – either a combination of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, or other methods like the use of solar panels – are simply not capable of producing the energy required for extensive trips. They are not lightweight, long-lasting and reliable enough for us to travel to the distant reaches of the universe. All of this means that based on our current capabilities, missions to Mars, which is the closest of the many planetary bodies astronomers would like to study, simply seem unrealistic.

For the foreseeable future, it doesn’t look like any human will match the description of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

Does this mean that the many astronomers excited about Martian travel should quit their work and come to terms with the fact that humans may never step foot on Mars? Not quite – in fact, there seems to be one viable method left for space travel – nuclear fusion. Although nuclear fusion is always occurring in the cores of stars all around the universe, we have not yet found a way to reproduce it on Earth. But, let’s put that aside for now and focus on what it could do for us should we find a way to safely utilize it. Our current methods of creating energy via chemical reactions are simply not viable for long term space travel – it could take over 150,000 years to get to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to our sun, using our current methods. However, if we took advantage of nuclear energy, that same trip might only take 100 years. Sure, this is still a hefty travel time, but this is much closer to where we need to be if we humans plan to be colonizers of the cosmos. All it takes is implementation. If we start actively investing in nuclear energy and showing people exactly how useful it could be (this super-efficient source of energy would not be limited only to space travel, it could revolutionize many fields of study), we may soon find a good way to control it. If this happens, our dreams of going to Mars (and much, much further) are not unrealistic at all.

If you’re interested about this and want to learn more, watch this TedxYouth talk that an old classmate of mine presented here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJrOJzF0IiY

We have all heard of the story of the blind men and the elephant. Each touches a different part of the elephant and determines the whole animal to be made of the one part they felt. For example, the man who touched the tail decided the whole thing was a rope. The man who touched the ear claimed he was feeling a fan, etc.

Now, imagine us (theoretical physicists) as the blind men and the elephant to be the unified theory of everything.  As Einstein put it, “Nature only shows us the tail of the lion (or the elephant in our analogy). But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to it even though he cannot at once reveal himself because of his enormous size.”

Though unlike the blind men in the elephant tale, physicists are starting to realize that the individual pieces of the lion they have each discovered are not the actual lion, itself. This realization has opened our eyes to the idea that we are all fish in a fish bowl, looking at it from a distorted perspective. Each perspective, not technically wrong, is just a piece of the puzzle…

It is actually the astounding physicist and futurist, Michio Kaku, who demonstrates to us the progress of physicists in M-theory through the analogy of the lion.

On his website, lies an informative article about M-theory and its implications:  http://mkaku.org/home/?page_id=262

Michio describes M-theroy as follows:

“Think of the blind men on the trail of the lion. Hearing it race by, they chase after it and desperately grab onto its tail (a one-brane). Hanging onto the tail for dear life, they feel its one- dimensional form and loudly proclaim “It’s a string! It’s a string!” But then one blind man goes beyond the tail and grabs onto the ear of the lion. Feeling a two-dimensional surface (a membrane), the blind man proclaims, “No, it’s really a two-brane!” Then another blind man is able to grab onto the leg of the lion. Sensing a three-dimensional solid, he shouts, “No, you’re both wrong. It’s really a three-brane!” Actually, they are all right. Just as the tail, ear, and leg are different parts of the same lion, the string and various p- branes appear to be different limits of the same theory: M- theory.”

The reason we can tell that each of these theories is a piece of the larger puzzle is due to something called dualities. A duality is where one aspect of one theory overlays with another. For example, magnetism can be explained from both the perspective of quantum physics and relativity. This duality is described very well by the youtube channel, Veritasium:

This video has not much to do with M-theory, it simply shows a perspective-based duality. The bottom line is, perspective-based dualities are what comprise the entirety of M-theory.

So even though you may have no clue what strings, branes, or any of that junk may be (it is okay, I do not quiet get it, yet, either) you can now at least grasp how we can start to assemble a so-called Theory of Everything.

To the general populace, most people don’t actually know much about what a quantum computer is, or what it actually does, besides being extremely small.  In truth quantum computers are smaller, allowing them to exploit certain laws of quantum mechanics so as to make calculations at an extremely expedited rate.  However, long distance communications between quantum computers has produced a certain road block in the advancement of their use.  At the National Insitute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US, scientists are working on a way to bridge the gap between computers, transferring information using photons of light, and fibre optics.  The scientists use a quantum dot, a semiconductor version of a single atom, to release single photons typically at an infrared wavelength.  Quantum computers store data in devices called quantum memories which prefer photons in the visible spectrum of light, whereas the fibre optics necessary for the information transfer work best using photons with an infrared level of energy.  By directing the incoming photons from the fibre optic into a crystal, and then shooting it with a high-energy laser, scientists at the NIST have devised how to reduce the energy of the incoming photons to that of the visible light spectrum.  This allows the transfer of data, albeit at a still very rudimentary phase.  One of the lead researchers, Matthew Rakher, believes that in the future, they will be able to manipulate the photon wavelength and shape so as to perfectly fit a quantum memory’s preferences, as well as reduce the amount of energy needed to convert them to such a state.  

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2010/01/quantum_computer.jpg

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ldbPl/:WJWjY05t:IvE-FmzW/physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/46765/

Due to the recent government shutdown, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US government agency largely responsible for the United States’ civilian space program and space research, has had to furlough about 97% of it’s workforce. The agency that is responsible for constant watch of asteroid collisions, and telling us more about what role life plays in the universe, has been indisposed because of arguments happening in Washington. While the government shutdown affected not only NASA, this grounding brings up an important point about what role the government should play in space exploration.

The recent government shutdown

Perhaps the American government should no longer hold onto the responsibility of interstellar space research. After all, with the broken economy, politicians have focused the budget less and less towards astronomy and more towards advanced weaponry and ammunition. In such a technologically advanced age, the american government seems to be more and more secluded from the scientific world, maybe out of fear. Perhaps privatization in the field of astronomy could re-ignite newer and bolder missions that would keep the public involved, like the Mars One Project.

Colonies on Mars

Imagine humanity colonizing other worlds, possibly other star systems. The Mars One Project is a step towards that goal. They hope to send create a permanent settlement on Mars in 2023. Imagine the possibilities, imagine all that science could learn. This is much bolder than anything the government could have created. Maybe these new projects and businesses are what is required to bring space travel to the public. In this new age, reliance on the government is not longer enough; societies themselves must lead the way to a new future.

Image Sources:

http://media1.policymic.com/site/articles/65009/1_photo.jpg

http://i.space.com/images/i/000/025/399/original/mars-one-colony-astronauts-2.jpg?1375483664

Researchers at Harvard University and The Max-Planck Institute have just published a very interesting discovery about one of the most studied microorganisms on Earth. Their studies appear to suggest that S. pombe yeast does not grow old when placed under favorable conditions;  it is immortal. While this might seem unlikely when we think back to the requirements for life, including growth, development, and aging, this discovery is based in the manner in which yeast reproduces. When most asexual microorganisms reproduce, they divide themselves into one mother cell that inherits all of the damage to the cell and continues to age and one daughter cell which is “fully rejuvenated”. So over generations of cells, there is a clear decrease in the generational turnover time as cells become more and more damaged. This is not, however, what occurs with S. pombe.  In yeast, the damage in the cell appears to be divided between the two daughter cells so that each one takes an equal portion of the damage to the mother cell, but both have less overall damage than the mother cell. “If the cell grows and divides fast enough, the damage is diluted with each division. And provided that the total amount of damage does not overcome a certain death threshold, the cells can in theory divide indefinitely (Miguel Coehlo, first author of the paper).”

S. pombe

So what does this have to do with the origin of life, or life on other planets? Well, perhaps not a whole lot. But what this does tell us is that we still have a lot to learn about the inner workings of life on our own planet. We are far from understanding exactly how life works. So in the search for life on other planets, we must keep an open mind. It is quite likely that, even if we were to discover life outside of Earth, in the seas of Europa or the ice of Enceladus, we might not recognize it. While life shares many characteristics, there is also inherently an incredible amount of diversity in the development and existence of life. We have a relatively good footing in the definition of life, but we are still at a loss when it comes to the big picture of how and why we are alive. And given that we barely understand our own existence, it seems like we should perhaps broaden our expectations in looking for life in the universe. We never know, after all, what form it will take on and whether it will even remotely resemble the life that we are accustomed to.

Bontemps, Johnny. “A Microbe’s Fountain of Youth.” A Microbe’s Fountain of Youth. Astrobiology Magazine, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.

Images:

http://adoubtersramblings.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/07-14-2010-a-fine-tuned-universe/

http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/5722/a-microbes-fountain-of-youth

With what little I know and even littler I understand about the origins of the universe, and of time, I intend to question and hopefully further my understanding of their beginnings. Of course, conveniently, time and space cannot have a beginning because a beginning – as in a specific point in time – implies time existed before time. This is impossible. Thinking based on the idea of unidirectional time disintegrates at singularities, because neither exists in singularities. Therefore it is sensible to propose that time and matter constantly cycle, intertwined in a repetitive expansion toward a singularity and a consequent re-expansion.

This cycle is guided by the principles of enthalpy and entropy, the building up and simultaneous breaking down of matter. Naturally, the idea of expansion from a singular point of nothing to a singular point of nothing, literally nothing, as in mathematical ZERO, is counterintuitive.

After pondering such a frustrating, and baffling thought, I conclude that time and matter are interdependent, because one cannot and does not exist without the other. This idea is not original, instead it is a furthering of the idea posed by George Musser in his article Could Time End?. Everything is one. When I applied this perspective to the idea that expansion is cyclical, it provides a comforting outcome, more importantly one that makes logical sense to me.

Time, when considered in amounts – seconds, hours, days, etc. – is cyclical. It moves (note I was careful not to use the word “begins”) from zero hours and increases to twenty-four hours, at which point it simultaneously equals zero. I take this example from a helpful anecdote Musser provided in the same article.

At a singularity, matter and time do not exist.  There is just nothing. When the singularity expands, time and matter simultaneously come into existence because one cannot be without the other. Time does not exist without matter because matter measures time, without it there is no clock. Likewise, matter does not exist without time because matter constantly moves, it is constantly expanding and expansion requires time to proceed. Following this logic, life and time must also be codependent. Matter constitutes life and because matter and life are the same and because matter cannot exist without time, life too cannot exist without time. This is simple if-A-equals-B-and-B-equals-C-then-A-equals-C logic.

A force must drive time and matter into existence simultaneously. Maybe the force is of the quantum nature and humans cannot perceive it because of the shortcomings of linear thought? Maybe it is magic? Maybe, and probably, some underlying fallacy in my thought fells these conclusions because I simply cannot fathom timelessness or anything but unidirectional time. Without the ability to think differently, we may never understand singularities or the cycle of the Universe. But, we may, in the future construct some sort of artificial intelligence with quantum computing capabilities that will discover the truth about time and matter.

Source

Musser, George. “Could Time End?” Scientific American. Print.