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A bit of science for us all. TEAM 0.5 has debuted. What is TEAM? Its the worlds most powerful transmission electron microscope. It gives images with .5 angstrom resolutions, which just so happens to be half the diameter of a single hydrogen atom. It’s located at NCEM at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. THey hope to setup a control room that shows the sample on a screen that looks like an HD flatscreen. As of now, their opening date for outside users, is October 08. It corrects for a aberration that has long plagued such high res microscopes that make points of light look like disks. Fixing this has upped the resolution greatly. As of now, they can perform spectroscopy on one atom at a time, which allows scientists to precisely locate impurities of 1 atom per sample.
Here…is a mindblowing example:
Shown here is a gold crystal bridge. Those dots…..those are gold atoms

Thanks Eurekalert, and congrats to the folks at NCEM

BBSpot.com’s
11 Ways Geeks Would Prepare for an Apocalyptic Asteroid Impact

11.     Start a “preparing for armageddon” blog.
10.     Calculate force at which asteroid will hit Earth and compare it to power of Vorlon planet killers.
9.     Wait patiently for Ford Prefect.
8.     Go crazy with the credit card at the Apple store.
7.     Start post-apocalyptic movie marathon and take notes.
6.     Encase yourself in carbonite for preservation.
5.     Point out that we should’ve listened to Hawking and gotten off the planet.
4.     Blame it on Microsoft.
3.     Buy one of those crank-powered laptops.
2.     Find location of impact on Google Maps.
1.     Start cranking out more SETI units in hopes of finding an alien civilization that can save Earth.

From
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2008/01/top-11-apocalyptic-asteroid-impact.html

Here’s a review of the new Tesla Roadster from AutoBlogGreen.com

It looks like they liked it pretty well all-around.

Read the review here
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/28/abg-first-drive-hitting-the-road-in-the-tesla-roadster/

It might not be possible to launch a paper airplane from the ISS.
But a skyscraper. . . .

A little themed video with the recent snow

“Fed up with folding tiny paper cranes, a team from Japan’s Tokyo University has crafted the highest of flyers: a paper plane that will be launched from the International Space Station and then descend to earth… eventually… hopefully…”

I have to admit that other then that, I didn’t really get any useful information about this idea.  There are a number of problems with the idea, both technical, and logistical.  As the Space Shuttle zips along over the Earth, it travels at nearly Mach 20, or 15,200 miles per hour.  A paper airplane hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at that speed would burn up.  The Space Shuttle is covered in all that foam and heat resistant tiling so that it can survive and NOT burn up returning to Earth.  If the paper airplane does happen to catch fire though, here’s some good news : Most of the Earth is covered in water.  If any charred paper fragments survive, it’s more likely that they’ll land in water (lake, ocean, etc.) then they will on dry land.  So at least the burning paper fragments will be extinguished.  Even if the paper airplane manages to land on solid ground, how would it get returned to its owner?  Its a paper airplane. . . .How much room do you need to print an address, and “postage guaranteed” in every language on Earth?

I don’t mean to be cynical of the idea. . .I mean, being able to launch a simple paper airplane from space, and get it back down on Earth would be amazing.  I’d throw one from the ISS just to see how long it would survive, or if there was any way to track it.  I mean, it sounds like a very cool idea, something innovative, and fun.  I just think that there are a few hurdles that haven’t quite been overcome yet for the idea to work.

Read the full article, and see the website here :

http://inventorspot.com/articles/origami_rules_paper_airplane_set_9997

I was doing my usual poking around online, when I came across this webapge : a single Hydrogen atom, done to scale, to show just how much empty space there is in the universe.

The big blue dot to the right of the text is a proton, or the center of an atom.  The electron is the little particle that circles around the proton.  (This is the basic structure of all atoms.  Some just have more electrons, and more stuff inside the proton.)  This proton is is 1,000 pixels across.  The electron, is 1/1000th the size of the proton - or one single pixel.  And it just happens to be, to scale, 50,000,000 pixels away.  50 MILLION pixels away.  Thats 11 MILES of webpage.  And this web page is 50 million pixels wide.  49,999,999 of those pixels are completely empty.

From the creator of the website : “I recommend trying to scroll from here to the right a screen at a time,
just to see how long it takes the little thumb in the scrollbar to move
visibly. True masochists can try to scroll through the whole eleven
miles - but the scenery along the way is pretty bleak.”

It’s pretty amazing how everything we consider “solid” has so much empty space in between. . . .
View the webpage, diagram, and a better explination of atoms and the space in between them here :
http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/

“A group of researchers from Stanford University found out that nanowires
made of silicon allow to considerably enhance the output of Li-ion
batteries. A laptop that can work on its common rechargeable battery
for two hours will be able to run for 20 hours with the help of the new
technology.”

Sounds like a really good advancement here. . . .It would be really nice if my iPod didn’t have to be charged so often, or my power tools could be really cordless, not “limited to two hours until I need an electrical outlet to re-charge the battery.”  As the article states, this technology could also be very useful for a new generation of electric cars.  Electric motors have been small, powerful, and energy-efficient for many years.  The only real problem has been finding a battery large enough, with enough charge cycles, to power an electric car for any useful distance at a reasonable speed.

“The electrical storage capacity of a Li-ion battery
depends on how much lithium can be held in the battery’s anode, which
is typically made of carbon. Silicon has a much higher capacity than
carbon, but also has a downside.

Silicon placed in a battery swells as it absorbs
positively charged lithium atoms during charging, then shrinks during
use (i.e., when playing your iPod) as the lithium is drawn out of the
silicon. This expand/shrink cycle typically causes the silicon (often
in the form of particles or a thin film) to pulverize, degrading the
performance of the battery.

The new battery pushes this problem aside with the
help of nanotechnology. The battery stores lithium in silicon
nanowires, each with the diameter one-thousandth the thickness of a
sheet of paper. The wires inflate four times as they absorb lithium,
but they do not fracture like other silicon-made shapes.”

Read the full article here :
http://english.pravda.ru/news/science/16-01-2008/103438-silicon_nanowires-0

Although not exactly a computer tech post, I think this is at least just as important, if not more so
Besides, a computer is only as good as the commands and programs that the end users tries to run on it.

“New research conducted by brain researcher Avi Karni of the University
of Haifa in Israel explores the possibility that naps help lock in
sometimes fleeting long-term memories. A 90-minute daytime snooze might
help the most, the study finds.

“We still don’t know the exact mechanism of the memory process that
occurs during sleep, but the results of this research suggest the
possibility that it is possible to speed up memory consolidation,”
Karni said. “In the future, we may be able to do it artificially.”"

Read more about these promising developments, and what you can currently do to help improve your memory, and feel better and more awake, here :
http://www.livescience.com/health/080107-90-minute-nap.html

I did some reading when I happened across this link for a new type of light-emitting material that will glow for 12 years, with no batteries or outside power.  It’s like the glow-in-the-dark materials that glow when you hold them under a light for a while, except you don’t need to hold this new material under a light, and it keeps glowing for 12 years.  The technology is currently patent pending, although I’ve got some questions as to exactly HOW this technology works. . . .There’s a similar effect that can be created using some mildly radioactive materials (Tritium), although these materials are highly regulated by the US government, and can’t be used in just anything.  (Apparently its considered a “frivolous” use of nuclear materials.  So you couldn’t make a glowing keychain out of the stuff because it’s not allowed.  It’s possible, and its been done overseas, but not in the US.)  I like the idea of a new non-nuclear 12-year glowing light paint/material, but I’m skeptical as to the technology used to make it happen.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/new_light_glows.php?q