Scientific Frontline® by SFL ORG Educational News Network

Featured Web Site / EarthScope

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:03:55 +0000

A community of scientists conducting multidisciplinary research across the Earth sciences utilizing the freely accessible data collected and maintained by EarthScope facilities. In-depth collaboration between scientists and educators bring the excitement of cutting-edge Earth science research into classrooms, museums and parks. Freely accessible data and data products from thousands of geophysical instruments that measure motions of the Earth's surface, record seismic waves, and recover rock samples from depths at which earthquakes originate.

Next Celestial Event / Spica

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:02:20 +0000

May 16, 2008

MAP | MAP

Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, is just to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall.

A Molecular Thermometer for the Distant Universe

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:38:19 +0000

Astronomers have made use of ESO's Very Large Telescope to detect for the first time in the ultraviolet the carbon monoxide molecule in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away, a feat that had remained elusive for 25 years. This detection allows them to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch.

9,000 feared dead in China quake

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:04:33 +0000

One of the worst earthquakes in decades struck central China on Monday, killing nearly 9,000 people, trapping about 900 students under the rubble of their school and causing a toxic chemical leak, state media reported.

Storm Clouds

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:25:49 +0000

One active process on change on Mars today is the wind. This image of the southern hemisphere shows a band of clouds that marks the edge of a dust storm.

Possible Mechanism for Enormous Electromechanical Response

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:22:21 +0000

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at Stony Brook University, Johns Hopkins University, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have discovered that nanosized regions with local polarizations, or "electric dipoles," in a special class of otherwise disordered materials may underlie these materials' extreme electromechanical response to an external electric field or physical deformation.

New Clues to How Proteins Dissolve and Crystallize

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:45:38 +0000

In the late 19th century the Czech scientist Franz Hofmeister observed that some salts (ionic compounds) aided the solution of proteins in egg white, some caused the proteins to destabilize and precipitate, and others ranged in activity between these poles. Hofmeister proceeded to rank "salt-out" (destabilizing) ions versus "salt-in" ions according to the magnitude of their effects.

Striking a Solar Balance

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:13:11 +0000

Planet Earth is an oasis of life, but without the Sun, our home planet would be a drastically different, inhospitable place. The Sun's electromagnetic energy makes life on Earth possible; solar power also generates clouds, cleans our water, and drives ocean currents, thunderstorms, and hurricanes. For three decades, NASA scientists have studied the unique relationship between the Sun and the Earth, and they are particularly interested in the role of the Sun in Earth's energy balance.

Image of the Week / Su-30MK

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:12:24 +0000

The aircraft has been in production in Irkutsk since 2000. The first pre-production plane was flight tested at the plant by V.Yu. Averyanov on 26th November 2000. The first three pre-production Su-30MKIs were handed over to the Design Bureau and have been used along with prototypes in the joint-testing programme with SPFC of Air Forces.

Video of the Week / Pan on the Eagle Nebula

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:11:12 +0000

Tilting up on the Eagle Nebula the camera reveals the fine details captured by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys of a monolithic pillar of gas and dust.

The Shepherd and Saturn

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:10:01 +0000

Saturn's brilliant limb shines through the semi-transparent A ring, while the outer F ring shepherd moon hangs against the black sky. F-ring shepherding moon Pandora (81 kilometers, or 50 miles across), along with the inner shepherd moon Prometheus (see Pulling Away), helps to keep the narrow lanes of the F ring in check.

Rayed Crater in Tharsis Region

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:02:03 +0000

This image shows a small rayed impact crater, about 160 meters (530 feet) in diameter, in the Tharsis region in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Relatively recent impacts form rays of ejecta that spray out radially from the crater. In addition to relatively fine material, large boulders and smaller secondary craters are visible in the rays surrounding this crater.

Chile volcano’s spreading ash cloud

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:51:13 +0000

Experts say Chiles Chaiten volcano could belch out ash for months to come. Some experts say it could rumble on for years. Residents have been evacuated from the surrounding area after the long dormant volcano began erupting several days ago for the first time in thousands of years.

Researchers Launch Online Protein Folding Game

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:57:47 +0000

Multiplayer online gaming brings to mind fabulously successful titles, such as World of Warcraft and Ultima. On May 8, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers at the University of Washington are bringing the arcane world of protein folding to the online gaming arena with the launch of Foldit, a free game in which players around the world compete to design proteins. The real world benefit: Scientists will test proteins designed by the game's players to see if they make viable candidate compounds for new drugs.

Landslides

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:29:29 +0000

This group of landslide deposits is located in an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.

Moons that Pass in the Night

SFL ORG. Educational News Network / Scientific Frontline — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:25:24 +0000

Two of Saturn's ring moons draw close momentarily, before the inner of the pair moves off alone. Atlas (30 kilometers, or 19 miles across, at center right) passes Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across, at center left) about once a month, then slowly and steadily pulls ahead of its slower moving sibling.