h+ Magazine

Thank you to Avatar Polymorph for providing this collection of links on science news. –Ed

ASTRONOMY

An Extremely Large Yet Ultralightweight Space Telescope and Array
A 25 meter telescope would attain 10,000 times the sensitivity of Hubble and 100 times the sensitivity of the NGST. [The Large Binocular Telescope for example is 3 times sharper than Hubble.] Any number of ensembles of such 25-100 meter diameter telescopes can be operated as a giant coherent super-ensemble in which they combine the light on a common focal array. [Claims a $60 million cost, as compared to James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at $8 billion]
2000
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/58Bekey.pdf

Mercury’s magnetic field — nipped in the bud
[The Sun's solar wind weakens Mercury's magnetic field from Earth-like levels to 150 times less than Earth]
December 23, 2011
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-mercury-magnetic-field-nipped.html

New calculations suggest Jupiter’s core may be liquefying [it's iron rock and ice dissolving into the hydrogen and helium]
December 21, 2011
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-jupiter-core-liquefying.html

Underwater Neutrino detector KM3NeT to be taller than Dubai tower

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-underwater-neutrino-detector-second-largest-built.html

SPACE TRAVEL

Antimatter Driven Sail for Deep Space Missions
2002
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/740Howe.pdf

ANIMAL BOOSTING

Dolphins Name Themselves With Whistles, Study Says
James Owen
for National Geographic News
May 8, 2006
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060508_dolphins.html

Dolphins, like humans, recognize names
http://web.archive.org/web/20060602074304/http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/05/09/dolphins.names.reut/index.html

Elephants Can Mimic Traffic, Other Noises, Study Says
James Owen
National Geographic News
March 23, 2005
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0323_050323_elephantnoise.html

Scientists succeed in making the spinal cord transparent [to allow tracking individual neuron regrowth]
December 26, 2011
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-scientists-spinal-cord-transparent.html

NEURAL ENHANCEMENT

New-age prosthetic technique enables blind mice to see [this uses an encoder and transducer]
December 23, 2011
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-new-age-prosthetic-technique-enables-mice.html

All Reality in the Future Will Be Augmented, via Contact Lenses
Posted by Michael Byrne on Saturday, Nov 26, 2011
http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/11/26/all-reality-in-the-future-will-be-augmented-via-contact-lenses

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

A 40-year-old puzzle of superstring theory solved by supercomputer
December 23, 2011
[Computer calculations confirm our universe could be born with 3 spatial dimensions expanding from 10-dimensional superstring theory in which spacetime has 9 spatial directions and 1 temporal direction]
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-year-old-puzzle-superstring-theory-supercomputer.html

Universal transistor serves as a basis to perform any logic function
December 20, 2011
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-universal-transistor-basis-logic-function.htm

NANOTECHNOLOGY

A single cell endoscope: Researchers use nanophotonics for optical look inside living cells
December 20, 2011
[***quantum dots are placed inside cells***]
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-cell-endoscope-nanophotonics-optical-cells.html

‘Nanowiggles:’ Scientists discover graphene nanomaterials with tunable functionality in electronics
January 4, 2012
[A university supercomputer creates a blueprint for graphene nanowiggles, easily manufactured atom-by-atom bottum-up structures producing highly different magnetic and conductive properties for customized nanoelectronics, optics, photovoltaics, semiconductors and spintronics]
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-nanowiggles-scientists-graphene-nanomaterials-tunable.html

The Learnin’ Corner: Algorithmic Randomness
Posted by Vice_Magazine on Monday, Nov 07, 2011
By Marcus Hutter
http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/11/7/the-learnin-corner-algorithmic-randomness

THREE DIMENSIONAL PRINTING

World’s first ‘printed’ aircraft, which could revolutionise the economics of aircraft design
Posted on 28 July 2011
http://www.sciencedebate.com/science-blog/world-s-first-printed-aircraft-which-could-revolutionise-economics-aircraft-design

QUANTUM LEAPS

‘Squeezed’ Quantum Vacuum Filled With Atoms
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2011)
[Quantum entanglement]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111202155232.htm

Pentagon-backed ‘time cloak’ stops the clock [small in space and short in time but still...]
January 4, 2012
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-pentagon-backed-cloak-clock.html