chatarra
All posts tagged "space"
Microwave Tissue Soldering »
“A portable microwave generator and hand-held antenna are used to seal wounds, binding the edges of the wound together using a biodegradable protein sealant or “solder”. This method could be used for repairing wounds in emergency settings, by restoring the wound surface to its original strength within minutes. This technique could also be utilized for surgical purposes involving solid visceral organs (i.e., liver, spleen, and kidney) that currently do not respond well to ordinary surgical procedures.
The experimental approach utilized was to produce a “test wound” in bovine muscle using a scalpel. Once the incision or cut was made, different candidate protein solders and varying microwave parameters/frequencies were tested for wound closure efficacy. To date, over 200 tests have been performed. Once sealed, the effectiveness of wound closure was measured using a tensile strength meter. Welds stronger than the uninjured (uncut) muscle have been consistently and precisely achieved.”
Comparison between an illustration (left) from the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission press kit (p. 152: PDF 9MB) and an illustration (right) from Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual written by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood and published by HarperPrism in 1996 (see Wikipedia’s entry about this manual).
(via greenshines)
(via Saga)
Random Wikipedia facts: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 »
“The impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9 highlighted Jupiter’s role as a kind of “cosmic vacuum cleaner” for the inner solar system. The planet’s strong gravitational influence leads to many small comets and asteroids colliding with the planet, and the rate of cometary impacts on Jupiter is thought to be between two thousand and eight thousand times higher than the rate on Earth. If Jupiter were not present, the probability of asteroid impacts with the Solar System’s inner planets would be greater.”
(via themattsmith)
They're made out of Meat »
“There’s no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat.”
“That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars.”
“They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them. The signals come from machines.”
“So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact.”
“They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Read it.
Short story — really, it’s a quick read — by Terry Bisson.
A Future Timeline of Humanity and the Universe »
For years, this has been one of my favorite websites. Favorite in the 1.0 way: a static, rarely updated page one can visit from time to time, without any “hot” new content to assimilate but a long, well documented, carefully pre-written essay.
Franco descubrió vida en Marte. Hay documentos históricos que lo demuestran.
“Durante un mes, los investigadores del observatorio de Madrid […] realizaron sus investigaciones en la imagen del planeta Marte a través del Ecuatorial Group (?). En Marte hay vida vegetal y aun posiblemente vida animal rudimentaria […] Ha envejecido Marte más rápidamente que la Tierra, y no está lejana la época en la que el agua desaparezca totalmente de su superficie, para pasar a ser un astro muerto parecido a la Luna.”
Algo que siempre he querido poseer es una casa en una colina construida exclusivamente con piezas de acero forjado en forma de casco alienígena, dominando el paisaje. Deseo que Robert Bruno, el arquitecto, se incorpore inmediatamente a las filas de la NASA y diseñe cualquier artefacto espacial más grande que un paquete de cereales. Con medianías como las que lanzan ahora no vamos a ningún lado.
(via io9)
(not) Random Wikipedia facts: Justification for a Lunar Outpost »
NASA proposes six “Lunar exploration themes” to answer the question “Why should we return to the Moon?”
- Human Civilization: Extend human presence to the Moon to enable eventual settlement.
- Scientific Knowledge: Pursue scientific activities that address fundamental questions about the history of Earth, the solar system and the universe; and therefore, about our place in them.
- Exploration Preparation: Test technologies, systems, flight operations and exploration techniques to reduce the risks and increase the productivity of future missions to Mars and beyond.
- Global Partnerships: Provide a challenging, shared and peaceful activity that unites nations in pursuit of common objectives.
- Economic Expansion: Expand Earth’s economic sphere, and conduct lunar activities with benefits to life on the home planet.
- Public Engagement: Use a lively space exploration program to engage the public, encourage students and help develop the high-technology workforce that will be required to address the challenges of tomorrow.
They forgot an important one:
- Extreme awesomeness.
“According to a CMU news release, the CMU Robotics Institute has partnered with Astrobotic Technology, Inc. to prepare a NASA-sponsored study describing a lunar outpost constructed by robots. Small moon robots, described as the size of riding lawnmowers, would be used for tasks such as building a hard-surface landing pading and a surrounding semi-circular berm. Both structures would be constructed of indigenous materials (aka moon dirt).”Que las compañías que construyen el futuro tengan nombres peliculeros como Astrobotic Technology me resulta reconfortante. ¿A vosotros no?
Biggest known diamond in the universe »
According to American astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a white dwarf star in the constellation of Centaurus has been found to have a 3000-kilometer-wide core of crystallized carbon, or diamond.
It weighs 2.27 thousand trillion trillion tons - that’s 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a 1 followed by 34 zeroes. The biggest earthly jewel is one of the British crown jewels, the 530-carat Star of Africa.
Yo tenía este libro (o su equivalente en castellano) de pequeñito. Fue la primera vez que vi colonias circulares flotando en el espacio. También explicaban los efectos del viaje a la velocidad de la luz sobre el envejecimiento, y decía que en Venus podría haber un clima parecido al de la tierra en la era de los dinosaurios. La ilustración tenía un cielo raro y aparecía una especie de velocirraptor naranja paseando por un bosque de helechos.
Flashback via Ingram.
