Tag Archives: challenges

Tiny Satellite Spies

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U.S. Army Wants Tiny Satellites as Orbital Spies

Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
Date: 25 May 2011 Time: 07:00 AM ET
The SMDC-ONE is a 10-inch long, 10-pound satellite that is the first in a family of Army nanosatellites that SMDC/ARSTRAT engineers hope to launch as a new capability for the war fighter.

The SMDC-ONE is a 10-inch long, 10-pound satellite that is the first in a family of Army nanosatellites that SMDC/ARSTRAT engineers hope to launch as a new capability for the war fighter.
CREDIT: Kari Hawkins/USAG Redstone

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The United States Army is making a serious push to launch swarms of tiny, inexpensive spy satellites, which would serve as eyes and ears for soldiers on the ground.

The move is an attempt to adapt to the changing nature of warfare, which increasingly requires small bands of American soldiers to hunt down elusive targets in rough, isolated terrain, such as the craggy hills of Afghanistan. The new satellites could help reduce the difficulty and danger of such operations.

to read more go to:

http://www.space.com/11771-military-space-army-tiny-spy-satellites.html

The first of these nanosatellites launched in December 2010, marking the first time an Army-built satellite made it to orbit since 1960. And many more could be coming soon, Army officials said. [Video: Defense Satellites to Watch Entire World – All the Time]

 


Wheat Crops Threatened by Fungus

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Years of work loom to save world wheat from fungus

Posted 2011/06/09 at 8:07 pm EDT

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2011 (Reuters) — A devastating wheat fungus is active in 11 countries in Africa and the Middle East, according to scientists striving to develop resistant varieties before the fungus can attack fields around the globe.

A farmer drives a combine to harvest wheat in Zouping county, Shandong province, May 30, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

Up to 90 percent of the world’s wheat is susceptible to the strain of stem rust, called Ug99, first detected in Uganda in 1999. The oval, brick-red lesions of stem rust sap wheat plants and cut yields by 50 to 70 percent over wide areas and can destroy entire fields

to read more, go to:    http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre759011-us-wheat-fungus/

Creation and Thinking

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Can Thoughts Make Things Happen?

Posted: 06/10/11 09:01 AM ET
by Peter Baksa, Author – The Point of Power

As a pragmatic truth-seeking philosopher, I was very skeptical when I first encountered the Law of Attraction (LOA). Many things I’ve seen really stretch my credulity. But the more I think about it, the more I see nuggets underneath the hype that make sense to me, if reformulated a bit. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say the Buddha was a Law of Attraction proponent, I do think there is some common ground to be found between the two.

We create our world through our thoughts. Max Plank, Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking all seem to agree that the universe/god is actually a set of laws and principles that we can count on to create our world. Steven Hawking and Richard Feynman both speak in terms of M Theory and String Theory to further postulate how thoughts become matter. Our minds are essentially idea machines that refine our thoughts into electrical impulses which communicate with the same source energy that creates everything from nothing.

To read more, check out:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-baksa/law-of-attraction_b_873666.html

 

TWS Warns of New Hacker

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New form of hacker surfaces, Websites are being taken for ransom

Published on June 9, 2011 10:55 pm PT
– By Jim Duran – Writer
– Article Editor and Approved – Warren Miller

(TheWeatherSpace.com) — An Indonesian hacker was responsible for the downtime of TheWeatherSpace.com, and TWS is warning all on the Internet about this.

The Website, Social Network Passwords, and E-mail accounts were held ransom on Thursday. These accounts were accessed through a GMAIL account setup to control some of the activities. They have been switched from that account to secure server accounts.

No files were accessed on the Website control panel. The hack was done by changing GoDaddy.com nameserver destinations and GoDaddy has secured it so no Website information was taken.

to read more go to  :http://theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-06_10_2011_hacked.html

 

Lost Opportunity for Louisiana

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In Historic Flooding On Mississippi River, A Missed Opportunity To Rebuild Louisiana

by Chris Kirkham of the Huffington Post

PLAQUEMINES PARISH, La. — For decades, a mixture of industrial development and erosion has carved away at southern Louisiana, eliminating nearly 2,000 square miles of land and making the area increasingly vulnerable to storms that sweep in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Every day the Mississippi River delivers the raw materials required to replenish this lost territory: mud and sand that drop at the mouth of the waterway and would amass there, were nature allowed to run its course.

But nature has proven no match for the century-long federal governance of the Mississippi as a vital marine highway: Five enormous ships operated by the federal government dredge the sediment collecting at the mouth of the river daily, then carry much of it into open waters offshore and dump it there, sending it into oblivion.

This year’s historic flooding along the Mississippi River resonated as a threat to low-lying communities, sending families scrambling to preserve homes and property. But it was also a missed opportunity on an epic scale, say conservationists: The heavy rains that swelled the Mississippi loaded it with a massive supply of natural building materials that could have buttressed the Gulf Coast land. Instead, levees built to tame the river directed this sediment down to the mouth, where the federal ships are hauling it away.

To read more and see the images, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/in-historic-flooding-on-m_n_873623.html

 

Skin Cells Becoming Neurons

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Skin cells ‘turned into neurons’ by US scientists

By Neil BowdlerScience reporter, BBC News

Neurons in the brainAn image of neurons in the brain. The researchers claim such cells can be made from skin cells

A Californian team say they have managed to convert human skin cells directly into functioning brain cells.

The scientists manipulated the process by which DNA is transcribed within foetal skin cells to create cells which behaved like neurons.

The technique had previously been demonstrated in mice, says the report in Nature.

It could be used for neurological research, and might conceivably be used to create brain cells for transplant.

Reprogrammed skin

The scientists used genetically modified viruses to introduce four different “transcription factors” into foetal skin cells. These transcription factors play a role in the “reading” of DNA and the encoding of proteins within the cell.

They found the introduction of these four transcription factors had the effect of switching a small portion of the skin cells into cells which functioned like neurons.

Unlike other approaches, the process did not involve the reprogramming of the skin cells into stem cells, but rather the direct transformation of skin cells into neurons.

to read more go to:    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13567321

 

Continuing Problems in the Gulf

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Corexit and Crude Oil Still in Gulf A Year After BP Disaster;
Marine Life Dead and Some People Sick

New evidence that Corexit dispersant is degrading very slowly while sea floor marine life suffocate covered by oil. Dolphin stillborn deaths in January and February 2011 were ten times normal and many Gulf coastal residents are sick.

© 2011 by Linda Moulton Howe

To read more go to:

http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1828&category=Environment