Iowa State University researchers have found a way to produce high-value chemicals such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol from biomass rather than petroleum sources. All this happens without the use of any expensive reagents such as acids, enzymes, catalysts or hydrogen gas, Trahanovsky said. The process even works when there are impurities in the biomass.

Bacteria collected from rocks taken from the cliffs at the tiny English fishing village of Beer in Devon, have survived on the outside surface of the International Space Station for 553 days. The bacteria, known as OU-20, resemble cyanobacteria called Gloeocapsa.

“Solar storms can disrupt satellite service and damage telecommunications networks, cause power grid blackouts and even endanger high-altitude aircraft,” Brian J. Anderson, principal investigator at Johns Hopkins, said in a statement. “The next wave of solar storms will occur over the next three to five years and recent solar activity is just the beginning of a long, stormy space weather season.” Solar storms are likely to increase in the coming months. The announcement of AMPERE’s launch is a timely one. The sun is swinging into an extended period of greater activity, as witnessed by the recent spate of coronal mass ejections that spit plasma directly at Earth.

Microwaves are an essential part of modern communication technology. Mobile phones and laptops, for example, are equipped with integrated microwave circuits for wireless communication. Sophisticated techniques for measurement and characterization of microwave fields are an essential tool for the development of such circuits. A novel technique developed by a group of scientists allows for the direct and complete imaging of microwave magnetic fields with high spatial resolution.

Oceanographic satellite data now shows that as of July 28, the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico has stalled as a consequence of the BP oil spill disaster. This according to Dr. Gianluigi Zangari, an Italian theoretical physicist, and major complex and chaotic systems analyst at the Frascati National Laboratories in Italy.

In the new paper, the scientists explore a particular version of CTCs based on combining quantum teleportation with post-selection, resulting in a theory of post-selected CTCs. In quantum teleportation, quantum states are entangled so that one state can be transmitted to the other in a different location. The scientists then applied the concept of post-selection, which is the ability to make a computation automatically accept only certain results and disregard others. In this way, post-selection could ensure that only a certain type of state can be teleported. The states that “qualify” to be teleported are those that have been post-selected to be self-consistent prior to being teleported. Only after it has been identified and approved can the state be teleported, so that, in effect, the state is traveling back in time. Under these conditions, time travel could only occur in a self-consistent, non-paradoxical way.

I guess if you’re doing fake crisis response, you might as well fake a photo of the crisis response center. Why do they need a fake photo at all? Don’t they have a real crisis response center they could have used?
Also, an astute reader noticed that the meta info for the photo says it was created in 2001, not July 16, 2010 as claimed on BP’s site. It looks like BP took a photo from 2001, and in order to make it look like the command center in July of 2010, they pasted pictures of the oil well leaking over the old photo.

Retired NASA Senior Executive Dwain Deets published his concerns on the matter at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “…[or] the 767 flew well beyond its flight envelope, was controllable, and managed to hit a relatively small target. Which organization has the greater responsibility for acknowledging the elephant in the room? “

Solid-state lighting holds the promise of huge energy savings and long-lasting light sources. But before it comes to market, the products, like LED lights, have to get better, cheaper and easier to make. Here’s how the U.S. Department of Energy is investing in a future illuminated by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).

A science historian at The University of Manchester has cracked “The Plato Code” – the long disputed secret messages hidden in the great philosopher’s writings. “This is a true discovery, not simply reinterpretation.”