Fanny Beron from the École Polytechnique de Montréal used an electron scanning micrograph to record the explosion that happened when a CoFeB magnetic array was overloaded. The chaotic blasts are a "reminder that nanoscale research can have unpredicted consequences at a high level."
Thursday, January 03, 2008
When Nano-Wires Explode
Fanny Beron from the École Polytechnique de Montréal used an electron scanning micrograph to record the explosion that happened when a CoFeB magnetic array was overloaded. The chaotic blasts are a "reminder that nanoscale research can have unpredicted consequences at a high level."
Researchers Work on Cocaine Vaccine
Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug. "For people who have a desire to stop using, the vaccine should be very useful," said Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor who is being assisted in the research by his wife, Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. "At some point, most users will give in to temptation and relapse, but those for whom the vaccine is effective won't get high and will lose interest."I wonder when/if they are ever going to force this on people, and if they will also develop vaccines for other drugs. I also wonder if it can be reversed. I hope this doesn't get abused.
The vaccine, currently in clinical trials, stimulates the immune system to attack the real thing when it's taken.
The immune system - unable to recognize cocaine and other drug molecules because they are so small - can't make antibodies to attack them.
To help the immune system distinguish the drug, Kosten attached inactivated cocaine to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins.
In response, the immune system not only makes antibodies to the combination, which is harmless, but also recognizes the potent naked drug when it's ingested. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive.
Full Story...
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
3.9% Chance of 30 January Astroid Impact on Mars
The news is a few days old, but for those of you who haven't taken notice yet:
Pre-discovery observations of asteroid 2007 WD5, taken on November 8, 2007 have allowed its orbit to be refined and the uncertainties for the late January Mars encounter have been improved. The impact probability resulting from the recent orbit refinement has increased to a surprising 3.9% (about 1 in 25 odds). The uncertainty region during the Mars encounter now extends over 400,000 km along a very narrow ellipsoid that is only 600 km wide. Since the uncertainty region intersects Mars itself, a Mars impact is still possible. However, the most likely scenario is that additional observations of the asteroid will allow the uncertainty region to shrink so that a Mars impact is ruled out. In the unlikely event of an impact, the time would be 2008 January 30 at 10:56 UT (2:56 a.m. PST) with an uncertainty of a few minutes. If the asteroid is indeed on a collision course, it would hit Mars with a velocity of about 13.5 km/s (8.4 miles per second), and would produce an explosion equivalent to about 3 MT of TNT. We can only speculate as to the effects of such an impact, but it would be reasonable to expect a crater nearly a kilometer across and a significant amount of dust lifted into the atmosphere.Too bad it probably won't hit, I would like to see the fireworks display. I wonder how good it could be imaged with Earth based telescopes.
Aquasaur
I noticed a very small Aquasaur (Triops longicaudatus) in Douchebags gift today and made a movie of the little fellow:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)