Science is Cool....

[Fish]

This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.

Post pictures, vidoes, stories, or links. Ask questions. Share science.

Why should I care?:

[Fish]

Science, bitches.....

Auto-GCAS Saves Unconscious F-16 Pilot—Declassified USAF Footage

This newly declassified video footage from the head-up-display of a U.S. Air Force Arizona Air National Guard F-16 records the dramatic moment when its unconscious pilot is saved from certain death by the aircraft’s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS).



The event is considered the fourth confirmed "save" of an aircraft by the system since Auto-GCAS was introduced into the Air Force F-16 fleet in late 2014. Developed over almost three decades by Lockheed Martin, NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, the system is designed to automatically execute a ground-avoiding maneuver if it detects an impending collision.

Aimed at reducing accidents caused by controlled flight into terrain by 90%, the system completed research and development under Air Combat Command’s Fighter Risk Reduction Program in 2010. It began transitioning to the Block 40/50 F-16 fleet in September 2014 as part of the M6.2+ Operational Flight Program (OFP) software update.

Auto-GCAS continuously compares a prediction of the aircraft’s trajectory against a terrain profile generated from onboard terrain elevation data. If the predicted trajectory touches the terrain profile, which is indicated at the 26 sec. mark on the video at the moment when the two chevrons on the HUD come together, the automatic recovery is executed by the Auto GCAS autopilot. The automatic recovery maneuver consists of an abrupt roll-to-upright and a nominal 5-G pull until terrain clearance is assured.

In this instance, an international F-16 student pilot was undergoing basic fighter maneuver training with his USAF instructor pilot in two separate F-16s over the U.S. southwest. The student rolled and started to pull the aircraft but experienced G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) as the F-16 hit around 8.3g. With the pilot now unconscious, the aircraft’s nose dropped and, from an altitude of just over 17,000 ft., entered a steepening dive in full afterburner.

After only 22 sec., the F-16 was nose-down almost 50 deg. below the horizon and going supersonic. The shocked instructor called “2 recover!” as the student passed 12,320 ft. at 587 kt. Two seconds later, with the nose down in a 55-deg. dive, altitude at 10,800 ft. and speed passing 613 kt., the worried instructor again calls “2 recover!” In a little less than another 2 sec., as the now frantic instructor makes a third call for the student pilot to pull up, the Auto-GCAS executes a recovery maneuver at 8,760 ft. and 652 kt.

The student pilot at this point comes around and pulls back on the stick, momentarily increasing Gs beyond the Auto-GCAS standard recovery level of 5 to 9.1. Minimum altitude by now is around 4,370 ft., with as little as 2,940 ft. indicated on the radar altimeter. From loss-of-control to recovery takes just under 30 sec.

The Edwards AFB-based 416th Flight Test Sqdn.—which evaluated, perfected and tested the system prior to fleet release—is currently working on a follow-up Automatic Integrated Collision Avoidance System (Auto-ICAS) that combines the recently developed Automatic Air Collision Avoidance System (Auto-ACAS) with the ground protection provided by Auto-GCAS. By making the air-to-air collision avoidance system "ground aware," the Auto-ICAS will provide the world’s first all-aspect automatic protection system for a production aircraft. The 416th is also working on a Hybrid Flight Control Computer that will enable older analog F-16s to use digital applications like Auto-ACAS.

VIDEO BELOW: During a 1-hr., 20-min. flight on the Air Force Research Laboratory/NASA F-16 testbed in 2010, Guy Norris observed a variety of scenarios, many flown at extremely low altitudes and high speed, designed to show how the automatic ground collision avoidance system will prevent mishaps while allowing the full range of tactical flying without triggering nuisance fly-ups.

[Fish]

Paralyzed Man Regains Use of Arms and Hands After Experimental Stem Cell Therapy



Incredibly, Kris Boesen, who was paralyzed from his neck to his toes after a car accident, is regaining movement after receiving a stem cell injection into his spine.

Keck Medical Center of USC today announced that a team of doctors became the first in California to inject an experimental treatment made from stem cells, AST-OPC1, into the damaged cervical spine of a recently paralyzed 21-year-old man as part of a multi-center clinical trial.

On March 6, just shy of his 21st birthday, Kristopher (Kris) Boesen of Bakersfield suffered a traumatic injury to his cervical spine when his car fishtailed on a wet road, hit a tree and slammed into a telephone pole.

Parents Rodney and Annette Boesen were warned there was a good chance their son would be permanently paralyzed from the neck down. However, they also learned that Kris could possibly qualify for a clinical study that might help.

Leading the surgical team and working in collaboration with Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and Keck Medicine of USC, Charles Liu, MD, PhD, director of the USC Neurorestoration Center, injected an experimental dose of 10 million AST-OPC1 cells directly into Kris' cervical spinal cord in early April.

"Typically, spinal cord injury patients undergo surgery that stabilizes the spine but generally does very little to restore motor or sensory function," explains Liu. "With this study, we are testing a procedure that may improve neurological function, which could mean the difference between being permanently paralyzed and being able to use one's arms and hands. Restoring that level of function could significantly improve the daily lives of patients with severe spinal injuries."

Two weeks after surgery, Kris began to show signs of improvement. Three months later, he's able to feed himself, use his cell phone, write his name, operate a motorized wheelchair and hug his friends and family. Improved sensation and movement in both arms and hands also makes it easier for Kris to care for himself, and to envision a life lived more independently.

"As of 90 days post-treatment, Kris has gained significant improvement in his motor function, up to two spinal cord levels," said Dr. Liu. "In Kris' case, two spinal cord levels means the difference between using your hands to brush your teeth, operate a computer or do other things you wouldn't otherwise be able to do, so having this level of functional independence cannot be overstated."

Doctors are careful not to predict Kris' future progress.

"All I've wanted from the beginning was a fighting chance," said Kris, who has a passion for fixing up and driving sports cars and was studying to become a life insurance broker at the time of the accident. "But if there's a chance for me to walk again, then heck yeah! I want to do anything possible to do that."

Qualifying for the Study

Because the window for performing the surgery was tight, everything needed to go according to schedule in order for Kris to qualify.

Once Kris made the decision to pursue enrollment in the study, dozens of doctors, nurses, rehabilitation specialists and others sprang into action. Because he would need to provide voice confirmation of his desire to participate in the study, Kris had to be able to breathe without a ventilator. Weaning a patient from assisted breathing generally is a three-week process. He did it in five days with the help of a respiratory care team. He signed the paperwork and began a week of assessments, scans and other pre-surgery tests.

In early April, a surgical team from Keck Hospital of USC carefully injected 10 million AST-OPC1 cells directly into Kris' cervical spine. Nearly six weeks later, Kris was discharged and returned to Bakersfield to continue his rehabilitation. Doctors reviewed his progress at seven days, 30 days, 60 days and 90 days post-injection, and Kris can look forward to detailed assessments after 180 days, 270 days and one year.

Rodney and Annette Boesen say they are amazed at the level of collaboration and cooperation that enabled their son to participate in the study. "So many things had to happen, and there were so many things that could have put up a roadblock," marvels Rodney. "The people at Keck Medical Center of USC and elsewhere moved heaven and earth to get things done. There was never a moment through all of this when we didn't think our son was getting world class care."

About the Study

The pioneering surgery is the latest example of how the emerging fields of neurorestoration and regenerative medicine may have the potential to improve the lives of thousands of patients who have suffered a severe spinal cord injury.

The stem cell procedure Kris received is part of a Phase 1/2a clinical trial that is evaluating the safety and efficacy of escalating doses of AST-OPC1 cells developed by Fremont, California-based Asterias Biotherapeutics. . AST-OPC1 cells are made from embryonic stem cells by carefully converting them into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), which are cells found in the brain and spinal cord that support the healthy functioning of nerve cells. In previous laboratory studies, AST-OPC1 was shown to produce neurotrophic factors, stimulate vascularization and induce remyelination of denuded axons. All are critical factors in the survival, regrowth and conduction of nerve impulses through axons at the injury site, according to Edward D. Wirth III, MD, PhD, chief medical director of Asterias and lead investigator of the study, dubbed "SCiStar."

"At the 10 million cell level, we're now in a dose range that is the human equivalent of where we were when we saw efficacy in pre-clinical studies," says Wirth. "While we continue to evaluate safety first and foremost, we are also now looking at how well treatment might help restore movement in these patients."

To qualify for the clinical trial, enrollees must be between the age of 18 and 69, and their condition must be stable enough to receive an injection of AST-OPC1 between the fourteenth and thirtieth days following injury.

Keck is one of six sites in the U.S. authorized to enroll subjects and administer the clinical trial dosage.

The first early data results from a group of patients in this study will become available on September 14, 2016.

[Fish]

VIDEO: Watch Evolution Take Place Before Your Eyes

Bacteria evolve resistance to extreme doses of antibiotics in just a few days.

Evolution is often thought of as an exceedingly slow process, requiring hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. But for bacteria, which reproduce once every 30 minutes or so, evolution can occur remarkably quickly. Their propensity for fast evolution means bacteria are capable of rapidly evolving antibiotic resistance — a “significant and growing medical problem across the globe,” according to Gerard Wright, a scientist at the Michael G DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research in Canada.

Now, scientists at Harvard Medical School have created a large device — the microbial evolution and growth arena (MEGA) plate — that allows them to visualize the evolution of antibiotic resistance through time and space.

The rectangular petri dish, more than a meter long, is coated with a gradient of antibiotic doses. The outer edges are antibiotic-free, but moving inward, antibiotic strength increases 10-fold each step of the way. The very center of the dish is a highly toxic zone, seemingly unsuitable for bacterial growth.



Michael Baym, lead scientist on the project, filmed E. coli growing on the MEGA plate over 11 days. The first colonists flourish in the antibiotic-free zones on either edge of the plate, where they quickly multiply until food and space run low. Soon enough, a mutant that can withstand exposure to low levels of the antibiotic invariably arises on the frontline of the culture, and ventures into the unoccupied zone next door to reproduce. Once again, space and food soon become limiting factors for these antibiotic-resistant mutants, and when an even more resistant mutant arises, the next zone over opens up for colonization.

By the end of the experiment, the E. coli had evolved to be 10,000 times more resistant to trimethoprim and 100,000 times more resistant to ciprofloxacin — both of which are antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections in humans.

The video demonstrates visually how, through successive mutations, “bacteria which are normally sensitive to an antibiotic can evolve resistance to extremely high concentrations in a short period of time,” Baym states.

The MEGA plate and experiments are described in detail in a paper published in Science.

[ThaVirus]

I hope they nuked that Petri dish.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by Fish

“Intelligence is not the ability to store information, but to know where to find it.”

― Albert Einstein

Daaaaaamn.

[Fish]

Holy shit you guys...



NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa

NASA will host a teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 26, to present new findings from images captured by the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.

Astronomers will present results from a unique Europa observing campaign that resulted in surprising evidence of activity that may be related to the presence of a subsurface ocean on Europa. Participants in the teleconference will be:

• Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• William Sparks, astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore
• Britney Schmidt, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
• Jennifer Wiseman, senior Hubble project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

To participate by phone, media must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 or dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation no later than noon Monday.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on NASA’s website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

For information about NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

-end-

[Discuss Thrower]

The Chinese have lost control of Tiangong-1 and it will crash into the planet in about a year's time.

[Fish]

Yeah, that's true, but that has nothing to do with the above announcement...

CONFIRMED: China's Space Station Is Out Of Control And Currently Crashing Towards Earth

After few months of doubt and suspicion, China has just now confirmed their first space station is travelling towards the Earth and is completely out of control. A senior official of the Chinese space program publicized at a press conference just last week that the Tiangong-1 space station is expected to descent to Earth by 2017, Xinhua News Agency reports. They also said that it's presently unbroken and orbiting at a height of around 370 kilometers (230 miles).



Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office, during the recent press conference, said:

"Based on our calculation and analysis, most parts of the space lab will burn up during falling"

Chinese officials publicized that the space agency will carry on to follow the route of Tiangong-1 and will issue an update on its probable time of arrival if essential.

Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace," is about 10.3-meter-long (34-foot-long). It was launched back in 2011 as China’s first manned space station. It finished its mission in March this year. Nevertheless, since then, many astronomers pointed out that the space station seemed to be purposelessly drifting out of control and heading for Earth. The quietness by the Chinese government only intensified doubts about the control of the space station.


China has also launched a new investigational space station, Tiangong-2, just last week, and are currently planning to send a well-developed space station in the start of next decade.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Fish

Holy shit you guys...



NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa

NASA will host a teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 26, to present new findings from images captured by the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.

Astronomers will present results from a unique Europa observing campaign that resulted in surprising evidence of activity that may be related to the presence of a subsurface ocean on Europa. Participants in the teleconference will be:

• Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• William Sparks, astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore
• Britney Schmidt, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
• Jennifer Wiseman, senior Hubble project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

To participate by phone, media must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 or dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation no later than noon Monday.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on NASA’s website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

For information about NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

-end-

Prairie Dogs on Europa?

[Fish]

There are 12 dots present in this pic, but your brain will not let you see them all at one viewing angle.

[Nickhead]

i can, ctrl -

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Fish

There are 12 dots present in this pic, but your brain will not let you see them all at one viewing angle.

More fun stuff.. (watch full screen)

[Gadzooks]

Originally Posted by Fish

There are 12 dots present in this pic, but your brain will not let you see them all at one viewing angle.

The most I can do is 5 dots at a time.

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by Fish

There are 12 dots present in this pic, but your brain will not let you see them all at one viewing angle.

What the....but they're there. But I can't see all of them....but......OMG...WITCH....WITCH....HE'S A WITCH, BURN HIM, BURN HIM NOW!

[Fish]