Reuters showcase

2005's photos by Reuters. An interesting 'around the world' tour in pictures; be aware that some photos are explicitly showing the crude reality in all its sadness while other ones just captures beauty in its simplicity. We are such strange creatures...

[ Reuters 2005 showcase ]

Rocketboom

You are probably already familiar with blogs, RSS, podcasts... but what about the next step called: vlogs (videoblogs). Time to dive in and investigate what all the fuss is about. Well, I was quickly intrigued by the format and found out that some of them are really hilarious. But one above all caught my attention, making me come back for more… every day: Rocketboom!

Some could argue that my stance may slightly be tainted by the show’s anchorwoman: Amanda Congdon, while I certainly can’t deny that I find her charismatic, alluring and fun, this vlog is a real point of interest, from the concept to the daily content they present, it is addictive! Rocketboom covers a wide range of news every day; viewers can also suggest stories or add their comments about the show.

I applaud the well deserved success, using modest equipment and virtually no resources at all, their constant dedication and hard work finally paid off; as now, they measure up with some of the hottest comical TV shows out there!

So, if you want to keep up with the latest in an entertaining manner, save 3 minutes of your time to visit Rocketboom today, 100.001 visitors can be that wrong… everyday! ;-)

Rocketboom: [ www.Rocketboom.com ]
Amanda’s blog: Amanda unBoomed
More info on videoblogging: [ videoblogging ]
World Map of Video Blogs: [ vlogMap ]

Our Sun's nuclear Nirvana

While writing about India joining the Iter project, I couldn't resist getting lost in talking about the fusion processes, so I decided to make an elementary post dedicated to it. :-)

To achieve fusion on earth, scientists will use Hydrogen isotopes: deuterium and tritium. Isotopes are part of the same atomic species as their parent atom but with extra neutrons; therefore with a higher mass.

Fusion is routinely happening within the sun, thanks to the high temperatures (15 million °C) and huge pressure, hydrogen (simplest element, atomic number 1: H) atoms are transformed into Helium (atomic number 2: He, heavier element) by a proton-proton chain. Our Sun is made up of 92% hydrogen, 7.8% helium, and the remaining 0.2% is a mixture of other elements, this helps understand how it can continue to shine for another 5 billion years or so.

Well, that doesn't really give you any perspective compared to our Earth, so let's approach it differently; the Sun alone carries 98% of the total mass of our entire solar system, you can easily fit 1,3 million Earths in it (volume), a 100 times the diameter (disk surface), 300.000 times the mass and the density is eight times that of gold. Sounds big? Think again, our Sun is just a little dwarf within the star's realm; there are billions of stars out there hundreds of time bigger!

Now that we have a better understanding of the proportions, let's get back to our topic. Each second the sun produces 4 million tons of energy by transforming 600 million tons of H into 596 million tons of He. The produced energy is split as follows: 50% is infrared or heat energy, 40% comes out as visible light and most of the remaining is ultraviolet light.

What's even more impressive is that, due to the extreme density of the plasma core, it takes anywhere between 150.000 an a million year for that energy (mostly gamma rays, at the time, which is the highest energetic form of an electromagnetic radiation) to finally escape from the core and make its way to the outer regions of the sun (photosphere and chromosphere), the good news is that by then it has, among other things, been transformed into visible light and heat. About 8 minutes later, we can all enjoy the show on Earth!

As this is a rather complex and exciting topic, it is now clear that several posts will be required to fully appreciate the beauty of such dynamics. In later posts, I will approach, on a modest level and in a simplified way, fusion in more depth. How are the heavier elements of the periodic table forged? Which quantum principles are involved? What forces are at play?

Meanwhile, check out some stunning space-themed wallpapers: Space Wallpapers

To be continued...

India joins the nuclear fusion club

Scientist have known for long that nuclear fusion would be far more effective than today's nuclear fission, which by the way leaves some nasty and highly radioactive materials in the process, but so far only small pockets of scientists claimed to have actually achieved it: the community is still debating on the veracity of these claims.

Iter will be the second largest science project in history after the International Space Station.

ITER - NUCLEAR FUSION PROJECT

Project estimated to cost 10bn euros and will run for 35 years
It will produce the first sustained fusion reactions
Final stage before full prototype of commercial reactor is built
After decades of experimentation at national and regional level, it should demonstrate once and for all whether it is possible to harness the tremendous potential of nuclear fusion in a practical and economic way.

Link: India joins Iter
More details: Step by step guide

If you missed the previous report about this kind of topic, read it here: [Focus Fusion]

Bamjan: Nepal Buddha boy

Scientist are to investigate the claim of a Buddha boy in Nepal, so far, huge crowds were gathering to see Ram Bahadur Bamjan, who could possibly be the nth reincarnation of the Buddha.

"A meditating teenage boy in south-central Nepal is drawing the attention of scientists after attracting huge crowds in the past six months and earning himself the name Buddha-reincarnate. [...] Ram Bahadur Bamjan's friends, relatives and managers say he has been meditating without drinking water for six months now and that he will carry on for another six years until he gains enlightenment." As a reminder: "Siddartha Gautam, who later attained Mahanirvana and became the Buddha, was born in 560 BC."

I fond the following quite intriguing, or is it just a mere coincidence: The name of Buddha's mother was Maya Devi exactly the same as this young boy's mother.

It is a very interesting read and a fascinating story, by BBC News: Scientists to check Nepal Buddha boy

Echizen kurage

Who would believe you if you told them you came across a 200 kg jellyfish? Well, probably the japanese; they are, for some unknown reasons, seeing more and more of these giants (echizen kurage) in the Sea of Japan. Besides their poisonous tentacles highly hazardous to humans, they also cause an economic plague: some fishermen saw their business plunge by 80%.

"Often the weight of the echizen kurage broke the nets or crushed the fish to death; those that survived were poisoned and beslimed by their tentacles. [...] The problem has become so serious that fishery officials from Japan, China and South Korea are to meet this month for a “jellyfish summit” to discuss strategies for dealing with the invasion."

"In some places jellyfish density is reported to be a hundred times higher than normal. Worst of all, no one yet understands why. One theory is that global warming is heating up the seawater and encouraging jellyfish breeding. " Richard Lloyd Parry

Read the complete story @ the Times: Nomura’s jellyfish

Search engines galore

I have noticed that trusting just one search engine can sometimes lead to frustration, so from time to time when one fails you... instead of getting all fired up, try one of these engines:
Google | Live | All the web

New Year '05: One second later

To compensate for the difference between Earth rotation time and atomic time, on the 31st of December this year, there will be 61 seconds before reaching the first day of 2006.

This has been done many times before as Wendy Grossman from Scientific American reports: "The reason: Leap seconds are not new: 22 have been added since 1972, on June 30 or December 31. [...] Leap seconds are needed because the earth's spin is slowing down, gradually and unevenly. The rotational changes arise because of tidal forces exerted by the moon and inertial effects related to the liquid outer core sloshing around and to the cycle of evaporation, in which water at the equator gets deposited at the poles as ice that melts seasonally."

[ Wait a second! ]