DOCSLIB.ORG

Discovery Club

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Discovery Club 3 Days to Pluto, and on to the Nearest Star? p.32 SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOUS ® NOVEMBER 2016 Final days of the Ice Age giants p.38 PLUS A Checkmate for Cancer p.46 BONUS Hunt for Missing Moon Data p.68 ONLINE Why You Can't Resist CONTENT CODE p.5 the Office Doughnuts p.28 RICH REWARDS. SAVE $165 15 Fine Festive Reds – Worth $234.99 – Just $69.99 (plus $19.99 shipping & applicable tax) Let us send you 15 truly impressive reds to see you through How can we make such a generous offer? the holidays in style. And save $165 today, as your special Because we believe you’ll be impressed and come back for more. introduction to the WSJwine Discovery Club. But that’s entirely up to you. If you like what you taste, we’ll tell Start with the Barbanera’s “absolutely phenomenal” 98-Point you about a dozen exciting new finds every three months. You Super Tuscan (top critic Luca Maroni). Then taste Opi Sadler’s can change wines, skip cases, delay delivery or cancel anytime. acclaimed Argentine Malbec and gold-medal Cabernet from Each future case is just $149.99 (saving you at least 20%) and Raymond, “one of the iconic wineries of Napa” (Parker). Just comes with detailed tasting notes and serving advice, plus our three stars in an exceptional reds lineup (with equally delicious money-back guarantee. whites and mixed options available for the same great price). No risks, just rich rewards – give it a try today. ORDER NOW AT wsjwine.com/rewards or call 1-877-975-9463 quote code 8007004 WSJwine is operated independently of The Wall Street Journal’s news department. Offer available to fi rst-time Discovery Club customers only and limited to one case per household. Licensed retailers/wineries only accept and fulfi ll orders from adults at least 21 years old and all applicable taxes are paid. Delivery is available to AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, IA, ID, IL, IN, LA, MA, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY and DC. Please go online for full terms and conditions. Void where prohibited by law. Contents NOVEMBER 2016 VOL. 37, NO. 9 Astronaut Alan Bean removes the fuel element of the Lunar Module during the Apollo 12 mission on the moon. See page 68 for related story. 4 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM Website access code: DSD1611 Enter this code at: www.DiscoverMagazine.com/code to gain access to exclusive subscriber content. 3 Days to Pluto, and on to the Neares tar? p.32 SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOUS FEATURES 32 Alpha Centauri or Bust The nearest star system is 4.37 light-years away. But an ambitious and innovative new idea — involving lasers and nanospacecraft — could get us there in the next 40 years. BY STEVE NADIS 38 Mammoth Island In the middle of the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, sits an island that was once home to a special population of mammoths. Now, researchers are digging deep to reconstruct the past and unearth the cause of the creatures’ demise. BY JESSICA MARSHALL ON THE COVER 3 Days to Pluto, and on to the 46 Checkmate Nearest Star? p.32 Most doctors ight cancer from the outside with radiation and chemotherapy. But Mystery on Mammoth Island p.38 James Allison is ighting it from the inside by hacking patients’ immune systems. A Checkmate for Cancer p.46 The results are changing the cancer game. BY KENNETH MILLER Hunt for Missing Moon Data p.68 Why You Can’t Resist 52 Trailblazers the Office Doughnuts p.28 Etched into stone in the Canadian province of Newfoundland are the earliest Photo of the Milwaukee Public Museum Hebior traces of trails made by a living organism. Those irst steps may have set an Mammoth by Bill Zuback/Discover. Background: Vibrant Image Studio/Shutterstock; Starshot evolutionary course that changed everything. BY ROBERT MOOR illustration by Roen Kelly/Discover COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 6 EDITOR’S NOTE abdominal pains. Scans come up 64 PROGNOSIS Making Tracks, short. Could the answer lie in her he Heart of Mississippi Leaving a Trail past? BY TONY DAJER Why are African-Americans more Although we humans tend to focus likely to experience heart disease? 24 BIG IDEA on ourselves, other species made their Doctors are turning to the Magnolia Brewing Life marks on Earth long before us. State to ind out. BY JEFF WHEELWRIGHT Scientists are cooking up early-Earth conditions to igure out how life got 68 HISTORY LESSONS its start. BY JONATHON KEATS 7 THE CRUX he Missing Moon Files The tree of life sprouts some 28 MIND OVER MATTER Researchers race against the clock new branches, a herpetologist as they try to recover long-lost lunar recalls the inspiration for a Siren Song of Food data before it disappears for good. conservation program that If you’re trying to shed some BY JULIA ROSEN gives frogs a leg up, a grad pounds, take a look around. Your student calculates a new environment is more important than 74 answer for a classic physics you think. BY TAMAR HASPEL 20 THINGS YOU DIDN’T problem, and more. KNOW ABOUT . 60 ORIGIN STORY Bridges Trading Places They connect our world, on both large 20 VITAL SIGNS Long before the Chinese Silk Road, and small scales. The Romans built Low Blow the Indian Ocean was teeming with ones that have stood the test of time. A young woman goes to three seafarers creating a sophisticated And they can even entertain us, in a PROJECT APOLLO ARCHIVE/NASA different hospitals because of severe trading network. BY ADRIANNE DAGGETT sense. BY GEMMA TARLACH November 2016 DISCOVER 5 SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOUS Discover® Editor's Note BECKY LANG Editor In Chief DAN BISHOP Design Director EDITORIAL KATHI KUBE Managing Editor GEMMA TARLACH Senior Editor Making Tracks, BILL ANDREWS Senior Associate Editor MARK BARNA Associate Editor ERIC BETZ Associate Editor LACY SCHLEY Assistant Editor Leaving a Trail DAVE LEE Copy Editor ELISA R. NECKAR Copy Editor AMY KLINKHAMMER Editorial Assistant The track was huge. The BRIDGET ALEX AAAS Mass Media Fellow creature’s hoof had left troughs Contributing Editors in the putty of mud along the DAN FERBER, TIM FOLGER, trail. This was not from some LINDA MARSA, STEVE NADIS, ADAM PIORE, COREY S. POWELL, wandering horse. I bent down and JULIE REHMEYER, ERIK VANCE, studied the prints left by a moose STEVE VOLK, PAMELA WEINTRAUB, JEFF WHEELWRIGHT, in the Wyoming foothills. Just a DARLENE CAVALIER (SPECIAL PROJECTS) few feet away, the comparatively ART dainty wedged tracks of a deer ERNIE MASTROIANNI Photo Editor were a little crustier, crumblier, ALISON MACKEY Associate Art Director older. And leaning down closer to DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM the trail, I could barely make out CARL ENGELKING Web Associate Editor Web Staff Writer the faded doggy-like paw prints NATHANIEL SCHARPING Bloggers from a coyote. MEREDITH CARPENTER, LILLIAN FRITZ-LAYLIN, As a 13-year-old, learning JEREMY HSU, REBECCA KRESTON, JEFFREY MARLOW, NEUROSKEPTIC, animal tracking — among other ELIZABETH PRESTON, SCISTARTER, biology, ecology and hydrology CHRISTIE WILCOX, TOM YULSMAN lessons in the wilderness at ADVERTISING the Teton Science School — STEVE MENI Advertising Sales Manager 888 558 1544 I remember feeling how small, [email protected] yet integral, humans are in the Rummel Media Connections KRISTI RUMMEL Consulting and Media Sales history and biology of the planet. We’re a blip among creatures 608 435 6220 that came before us. Two stories in this issue touch on this concept. [email protected] We delve into why a mammoth population persisted on a remote MELANIE DECARLI Marketing Architect BOB RATTNER Research island in the Bering Sea (see page 38), surviving for thousands DARYL PAGEL Advertising Services of years longer than other mammoth groups. We’re there as a KALMBACH PUBLISHING CO. multidisciplinary team of scientists seeks to solve the mystery CHARLES R. CROFT President of what inally doomed the giant mammals. And we take you to STEPHEN C. GEORGE Vice President, Content DANIEL R. LANCE Senior V.P., Sales & Marketing the coast of Newfoundland as one writer follows the fossilized JAMES R. MCCANN Vice President, Finance footprints of what are considered the Earth’s earliest nomads NICOLE MCGUIRE Vice President, Consumer Marketing JAMES SCHWEDER Vice President, Technology (see page 52). ANN E. SMITH Corporate Advertising Director It’s stories like these that remind me of the eons of life that have MAUREEN M. SCHIMMEL Corporate Art Director KIM REDMOND Single Copy Specialist populated this Earth before us. And we’ve got the luxury of being MIKE SOLIDAY Art and Production Manager able to delve into the science and interpret that natural history. SUBSCRIPTIONS In the U.S., $29.95 for one year; in Canada, $39.95 for one year (U.S. funds only), includes GST, BN 12271 3209RT; other foreign countries, $44.95 for one year (U.S. funds only). Feel free to send comments and questions CUSTOMER SALES & SERVICE Becky Lang to 800 829 9132 [email protected] Outside the U.S. and Canada: 813 910 3616 Customer Service: [email protected] Digital: [email protected] Back Issues: [email protected] EDITORIAL INQUIRIES CONNECT WITH US [email protected] facebook.com/DiscoverMag 21027 Crossroads Circle, Waukesha, WI 53186 twitter.com/DiscoverMag plus.google.com/+discovermagazine WILLIAM ZUBACK/DISCOVER 6 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM THE CRUX The Latest Science News & Notes MATHEMATICAL BEAUTY These branching columns, seen from below, were conceived by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí to support the complex vault of his world- famous La Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • General Issue
    Journal of the British Interplanetary Society VOLUME 72 NO.5 MAY 2019 General issue A REACTION DRIVE Powered by External Dynamic Pressure Jeffrey K. Greason DOCKING WITH ROTATING SPACE SYSTEMS Mark Hempsell MARTIAN DUST: the Formation, Composition, Toxicology, Astronaut Exposure Health Risks and Measures to Mitigate Exposure John Cain THE CONCEPT OF A LOW COST SPACE MISSION to Measure “Big G” Roger Longstaff www.bis-space.com ISSN 0007-084X PUBLICATION DATE: 26 JULY 2019 Submitting papers International Advisory Board to JBIS JBIS welcomes the submission of technical Rachel Armstrong, Newcastle University, UK papers for publication dealing with technical Peter Bainum, Howard University, USA reviews, research, technology and engineering in astronautics and related fields. Stephen Baxter, Science & Science Fiction Writer, UK James Benford, Microwave Sciences, California, USA Text should be: James Biggs, The University of Strathclyde, UK ■ As concise as the content allows – typically 5,000 to 6,000 words. Shorter papers (Technical Notes) Anu Bowman, Foundation for Enterprise Development, California, USA will also be considered; longer papers will only Gerald Cleaver, Baylor University, USA be considered in exceptional circumstances – for Charles Cockell, University of Edinburgh, UK example, in the case of a major subject review. Ian A. Crawford, Birkbeck College London, UK ■ Source references should be inserted in the text in square brackets – [1] – and then listed at the Adam Crowl, Icarus Interstellar, Australia end of the paper. Eric W. Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, USA ■ Illustration references should be cited in Kathryn Denning, York University, Toronto, Canada numerical order in the text; those not cited in the Martyn Fogg, Probability Research Group, UK text risk omission.
    [Show full text]
  • For Immediate Release Contact: Jonathon [email protected] ARTIST CREATES NEW UNIVERSE from URANIUM and CHEWING GUM Novel Technique
    For Immediate Release Contact: [email protected] ARTIST CREATES NEW UNIVERSE FROM URANIUM AND CHEWING GUM Novel Technique Puts Quantum Theory to Practical Use. Automated Universe Factories Planned for Government and Industry. San Francisco Gallery to Begin Selling $20 D.I.Y. Universe Kits on November 20th. Universes Provide Alternatives to Recession October 31, 2008 - Following decades of effort by engineers to build quantum supercomputers and to master quantum cryptography, today quantum physics has spawned a far more powerful technology. Applying theory developed by deceased Princeton physicist Hugh Everett III, and using little more than a piece of chewing gum, a plastic drinking straw, and a bit of uranium, San Francisco conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has constructed the first machine for fabricating all-inclusive universes. "It was a product of my anxiety," admits Mr. Keats. "I'd recently had a couple museum shows, yet I was feeling that no matter what I made, it was hardly comparable to the creation of the cosmos. And though no one talks about it, the same issue faced Picasso, Monet, even Michelangelo. The Big Bang has artists beat." Taking on the cosmos as a creative challenge, Mr. Keats began researching an aspect of quantum mechanics proposed by Dr. Everett in the 1950s and later refined by scientists including David Deutsch at Oxford and Wojciech Zurek at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Everett's theory addressed the question of how a subatomic particle can exist in a quantum superposition - for example being in two places at once - until someone observes it, at which point the observer finds it to be in only one place at a time.
    [Show full text]
  • Download CV (PDF)
    Anuradha Vikram anu(at)curativeprojects(dot)net About Anuradha (Curative Projects) Independent curator and scholar working with museums, galleries, journals, and websites to develop original curatorial work including exhibitions, public programs, and artist-driven publications. Consultant for strategic planning, institutional vision, content strategy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Current engagements include Craft Contemporary, LA Freewaves, MhZ Curationist, LACE, X-TRA, X Artists’ Books, and UCLA Art Sci Center. Education M.A., Curatorial Practice, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 2005 B.S., Studio Art, minor in Art History, New York University, New York, NY, 1997 Curated Exhibitions, Performances, and Public Art 2024 ▪ Co-curator, Atmosphere of Sound: Sonic Art in Times of Climate Disruption (with Victoria Vesna), UCLA Art Sci Center at Center for Art of Performance, Getty Pacific Standard Time: Art x Science x LA, dates TBC. 2023 ▪ Unmaking/Unmarking: Archival Poetics and Decolonial Monuments, LACE, Los Angeles, dates TBC. 2022 ▪ Jaishri Abichandani: Lotus-Headed Children, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA, January 30–May 8. ▪ Exa(men)ing Masculinities, with Marcus Kuiland-Nazario and Anne Bray, LA Freewaves, Los Angeles State Historic Park, dates TBC. 2021 ▪ Atmosphere of Sound: Sonic Art in Times of Climate Disruption, Ars Electronica 2021 Garden, September 8-12. ▪ Juror, FRESH 2021, SoLA Contemporary. August 28-October 9. 2020 ▪ Patty Chang: Milk Debt, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, October 19-January 22, 2021. Traveled to PioneerWorks, Brooklyn, March 19-May 23, 2021. ▪ Co-curator, Drive-By-Art (with Warren Neidich, Renee Petropoulos, and Michael Slenske). Citywide exhibition, Los Angeles, May 23-31.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 Lyndenstoneleonardo46 5
    G e n e r a l a r t I c l e Re-Visioning Reality: Quantum Superposition in Visual Art a b s t r a c t The counterintuitive phenom- enon of quantum superposition requires a radical review of our ideas of reality. The author Lynden Stone suggests that translations of quantum concepts into visual art may assist in provoking such a revision. This essay first introduces the concept n philosophy, the usual definition of conven- a radical departure from the clas- of quantum superposition and I points out its divergence from tional reality is that it is independent, objective, meaningful sical conception of the fabric of and, in principle, knowable [1]; I adopt this definition for the reality” [7], and Karen Barad states conventional perceptions of real- ity. The author then discusses purpose of this article. My experience of reality generally ac- that we need a “reassessment of how visual art might provide cords with this definition, insofar as I perceive objects to exist physical and metaphysical notions insight into quantum superposi- independently of me and that objects have predetermined that explicitly or implicitly rely on tion. Finally she discusses the characteristics that are independent of whatever observations old ideas about the physical world” visual representation of quantum or measurements I might perform on them. In particular, I can superposition by contemporary [8]. Trying to understand a world artists Jonathon Keats, Julian unobtrusively observe and measure objects without affecting described by quantum theory, says Voss-Andreae, Antony Gormley their state or the dynamics of the system within which they philosopher Lawrence Sklar, re- and Daniel Crooks; the problem- exist.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Hooke
    ? Robert Hooke (1635-1703) Arguably the greatest experimental natural philosopher of the 17th century • His most famous work is Micrographia, in which he coined the term "cell" for a basic biological structure. Biography • Robert Hooke, the son of a clergyman in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, was born on July 18, 1635. • When he was 13, he left an orphan with a modest inheritance, and entered Westminster School. • Later he earned his way • as a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, and attended Westminster College, graduating with his master's degree in 1663. Biography • Hooke remained at Oxford, where he became assistant to Robert Boyle. • Together they conducted many experiments on the effects of reduced air pressure, using an air pump that had been designed and constructed by Hooke. Biography… Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the independent • In 1662 Hooke became scientific academy of the curator of the newly UK, dedicated to promoting founded Royal Society, excellence in science. his duties being to produce three or four significant experimental demonstrations for each weekly meeting of the society. • He was ideally suited for such work, and his career thereafter was immensely active and fertile. Biography… • At Westminster Hooke was said to have acquired mastery of ancient languages, learned to play the organ, 'contrived severall ways of flying', and mastered the first six books of Euclid's Elements. Biography… • 1665 he was appointed Professor of Geometry and carried out astronomical observations, and was also elected FRS. In 1677 he became the Secretary to the Royal Society. Hooke versus Newton • In his Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth (1674), he offered a theory of planetary motion based on the correct principle of inertia and a balance between an outward centrifugal force and an inward gravitational attraction to the Sun.
    [Show full text]
  • Mccray CV Full Version
    W. PATRICK MCCRAY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA SANTA BARBARA, CA 93106-9410 CURRENT APPOINTMENTS Professor, Department of History, University of California at Santa Barbara Affiliate appointments at University of California at Santa Barbara: Global Studies Program; Media Arts and Technology Program EDUCATION University of Arizona, Ph.D. (December 1996), Materials Science and Engineering with Anthropology (minor), Dissertation topic – Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice. University of Pittsburgh, M.S. (1991), B.S. (1989), Materials Science and Engineering. SELECTED OTHER APPOINTMENTS 2015-2016 Lindbergh Chair, National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 2011-2012 Eleanor Searle Visiting Professor, California Institute of Technology 2005-2007 Associate Professor, History Department, UCSB. 2005-2007 Co-Director of Center for Nanotechnology in Society at UCSB 2003-2005 Assistant Professor, Department of History, UCSB 2000-2003 Associate Historian; Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics 1999-2000 Research Fellow, Department of History, The George Washington University 1997-1999 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Arizona MAJOR AWARDS, AND HONORS Invited Faculty Expert, World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland), 2016. Watson Davis and Helen Miles Davis Prize, History of Science Society, 2014. Fellow, American Physical Society, elected 2013. Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 2011. BOOKS & EDITED VOLUMES Groovy Science: Knowledge, Innovation, and the American Counterculture, co-edited with David Kaiser (The University of Chicago Press, 2016). The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future (Princeton University Press, 2013). Winner: Watson Davis and Helen Miles Davis Prize, History of Science Society, 2014; Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award, American Astronautical Society, 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life; Springer, 2008.Pdf
    Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics springer.com This series aims to report new developments in research and teaching in the inter- disciplinary fields of astrobiology and biogeophysics. This encompasses all aspects of research into the origins of life – from the creation of matter to the emergence of complex life forms – and the study of both structure and evolution of planetary ecosystems under a given set of astro- and geophysical parameters. The methods con- sidered can be of theoretical, computational, experimental and observational nature. Preference will be given to proposals where the manuscript puts particular emphasis on the overall readability in view of the broad spectrum of scientific backgrounds involved in astrobiology and biogeophysics. The type of material considered for publication includes: • Topical monographs • Lectures on a new field, or presenting a new angle on a classical field • Suitably edited research reports • Compilations of selected papers from meetings that are devoted to specific topics The timeliness of a manuscript is more important than its form which may be un- finished or tentative. Publication in this new series is thus intended as a service to the international scientific community in that the publisher, Springer-Verlag, offers global promotion and distribution of documents which otherwise have a restricted readership. Once published and copyrighted, they can be documented in the scientific literature. Series Editors: Dr. André Brack Dr. Christopher P. McKay Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire NASA Ames Research Center CNRS, Rue Charles Sadron Moffet Field 45071 Orléans, Cedex 2, France CA 94035,USA [email protected] Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Tower Clock Movements and Their Design Over the Past 1000 Years
    The Evolution Of Tower Clock Movements And Their Design Over The Past 1000 Years Mark Frank Copyright 2013 The Evolution Of Tower Clock Movements And Their Design Over The Past 1000 Years TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction and General Overview Pre-History ............................................................................................... 1. 10th through 11th Centuries ........................................................................ 2. 12th through 15th Centuries ........................................................................ 4. 16th through 17th Centuries ........................................................................ 5. The catastrophic accident of Big Ben ........................................................ 6. 18th through 19th Centuries ........................................................................ 7. 20th Century .............................................................................................. 9. Tower Clock Frame Styles ................................................................................... 11. Doorframe and Field Gate ......................................................................... 11. Birdcage, End-To-End .............................................................................. 12. Birdcage, Side-By-Side ............................................................................. 12. Strap, Posted ............................................................................................ 13. Chair Frame .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 28Edc458904fb754f74e03e12f8
    life Review The Astrophysical Formation of Asymmetric Molecules and the Emergence of a Chiral Bias † Adrien D. Garcia 1, Cornelia Meinert 1 , Haruna Sugahara 1,2, Nykola C. Jones 3 , Søren V. Hoffmann 3 and Uwe J. Meierhenrich 1,* 1 Institut de Chimie de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, UMR 7272, 06108 Nice, France; [email protected] (A.D.G.); [email protected] (C.M.); [email protected] (H.S.) 2 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency–Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan 3 ISA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; [email protected] (N.C.J.); [email protected] (S.V.H.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +33-492-076-177 † This manuscript is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Wolfram H.-P. Thiemann. Received: 22 February 2019; Accepted: 11 March 2019; Published: 16 March 2019 Abstract: The biomolecular homochirality in living organisms has been investigated for decades, but its origin remains poorly understood. It has been shown that circular polarized light (CPL) and other energy sources are capable of inducing small enantiomeric excesses (ees) in some primary biomolecules, such as amino acids or sugars. Since the first findings of amino acids in carbonaceous meteorites, a scenario in which essential chiral biomolecules originate in space and are delivered by celestial bodies has arisen. Numerous studies have thus focused on their detection, identification, and enantiomeric excess calculations in extraterrestrial matrices. In this review we summarize the discoveries in amino acids, sugars, and organophosphorus compounds in meteorites, comets, and laboratory-simulated interstellar ices.
    [Show full text]
  • Rosetta/COSAC
    C4PO research themes 10.1 ESA’s Cometary Mission Rosetta-Philae A. Context and state of the art Uwe Meierhenrich, member of the Institut Convergence, is involved as Co-Investigator (Co-I) in the COSAC experiment of the Rosetta-Philae mission. He is in particular in charge of the chirality-part of COSAC: ESA’s Rosetta mission [1], successfully launched in March 2004, reached its target comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in 2014. Contrary to its predecessor missions Giotto and Vega to comet 1P/Halley [2,3], Deep-Space 1 to comet 19P/Borrelly [4], Stardust to comet 81P/Wild 2 [5], and Deep Impact to comet 9P/Tempel 1 [6], Rosetta is the first space mission designed and constructed to follow a cometary nucleus through perihelion passage and to deposit a landing unit on the cometary nucleus. In November 2014 the Philae lander detached from the Rosetta spacecraft and landed on the surface of the cometary nucleus that was of unknown morphology and chemical composition. Philae contains the cometary sampling and composition (COSAC) instrument that is equipped with a chirality module for the in situ identification, separation, and quantification of organic molecules including enantiomers expected to be present in cometary ices. The COSAC analysis was assumed to provide essential information on the Solar System formation and possibly on the origin of organic molecules and molecular asymmetry in biological systems [7]. COSAC is equipped with a multi-column gas chromatograph (GC), a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS), and connected to an electronic system that allows remote operation of the suite.
    [Show full text]
  • Mr. Edward F. Sproat III Director Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management United States Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585
    5.)6%23%35.,)-)4%$ v v 00-!+).'.%77/2,$33).#% Mr. Edward F. Sproat III Director Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management United States Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 November 19, 2008 Dear Mr. Edward F. Sproat III, It has recently come to our attention that you’re planning to build the nation’s largest nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. Please first allow us to extend our congratulations to you and your team. We are impressed by the scope of your ambition. It is clear that your governmental division, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, United States Department of Energy, is particularly farsighted. Second, we want to offer our services, which we can state with confidence are uniquely suited to your special project. Universes Unlimited is the foremost purveyor of equipment for macrocosmic fabrication. Our quantum decoherence engine is the only machine purpose-built for all-encompassing creation. On behalf of government and industry, we design state-of-the-art factories to mass-produce full-scale universes. And we are pleased to inform you that the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository is a premier site for the largest universe factory in the world. You should know that your planned facility need be modified only slightly to serve this valuable secondary purpose. Because our quantum decoherence engines are atomic, a universe factory can recycle your unwanted gamma rays, as well as your decaying alpha and beta particles. In other words, Mr. Edward F. Sproat III, your nuclear waste need not go to waste.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Comet Contains Building Blocks of Life 21 March 2012
    Artificial comet contains building blocks of life 21 March 2012 space mission 'Rosetta'. The program aims to place a lander on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study the composition of its nucleus. In a bid to anticipate Rosetta's findings, the scientists decided to create an artificial comet, or 'simulation of interstellar/cometary ice', and analyze its composition. The team led by Louis Le Sergeant d'Hendecourt was in charge of creating a micro-comet at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale. Under extreme conditions similar to those found in space (-200 °C and in a vacuum), the researchers condensed a number of compounds found in the interstellar medium, such as water (H2O), ammonia (NH3) and methanol (CH3OH) molecules, onto a solid piece of Chromatogram of the cometary ice obtained using the magnesium fluoride (MgF2), while subjecting them multidimensional gas chromatograph. Each peak to ultraviolet radiation. After ten days, they obtained corresponds to an amino acid. The higher the peak, the a few precious micrograms (10-6 grams) of artificial greater is the amount of amino acid present in the organic material. sample. ChemPlusChem, 77 (2012). Credit: Wiley-VCH GmbH & Co This material was then analyzed at the Institut de Chimie de Nice by a team led by Uwe Meierhenrich and Cornelia Meinert, using high-performance technology: a multidimensional gas chromatograph The first molecules of life form naturally in comets, (GCxGC/TOF-MS). This device, which was reveals a French-German study led by Uwe installed in Nice in 2008, can detect ten times more Meierhenrich and Cornelia Meinert at the Institut molecules in a sample than a traditional one- de Chimie de Nice and by Louis Le Sergeant dimensional chromatograph.
    [Show full text]