Universe Expanding Faster Than After Big Bang

Dark energy » Findings show the force has been a constant part of the universe. 

By Sheena McFarland

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Nov 26 2012 01:01 am • Updated 1 hour ago

 

The expansion of the universe has been speeding up for the past 5 billion years, but that hasn’t always been the case.

Shortly after the Big Bang—the event scientists believe occurred 13.8 billion years ago that created the universe and everything in it—the universe was expanding at a much slower rate.

	"If we think of the universe as a roller coaster, then today we are rushing downhill, gaining speed as we go," Nicolas Busca of the Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologie of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), one of the lead authors of the study, said in a statement. "Our new measurement tells us about the time when the universe was climbing the hill—still being slowed by gravity." More - Link >>> http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55310530-78/universe-dark-gas-matter.html.csp
	Source: The Salt Lake Tribune.

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SpaceX Plans Mars Colony of 80,000 Settlers

Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk

Rob Coppinger, SPACE.com Contributor

Date: 23 November 2012 Time: 07:00 AM ET

inShare36

This still from a SpaceX mission concept video shows a Dragon space capsule landing on the surface of Mars. SpaceX's Dragon is a privately built space capsule to carry unmanned payloads, and eventually astronauts, into space. CREDIT: SpaceX View full size image

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, wants to help establish a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people by ferrying explorers to the Red Planet for perhaps $500,000 a trip.

In Musk's vision, the ambitious Mars settlement program would start with a pioneering group of fewer than 10 people, who would journey to the Red Planet aboard a huge reusable rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane.

"At Mars, you can start a self-sustaining civilization and grow it into something really big," Musk told an audience at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on Friday (Nov. 16). Musk was there to talk about his business plans, and to receive the Society’s gold medal for his contribution to the commercialization of space. 

More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/18596-mars-colony-spacex-elon-musk.html

Source: Space.com .

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Russian Solar Physicist Freed From Siberia

Freed scientist finds little change or hope in Russia

File photo of Russian physicist Valentin Danilov standing outside the Krasnoyarsk regional court (Ilya Naymushin Reuters, REUTERS / November 13, 2012)

KRASNOYARSK, Russia (Reuters) - Grey, pale and thin, Valentin Danilov has changed more than the country that jailed him in 2004 for selling state secrets to China.

The 66-year-old Russian physicist, whose face is now criss-crossed with deep wrinkles, could not be blamed for suffering from "deja vu" when he was released on Saturday from a Siberian penal colony on spying charges he says were politically motivated.

President Vladimir Putin, now 60, is back in the Kremlin for a third term, corruption is rife, the unreformed economy is creaking under the weight of its dependence on energy exports, and opponents are still being imprisoned. 

Danilov, whose case human rights activists cite as evidence that Putin uses Russia's weak courts to persecute his enemies, sees little hope of rapid change.

"Nothing has changed," Danilov said in an interview, putting some of the blame on Russia's 142 million people. 

More - Link >>> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-russia-scientistbre8ao02v-20121125,0,3905780.story 

Sources: Reuters Wire Service, Chicago Tribune.

Biography of Valentin Danilov: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Danilov
(Source: Wikipedia.org )

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New Dwarf Planet Revealed by Occultation

Rare Apparition of Dwarf Planet Makemake Reveals a Largely Airless World

Makemake briefly eclipsed a run-of-the-mill star last year, allowing astronomers to measure the dwarf planet's physical properties

By John Matson

1
i

CLEAR SKIES: An artist's conception of the dwarf planet Makemake depicts the world without a significant atmosphere. Image: ESO/L. Calcada/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)

 

A new look at the dwarf planet Makemake, one of the more recent additions to the known solar system, has pinned down some of the object's most basic—and important—attributes.

Astronomers took to observatories across South America in April 2011 to catch a rare glimpse of the dwarf planet—or at least its shadow—as Makemake (pronounced "mah-kee mah-kee") crossed in front of a faint background star and dimmed the star for about a minute. The duration of the occultation, as such celestial conjunctions are called, allowed the astronomers to more precisely estimate Makemake's physical size. The researchers reported their findings in the November 22 issue of Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

More - Link >>> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=makemake-atmosphere-occultation&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20121123

Source: Scientific American Magazine.

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Europe Economy: Science Fund Cuts Could Hurt

Science fund cuts could hurt EU recovery, scientists warn

By Chris Wickham

LONDON | Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:05pm EST
 

(Reuters) - Cutting science funding in the European Union would threaten economic recovery in the bloc, the heads of scientific organisations said on Friday after such cuts were proposed.

"We believe it would be deeply damaging to future economic growth if we were to cut funding now," Andrew Harrison, director general of Grenoble-based neutron research centre the Institut Laue-Langevin, told Reuters.

EU leaders on Friday abandoned talks to find a deal on the bloc's budget for 2014-2020 but European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who chaired the summit, proposed cuts in a number of areas, including research and innovation, in an effort to reach a deal.


More - Link >>> http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/23/us-eu-budget-science-idUSBRE8AM0N420121123

Source: Reuters Wire Service.

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Earth's 'Hum' Helps Probe Planet's Interior

Seismic waves help produce images in a way similar to medical imaging

USGS

The Earth's interior.

 

By Charles Q. Choi

OurAmazingPlanet

updated 11/23/2012 12:29:40 PM ET

 

The global "hum" of the Earth is now helping scientists probe the planet's deep interior, a group of researchers say. 

Since this hum — called seismic noise, which is generated by sources such as storm-driven ocean waves — is detectable everywhere on Earth, it could help scientists analyze the innards of the planet worldwide, investigators added in a new study detailed in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Science.

More - Link >>> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49940778/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UK_l9VF5Fic

Sources: OurAmazingPlanet.com , NBC News.

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NASA: Federal Employees' Favorite Employer

NASA tops federal employees' list of favorite agencies

By Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
on November 23, 2012 at 10:45 AM, updated November 23, 2012 at 1:16 PM

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NASA tops this year's survey of federal employees on the top places work in federal government. The agency scored higher than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Office of Management and Budget among the Top 3. There were no Department of Defense agencies ranked in the top 11.

The federal Office of Personnel Management asked 1.5 million full- and part-time civilian government workers in the spring of 2012 to fill out a survey on job satisfaction. Nearly 700,000 did reply, which is more than any previous response.

More - Link >>> http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/11/nasa_tops_federal_employees_li.html

Source: The Huntsville Times On-Line.

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