--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

quarta-feira, 28 de março de 2012

Email Is More Popular Than Social Media [STUDY]

Email Is More Popular Than Social Media [STUDY]


At http://mashable.com/2012/03/27/email-more-popular-social-media/

by

Social media may be getting all the buzz, but email is still a more popular mode of Internet communication, according to a new survey.

Private research firm Ipsos polled 19,216 adults in 24 countries last month and found 85% of them used the Internet for email while 62% used it for social networking. Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos, says she expected email use to trump that of social media.

"If you think about it, the Internet was first used for sending letters online. It shouldn't be surprising that we're using a digital version of sending a letter," she says. "But the fact that a majority of people are using [the Internet] for social networking is a paradigm shift; there's no equivalent in the offline world."

How people use the Internet varies from country to country. In Hungary, 94% go online to use email while only 46% do so in Saudi Arabia. In Indonesia, 83% of people use the Internet for social networking (defined in the study as visiting social networking sites, forums or blogs.) Social media use is also high in Argentina (76%), Russia (75%) and South Africa (73%). It's low in Japan (35%) and Saudi Arabia (42%). The U.S. figure for social media use was right around the... ( more at http://mashable.com/2012/03/27/email-more-popular-social-media/ )

Brazilian schools microchip T-shirts to cut truancy

Brazilian schools microchip T-shirts to cut truancy

At http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17484532

Schools in Brazil have started to place computer chips in school uniforms to keep track of pupils and reduce truancy.

Some 20,000 pupils in the north-eastern city of Vitoria da Conquista will have microchips embedded in their school T-shirts.

The parents will get a text message when their children arrive at school, or if they are late for classes.

The authorities say the measure will help teacher-parent relations.

SMS alerts
map

The authorities in Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia state, call the microchipped T-shirts "intelligent uniforms".

They say that by next year all local pupils aged up to 14 would use them.

The city's education director, Coriolano Moraes, says the measure was introduced because parents were not aware that their children were missing... ( more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17484532 )

sexta-feira, 23 de março de 2012

National Ignition Facility fires record laser shot.

National Ignition Facility fires record laser shot

At http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/national-ignition-facility-fires-record-laser-shot.html

"It's a remarkable demonstration of the laser from the standpoint of its energy, its precision, its power, and its availability," says Ed Moses, NIF director. He adds that the shot was 2.03 megajoules after passing through the final focusing lens — making the NIF the world's first 2-megajoule ultraviolet laser. Final diagnostic and other optics reduced the energy to 1.875 megajoules at the centre of the target chamber.

Most of the NIF's recent shots have maxed out at 1.6 megajoules. As recently as December, the team was still only 10% of the way towards creating the overall conditions for... (more at http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/national-ignition-facility-fires-record-laser-shot.html )

Will laser guns ever exist?

Science Fiction or Fact: Will Space Battles Be Fought with Laser Weapons?

At http://www.livescience.com/19181-laser-guns-reality.html

Date: 20 March 2012 Time: 02:52 PM ET

n this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries explores the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts.

What would science fiction be without laser beams? From handheld ray guns to spaceship-mounted turbolasers, the futuristic weapon of choice definitely involves bright, colorful blasts of energy.

In the early 21st century, projectiles still remain the standard means of inflicting damage from a distance. Yet continued research into "directed-energy" weapons by the United States military, among others, could someday bring lasers to a battlefield near you.

Lasers are already used in guidance, targeting and communication applications, but significant technological obstacles stand in front of turning them into weapons by themselves. For certain niche scenarios, lasers might prove themselves ideal. It seems unlikely, however, that they will ever outright replace missiles and bullets, as they do in so much sci-fi... ( more at http://www.livescience.com/19181-laser-guns-reality.html )


Why “Immediately” is Unnecessary

Why “Immediately” is Unnecessary (via Rainy of the Dark)

Natasha Larry over at Paranormal Wire asked for more articles on writing. I don’t like rehashing the same ol’ info: don’t use cliches, stick to one POV at a time, wash your hands–er, what? So, I’ve been giving it some thought, and I’ve concluded what we all really need to talk about here…

quinta-feira, 22 de março de 2012

Seagate Reaches 1 Terabit Per Square Inch Milestone In Hard Drive Storage With New Technology Demonstration.

Seagate Reaches 1 Terabit Per Square Inch Milestone In Hard Drive Storage With New Technology Demonstration

At http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=terabit-milestone-storage-seagate-pr&vgnextoid=295d922d58716310VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD


Seagate Reaches 1 Terabit Per Square Inch Milestone In Hard Drive Storage With New Technology Demonstration

CUPERTINO, Calif. - March 19, 2012 - Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) has become the first hard drive maker to achieve the milestone storage density of 1 terabit (1 trillion bits) per square inch, producing a demonstration of the technology that promises to double the storage capacity of today's hard drives upon its introduction later this decade and give rise to 3.5-inch hard drives with an extraordinary capacity of up to 60 terabytes over the 10 years that follow. The bits within a square inch of disk space, at the new milestone, far outnumber stars in the Milky Way, which astronomers put between 200 billion and 400 billion.

Seagate reached the landmark data density with heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), the next- generation recording technology. The current hard drive technology, Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), is used to record the spectrum of digitized data – from music, photos, and video stored on home desktop and laptop PCs to business information housed in sprawling data centers – on the spinning platters inside every hard drive. PMR technology was introduced in 2006 to replace longitudinal recording, a method in place since the advent of hard drives for computer storage in 1956, and is expected to reach its capacity limit near 1 terabit per square inch in the next... ( more at http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=terabit-milestone-storage-seagate-pr&vgnextoid=295d922d58716310VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD )

Military Wants to Implant Tiny 'Doctors' in Soldiers' Bodies.

Military Wants to Implant Tiny 'Doctors' in Soldiers' Bodies

At http://www.livescience.com/19176-military-nanosensors-soldiers-bodies.html

Date: 20 March 2012 Time: 01:29 PM ET

Disease has stalked battlefields since the dawn of war and continues to plague even the ranks of the modern U.S. military. That's why the Pengaton's scientists want to implant tiny particles inside the bodies of soldiers that could diagnose or even treat illness from within.

The military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced its vision for implantable "nanosensors" on March 15. Such tiny sensors would be based on nanoparticles thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair — a watchful swarm of molecules inside soldiers' bodies that could monitor their health around the clock and keep them healthy on the most remote battlefields.

Solving the problem of sickness could have a huge impact on the number of soldiers ready to fight, because far more have historically died due to illness rather than combat. Even in modern times, battle injuries have accounted for only 20 percent of medical evacuations from Iraq — the U.S. military had to evacuate four times as many troops because of disease and nonbattle... ( more at http://www.livescience.com/19176-military-nanosensors-soldiers-bodies.html )


terça-feira, 20 de março de 2012

PayPal Online and Offline.

PayPal Introduces "PayPal Here" for Small Businesses

At http://www.dailytech.com/PayPal+Introduces+PayPal+Here+for+Small+Businesses/article24249.htm

Tiffany Kaiser - March 16, 2012 10:54 AM

The new service allows small businesses to accept many forms of payment via the Internet, offline and mobile devices

PayPal announced a new payments solution today called PayPal Here, which aims to help small businesses make more sales via the Internet, offline and mobile devices.

PayPal Here allows small businesses to accept pretty much any type of payment. Payments can be received in a number of ways, including using an encrypted card reader for swiping credit cards; using a phone camera to scan credit cards and checks; via PayPal accounts, and directly through the mobile app.

In addition to added payment features, small businesses will also receive fraud management capabilities, a flat rate of 2.7 percent for card swipes and PayPal payments, a business debit card for easy access to their money as well as 1 percent cash back on certain purchases, and PayPal's 24x7 live customer support.

According to PayPal the difference between PayPal Here and other mobile payment solutions is that PayPal Here comes from a trusted name, where small businesses can rest assured that their funds are in safe
... ( more at http://www.dailytech.com/PayPal+Introduces+PayPal+Here+for+Small+Businesses/article24249.htm )

sexta-feira, 16 de março de 2012

Diablo III Opening Cinematic Revealed and Launching May 15 – Digital Pre-Sales NOW OPEN.

Diablo III Launching May 15 – Digital Pre-Sales NOW OPEN.

At http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4612389/Test-3_16_2012

The End of Days approaches…. Diablo III will be unleashed from the Burning Hells on May 15, 2012, and you can be ready to play the minute the servers go live by pre-purchasing the game digitally on Battle.net today.


Beginning May 15, players around the world will be able to return to Tristram to discover the dark secrets of a fallen star and begin their quest to save Sanctuary from the impending demonic invasion. To secure your place as a barbarian, monk, demon hunter, witch doctor, or wizard right now, simply log in to your Battle.net account, and then purchase and download* Diablo III, and you'll be ready to play when the game... (more at http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4612389/Test-3_16_2012 )


Diablo III Opening Cinematic Revealed

At http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4081404

When Diablo III is released and you finally embark on your next great adventure, you'll be subjected to a cinematic experience that'll set the stage for your impending journey through Sanctuary and your fight against the evils of the Burning Hells. We're very pleased to present you with that full opening... ( more at http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4081404 )

quinta-feira, 15 de março de 2012

A Life Lived Online: How We Talk About Death on Social Media.

A Life Lived Online: How We Talk About Death on Social Media



At http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_we_talk_about_death_on_social_media.php

Death is a part of life, both on and offline. Facebook and MySpace become gathering spaces for the living to mourn their fallen friends. What kind of language do people use to express their grief?

A new study out of the University of California at Irvine's School of Information and Computer Sciences takes a closer look at the language of bereavement and distress in social media. "Death in social media creates an entirely different kind of experience than we've ever really had before," says Jed Brubaker, a PhD Candidate at the University of California at Irvine. "Traditionally when someone dies, people come together at a certain place, certain time and grieve together - like a cemetery, wake." What types of language people use to mourn their loved one on social media, in front of other users?

Rather than take an obvious, trendy turn toward Facebook, the study looks at MySpace users, many of whom died young. Using a coding system, the researchers identifies emotionallt distressed content and an analysis of that language, which lays a foundation for natural language processing (NLP) tasks, including automatic detection of bereavement-related distress. The researchers discovered that linguistic style can also indicate messages demonstrating distress in the space of post-mortem social media content.

After a user dies, friends visit the page and express their sadness, shock and grief. Later many return and continue updating and conversing with the user, often times sharing events and feelings as if the person were still alive. It's kind of like talking with a ghost.

By examining user-generated content, the researchers were able to observe the grieving process in a naturalistic, public setting. What's more is that this study focuses on "extreme expressions of grief and mourning in SNS following the death of a friend or loved one." This means more than just a few Twitter-esque RIPs, trending topics and the dead popping up in one's Facebook friend list. The researchers sought to expand the current knowledge base around the use of language in online grieving, rather than focus on the fact that people do express their grief on social media.

A previous study took a similar linguistic approach, looking at how those in mourning reacted to the deceased on memorialized Facebook profiles. Of the post-mortem Wall posts, they discovered higher rates of negative emotion than previously, when the user was alive. Visiting a deceased user's profile is seen as both a space for people to mourn and a space of pain. Some return to the profile again and again, continuing to post. Some decide to defriend the dead all... ( more at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_we_talk_about_death_on_social_media.php )

Robots Set New World Record for Ocean Travel and Cyborg Snail Turned Into Living Battery.

Cyborg Snail Turned Into Living Battery

Date: 13 March 2012 Time: 11:07 AM ET



At http://www.livescience.com/19008-cyborg-snail-living-battery.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29

A snail transformed into a living battery has moved the world one step closer to having tiny cyborg spies underfoot.

The pioneering experiment harnessed a snail's blood sugar to "recharge" an implanted battery — the first time researchers have shown sustainable generation of electricity in a living creature's body over several months. If the snails' bodies can create enough electricity to power microelectronics, they could act as living sensors or detectors for the U.S. military and Homeland Security.

"In this [direction] the biofuel cells are expected to operate in small creatures (snails, worms, insects, etc) providing sustainable electrical power for various sensors and wireless transmitters," said Evgeny Katz, a professor of chemistry at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.

Katz and his colleagues implanted the snail with electrodes made of thin sheets of carbon nanotubes — called Buckypaper — that could conduct electricity. Those electrodes, coupled with certain enzymes, created electricity by using glucose sugar and oxygen circulating in the snail's "hemolymph" blood.

Such a setup allowed the snails to roam freely and live life almost as normally as possible — resting and eating allowed the creatures to build up glucose levels to "recharge" the battery. A new study describing the results is detailed in the March 8 online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"Our snail was living for a few months with the implanted electrodes, eating, drinking, moving, etc.," Katz told InnovationNewsDaily. "The snail was fixed for a few minutes to make the electrical measurements and then it was released again to move."

The amount of electricity created was still far below that of just one AAA battery, but Katz's team and its Israeli colleagues at Ben-Gurion University hope to boost the flow of electricity in new experiments. They have also begun testing different substances in the bodies of... (more at  http://www.livescience.com/19008-cyborg-snail-living-battery.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29 )


Robots Set New World Record for Ocean Travel

Date: 13 March 2012 Time: 03:50 PM ET



At http://www.livescience.com/19021-wave-gliders-distance-record.html

Oceangoing robots have broken a distance record by reaching Hawaii from San Francisco, braving 26-foot waves and gale force storms along the way.

The four wave gliders made by Liquid Robotics traveled more than 3,200 nautical miles on the first leg of their 9,000-mile journey across the Pacific. Their arrival on the big island of Hawaii four months after leaving the West Coast shattered the Guinness World Records mark of 2,500 miles for the longest distance traveled by unmanned wave power vehicles.

"We are proud our PacX Wave Gliders have reached their first destination and broken the world record," said Edward Lu, chief of innovative applications at Liquid Robotics, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. "PacX represents a new model for providing widespread and easy access to environmental monitoring of the world's oceans, one in which Liquid Robotics operates fleets of mobile, autonomous ocean robots across previously inaccessible areas."

Each of the four drones consists of an underwater glider connected by a cable to a floating section. The wave gliders convert the endless motion of the ocean's waves into forward thrust, which would allow them to travel thousands of miles without fuel during... ( more at http://www.livescience.com/19021-wave-gliders-distance-record.html )


quarta-feira, 14 de março de 2012

Space is bad for astronauts' eyes and nanotrees' energy.

Space is bad for astronauts' eyes

At http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21585-space-is-bad-for-astronauts-eyes.html

Space flight may be bad for your eyesight. Changes found in astronauts' eye tissue may cause vision problems, and possibly even blindness. As well as threatening the health of astronauts, this could jeopardise long-haul missions into space.

Larry Kramer of Texas Medical School in Houston and colleagues carried out MRI scans on 27 NASA astronauts after they had spent an average of 108 days in space. Four had bulging of the optic nerve, three had kinks in the nerve sheath, and six had flattening of the eyeball.

The changes match those seen in people with idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a rare condition in which the pressure of blood and other fluids is abnormally high in the brain. People with the condition experience headaches, nausea, vomiting and visual problems including blindness.

In space, the alterations are probably caused by living in free-fall. "One potential mechanism is that blood which normally pools in the legs is shifted toward the skull, raising pressure," says Kramer.

The findings tally with the results of a survey of 300 astronauts carried out last year. Deteriorations in vision were reported by 29 per cent of astronauts on short-term missions, and 60 per cent on long-term missions.

Mission to Mars

"If astronauts are exhibiting these changes after only 100 days in space, what will happen on a three-year flight to Mars?" asks Jason Kring, who studies human performance in extreme conditions at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in( more at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21585-space-is-bad-for-astronauts-eyes.html )




Nanotrees mimic nature to harvest the sun's energy

Tiny forest uses sunlight to turn water in hydrogen fuel without greenhouse gas emissions


At http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46705416/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T2CFtXmAq1e

By
updated 3/12/2012 11:59:37 AM ET

If humans are going to mimic nature's unique way of converting sunlight into energy, we're going to need to build some very extraordinary trees.

Electrical engineers in California want to do just that. Their new "nanotree" device is made from cheap, abundant materials and uses sunlight to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen atoms that can be used in fuel cells to produce energy.

Hydrogen fuel cells could power everything from houses to cars. But hydrogen doesn't exist alone in nature. The atoms have to be separated from other molecules, like water.

Doing that requires energy and at present, about 90 present of hydrogen gas is created using fossil fuels, causing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, said Ke Sun, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student at U.C. San Diego who worked with Deli Wang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, to produce the nanotree.

PHOTOS: Supercharged! Battery Power from the Future

Their nanotrees could potentially use sunlight to ultimately generate an electrical current for a controlled reaction without greenhouse gas emissions.

Basically it's just like a tree, said Wang, who along with Sun published an article about the nanotrees in the journal Nanoscale.

The nanotrees were several years in the making. Wang had worked on branched nanostructures before but they didn't resemble trees, and they weren't intended to ( more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46705416/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T2CFtXmAq1e )

segunda-feira, 12 de março de 2012

For Creators of Games, a Faint Line on Cloning.

For Creators of Games, a Faint Line on Cloning

At http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/technology/for-creators-of-video-games-a-faint-line-on-cloning.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

In any commercialized art form, be it movies, literature or fashion, the creators often tread a fine line between inspiration and shameless copying. Some small video game makers say that line seems to have all but disappeared.

Vlambeer, a small start-up based in the Netherlands, made a free online game in 2010 called Radical Fishing. The game involved catching fish with a hook, reeling them in and tossing them in the air, and then shooting them with a gun. Radical Fishing became popular, so Vlambeer planned a sequel, Ridiculous Fishing, for Apple's iPhones and iPads.

But then a new game appeared in Apple's store: Ninja Fishing, made by a company called Gamenauts. This game involved catching fish with a hook, reeling them in and tossing them in the air, but then slashing them with a katana sword. Ninja Fishing became a top app in Apple's App Store.

NimbleBit, another game start-up, had a similar situation. Its Tiny Tower, in which players added floors to a building and made the little residents happy with good jobs and lots of recreation, became the Apple App Store's game of the year. Along came Zynga, the big game developer, with a game called Dream Heights, in which players added floors to a tower and made the little residents happy with good jobs and lots of recreation.

Cloning the soul of a game — its gameplay mechanics, design, characters and storyline — is now commonplace in digital marketplaces like Apple's iOS App Store and Google's Android Market.

And while the app stores have offered an unparalleled opportunity for independent software makers to reach customers and make money with an innovative game, they are learning it is just as easy for another game studio to compete with a very similar ( more at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/technology/for-creators-of-video-games-a-faint-line-on-cloning.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all )

quinta-feira, 8 de março de 2012

Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel? And 'Twisted' waves.

Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel?

At http://www.livescience.com/18808-invention-wheel.html

Date: 02 March 2012 Time: 06:24 PM

Wheels are the archetype of a primitive, caveman-level technology. But in fact, they're so ingenious that it took until 3500 B.C. for someone to invent them. By that time — it was the Bronze Age — humans were already casting metal alloys, constructing canals and sailboats, and even designing complex musical instruments such as harps.

The tricky thing about the wheel is not conceiving of a cylinder rolling on its edge. It's figuring out how to connect a stable, stationary platform to that cylinder.

"The stroke of brilliance was the wheel-and-axle concept," said David Anthony, a professor of anthropology at Hartwick College and author of "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language" (Princeton, 2007). "But then making it was also difficult."

To make a fixed axle with revolving wheels, Anthony explained, the ends of the axle had to be nearly perfectly smooth and round, as did the holes in the center of the wheels; otherwise, (...) ( more at http://www.livescience.com/18808-invention-wheel.html )


'Twisted' waves could boost capacity of wi-fi and TV.

At http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17221490

A striking demonstration of a means to boost the information-carrying capacity of radio waves has taken place across the lagoon in Venice, Italy.

The technique exploits what is called the "orbital angular momentum" of the waves - imparting them with a "twist".

Varying this twist permits many data streams to fit in the frequency spread currently used for just one.

The approach, described in the New Journal of Physics, could be applied to radio, wi-fi, and television.

The parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are used for all three are split up in roughly the same way, with a spread of frequencies allotted to each channel. Each one contains a certain, limited amount of information-carrying capacity: its bandwidth.

As telecommunications have proliferated through the years, the spectrum has become incredibly crowded, with little room left for new means of signal transmission, or for existing means to expand their bandwidths.

But Bo Thide of Swedish Institute of Space Physics and a team of colleagues in Italy hope to change that by exploiting an entirely new physical mechanism to fit more capacity onto the same... ( more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17221490 )

sexta-feira, 2 de março de 2012

About evolution (Feb. 27, 2012).

Protein Identified That Can Lengthen Our Life?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2012) — Cells use various methods to break down and recycle worn-out components -- autophagy is one of them. In the dissertation she will be defending at Umeå University in Sweden, Karin Håberg shows that the protein SNX18 is necessary for cells to be able to perform autophagy.

In animal experiments on both simple organisms like fruit flies and in more complex animals like mice, researchers have seen that stimulating autophagy leads to increased longevity. It is still unclear whether these results are directly translatable to humans. However, there are theories that calorie restriction, which is a relatively well-established way of increasing longevity, induces higher levels of autophagy, which would help delay aging. Cells metabolize their old proteins and cell organelles by ... (more at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227111202.htm )


Immortal Worms Defy Aging

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2012) — Researchers from The University of Nottingham have demonstrated how a species of flatworm overcomes the aging process to be potentially immortal.

The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) and may shed light on the possibilities of alleviating aging and age-related characteristics in human cells. Planarian worms have amazed scientists with their apparently limitless ability to regenerate. Researchers have been studying their ability to replace aged or damaged tissues and cells in a bid to understand the mechanisms underlying their longevity.

Dr Aziz Aboobaker from... ( more at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227152612.htm )



Glow and be eaten – marine bacteria use light to lure plankton and fish

domingo, 26 de fevereiro de 2012 Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Jerusalem, February 27, 2012 – Not all that glitters is gold. Sometimes it is just bacteria trying to get ahead in life.

Many sea creatures glow with a biologically produced light. This phenomenon, known as bioluminescence, is observed, among others, in some marine bacteria which emit a steady light once they have reached a certain level of concentration (a phenomenon called "quorum sensing") on organic particles in ocean waters.

Though this was a known occurrence, the benefits of producing light remained unclear.

Now, in an article published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), researchers... ( more at http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=117844&CultureCode=en )

quinta-feira, 1 de março de 2012

Strange skies: Seven wonders of the atmosphere.

Strange skies: Seven wonders of the atmosphere.


At http://www.newscientist.com/special/strange-skies


CLOUDSCAPE

Cosmic confusion in the clouds

Where do clouds come from? Cosmic rays might be involved – and there are plenty more nebulous mysteries to ponder too
Read more

HIGH LIFE

Invisible beings that live far above

Few creatures soar as high as the invisible denizens of Earth's skies. It is even possible that life on Earth began up there in the stratosphere
Read more

NIGHT LIGHT

Turbocharged auroras

Most of the time the northern and southern lights are barely perceptible to the naked eye. Yet sometimes they become a hundred or a thousand times brighter
Read more

OCEAN OF AIR

Mighty air tides

Tides in our ocean of air have surprising power, reaching down to trigger landslips and up into space to jam radio links and snare satellites
Read more

STORMS

Lightning should be impossible

Lightning is almost as puzzling to modern science as it was to our awestruck ancestors. Could supernovae be the trigger?
Read more

NATURAL DISASTERS

Weird earthquake warning lights

Glowing, drifting orbs; blue-white sheets of light; flames licking up from the ground: for millennia, people have reported baleful lights around earthquakes
Read more

LAST GASP

When will our air become unbreathable?

Earth's atmosphere should remain broadly hospitable for many millions of years - but eventually the planet's last gasp will come
Read more