You saw it on the news. You read about it in the press. But now you can learn the inside story of the team that launched the world’s first civilian rocket into space.

As many of you know, I was one of the team leaders of this historic mission.  On May 17, 2004, after years of agonizing rocket crashes and catastrophes — some quite spectacular — we accomplished our remarkable goal.

I stuffed the book with 90 full-color photos to bring the adventure to life in vivid detail.  It’s 244 pages long in a wonderfully oversized 6×9 format.  (Paperback size wouldn’t do justice to the glorious color images.)  Check out the covers here.

You can order the book from Amazon by clicking here.

I encourage you to check out my book’s companion Web site at www.TheNewRaceToSpace.com.  You’ll see lots of interesting videos and other neat stories. And, as a bonus, you can save $2.00 if you use the Web site’s special ordering link and enter Discount Code NDE55XNW.

Discovery News:  “Pop the red, cranberry-sized miracle fruit in your mouth and chew it for a while, allowing its juices to coat your mouth. It doesn’t taste like much. But what follows ‘is just a miracle or a kind of magic’ according to Keiko Abe, of the University of Tokyo, as you sample other foods. ‘Beer tastes like sweet juice. Lemon tastes like sweet orange.’

“Sour foods are perceived as trippily sweet when tasted for up to an hour after consuming the berry. This effect has led curious folks in the U.S. and elsewhere to seek the miracle fruit for ‘flavor-tripping’ parties: pop the fruit with friends, then sample a smorgasbord of sour-leaning snacks: limes, goat cheese, beer, grapefruit, vinegar, pickles and more.

“‘To me it was very exhilarating. It really is a very joyous experience,’ said writer Adam Gollner of trying the fruit. Gollner is author of The Fruit Hunters, which includes a chapter on the miracle fruit. “It’s almost like this thing that you can’t understand that is happening to you. That sense of incomprehensibility is a great feeling.’”

For the complete Discovery News article, click here: http://bit.ly/tW1qVS

Image courtesy of Keiko Abe / Science

Until now, your options for flat-panel TVs really boiled down to LCD, LED, or plasma.  But if you’re in the market for a large flat-panel TV, and you want to future-proof your selection, you may want to switch your sights to OLED — organic light-emitting diode technology.

OLEDs provide amazing clarity, contrast, and color saturation.  In the not-to-distant future, they’ll be the technology behind the paper-thin TVs you’ll be able to affix to your wall like wall paper.  In the meantime, manufacturers are ready to roll out more-traditional flat-screen TVs made of OLEDs — such as the stunning 55-inch TV by LG Electronics.

The soon-to-be-unveiled LG Electronics 55-inch OLED flat-screen TV is just 4mm thick  (just a little more than an eighth of an inch).  And the entire TV weighs just 16.5 pounds.

The LG Electronics 55-inch OLED TV is scheduled to be revealed at the International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas on January 10th.  For more information, visit this link:  http://fxn.ws/tgDLlb

Image courtesy LG Electronics

My brother-in-law, Larry, gave my wife, Elsie, a musical Christmas ornament 23 years ago — when he was just 8 years old.  23 years later, the Christmas ornament still plays its song — Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer — with the ORIGINAL BATTERY.  It would seem technically impossible.  But, for some unexplained reason, the ornament keeps working.

Not even today’s advanced lithium batteries would function for 23 years.  (Their shelf life is approx. 10 years.)  And back 23 years ago, the battery that was glued into the ornament was the cheapest possible — as the entire ornament only cost Larry a few dollars.  The battery should have lasted four or five years, at most.  But now we’re just two years short of a QUARTER CENTURY.

Would you like to see and hear the ornament for yourself?  Here’s a link to a YouTube video of Elsie and Larry playing the ornament on December 12, 2010.  And here’s a link to a YouTube video of Elsie, Larry, and other family members playing the ornament just a couple of days ago — on December 18, 2011.

You can also scroll down and click on the images below — to immediately play our 2010 and 2011 family YouTube videos.

None of my engineer buddies (in fact, no one who I’ve talked to) has been able to suggest a plausible reason why this ornament continues to play, year after year.  Hence it’s why our family has named it our “miracle Christmas ornament.”

Now, I’m not saying that this ornament is divinely powered.  For us, the phrase  is simply a fun way to talk about our annual family tradition regarding this amazing, never-quit, holiday gift.

How long will it keep going?  Will it make a full quarter of a century?  Impossible to predict.  We’re in uncharted territory.  I’ll keep you posted through the next couple of years.

Let me take this moment to wish a heartfelt “Happy Holidays” to all of my readers — of all faiths — around the globe.  Thank you for letting me be part of your world each week.

-- Eric

From December 12, 2010:

From December 18, 2011:

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered an Earth-like planet with balmy 70-degree temperatures: “Kepler-22b”.  The plant is 2.4 times the diameter of Earth, and orbits its sun in 290 days.

But we won’t be visiting anytime soon, as the planet is 600 light years away.  How far is 600 light years?  Well, consider that light travels 186,287 miles each second.  Now multiply 186,287 miles times the number of seconds in 600 years.  Whew!

Scientists have pointed the 42 dish antennas that comprise California’s Allen Telescope Array on Kepler-22b to see if it can detect any radio waves — to perhaps catch a Keplerian broadcast of “Dancing with the Stars” (sorry — couldn’t resist that).

Something to think about:  If scientists on Kepler-22b were scanning Earth for radio or TV broadcasts, they wouldn’t hear anything.  Radio waves travel at the speed of light.  So, they’d be examining Earth as it was 600 years ago — and radio was invented here less than 150 years ago.

For additional details about this planetary discovery, including a video of the mission managers discussing their find, check out the following article in the San Jose Mercury News:  http://bit.ly/smOSZF

Artist’s conception courtesy of NASA / Ames/ JPL-Caltech

As I reported in an earlier post, NASA’s Curiosity rover is about twice as long and about five times heavier than the most recent Opportunity and Spirit rovers.  But what’s really unique is that it’s powered by a radioisotope power system instead of solar panels.  The result:  Curiosity should be able to operate continuously through sandstorms and Martian winters for years.

If you’d like to read more about NASA’s Curiosity rover and its innovative power plant, check out a CNET article at this link:  http://cnet.co/rs8Xlz

Image courtesy of NASA

Just when you thought scientific research couldn’t get any more bizarre, here’s a new benchmark:  Researchers at the University College London have apparently discovered a link between the number of Facebook friends and the size particular of brain regions, such as the amygdala, where memory and emotion are processed.

The researchers do not suggest whether they believe it was Facebook activity that increased the size of these portions of the brain — or — if someone’s amygdala size, for instance, influences a person’s desire to acquire Facebook friends.

If you’d like to know more about this unusual study, check out the Reuter’s report here:  http://reut.rs/rm6Apb.  And, yes, feel free to share the details with your friends on Facebook.

Image courtesy of Reuters

London (CNN) — An independent study of global temperature records has reaffirmed previous conclusions by climate scientists that global warming is real.

The new analysis by the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project examined 1.6 billion temperature reports from 15 data archives stretching back over 200 years in an effort to address scientific concerns raised by climate skeptics about the data used to inform reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Researchers found “reliable evidence” of a rise in average world land temperatures of one degrees Celsius — or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — since the mid-1950s.

[NOTE:  To attempt to quell any straggling skeptics, the researchers have published their methodology, entire data set, and software code, in a fully transparent and well-designed research protocol.   Here's the link:   http://berkeleyearth.org]

“Our biggest surprise was that the new results agreed so closely with the warming values published previously by other teams in the United States and the UK,” professor Richard A. Muller, Berkeley Earth’s scientific director said in a statement.

“This confirms that these studies were done carefully and that potential biases identified by climate change skeptics did not seriously affect their conclusions,” Muller added.

Climate skeptics have consistently challenged the findings of studies by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the UK’s University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, whose research is used by the IPCC.

For the complete CNN report, including links to the actual study, please visit http://bit.ly/qNMjJE

Image courtesy of CNN

NASA has introduced a plan to pay private aerospace companies $1.6 billion to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).  A variety of new commercial aerospace companies are expected to compete for the job of providing “turnkey” launch, flight, return, maintenance, and ground-support operations.

The commercialization of space will be an exciting era.  The retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet may provide a short-term space-transportation gap, but — in the long run — the opportunities and new doors that will open will be amazing.

ISS graphic courtesy of NASA

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to fall to earth by Friday. Much of the satellite will burn up during its blazing flight through the atmosphere, but large components will likely survive to impact land or water. Because of the satellite’s orbital path, northern Canada and southern South America are most at risk from any incoming debris.

For more information, visit the following Reuters report:  http://reut.rs/n0IMAo

NASA is also posting regular updates here:  www.nasa.gov/uars

Photo courtesy of Space.com and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

The America Invents Act is the most significant overhaul of U.S. patent law since 1952.  Through this Act, American inventors can hope to see a breakthrough in the logjam of patent applications that hold up applications for years at a time.  (At last count, there are over 700,000 backlogged patent applications — slowing countless product and business innovaions from seeing the light of day.)

The bill also gets the U.S. on the same patent footing as the rest of the world, by changing our system from a “first-to-invent” standard to a “first-to-file” standard.  This one change, alone, is designed to eliminate the myriad of court cases that try to resolve which inventor came up with an idea first.

Additional information can be read at the following AP report: http://bit.ly/pWOQR0

Photo courtesy of the AP.

According to the Associated Press, “IBM’s supercomputer system, best known for trouncing the world’s best ‘Jeopardy!’ players on TV, is being tapped by one of the nation’s largest health insurers to help diagnose medical problems and authorize treatments.  WellPoint Inc., which has 34.2 million members, will integrate Watson’s lightning speed and deep health care database into its existing patient information, helping it choose among treatment options and medicines.”

I have mixed feelings about this development.  We all remember how the HAL 9000 turned against the astronauts in 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Sure, that was science fiction.  But so were artificial satellites when they were envisioned a decade before Sputnik by the master science-fiction writers Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.  Computers are marvelous tools.  But good ol’ fashion intuition, by a seasoned physician, is (with current technology) impossible to replicate.

For the full AP article, visit http://bit.ly/n621oi

Photo courtesy AP and IBM

If you can locate the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), and you have a good pair of binoculars or small telescope, you’ll be able to observe a supernova along with amateur and professional astronomers all over the world.

The best time for viewing is right after sunset, before the moon comes up and washes out the sky with its reflected light.

Here’s a link to an excellent one-and-a-half-minute YouTube video by Berkeley Lab scientist Peter Nugent that will help you spot and view the supernova:   http://bit.ly/qilPZ9

For additional information and images, visit the USA TODAY article at http://usat.ly/okjuOS.  (Click on the “BEFORE” and “AFTER” buttons in the USA TODAY interactive image.)

Image of The Pinwheel Galaxy (where the supernova is occurring) courtesy of Reuters and The Guardian.

According to a news report from the BBC, the world’s smallest electric motor “could have applications in both nanotechnology and in medicine….

“The butyl methyl sulphide molecule was placed on a clean copper surface, where its single sulfur atom acted as a pivot….  As well as forming a part of the tiniest machines the world has ever seen, such minute mechanics could be useful in medicine — for example, in the controlled delivery of drugs to targeted locations.

“The next thing to do is to…couple it to other molecules, lining them up next to one another so they’re like miniature cog-wheels.”

To read the complete BBC report, visit http://bbc.in/qZKTg4

Volkswagen’s annual car-design competition has a particularly bold entry by designer, Zhang Yuan.  Her design — called the Volkswagen Aqua — runs on hydrogen fuel cells that drive powerful fans for lift and propulsion.  The vehicle is designed to continually transition between land and water (snow and ice, too), so you could literally travel anywhere over any terrain.  Anticipated top speed is 62 MPH.

Check out a recent article at Discovery.com here:  http://bit.ly/jQXfGz

Fuel cells are becoming more and more viable as a zero-emission power source.  For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell.

Image courtesy Zhan Yuan / Volkwagen

Less than a month into its five-year journey to Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this nifty picture of the Earth and moon, as part of the vehicle’s “JunoCam” checkout procedures.  The Earth is the larger bright spot on the left, and the moon is the dot on the right.

The Juno spacecraft has 439 million miles to travel before it gets to Jupiter.  One can only imagine the other photos it may take along its celestial course.

For more information regarding the photo, check out the NASA JPL article at http://1.usa.gov/pDDjTh

For more information on the Juno mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/juno

A recent study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research discovered that the communities near large, busy airports received more precipitation than surrounding regions.  Why so?

Well, scientists speculate that the rapid compression and expansion of air around turboprop propellers chills and condenses the water vapor in the air creating (depending on the season) snow or rain.

Could air travel have an effect on global precipitation — and climate in general?  Not really.  Given the enormous volume of air that comprises the atmosphere*, the influence of air travel is (you might say) a drop in the bucket.

It didn’t appear that the researchers looked at the air compression / expansion caused by air flow around the wings of a plane, but I believe that could play a role too.

*In case you’re curious, and if I did my math correctly, the volume of air in the atmosphere is 4.18 billion cubic kilometers…give or take. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug — Zalboraf — that has shown effectiveness in treating a challenging, and in some cases fatal, form of skin cancer.  This is the second melanoma treatment to be approved this year; in March, the FDA approved the drug Yervoy.  For more information, review the article at http://bit.ly/pxhyhW

Many people believe that the first human to step foot on Mars will be from the U.S.  Well, think again.

Discovery published today an interesting article (“Russia and Europe to Send Man to Mars?”) that challenges the common perception that an American would be first to walk on the red planet.

The article quotes Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), as saying that the ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) would “carry out the first flight to Mars together.”

Russia and the ESA are wrapping up a project in which six individuals simulated a year-and-a-half round-trip to Mars; the team lived the entire time in a cramped 550-cu.-ft. simulated spaceship. The experiment, which will conclude in November, has examined the effects of continuous, close-quarter working on the mind and body.

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, Russia clearly leads in “heavy lift” rocket technology.  And just this week they unveiled the design of a new manned spacecraft at an international air show.  Bottom line:  Russia and Europe have “the right stuff” — and are doing the right things — to propel them to the goal of Mars.

For the thought-provoking Discovery article, check out http://bit.ly/olFmgH

Mars image courtesy of NASA

As reported in the European Respiratory Journal, dogs can be trained to sniff the breath of patients and confirm cases of lung cancer.

The four dogs in the study were two German shepherds, a Labrador retriever, and an Australian shepherd.  The dogs’ overall accuracy was 71%.

For additional details, take a look at the following excellent report in today’s Daily Mail: http://bit.ly/q0ChrB

Over the last couple of months I’ve seen a flurry of doom ‘n’ gloom scenarios based on the nearing peak (in mid 2013) of the 11-year solar cycle.  For instance, a little over a week ago I read in the International Business Times, “Severe Solar Storm to Create Global Chaos and Complete Darkness” followed a week later by “Severe Solar Storms Could Disrupt Earth This Decade.”

I’m not picking on the IB Times.  I’ve seen similar reports in Popular Science, such as the June 30th article entitled, “Are We Prepared for a Catastrophic Solar Storm?”

So are we all toast?

Here’s the reality:

It’s true that with the near total dependence on computers for every aspect of our lives, we’ve never been more vulnerable to solar activity.  I described in a previous article a recent near-miss of a CME (corona mass ejection) — essentially a ball of plasma ejected by the sun.  If a large CME hits our planet, power could certainly go down for an extended period of time.

One of the biggest concerns of scientists is the “Fukushima Effect” in which the backup generators and battery systems at nuclear power plants run out power.  Such a circumstance could cascade to the point where water-cooling systems would become inoperable — and result in Fukushima-like catastrophes around the world.  The actual chances?  Hard to predict precisely.  But, by legitimate estimates, pretty low.

More likely to occur:  Gas pumps at your local service station would stop working.  (They’re essentially computerized pumps; the credit-card processing network would also likely go down.)   “Telecommuting” would not be possible, as phone and Internet would be flicked off like a switch.  Cell phone service would also go down as soon as the backup generators and / or batteries at the cell towers run out of juice.  (You won’t be able to charge your cell phones, anyway.)

If the power grid goes down, once your food runs out (or spoils) in your fridge, don’t count on restocking at the supermarket.  The 18 wheelers that are the mainstay of food delivery across the country would also quickly run out of fuel — and, as mentioned above, the services stations would be unable to refill the rigs.

The probability of a sweeping, worldwide catastrophe as outline above is low.  But CMEs can, and have, made direct Earth strikes over the centuries — and caused significant disruptions.  Do a Google search for the “Carrington Event.”  In 1859, during the peak of another solar cycle, a CME knocked out telegraph offices around the globe (and even shocked some of the telegraph operators).  Most scientists agree that — because of entrenched computerization and satellite-based communications — the same magnitude CME today would disrupt society on a widespread basis.

I’m hoping the media doesn’t escalate the risks to an astronomical level.  The last thing we need is a massive wave of hysteria.  But, hey, it can’t hurt to keep an extra candle or two around the house.  And, perhaps, a couple of cans of Spam…

For a reasonably well-proportioned (non-hyped) news report — with an exceptional piece of video from NASA of a CME — check out the following two-minute CNN video:  http://bit.ly/h7GEmn

For reference, the NASA image associated with this article shows the approximate size of the Earth as compared to a solar eruption.  (In reality, the Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun — so a flare would never envelop the Earth as in the NASA comparison.)

The Los Angeles Times reports that MIT scientists have created a drug that “…takes advantage of a molecule called double-stranded RNA, which is produced by many, many viruses when they infect mammalian cells. Uninfected, our cells usually don’t make this double-stranded RNA, and to some extent our cells have evolved to recognize this structure and respond. Just not potently enough. The drug created by the MIT team can enter mammalian cells and is engineered to induce the cells to commit suicide if — and only if — they contain double-stranded RNA.”

The scientists’ preliminary studies were effective against 15 virus types, including Dengue fever and H1N1.  It will be interesting to see if the next phase of research can replicate this significant level of success.

For the full LA Times article, visit http://lat.ms/q077Jb

I received lots of e-mails regarding my 3D human-organ “printer” articles.  On the lighter side of 3D printing are the amazing new “factory in a box” devices available to the public.  Make model cars, cutlery, drink bottles, chess set pieces, a lunch box, toy soldiers — let your imagination run wild — with just a push of a button.

MakerBot’s “Thing-O-Matic” is one of the leading gadgets in this new marketplace.  For $1,225, you can manufacture with plastic almost any hand-sized object you can imagine.  Just plug the Thing-O-Matic into your PC’s USB port and (using supplied software) it squirts out molten plastic, layer by layer, until your creation is completed.

Check out an excellent article from the UK’s DailyMail here http://bit.ly/fCQvkY.

“Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to successfully destroy cancer tumors in patients with advanced disease — a goal that has taken 20 years to achieve.  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania engineered patients’ own pathogen-fighting T-cells to target a molecule found on the surface of leukemia cells.  The results provide ‘a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of other cancers,’ including those of the lung and ovaries as well as myeloma and melanoma, researchers said.”

For the complete article, visit http://reut.rs/p3tGN9

Photo courtesy of Reuters

Visit the following link http://1.usa.gov/qjThYb to watch the Perseids meteor shower from the comfort of your computer.  You’ll connect to NASA’s Web cameras.  Tonight (Friday, August 12th into tomorrow morning) is the shower peak.  At the Web site, you can also chat with NASA astronomers and support team.  Of course, you can watch the meteor shower the ol’ fashioned way by strolling out into your backyard.  For the best viewing, give yourself a few minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark.  Enjoy!

One of my readers asked me to research something he spotted a couple of years ago: a mouse suspended in mid air without any perceivable support mechanisms.

Yes, it did occur. It was a rather unique NASA experiment. The trick? Scientists used a superconducting magnet to levitate the water inside of a mouse. Here’s an article from LiveScience: http://bit.ly/kb330d

If NASA could develop the system on a larger scale, it’s possible that the same technique could be used with humans to simulate the effects of microgravity. (We’re 60 – 70% water, so the technique should, in theory, work.)

If that fizzles for NASA, fear not: Perhaps the gadget could become part of the next Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas.

In the swirl of the 24-hour news cycle, an important discovery like this might slip through the cracks.  But this is substantial news, as it touches upon possible origins of life here on Earth.

Check out the excellent report published today at SPACE.com via this link: http://bit.ly/ptYTRb

A water reservoir — 140 trillion times the earth’s ocean water — was recently discovered in space, according to the International Business Times. The water is being consumed by a quasar (the tandem of a galaxy center and a massive black hole).   The complete article can be viewed here http://bit.ly/n2rcyE.

The more astronomers look, the more water is found throughout the universe.  If water is essential to life, as most scientists believe, then the universe is a very welcoming spa.

Artist rendering of a quasar by NASA

A couple of weeks ago I described how living organs for transplant procedures are being created with stem cells.  Well, the breakthroughs on the bioengineering front continue to happen fast and furious.

Just recently, researches have successfully “printed” a living blood vessel using a fluid containing a brew of blood-vessel cells and muscle cells.  This is an ingenious application of 3D printers — remarkable devices that can create three-dimensional objects by applying multiple layers of a liquid construction material.  (For more info, visit this Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing.)

Printed blood vessels could have tremendous applications in surgery.  For instance, a patient awaiting bypass surgery could have blood vessels printed in the days leading up to the procedure — with the vessels made from a small sampling of his or her own cells.  The ultimate vision is to print complete organs — even new hearts — as an alternative to transplants.

Given the pace of this technology’s development, I believe were only talking a handful of years before we see it saving lives in major hospitals.  Very exciting.

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation), a leading private aerospace firm founded by Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal), intends to fly its Dragon capsule via the company’s Falcon launch vehicle to the ISS on November 30th.  It would be huge news if they can pull off this feat, especially with the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet.

According to Garrett Reisman, a veteran NASA astronaut and now an employee of SpaceX:  “The next flight of the Dragon we’re going to go all the way and berth it to the space station, drop cargo off and bring stuff back.”

Stay tuned for more information. 

Dragon capsule image courtesy SpaceX

According to published reports, in nine years Russia intends to de-orbit and dump the ISS into the Pacific Ocean in nine years.  Other ISS partners, however, have different intentions.  The consortium of the U.S. (NASA), Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has expressed support to keep the space station flying until at least 2028.

In March 2001, the Russian MIR space station was disposed of similarly, as Russia de-orbited the station into the South Pacific Ocean.

Additional information about Russia’s apparent plans for the ISS can be read at http://bit.ly/pxdAR2.  Photo courtesy of NASA

Numerous reports came out today citing the National Institute of Health and its thought that a “universal” flu shot is not to far off.  The intent is to create a single shot for all strains of flu, and potentially eliminating the need for annual flu shots.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/nYgYhb.

Photo courtesy International Business Times

In 2007 President Bush signed into law an energy bill that requires light bulbs to be 30 percent more efficient by 2012.  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Today’s old-fashioned “Edison” bulbs turn only 10% of electricity into light — with the other 90% turned into heat.  But now some “brilliant” lawmakers want to overturn the 2007 law, and they’ve introduced legislation to do so.

Their rationale?  People should have the right to choose how they want to light their homes and businesses, regardless of bulb type or efficiency.  Now, I’m all for a free society and minimal government impact on our lives.  But the reality is that America has five percent of the world’s population, but consumes a whopping 25% of the world’s energy.  Expressed another way:  On average, each one of us consumes five times more energy than an individual in any other country on the planet.  And lighting is one of the heftiest contributors.

Edison bulbs have been around since 1879.  As we all learned in school, Thomas Edison found a way to create light by sending a current through a metal filament, causing it to glow. But this ancient technology, as mentioned above, is a terribly inefficient light source; for most homes, it’s the second-largest energy expense.

Today’s energy-efficient light-bulb alternatives come in all shapes, sizes, and types.

The now-popular “curly” fluorescent light bulbs (a.k.a., compact fluorescent lights, CFLs) are much more energy efficient (20% or more).  But some people don’t like the slight turn-on delay.  And, contrary to recent media reports, they don’t contain life-threatening levels of mercury.  Yes, they contain some mercury — but only about one hundredth (1/100) of the mercury as the medical thermometers we grew up with.

My personal preference is the LED light bulb, based on the same LED technology used in everything from flashlights to TV displays.  They are considerably more expensive — $20 to $40 per bulb.  But, because they are up to 80% efficient (vs. an Edison bulb’s 10% or a CFL’s 20%), they pay back quickly in energy savings — and can save hundreds of dollars per year in operating costs.  And forget about replacing them.  Under typical usage, a single LED bulb can last up to 25 years.

Watch for the costs of LED bulbs to plummet over the next year or two, as demand and production increase.

Companies are springing up, all across America, to manufacture both CFLs and LEDs.  These companies are creating jobs and fostering innovation.  Now if only the light bulb would go on in the heads of our politicians.

Physicists at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology reaffirmed Einstein’s position that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light — thus squashing hopes that time travel and other sci-fi temporal concepts are not possible. The physicists studied the travel of a single photon in a vacuum (like that of space). So humankind’s dreams of gallivanting around the cosmos, in some warp-speed spacecraft, are just not going to happen. Well, at least not in our present universe. But that’s another story…

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/p1ddmu

Image courtesy of Discovery News

The Space Shuttle program may be over, but NASA is looking to spread its wings in other high-flying missions.

For instance, NASA has a presidential mandate to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 — a mind-boggling challenge on multiple dimensions.  As a recent Washington Post article describes:  “You can’t land on an asteroid because you’d bounce off — it has virtually no gravity. Reaching it might require a NASA spacecraft to harpoon it. Heck, astronauts couldn’t even walk on it because they’d float away.”

Check out the very interesting piece by the Washington Post, describing the many technological hurdles of a manned mission to an asteroid, at this link:  http://wapo.st/oNK3Wr

Image courtesy NASA / JPL

Many patients don’t survive the waiting list for a donor organ.  I know, first hand, as I lost a long-time friend while he was waiting for a compatible donor heart.

This logjam is beginning to open with the medical community’s announcement that a patient received a trachea (“windpipe”) that was created with the patient’s own stem cells.  (Stem cells are a versatile type of cell that can transform into many types of cells. http://1.usa.gov/ubcAp)

The trachea was constructed with an artificial “skeleton” of a spongy material which was then immersed in a solution of stem cells.  The cells grew into the sponge material, creating a living organ in less than two weeks.  The resulting trachea was then implanted into the patient (who was suffering from tracheal cancer).  The patient’s body accepted new-formed organ as if it was the original trachea.

In theory, the same process could be used to create other, more complex organs:  liver, pancreas, heart, etc.  We’re still quite a ways from this level of organ development.  But the medical door is now open a crack.  Further progress is just a matter of time.

For more information and additional photos, take a look at a recent article at CNN http://bit.ly/qAibNI.

Image courtesy Harvard Bioscience

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced $41.5 million in grant money for the re-invention of the toilet — the porcelain appliance that’s been a staple of homes and living quarters since the 1700s.  The Foundation stated that current toilet technology is too costly for families in third-world communities, and requires water and sewer connections that many developing societies do not have.  So they’re reaching out to inventors and creative thinkers, everywhere, for a new solution.

If you have some clever ideas swirling in your head, take a look at the  “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” information PDF at http://bit.ly/p4qVZs

You can also read a great overview article at http://bit.ly/ottbCy

Image courtesy of CNN

Look out, Mars.  Here comes one bad-ass dune buggy.  If all goes as planned, the Mars Sciences Laboratory (MSL) — nicknamed “Curiosity” — will blast off to Mars early this winter.  It’s about the size of a Mini Cooper — five times larger than the previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity — and can travel faster, farther, and over rougher terrain than its Mars-vehicle cousins.

Curiosity is an audacious technical marvel in search of past or present life on Mars.  It uses a state-of-the-art radioactive power system to generate electricity and heat.  It’s jam-packed with a multi-million-dollar laboratory of scientific instruments.  And its ingenious landing system is right out of a science-fiction novel:  A “sky crane” will literally lower Curiosity from an above-flying descent stage to the Martian surface.

The launch window is November 25th through December 18th.  Pencil in August 2012 for a wild ride down to the Martian surface.

Rendering courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech

Click through the following slide show of 15 stunning Space Shuttle images:  http://huff.to/o7i0zG

Even though tomorrow’s launch of the Space Shuttle marks the end of this venerable space-launch system, NASA still has a few innovations up its sleeve — including a bag designed to turn astronaut urine into a “sugary drink.”

In the 1960s, the rage was “Tang” in space.  Today it’s a sports drink that I’ve dubbed “Sweet Pee.”  (If that name becomes a hit, remember where you heard it first.)

Image courtesy Wired Magazine

The pace of research and discoveries in the field of medicine, in cancer research particularly, is nothing less than stunning.  Some of the greatest strides are in the field of “personalized medicine,” where diseases are treated at the genetic level — with treatments optimized for each individual patient.

Scientists have discovered that any particular type of cancer is actually a defined group of related cancers.  For instance, prostate cancer is actually comprised of a family of 24 cancers.  And there are eight primary variants of breast cancer.  Knowing the specific cancer variant, in any particular patient, gives doctors an inside track to targeting the cancer with the optimum treatment.

But that’s just the first step.  The most-recent breakthroughs are in the knowledge of each individual’s genetic code.

Just a few years ago, it would have cost millions of dollars to map the entire genome (genetic blueprint) of a single person.  But that price tag has plummeted to $5,000 — thanks to innovative technology companies like Complete Genomics.

Combining precise knowledge of a person’s genome with specific knowledge of a cancer variant is a powerful one-two punch.  It has the real potential to enable ultra-tailored, ultra-effective cancer treatments.  We’re not there yet.  But the convergence of technologies is happening right before our eyes.  Stay tuned.

For additional reference, visit these links:

Wiki genome information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome

Genomics and the treatment of prostate cancer:  http://bit.ly/lRLPtI

Interesting article on Complete Genomics:  http://bit.ly/k8ZW4K

Graphic courtesy of MIT / Technology Review

(Space.com) “A piece of space junk zoomed uncomfortably close by the International Space Station today (June 28), so close that the outpost’s six-man crew had to take shelter in Russian space capsules in case of a collision.  The space debris made its closest approach to the space station at 8:08 a.m. EDT (1208 GMT), coming within 850 feet (260 meters) of the space station, where it posed a slim chance of hitting the station. However, the debris passed by the station without incident and the spaceflyers were able to re-enter the station after about a half hour.”

For the complete Space.com article, please visit http://bit.ly/k2BVd6

Image courtesy of NASA

(ABC News) “A small asteroid, estimated between 16 and 65 feet in diameter, whipped past Earth this afternoon – missing by a mere 7,600 miles.  Asteroid 2011 MD approached Earth at 1 p.m. EDT.”

“NASA said that an object the size of Asteroid 2011 MD is expected to come this close to Earth about every six years on average. Scientists say that when Asteroid 2011 MD makes another pass in 2022, an impact with Earth is possible.”

“A larger, 1,300-foot asteroid, Asteroid 2005 YU55, is expected to flash past Earth on Nov. 8, 2011.”

For the complete article, visit:  http://abcn.ws/j4b2w9

Image courtesy ABC News

We’ve all heard the pre-flight airplane safety briefing that says, “In case of cabin decompression, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling. Pull a mask towards you and place it firmly over your mouth and nose, and breathe normally.  Please note that the bag may not inflate.”

I was flying to Chicago the other on business.  Curiosity finally got the best of me and I asked a flight attendant “Why don’t those little bags inflate?”  He didn’t know.  He asked the other flight attendants.  They didn’t know either.

Since my last flight, I did a bit of searching online.  It turns out that even some pilots in discussion forums were unsure.  But I finally pieced together the answer:  With every inhale, we breathe in quite a volume of air — about half a liter per inhale.   However, the oxygen-delivery system in an airplane can’t deliver that large volume as quickly as we consume it.  So the little bags mix our exhaled air (which still contains a substantial amount of oxygen) with the relative trickle of pure oxygen that’s coming into the bag from the airplane’s supply tube.  When we breathe in, the bag quickly compresses as we inhale all of the air in the little bag plus whatever oxygen has trickled in from the oxygen tube.

So the bag is really just a mixing device, combining the exhaled air from our lungs with that of the supplemental oxygen.  But because our inhales are so large (compared to the size of the bag), the bag will not inflate.

Mystery solved.

And regarding the “breathe normally” part of the safety briefing?  Yeah, right.  Under those circumstances, I think most of us would be sucking in air as fast as our lungs would work.

Image courtesy of London Heathrow Airport.

InfomationWeek published a wonderful visual tour of IBM’s unique place in the technology and computer revolution.  As the author of the article wrote:

“IBM took on massive projects ranging from implementing the Social Security Act of 1935, to developing Cold-War-era aircraft tracking systems and atomic research labs, to building guidance systems for the early space program. IBM has plenty of inventions to its credit along the way, from electric tabulators and typewriters, to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and hard disk drives, to the barcodes and magnetic-stripe cards now ubiquitous in retail transactions.”

Take a stroll down “memory” lane.  The museum-quality pictures (and  the accompanying story) are extraordinary.   Visit http://bit.ly/jQjxdU.

The workhorse of America’s aerospace program for the last 30 years, the Space Shuttle, is about to fly its last mission on July 8th.  Space.com has put together a wonderful article documenting NASA’s preparations for this final mission.   Included are some fantastic pictures.   Check it out at http://bit.ly/kHe9AE

From the soda straw you used last night at your favorite restaurant to the cute charm that popped out of a gumball machine when you were seven years old, they all still exist.

In fact, every piece of plastic created since plastic’s invention in 1856 is still around in some form.  (Okay, unless the plastic item was burned to ashes somewhere.  But you get the idea.)

A plastic container, like a water bottle, buried in a landfill can take a million of years to degrade.  That’s not a typo.  A million years.

Look around you right now.  All of the plastic you see (even the keys on your keyboard) may well be around a million years from now.  Perhaps long after our species has migrated into the vast reaches of the cosmos.  (Weird to think that my toothbrush may be orbiting the sun on a big empty rock eons from now.)

Compounding matters is that plastic is made from petroleum.  The manufacturing of plastic accounts for about 5% of the total U.S. petroleum consumption.  That’s a good chunk of our country’s energy resources.

No, I’m not suggesting that we boycott plastics.  I like sipping a cool drink with a straw as much as anyone.  But, for me, I’m going to give a little extra thought before I casually reach for another plastic water bottle after a run.

Image credit:  PhysOrg.com and Wikimedia Commons

As reported in PhysOrg.com, researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine in Massachusetts have succeeded in creating a “living laser” out of human cells.

According to the report, “It sounds like something out of a comic book or a science fiction movie — a living laser — but that is exactly what two investigators [at the Center] have developed.”

The researchers used a human cell and genetically re-engineered it to emit light using the same principle in which some types of jellyfish emit light.

Scientists hope that these biological lasers could someday be used in “photodynamic therapies.”  That is, treating diseases such as cancer by applying light — from inside the body — to activate photosensitive drugs to destroy cancer cells.

To read the complete PhysOrg.com article, visit http://bit.ly/mRzGqR