Airbus Unveils Invisible Plane Plans

Passenger planes of the future may be quite a different experience from what we experience today.  The claustrophobic sensation of being in a tiny fuselage among a hundred other passengers may soon give way to a sensation of awe as the fuselage suddenly becomes transparent and passengers look in any direction able to see themselves passing through the clouds without the plane anywhere in sight.  Imagine standing in a plane as the floor suddenly vanishes from sight and seeing the ground passing beneath your feet a thousand feet below.


 
Imagine sitting down in your seat and watching as the plane's fuselage disappears all around you.  As you watch yourself suspended in what seems to be thin air the plane would begin take off and you would be able to see the runway quickly speeding past you on the ground.  As the craft made its ascent you would be able to observe your ascent as you quickly took off the ground.  Many people would have various reactions to this technology.  Many have already declared they would never get on an invisible plane even if they were paid to.  But imagine, if you will, the breathtaking sight of flying into a storm cloud and witnessing the cloud parting in front of you as you soar into the distance.  This incredible technology may just what the aviation industry needs to keep flying.  But other than a tourist draw, how many applications will there be for invisible aircraft?  And what problems might these planes face if they ever got off the ground so to speak?

Aside from the obvious military applications of invisibility technology, there is a very real possibility that people travelling with invisibility technology may find the experience more convenient as windows are customized to each passengers' wishes.  If an electrified field around a specially treated plate are all that is necessary to render an area invisible, windows could simply be made of layers like onions that could be made wider or smaller leaving the flying experience still more convenient for those terrified of flying.

Will invisible planes be the future of air travel?  And what problems will they face?  First of all, bathrooms will obviously have to be made opaque for the convenience and privacy of passengers.  The seats would obviously still be visible.  And there may even be a carpeted area or platform for passengers to make sure they were able to see their way around the craft.  The cockpit would likely have to remain opaque, or a wall would have to be placed between the passengers and the pilots of the craft.  And if the vehicle were entirely invisible to the outside as well, it may pose a threat to birds and other planes in the area.  Landing and guidance may be more difficult without visual confirmation unless the plane once again turned opaque.  But these problems seem small enough given the opportunity to soar amid the clouds in what seems like an unaided and magical trip.

Moon Photo Raises "Moonbase" Questions

It's long been a fantasy and a theory of people worldwide for decades.  What if humans or some other race of beings somehow were using the moon as a base of operations?  And now a recent photo has raised several questions among those who believe the US or some other world (or off-world) power may be using the moon as a base of operations.  The pictures were taken from Google and suggest a series of rowed structures that look almost like a garden in a grid pattern.  But the sizes of the structures we're looking at are most likely far larger than any ordinary garden.  Could a moon-base really exist on the Lunar surface?



 
The images depict nine structures that stretch out into the distance being approximately 30 feet in length and having a number of what appear to be ridges on them or formations.  But while it appears to be a fairly blurry representation of some sort of operation on the moon, if you look over to the side of the image it becomes apparent that the structures are more likely a simple pixelation error on the images.  Google images such as these can be seen in several areas even on its wildly popular Google Earth.  But others, such as Steven Dean have suggested it may be something more.

The moon has always been an incredibly compelling point of interest for those tending to believe that the world around us is not as it seems to the average person in the world.  Of all the bodies surrounding our Sun, few have been written about in both science fiction and poetry more than the moon aside from possibly Mars.  So when the idea of a moon base suddenly arises, and evidence of that base comes in the form of unintentionally taken photographs, it seems like the perfect excuse to expound on the possibilities for the future or even the present.

And though this moon base photo may have a mundane explanation are there places such structures could exist where they couldn't be seen from Earth or by orbiting satellites?  In fact, there are.

In the Northern pole of the moon there are several rocky formations where the light of day never reaches.  There are several craters, some of adequate size to fit permanent installations in which the sun's rays have never penetrated.  And though the far side of the moon is typically referred incorrectly to the "dark side" (since the sun's rays do regularly shine on this far side as well) there is a side of the moon that is always facing away from the Earth as it rotates in a synchronized fashion to how it orbits the Earth.  This far side of the moon, which never sees the Earth is likely a primary candidate for an interesting moon base.

But who would build such a base?  With our current known level of technology, such an endeavor would be impossible to keep secret.  But it has been suggested that with secret superior technology, or with the assistance of some outside force, it is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. 

Scientists Cure HIV and Cancer in German Man

Scientists from Germany have reported that they may have made a breakthrough after curing one man's infection of HIV.  The man was infected with HIV and suffering from leukemia of the immune system.  As the virus feeds on the immune system, the scientists decided to eliminate it and thus cure the man.  But the potential cure has many drawbacks as well and many are suggesting this is not the cure the scientific community has been searching for all these years.
Through high doses of chemotherapy, scientists were able to eliminate the man's immune system and then transplant it back to him with stem cells.  As a result, the man's destroyed immune system was recreated by additional stem cell transplants and the cancer was eliminated through the same process.  As a result, in one fell swoop the German scientists were able to cure not only the man's HIV but his cancer as well.  But there is a down side to this therapy as well.

The patient's DNA contained a rare specific gene designed to be extremely resistant to the HIV virus.  This means the stem cells introduced into his body had help.  And now after three years since the initial treatments began the patient is free of any trace of HIV.  While it is far from a cure, the use of stem cells to reconstitute the immune system certainly opens doors for potential future innovations in medicine.  But the idea of completely removing a person's immune system is certainly enough to leave many people hesitant about using the treatment as it could be in some cases even worse than the disease itself.

And it's not simply the removal of the immune system that could be a problem.  The very system designed to eliminate a person's immune system is extremely harsh on a patient's body.  In the end this "cure" will likely take research a step further, but not necessarily cure most patients of the illness.  Additionally, the patients would have to meet a specific genetic criteria that is present in less than 1% of the total population.

The immune system is one of the most important parts of the human body.  When it's in proper working condition, patients are able to fully reap its benefits.  When it does not, work, however, even something as simple as the common cold can wreak havoc on the body.  While this experiment does not mean a cure for HIV has been discovered, the disease could in theory result in future experiments that could result in such a cure at some future date.

Of course one of the major controversies about the treatment is that it uses stem cells.  Stem cells have been controversial because they were once thought only to come from fetuses.  However, in time, scientists were able to discover ways to extract stem cells without the need for controversy by extracting them from adults, umbilical cords, and even amniotic fluid.

Will we soon be living in a world where HIV is nothing more than a thing of the past?  And what other diseases will scientists be able to cure with similar treatments?

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a... Humvee?

Astounding as it sounds, DARPA has announced plans to develop a flying car to be used by the military to quickly move through the air without having to deal with roadside bombs or ambushes.  And this incredible vehicle isn't just any flying car.  It is in fact, a Humvee.  Remember Terrafugia the ones who first brought us the flying car?  Well now they're back, and they say it's time to get started working on a new model to help fight in the battlefield of the future.
Terrafugia's incredible development is funded by $41 million from the defense department.  The vehicle will be able to withstand machine gun fire, take to the air vertically or horizontally, and then land taking only a moment to retract the wings and propellers before driving down the road.  The vehicle will be the first truly all terrain vehicle as it can not only fly, but drive at speeds comparable to an ordinary humvee.  The vehicle, developers suggest, would be able to immediately avoid one of the most dangerous threats facing soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today: roadside bombs.  Just last October a roadside bomb detonated and killed eleven soldiers and two NATO troops as it was moving to rescue a captive.  The loss of life in cases like this is always tragic.

Elsewhere, some interested individuals are suggesting if such a device were to ever end up becoming popular there would likely be civilian models as well or at least comparable models for ambulances, police, and private citizens.  And the medical evacuation of troops is among the chief examples of how a vehicle that can not only drive on the ground but also fly through the air would be useful.  Such a device would be capable of lifting up wounded casualties and taking them to a nearby medical installation or even allow for supplies to be delivered via air drop to troops entrenched in an area and out of reach of helicopters.

Currently one of the limitations of aerial vehicles is the difficulty with refueling.  Just as was the case with the Terrafugia, this vehicle is expected to be able to function primarily on ordinary gasoline, and while it likely will be a gas guzzler, will be able to drive more discretely than landed helicopters.  The idea of an aerial vehicle driving into a town and then flying to the next one over unexpectedly will no doubt give a significant tactical advantage to its operators.  But as with so many other projects, this one will need extensive testing and development before it will be seen on roads or in the air.

It's always been said that flying cars would be one of the signs that the future had indeed arrived.  But as we check in on the year 2010 to see how technology has progressed, we realize that not only will the introduction of flying cars become possible on our own streets, but they will soon be used by the military as well.

Steel No Match for New Super Tough Glass

Imagine standing on a platform raised on a building over a hundred stories tall and looking down to see traffic running beneath you.  Standing on glass might make you nervous, but thanks to the efforts of scientists working at Cal Tech, we could all be looking at a whole new world where glass is one of the strongest materials known to man.  And if this incredibly tough material can be made transparent, there's no end to what it could do for our world.

Incredibly strong windows able to take more of a beating than steel would mean floors and support structures could be strong enough to ensure the most overwhelming attacks while still letting people see through them.  The material would most likely be used in vehicles designed to protect high profile public officials and certain aircraft at least, and possibly even find its way into maximum security defense installations as well.  The only problem is, unlike more traditional glass and plastics used to make windows, this material uses very expensive bonding materials like palladium to hold the materials together.

By bonding palladium, silver, and other materials in with the process, these windows can be made to withstand things like bullets, bombs, sledgehammers, and even vehicular collisions.  And that's not all.  Scientists are now more confident than ever that this is only the beginning when it comes to incredibly strong glass.  The rest could come with a far less expensive material to develop it.  As it stands today, both silver and palladium are already increasing in price with increased industrial demand.  And as that demand increases and the world stock supplies dwindle, some experts are suggesting these precious metals will run into a brick wall when it becomes too expensive to make their use feasible due to scarcity.

But in the mean time, these materials could still be able to be used to develop windows on everything from spacecraft to glass panes for office buildings.  Only don't expect it to come cheap if you want this ultra bullet proof glass standing between you and your greatest fears.  And whether that's a terrorist bomber or a free fall from a hundred stories or even an oncoming mac truck, that will be up to what seems most useful to engineers and developers.

But how common will these windows become?  At the moment it's hard to tell.  With how expensive the materials involved will be, there's a real possibility that it won't be seen everywhere.  We won't simply evolve past a world of broken glass.  But the powerful protection afforded by this scientific material might be yet another material used in the space program when exploring the surface of the red planet.

And in a time where fear runs rampant in the world, there's nothing more secure than being able to look out your window and knowing nothing can make its way in.

Novel X-ray machine is unveiled

Scientists have demonstrated a refined X-ray technique which can spot tiny variations in bone structures.

The technique uses X-rays delivered by powerful light sources and complex computer algorithms to resolve structural variations as small as 100 nanome

tres across.

Using the technique, the researchers have mapped in detail a bone fragment narrower than a human hair.

Synchrotron scale

Hospital X-ray machines work by passing an X-ray pulse through a body onto radiographic film.

The X-rays pass through softer tissue but are mostly absorbed by hard bone - leaving an image in which the skeleton and tissue are clearly distinguishable.

In recent years, scientists have been scaling up the power of the X-ray, using massive particle accelerators or synchrotrons to deliver much larger radiation doses.

While these cannot be used on humans for obvious reasons, they can be used in research work to reveal details in materials which are too thick for use in electron microscopes.

But X-ray imaging has its own problems, with X-rays difficult to focus or manipulate even with corrective lenses.

What Martin Dierolf and a team of scientists based in Germany and Switzerland have done is to refine these X-ray techniques.

Instead of relying on how X-rays are absorbed by different materials, they have instead focused on how they are diverted or refracted as they pass through different substances. This "phase contrast" signal gives much clearer and detailed results.

They also abandoned using any corrective lenses, firing the X-ray pulse through a pinhole and then collecting the diffracted rays after they pass through the sample.

They then used a powerful computer programme to rebuild a 3D image of the object scanned by rewinding the passage of the X-rays.

"It's like reconstructing a broken cup by playing the movie backwards and by doing that you bring all the X-rays into the sample to see how they've reacted," says Professor Henry Chapman of the University if Hamburg, who reviewed the study.

The sample is scanned with an X-ray beam and a 3D image is constructed by computer

The prototype was tested at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron near Zurich, using a mouse femur fragment narrower than a human hair.

The images obtained show detail down to the cavities in which osteocytes or bone cells reside, and the interconnective channels which are only some 100 nanometers in diameter.

A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.

Pierre Thibault of the Technical University of Munich, who is a member of the research team, says the likely applications are in medical research.

"Our method doesn't scale easily to hospitals and I'm not sure that's what we're aiming at anyway.

"It would be more for pre-clinical studies that are looking for instance at the onset of osteoporosis at the nano scale to see what happens at the scale of the bone cells. That's something we're going to look at in the next few months."

He says there could also be applications in engineering.

"You can look at alloys, how at this scale two different metals combine together because you have such a good sensitivity to different densities you can differentiate the two metals that are in the alloy, or maybe look at fractures inside the materials and see at this scale what's happening."

The Next Superbug Coming ??

In recent years our planet has seen a number of close calls with diseases that could have potentially seen a great number of casualties. But while media outlets give a lot of attention to these very specific outbreaks of disease, there are many epidemics that receive very little attention. But the reality of the most devastating diseases throughout history contends that these diseases will likely appear just as mysteriously as they ever did. But where are some places it could it start?

In 2002 the SARS virus first appeared in China when a farmer contracted it and subsequently died. It went unchecked for three months before authorities caught on and reported that a new disease was making the rounds. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was contained due to intervention of world governments and soon the world relaxed. Shortly after this Avian Influenza appeared and gave people a scare as birds began dropping from the sky. One thing rarely mentioned was that the disease could only be contracted from direct contact with birds. Then came the Swine Flu H1N1 which was transmissible between humans, but was largely survivable with a fatality rate of around one out of every one thousand. These diseases were all viral in nature. Some of the most damaging diseases in history, including the bubonic plague which claimed some 200 million lives were bacterial diseases and not the product of viruses. Is it only a matter of time before these types of diseases make a comeback?


With the creation of antibiotics, many bacterial diseases were easy enough to fight off. Penicillin, discovered first in 1928 by Alexander Fleming would allow humans a chance at eradicating many diseases that had previously crippled entire civilizations and claimed millions of lives. But as it became used more and more, the diseases got stronger through natural selection. The weaker strains were killed off and only those able to survive contact with weaker antibiotics were able to survive. As a result stronger antibiotics were constantly being created. And yet the diseases were not only interacting inside the body with the ill, but also mingling in the waters as the flushed antibiotics entered the streams. The bacteria survived and entered plants which were surviving in Lakes and rivers will eventually find itself in the stomachs of sharks, according to National Geographic which if they are eaten can mean the bacteria has license to enter our bodies as we are the top of the food chain.


Is it possible the next big disease could happen as a result of these increasingly resistant diseases ultimately finding their way into our population by the very virtue of eating the most dangerous creature in the sea? The horrifying scenario pits man against his own ingenuity, attempting to find away to shield the antibiotic resistant bacteria from evolving fast enough to wipe him out. And after the quelling of SARS and the Plague, surely humankind could resist this as well, but only with the same level of perseverance. And tragically there would be a period before a new antibiotic was made where the bacteria would be able to wreak havoc.

Water Ice Discovered On Asteroid

Water ice has been found on the surface of a nearby asteroid for the first time – a discovery that could help explain how Earth got its oceans, scientists announced.

Two teams of researchers independently verified that the asteroid 24 Themis – a large rock hurtling through space in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – is coated in a layer of frost.

They also found that the asteroid contains organic material, including some molecules that might be ingredients for life. But scientists have not found any evidence for life itself on this asteroid, or anywhere else in the universe beyond Earth.

“This is the first time we’ve actually seen ice – literally H20 – on an asteroid,” said one of the study leaders, Andrew Rivkin of Johns Hopkins University.

Previously, hints that water might be present on 24 Themis were found in the form of hydrated minerals, which were thought to have formed from the reaction of water with rock. But this time the researchers saw the direct signature of water itself, he explained.

Another science team, led by Humberto Campins of University of Central Florida, found the same thing. Both teams used the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility atop on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to make their observations, but conducted them on different nights.

“Our work and their work are very nicely confirming and complementary,” Campins said.

“To our surprise there was water ice, there were organic molecules, and they were more or less evenly distributed throughout the surface,” Campins told, “We thought that was fascinating.”

Both teams reported their findings in the 19 April 2010 issue of the journal Nature.

Archaeopteryx fossil seen in new light

The feathers preserved in a 150-million-year-old fossil of Archaeopteryx aren’t just casts of the primitive bird’s plumage, as paleontologists have long presumed: Amazingly, the structures retain chemical elements from the original feathers, a a new X-ray imaging technique reveals.

“People have been looking at these [feathers] a long time and thought they were just impressions, but there’s actually remains of soft tissue there,” says Roy Wogelius, a geochemist at the University of Manchester in England.

He and his colleagues report their find online during the week of May 10 and in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new technique is “opening up a new window into the chemistry of fossils,” says Derek Briggs, a paleontologist at Yale University.

In particular, the new images show high concentrations of phosphorus — an element found in abundance in the feathers of modern birds but not in the rocks surrounding the Archaeopteryx fossil — in the shafts and vanes of the fossil’s feathers. The key to the new finding is a recently developed imaging technique that illuminates the fossil with intense X-rays and causes trace elements in the fossil to fluoresce. Previously, similar techniques that lit a surface with low-intensity X-rays required 24 hours to image each square centimeter of a surface. The new scheme, which uses high-intensity X-rays produced by a synchrotron to repeatedly scan an object, takes just 30 seconds to image the same area — a time savings that allows researchers to scan large objects in a short amount of time.

“It’s like using a spotlight versus a key-chain torchlight to illuminate a picture,” Wogelius explains. The technique can detect certain chemical elements at concentrations of just a few parts per million.

Besides the startling finding of phosphorus in the ancient fossil’s feathers, the team’s new analyses suggest that the fossil’s bones retain traces of their original zinc. Comparisons with the chemical composition of modern bird bones suggest that about half of the bones’ original zinc remains.

The chemical elements remained largely unaltered because both the Archaeopteryx bones and the sediments encasing them are rich in calcium.

“These are very exciting results”

“What this team has found simply wasn’t available by any other method”

Not only that,

The new X-ray imaging technique is great because it’s nondestructive ─ which is particularly useful for exceptionally rare fossils such as Archaeopteryx, of which only 10 specimens have been found in the past century and a half.

“You can get all this spectral information without ever touching the fossil”

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