Rock And Scroll: X-Rays Peer Into The Ancient World By "Reading" Volcanically-Charred Papyrus

When we ponder the implications of modern and future technology, it is interesting to note that while they drive us ever further forward, they can also help us understand history more thoroughly.  Such a case was just brought to light by an x-ray technician who creatively solved a classic problem by using an unexpected piece of modern technology.

According to the BBC, Dr. Vito Mocella, of the National Research Council's Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems in Naples, Italy, was at a scientific conference in France when he learned that "X-ray phase-contrast tomography", a common medical analysis method, was being adapted for use in paleontology. He liked the idea and extrapolated it for another interesting historical cause: how to read data on volcanically-scorched ancient scrolls.

It could save your life from breast cancer, but it can also tell of many lives past.
(Image courtesy nature.com.)

Phase contrast refers to the changing "phase" (slight distortion) of light waves as objects are X-rayed. The analysis of the contrast in the light provides a detailed 3D image of an object (as opposed to simply measuring the amount of light that is visible through the object, as is done with a conventional X-ray.) The technique is frequently used for mammograms, as it helps differentiate layers of an object when there is little contrast in the background material.

This allowed scientists to observe the difference between the ink and the papyrus of a scroll from the Herculaneum, an ancient library that was battered by the Mt. Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD. Volcanic gas at temperatures of 320 Celsius (608 Fahrenheit) charred the scrolls almost to the point of destruction, but ink remnants a mere tenth of a millimeter high were enough for the synchotron machine to deduce some of the words on the scroll.

"Cleopatra is a bitch."
(Image courtesy popsci.com.)

Though the squashed papyrus fibers made determining letters with straight lines difficult (as they were harder to distinguish from the fibers themselves), letters with curved elements were identifiable. The scroll was written in Greek, which was the language of philosophy in ancient Rome. The team believes the scroll to be a work called "On Frank Criticism", a study advocating honesty between friends, written by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus.

The Herculeaneum, the only surviving library from the ancient world, as it looks today (fortunately sans any crazy volcano action.)  More collections from antiquity may benefit from the technology used on the scrolls found here.
(Image courtesy news.softpedia.com.)

Dr. Mocella admits that while the innovative deciphering technique hasn't yet been perfected, he intends to continue experimenting with the project.  Mocella's team was quoted in National Geographic, saying, "This pioneering research opens up new prospects not only for the many papyri still unopened, but also for others that have not yet been discovered."

The scroll, seen by the naked eye in Image A, and then as rendered by the phase contrast x-ray.
And you thought reading regular books was hard.
(Image courtesy nature.com.)

Ballroom Blitzar: Massive Space-Based Radio-Wave Bursts, But No Message...Yet

Like many fascinating things, sometimes a thing that exists only in legend surprises everyone and blasts into reality.  This is even more interesting when it's a scientific event.

According to Gizmodo, this week several massive bursts of energy emitted from deep space  were recorded by scientists at the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.  The massive bursts of tightly-banded radio-frequency waves are known as "blitzars", although this is just one term for what could possibly be a variety of explanations for the observed phenomena.  Though blitzars only last a millisecond, they emit the same power as the sun would over an entire day.  So astronomically speaking, this is pretty striking.

"Say it again."  -The Parkes Telescope
(Image courtesy scientias.nl.)

Scientists first began identifying blitzars in 2007 thanks to documented astronomical observations.  Although the data was weeks or even years old, nine blitzars were noted to have occurred.  However, this week's observation happened in real time, and appeared to emanate from the constellation Aquarius.  Little more is known about its origins other than that the source "must be huge, cataclysmic and up to 5.5 billion light years away," according to researcher Emily Petroff.

Speculations on the source include flares or collapse from large, possibly magnetically-charged neutron stars, but these ideas are presently unfounded.  As Keith Bannister from Australia's national science agency told New Scientist, "Nobody knows what to make of it...All the ideas are very exotic so ruling them out is all you can do at the moment."

"Burp."  -a neutron star
(Image courtesy science.nationalgeographic.com.)

Scientists will continue watching the skies, including in other bandwidths, to see if there are any complimentary blitzar bursts elsewhere. This could help to quantify the density of interstellar mediums via observing the speed and dispersion of the signal through free electrons in space. So we'll perhaps learn how fast and far such energy can travel...even if we don't yet know what it means.

Could creatures at the source be listening to OUR radio waves?  And are they (rightly) disgusted by our terrible pop music?
(Image courtesy iytimg.com.)

Elon Musk's Martian Internet Might Help All Of Mankind

Elon Musk is rampaging into the future with yet another astronomically awesome plan.  The mastermind behind SpaceX, Tesla, and the Hyperloop doesn't just want folks to comfortably travel to space - he wants to make sure they're easily connected to the internet while they're up there.

It might sound crazy to think that the humans who will be among the first "space tourists" would spend their time googling cat videos and playing online poker, but Musk's plans are extra ambitious.  His intent is to establish a space internet so powerful that when colonizing Mars becomes a reality, the pioneers will be able to chat about it on Facebook.

Now THIS is an occupation that will achieve something!
(Image courtesy engadget.com.)

According to Bloomberg Business Week, this new and improved World Wide Web would become the Galaxy Wide Web thanks to a fleet of low-flying satellites Musk intends to launch.  While it would not only aid future connectivity to space travelers, it would serve the immediate purpose of expanding internet speed and coverage all around our home planet.

“Our focus is on creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” Musk stated.

The first humans will be "checking in" on Mars sooner than we think.
(Image courtesy futurology.net.)

The satellites would orbit some 750 miles above the earth, where the vacuum of space would facilitate faster flow of data - even more so than using fiber-optic cables on Earth.  With the speed of light operating a full 40% faster in the vacuum of space, bouncing data off of Musk's satellites and then back to earth would improve speeds considerably.

Great hypothesis...now, to test!
(Image courtesy astrosurf.com.)

Musk is aware that his competitors have the bandwidth territory, but he holds the ace of rocket technology.  He intends to open a satellite factory in Seattle that will draw engineering talent of all sorts (SpaceX projects will also be in fabrication there), and has a long-term plan over the next five years to bring the initiative to fruition.  The exclusive opening of the Seattle SpaceX office took place on Friday, adding to an ever-increasing network of operational sites.  He is completely serious about looking even further than that, though.

“It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well,” he says. “I think this needs to be done, and I don’t see anyone else doing it...we see it as a long-term revenue source for SpaceX to be able to fund a city on Mars.”

In space, no one can hear you scream at Candy Crush.
(Image courtesy hothardware.com.)

Newsweek reported that Musk expounded on this statement, telling the assembled crowd at the launch of the Seattle SpaceX office that, “One day I will visit Mars.” He feels the goal of establishing humans on Mars could be feasible inside the next two decades. Most of all, it's for humanity's own good, or as Musk explains, “the thing that matters long term is to have a self sustaining city on Mars, to make life multi-planetary.”

So at least if you end up marooned on Mars, there'll be Netflix and Pandora there to entertain you.  And no one will fault you for not accepting their Facebook invites.

Which Instagram filter will look best for selfies on the Red Planet?
(Image courtesy memeburn.com.)

Space Station Sunday: More Than Just Chillin'

Good evening, space fans!  There was some drama (but thankfully a safe resolution) on the ISS this week, when an alarm roused the astronauts from sleep to indicate that an ammonia leak was possibly taking place.  Fortunately, this was not the case.

According to the New York Times, the alarm sounded not once but twice on Wednesday, when pressure had built up in a water coolant loop on the ISS.  Normally, the water keeps the space station cool by circulating in the loops and then transferring the heat to external ammonia loops, which then radiate excess heat into space.  Thusly cooled, the external ammonia loops keep the station chill from the outside, though due to ammonia's toxicity, it is not used to cool the station interior (hence the water loops.)  The overburdened loop signified that perhaps ammonia was leaking into the water coolant loop, which would put it in dangerous proximity to the air inside the station.

Even the smallest bits of space work need constant attention.
(Image courtesy nasaspaceflight.com.)

NASA spokeman Bob Jacobs summed it up calmly, stating that, "We saw an increase in water loop pressure, then later saw a cabin-pressure increase that could be indicative of an ammonia leak in the worst-case scenario...So we protected for the worst-case scenario and isolated the crew in the Russian segment of the space station while the teams are evaluating the situation."

Nonessential systems were temporarily shut down to prevent any kind of overheating on the station.  This included scientific freezers aboard, but no data was lost due to the fact that the freezers are designed to remain cold for eight hours, independent of power supply.  The power was restored well within the eight-hour window.

According to the deliciously in-depth technical account of event posted on nasaspaceflight.com, after the initial high-pressure/possible leak alarm went off, the astronauts followed procedure by donning their PBAs (Portable Breathing Apparatus), cutting off the IMV (Inter-Module Ventilation), and quarantining themselves in the RS (Russian section) by sealing the Node 1 Aft CBM hatch.  Atmospheric tests for ammonia were then conducted, all which fortunately proved negative.

Ready for anything:  NASA astronaut Terry Virts and ESA astronaut Samathan Cristoforetti practiced for problems on 12/1.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

Ground teams then rerouted the problem areas and vented nitrogen to relieve the pressure.  The crew were cleared to reenter the US segment, but returned hours later when indications of rising cabin pressure once again manifested.  Once again, no ammonia leak was detected.  This second rise in pressure was likely due to the station rebooting itself after the power-down and use of emergency breathing devices.

NASA Spaceflight considered the event a good practice run, albeit a somewhat scare one.  They stated, "If nothing else, the incident served to exercise the well-practiced procedures, proving that both the crew and ground teams responded in a timely and appropriate manner to a situation that could have been very dangerous if missed – thus serving to prove the effectiveness of NASA’s vigorous regime of procedural training and simulation."

All good in the orbital hood.
(Image courtesy pcmag.com.)

The Russian space agency Roscosmos also agreed the scenario was handled well, with Maxim Matyushin, head of the Russian mission command center, telling the Independent UK that,  "Safety of the crew has been achieved through the coordinated and timely actions themselves cosmonauts and astronauts, as well as operational management groups in Moscow and Houston."

Despite the drama, fellow spaceman James Kelly (a Space Shuttle pilot who served two missions to the ISS) chimed in from mission control with some levity, enthusing, "Enjoy your impromptu day off."

 

Keeping it cool.
(Image courtesy space.com.)

In other news, the SpaceX Dragon capsule that made it safely to the ISS last week caused no trouble...however the landing of its attendant Falcon 9 rocket was not so smooth.  This week, exclusive imagery of the rocket crash was released.  The original (and still tangible) intent from the SpaceX mission was to land the rocket safely on an offshore pad and have it retrofitted for re-use.  This plan didn't exactly work out, just yet.  Inappropriately exciting video (linked below) followed.

Well, that's why they call it experimenting.

Not bad, considering how few rockets, you know, LAND.
(Image courtesy newscientist.com.)

That's all this week from our outstanding orbital outpost!  Be sure to tune in next week for more awesomeness above the atmosphere...watch this space!

Solar Panels As Canal Covers? India Gathers Power, Saves Water, Solves Problems

The science of sustainable energy requires making more efficient means of storage and accessibility for your harvested power...but sometimes it can have bonus advantages, when properly plotted.  Unlike oil spills which contaminate massive swaths of ocean, or fracking which can cause a release of chemicals potent enough to set tap water afire, no one worries when there is a solar power leak (some people even pay for these raw materials...look at any tanning salon.)  Now, a community in India has made gathering solar energy an even more useful endeavor, thanks to positioning the solar panels over irrigation canals to thwart extra evaporation.

It's like the peanut butter and chocolate of conservation.
(Image courtesy earthtechling.com.)

According to Yahoo, in the Gujurat state of India, the booming business of solar power is setting precedents for the rest of the nation and likely the world.  By building solar panels over irrigation canals, communities are left not only with more free land space, but also contribute to the efficiency of their farming by not losing excess water to evaporation.  A plant in Vadodara which opened in October produces 10 MW of power thanks to 33,800 solar panels stretched across 3.6 km of irrigation canals (which it in turn powers the pumping distribution of.)  On a nice day, 50,000 electrical units (that's 50,000 hours of usage at 1,000 watts) are sent from the solar into the system.

While the canal-covering solar panels are more expensive to build,  they are easily accessed for cleaning and maintenance.  The water below will eventually tend to 4.45 million acres via some 75,000 km of canal throughout Gujurat and Rajasthan, known as the Sardar Sarovar project.  Already the Vadodara plant has made 16 hectares of land available, and is projected to conserve some 90 million liters of water per year.

The benefits add up:  the creation of the solar infrastructure also powers more jobs.
(Image courtesy gogreenguyz.com.)

As Vice magazine notes, there are a number of dually-useful elements to the project beyond the evaporation containment, including the solar panel conduits being kept cooler thanks to the water below, and also the lack of squabbling over land issues (the canals were utilitarian elements already in place, and adding to them disrupts neither the local environment nor the populace.)

Overall, the Indian government plans to gather 100 MW of power from canal-top photovoltaic panels by 2017.  By 2022, the nation intends to have over 10% of its total energy created by solar power.  The effort is not lost on the rest of the world.  U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recently visited and remarked, "I saw more than glittering panels – I saw the future of India and the future of our world...I saw India's bright creativity, ingenuity and cutting-edge technology."

Crafty conservation can help fuel the future in ways we haven't even yet pondered.  The fact that a major nation has stepped up to address the power problems in an efficient and intelligent way brings hope for the rest of the world.  Maybe soon we can stop shooting off mountaintops and drilling beneath oceans to gather our energy.  Let's start using our power - and our methods of power collection - for good.

Yet another plus:  all that water saved from evaporation could be made potable for poverty-stricken regions.  Win, India.
(Image courtesy webbenergyblog.files.wordpress.com.)

Power On The Fly: Pioneering With A Pocket-Sized Charger

Sure, you love your devices, but feeding them can become problematic at times.  Stop bothering the bartender and bust out your own portable power, thanks to a new invention: Kraftwerk.  Created by the German company eZelleron, the gadget runs on regular everyday lighter fuel to unobtrusively juice your phone, camera, tablets, e-readers, and whatever other bit of technology is near-permanently in your orbit.

According to the Daily Mail, the device never requires a plug-in of its own, and each refill of lighter fluid or camping gas is enough to fuel 11 iPhones.  The eZelleron company maintains that Kraftwerk is a "quantum leap in terms of performance and availability compared to conventional battery chargers...Kraftwerk really is a small portable power station."

This is your first step to escaping the Grid.
(Image courtesy www.dailymail.co.uk.)

Slated for release in November/December of this year, Kraftwerk already exists in fully functioning prototypes. The remainder of the project is being funded by Kickstarter. The device appeals to a sense of freedom and adventure, with their Kickstarter campaign noting that Kraftwerk is "an invaluable advantage both in everyday life and even when traveling to the ends of the earth."

The durability and portability are major advantages for our hyper-connected world. Lighter than carrying batteries, adept with connection (a simple USB port handles all), approved for air travel, and capable of enduring all sorts of weather conditions, this energy-efficient device will discreetly help fuel the future, 5 volts at a time.

Never miss a gnarly shot again...keep your camera juiced-up anywhere with Kraftwerk.
(Image courtesy GoPro.com.)

The folks behind Kraftwerk are pushing forth what is a small but important part of a larger picture. According to wikipedia, Germany has been hailed as "the world's first major renewable energy economy" and had a third of their electricity generated from sustainable resources in 2014.  With Germany poised to have nearly half of their electricity generated by sustainable resources by 2025, items like the Kraftwerk reflect how such an innovative mentality benefits people in many scenarios, not just on the macro scale.

Their kickstarter pitch isn't being hyperbolic when they say, "So let's revolutionize mobile energy supply together!  Be a pioneer on the fascinating road to freedom of power!"  And nothing says "pioneering" like posting a selfie from someplace definitely sans sockets.  Kraftwerk, keep it going!

Perhaps the band Kraftwerk can use the device Kraftwerk to power their Man Machine?  The possibilities are endless...
(Image courtesy drownedinsound.com.)

E-Emotional Rescue: Computer Programs That Deal In Your Feelings

Experts say that your computer is a better judge of your personality than even your closest family and friends.  It knows your preferences, correspondents, written words, tastes in imagery, secrets kept and deleted, and more.  But what happens in the possibly-near future when machines begin using all of this information to actually UNDERSTAND you?

When it comes to emotional intelligence and your computer, what constitutes too much information?
(Image courtesy singularityhub.com.)

According to the New Yorker, this may be happening more quickly than we expect.  Computers can already attempt to determine moods from vocal pitch and intensity, while simultaneously analyzing any attendant videos for evidence of micro-expressions or gestures that could reveal even more about an interaction.  Even the placement of words in a sentence can be taken to imply other things, indicating how angry, passionate, or spectacularly talented certain authors are.  Now, computers can not only be aware of these elements, but use them to temper their own responses or advice.

Rana el Kaliouby, an Egyptian scientist who runs the Boston-based company Affectiva, is on the forefront of this mecha-emotional leap.  Affectiva's most prominent software, Affdex, is trained to recognize four major emotions:  happy, confused, surprised, and disgusted.  Breaking down the user's face-image into deformable and non-deformable points, the software analyzes how far certain parts of one's face will move (such as a smile or frown raising or lowering the corners of the mouth) in relation to other set points on the face (such as the tip of the nose.)  Things like skin texture (where wrinkles appear, or not) also factor in.  These metrics are analyzed into computing what you feel.

Based off the research of 1960s scientist Paul Ekman, the idea behind this technology stems from a simple, universal concept:  all humans, regardless of race, gender, age or language barriers, have at least six specific facial expressions that register particular emotions.  Ekman broke these expressions down into their constituent movements and wrote a 500-page epic called FACS (Facial Action Coding System) on the subject.  The work has been considered the preeminent treatise on this topic for decades now.

Other companies are on the e-emotional bandwagon too, with names like Emotient, Realeyes, and Sension.  Companies who rely on videoconferencing could now have a useful extra line on what their clients and associates are thinking.  Emotions, which have been found to be closely neurologically related to decision-making and common sense, now can be deduced from faces and choices with a degree of accuracy that seems like mind-reading.

We're less unique than anyone thinks.
(Image courtesy thewaylifeis.com.)

While useful (and now predominantly operational) in business, Kaliouby also spent time researching if this specific recognizance could act as an "emotional hearing aid" for those with autism.  The National Science Foundation offered Kaliouby and her mentor nearly a million dollars to develop this idea.  This proved successful, but the idea was almost immediately extrapolated by businesses from Pepsi to Toyota in the interest of learning more about their consumers' preferences.  These requests overwhelmed the scientists, leading to the creation of Affectiva.  The company, which claims to have refused requests to use the software for espionage (corporate and personal), wanted to generate revenue from investors to augment their autism-relating research.

Thus Affdex began testing users' response to advertisements, giving the promotions industry a leg up on what consumers would be feeling when exposed to their sales pleas.  More than two million videos from eighty countries lent the program an unprecedented amount of information, all adding up to more accuracy in prediction from the program.  Affectiva now deals in these negotiations and improvements full-time.  In coming years, with more "smart" devices and internet-enabled items out there for our interaction, emotional electronics could use their ever-increasing knowledge to hopefully make our lives better.

These programs have our attention, which is a valuable resource.  Now, can that be used to hold our interest, connect us more completely, and/or improve our circumstances (even just by knowing we need the room temperature raised a little?)  Or will it simply serve as another metric to keep tabs on a passive populace?  Will we have the right to know when and where we are being emotionally analyzed, and will we be able to thwart such advances if desired?  Kaliouby maintains that there must be an overall altruistic tilt to the usage of the program, explaining to various advertisers that, “In our space, you could very easily be perceived as Big Brother, as opposed to the gatekeeper of your own emotional data—and it is two very different positions. If we are not careful, we can very easily end up on the Big Brother side.”

Whether we'll end up selling our attention to gain happiness points to sell for more happiness remains uncertain.  But the fact remains that the market for your emotions is vast and lucrative.  Companies will want to know you're happy if it makes them feel they're doing something right.  Other more insidious organizations may be tickled to learn that you're feeling deeply unsettled and on edge (right where some of them want you.)  Will the future be made of humans wearing constant poker faces, lest we be called out by computers?  Will there be surcharges for extra super-sized doses of happiness from certain places or products?  Or should we maybe turn the lens in on ourselves, and understand the nature of our own feelings, before we release them into the wild to be tagged and tracked...or hunted?

And remember, all of this information is taken from imagery alone.  We're not even really "plugged in" yet...
(Image courtesy rdn-consulting.com)