Stephen Hawking

After issuing a statement about the existence of horrendous extraterrestrials, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking re-create the controversy.

No longer care about being branded ‘mad scientist’, Hawking again issued a second theory which is also surprising.

Preparing for his appearance in a documentary on the Discovery, Stephen Hawking’s Universe, which aired next week, May 9, 2010, he confessed to believe humans can explore the time.

Humans, according to Hawking, can crawl up to millions of years into the future to fill out and start again the civilization of Planet Earth that has been destroyed.

Someday, Hawking said, there will be exploration of outer space plane that could fly faster than the speed of light. One day of exploration in space equal to one year on Earth. Continue Reading

earthquake

The ASEAN region is located at the intersection of three major tectonic plates namely Eurasian, Indo-Australian and the Pacific plates, and one minor plate, Philippine plate. This condition generates thousands of earthquake every year most of which are potentially destructive. In recent years, several big earthquakes occurred in some parts of
ASEAN countries which caused considerable damage to
buildings and other structures, landslides in mountainous regions, ground subsidence and ground rupture. These big earthquakes have also caused major fatalities. What makes an earthquake more devastating is the fact that it may generate tsunami with up to 10 meter high waves which add to the extent of the damage, especially in areas along the coast.

To monitor earthquake activities, and to help mitigate the effects of earthquake disasters, most countries in ASEAN have established their National Seismological Centres (NSCs). While NSCs in some countries are quite modern, others are still in the process of upgrading. Ideally each of the upgraded NSC should have a real time monitoring system and other facilities for rapid dissemination of earthquake information. Continue Reading

1000 mph Car

Time = 0 seconds

Strapped into a custom built seat, Andy Green prepares for the ride of his life. The pancake-flat desert stretches out for miles ahead. The computer indicates all systems are normal. He eases off the brakes and puts his foot down on the throttle. The jet engine roars into life. In precisely 42.5 seconds he’ll be travelling 1000 mph. In a car.

“It’s almost impossible to tell the difference between going supersonic in a car and in an aircraft,” says Green. He is the only person on Earth who can say that from personal experience. Green was a fighter pilot for the UK Royal Air Force for 20 years, and he is also the fastest man on wheels. In 1997, driving a vehicle called ThrustSSC, he set the world land speed record of 763 miles per hour, becoming the first and only person to break the sound barrier in a car (761 mph under standard conditions). Now, together with the Bloodhound SSC design team, he’s attempting to do it all over again, and then some. Continue Reading

texas mothership tornado

Killer Wind Funnels

Tornadoes are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air. Their winds may top 250 miles (400 kilometers) an hour and can clear-cut a pathway a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and 50 miles (80 kilometers) long.

Tornadoes are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air. Their winds may top 250 miles (400 kilometers) an hour and can clear-cut a pathway a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and 50 miles (80 kilometers) long.

Twisters are born in thunderstorms and are often accompanied by hail. Giant, persistent thunderstorms called supercells spawn the most destructive tornadoes. Continue Reading

snowslide avalanches thane

Speeding Snow

While avalanches are sudden, the warning signs are almost always numerous before they let loose. Yet in 90 percent of avalanche incidents, the snow slides are triggered by the victim or someone in the victim’s party. Avalanches kill more than 150 people worldwide each year. Most are snowmobilers, skiers, and snowboarders.

While avalanches are sudden, the warning signs are almost always numerous before they let loose. Yet in 90 percent of avalanche incidents, the snow slides are triggered by the victim or someone in the victim’s party. Avalanches kill more than 150 people worldwide each year. Most are snowmobilers, skiers, and snowboarders. Continue Reading

saber aurora

Researchers have developed a new way to measure Earth’s aurora and are using the technique to learn more about a region of the ionosphere that plays a key role in satellite and radio communications during geomagnetic disturbances.

Shortly after NASA’s Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) mission began routine operation in 2002, a solar-geomagnetic storm blasted the ionosphere and lit up sensors on the orbiting instrument in a way that researchers did not expect to see.

SABER provided a glimpse of a strong, nighttime infrared radiation emission by positively charged nitric oxide – a measurement that hadn’t been made globally before but provided an excellent opportunity to study auroral events in the E-region of the ionosphere. The region is one of three ionized layers that make up the far reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. It turned out that SABER is well-suited to measure Earth’s aurora, that phenomenon of solar winds clashing with the planet’s magnetic field. Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center are now trying to build on that discovery to improve a model of the ionosphere and take further measurements. Continue Reading

earth decade

In 1968, an Apollo 8 astronaut took the iconic “Earthrise” photograph, reshaping our perspective of our home planet. Perspective has continued to evolve thanks to NASA’s fleet of satellites that keep near-constant watch over the changing Earth. But what exactly do these satellites see, and what discoveries are they making?

To find out, just visit NASA’s Earth Observatory, an online science magazine celebrating its 10th anniversary today (April 29). For the last decade, the Web site has been using stunning satellite imagery to tell the story of our planet and the NASA scientists who are working to help us understand how it works.

According to co-founder Kevin Ward, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., the Earth Observatory has a simple but important goal: “We want to increase the number of people who know that NASA does Earth science.” Continue Reading

deadly cyclone

NASA satellite data and a new modeling approach could improve weather forecasting and save more lives when future cyclones develop.

About 15 percent of the world’s tropical cyclones occur in the northern Indian Ocean, but because of high population densities along low-lying coastlines, the storms have caused nearly 80 percent of cyclone-related deaths around the world. Incomplete atmospheric data for the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea make it difficult for regional forecasters to provide enough warning for mass evacuations.

In the wake of last year’s Cyclone Nargis — one of the most catastrophic cyclones on record — a team of NASA researchers re-examined the storm as a test case for a new data integration and mathematical modeling approach. They compiled satellite data from the days leading up to the May 2 landfall of the storm and successfully “hindcasted” Nargis’ path and landfall in Burma. Continue Reading

global warming predictions

September 1, 2007 — Geographers have projected temperature increases due to greenhouse gas emissions to reach a not-so-chilling conclusion: climate zones will shift and some climates will disappear completely by 2100. Tropical highlands and polar regions may be the first to disappear, and large swaths of the tropics and subtropics will reach even hotter temperatures. The study anticipates large climate changes worldwide.

The eastern United States has a mild, humid, temperate climate, while the western United States has a dry climate, right?

Well, according to climate models, global warming could change our current world climate zones, which would affect where crops are grown and even drive some plant and animal species to extinction, all in the next 100 years. Continue Reading

global warming

January 1, 2009 — Research Meteorologists found that the temperature changes brought on by global warming are significant enough to cause an increase in the occurrence of severe storms. Severe storms are those that cause flooding, have damaging winds, hail and could cause tornados. Their study revealed that by the end of this century, the number of days that favor severe storms could more than double certain locations, such as Atlanta and New York. Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.

As new storm forecasts hit home, areas already prone to severe weather need to be on the lookout for more storms. The latest forecast says global warming spells bad news for those areas.

Nancy Werner has seen many storms blow through trees in her yard, but there’s one storm she’ll never forget. Continue Reading