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| WHY HONEY DRIBBLES NOT DROPS |
| An infinitely long dribble has helped mathematicians understand why honey forms long threads that don't break up into drops. |
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| NEW ROBOT BRAIN TAKES TO THE SKIES |
| A new robot 'brain', based in part on the workings of the human inner ear, has enabled the production of the world's first small robotic helicopter that can see and think for itself, say Australian researchers. |
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| PLANETARY TILT NOT A SPOILER FOR HABITATION |
| In B science fiction movies, a terrible force often pushes the Earth off its axis and spells disaster for all life on Earth. In reality, life would still be possible on Earth and any Earth-like planets if the axis tilt were greater than it is now, according to Penn State researchers. |
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| HOW CRAYFISH DO THE LOCOMOTION |
| Using computer models and experiments, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have identified the neurons and connections that are necessary for crayfish to swim. |
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| TUNGUSKA-TYPE IMPACTS LESS COMMON THAN THOUGHT |
| Smaller asteroid impacts, such as the famed Tunguska event that devastated Siberia early last century, are less likely than previously thought, Canadian and American astronomers have found. |
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| MATHEMATICIANS SOLVE 40-YEAR-OLD KATO PROBLEM |
| A problem that has baffled mathematicians for 40 years has finally been solved – and it has earned the Australian who led the effort an award. |
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| MIT MODEL PREDICTS BIRTHPLACE OF DEFECT IN A MATERIAL |
| Defects such as cracks in a material are responsible for everything from malfunctioning microchips to earthquakes. Now MIT engineers have developed a model to predict a defect's birthplace, its initial features and how it begins to advance through the material. |
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| AUSTRALIAN-AMERICAN DUO SHOWS BLACK HOLES IN COLLISION |
| One of the more spectacular phenomena in the cosmos might just be the collision of supermassive black holes that accompanies the merger of galaxies. But the astronomical community has not had definitive proof that these black holes are actually coming together. For the first time, astronomers have now produced a convincing mathematical model that offers the strongest support to date for the idea that the black holes merge when their host galaxies do. |
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| SCIENTISTS VISUALIZE WAVES IN SPACE CAUSED BY BLACK-HOLE MERGERS |
| Merging black holes will rock the fabric of space and time with gravitational waves that start quiet, grow to a thunderous roar at the moment of impact, and then resonate from the final gong, according to international team of scientists who have created a novel computer model of such a merger based on Einstein's equations. Scientists present these results this week at the Fourth International LISA Symposium on gravitational radiation at Penn State University in University Park. |
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| SUMMER THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME MORE PREDICTABLE |
| Meteorologists have long known that summer thunderstorms and heavy rains are difficult to predict. They pop up quickly and disappear within a few short hours. But after looking at large numbers of radar images over four years, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have discovered a systematic pattern of rainfall across the continent, day after day. That knowledge should make the rainiest summer thunderstorms more predictable. |
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| NEW WAVE SUPERCOMPUTERS CATCH BIG WAVES |
| The new wave in computing - super-fast machines churning out three-dimensional models viewable in high-tech, immersive theaters - may teach us more about the big waves that sometimes threaten people who live near the seashore. |
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| RADAR REVEALS FIVE DOUBLE ASTEROID SYSTEMS ORBITING EACH OTHER NEAR EARTH, LIKELY FORMED IN CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH PLANET |
| A montage of radar images, captured with the Arecibo Observatory radar telescope, of binary asteroid 2000 DP107, showing the smaller body (about 300 meters in diameter) circling the larger body (about 800 meters) at a distance of 2.6 kilometers every 42 hours. Jean-Luc Margot, Caltech A higher-resolution copy of this image (900 x 1386 pixels, 733K) is available here.
Binary asteroids -- two rocky objects orbiting about one another -- appear to be common in Earth-crossing orbits, astronomers using the world's two most powerful astronomical radar telescopes report. And it is probable, they say, that these double asteroid systems have been formed as a result of gravitational effects during close encounters with at least two of the inner planets, including Earth. |
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| GETTING POWER FROM THE MOON |
| If a physicist in Houston has his way you’ll be able to say good-bye to pollution-causing energy production from fossil fuels. In the April/May issue of The Industrial Physicist Dr. David Criswell suggests that the Earth could be getting all of the electricity it needs using solar cells – on the moon. |
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| NASA PINPOINTS WHERE RAIN COMES FROM AND WHERE IT GOES |
| A new NASA computer model can now tell exactly where in the world rain or snow that provides local water originated. Scientists can use this 'water vapor tracer' to improve rainfall and drought forecasts and gain a deeper understanding of climate change. |
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| YALE ASTRONOMER EXPLORES THE FINAL MOMENTS OF MERGING BLACK HOLES |
| A slow dance lasting up to10 million years between a super-massive black hole and a smaller one culminates in a violent outflow of energy, possibly powering the bright light known as a quasar, a Yale researcher and collaborator have found. |
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| BLACK HOLES TAKE THE PLUNGE |
| For the first time computer simulations by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics predict what astronomers will "see" with gravitational wave telescopes during the collision of two black holes. |
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Modeling
