Sonar image of The Titanic

Sonar image of The Titanic: "

A new expedition to the Titanic -- now falling apart on the Atlantic floor -- set out recently, and has begun imaging the wreck. Team PR man Ed Cunning writes in:

What you will see is A bird's eye view sonar image looking down at Titanic's bow taken by the Waitt Institutes AUV, 'Mary Ann,' operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in an expedition lead by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Visible are the mast, superstructure, openings for the one and two funnels, as well as the Grand Staircase. This image is one small section of a larger map being created that extends some 15 nautical miles squared.

Five People Killed By Their Own Inventions [Inventors]

Five People Killed By Their Own Inventions [Inventors]: "

Imagine putting years of time, effort and money into a life-changing invention that you think will bring you tons of money and fame while changing the world. Now what if your amazing invention ends up killing you instead? More »

This mysterious cosmic eye is two galaxies in one [Space Porn]

This mysterious cosmic eye is two galaxies in one [Space Porn]: "

This strange galaxy has puzzled astronomers for six decades. Its outer ring of bright blue stars is separated from an inner cluster of older stars by a massive void tens of thousands of light-years across. More »

How to Stop the Government From Tracking Your Location (Illegally!) [How To]

How to Stop the Government From Tracking Your Location (Illegally!) [How To]: "

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just decided that it was legal for the police to put a GPS tracking device on your car, sitting in your driveway, on your property. Here's how to protect yourself. More »

The Dark Side of the Moon (of Saturn) [Nasa]

The Dark Side of the Moon (of Saturn) [Nasa]: "

That white spot is Enceladus, Saturn's ice-spewing moon, pictured around the dark side of the ringed planet. It takes a while for your eyes to work out what's going on here, but once they do...wow. [Ciclops] More »

Falling Asleep

Falling Asleep: ""

Aerial Surveillance Drone Launched from a Mailbox

Aerial Surveillance Drone Launched from a Mailbox: "

The ScanCam 200 is the eagle eye you would want for surveillance security of your property. Out of all of our helicopter projects, this one has the most stylish launching mechanism. The autonomous perimeter security system is actually a small UAV quad-rotored drone. ScanCam 200 can be remotely launched from its mailbox like climate controlled hangar any time of the day or night.

Capable of autonomous launch, flight, and landing, the quadrotor drone takes off and sends out live video feed to its remote operation center. The drone surveys the ground below from the air and can navigate on its own from one point to the other. When the mission is completed, it returns to its hanger or a predefined landing spot. The mailbox-like hangar is also the docking station where ScanCam 200 recharges its battery and waits for its next launch. Although it’s a commerical product, we’re posting it for your DIY helicopter inspiration.

Supercomputers supermodel supermassive black holes

Supercomputers supermodel supermassive black holes: "

What happens when two black holes smash into each another? They form an
even larger black hole while driving jets of relativistic matter into
the far reaches of the cosmos. New complex computer
simulations have attempted to give a glimpse into
the explosion of electromagnetic and gravitational waves that result.
The answers may tell us whether or not we could
ever detect such a merger.

A paper describing the simulations appears in the current issue of Science. It takes a look at what happens as two supermassive black holes dance
around each another, accompanied by a conducting plasma and magnetic field. The emission of gravitational waves would
carry both angular momentum and energy away, causing them to eventually collide and merge. The numerical simulations
indicated that the particle
jets that sometimes accompany black holes would align, thanks to an
anchoring and alignment of the magnetic field that occurs as they merge.

An interesting side note mentioned by the authors is that
stray charged particles will get caught up in the magnetic field and
accelerate to enormous velocities. This acceleration will result in
the particle radiating off enough energy to form electron-positron
pairs from the vacuum which will be accelerated in turn. This process
would repeat, producing a cascade of particles that populate the
immediate region with a charged, conducting plasma.

All of the work is interesting to any theorist, but the results show
what astronomers might look for as indications that an event of this sort has taken
place. The electromagnetic energy of the collision can be transferred to kinetic
energy through the plasma, which will bleed it off through synchrotron
radiation. Those emissions could be detected with future X-ray telescopes out to a significant distance from the source (a redshift of z
= 1).

Further in the future, joint
X-ray-gravitational wave detectors will allow more refined observations
of supermassive black hole mergers. The paper gives a scaling for
gravitational wave power that should be detectable at even greater distances, back to redshifts of 5 to 10.

Science, 2010. DOI: 10.1126/science.1191766

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Lifehacker Pack for Android: Our List of the Best Android Apps [Downloads]

Lifehacker Pack for Android: Our List of the Best Android Apps [Downloads]: "

The Android Market isn't always an easy place to get around. Our first edition of the Lifehacker Pack for Android rounds up essential Android apps—our personal favorites for productivity, multimedia, internet life, and just plain usefulness. More »

I Don't Want Directions

I Don't Want Directions: ""

Snapshot of the Sun, amid a solar storm

Snapshot of the Sun, amid a solar storm: "

A striking image of our sun released this week from NASA:

After a
long solar minimum, the Sun is
no longer
so quiet.

On August 1, this
extreme ultraviolet
snapshot of the Sun
from the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a
complex burst
of activity playing across the Sun's northern hemisphere.

The false-color image shows the hot
solar plasma
at temperatures ranging from 1 to 2 million
kelvins.

Along with the erupting filaments and prominences,
a small(!) solar flare spawned in the active region
at the left was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection
(CME),
a billion-ton cloud of energetic particles headed for planet Earth.

The Sun shoots plasma into space at 2.2 million miles per hour [Space Porn]

The Sun shoots plasma into space at 2.2 million miles per hour [Space Porn]: "

After nearly a decade of quiet, the Sun is waking up in a big way, and this picture from August 1 shows the most dramatic eruption yet, including a solar flare, a 'solar tsunami,' shifting magnetism, shaken corona, and more. More »