Blog Archives - Ascension Now

BBC News : The girl who gets gifts from birds

9/3/2015

By Katy Sewall, Seattle

Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it's rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden - and they bring her gifts in return.

Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, and clicks the lid open. This is her most precious collection. "You may take a few close looks," she says, "but don't touch." It's a warning she's most likely practised on her younger brother. She laughs after saying it though. She is happy for the audience.

Inside the box are rows of small objects in clear plastic bags. One label reads: "Black table by feeder. 2:30 p.m. 09 Nov 2014." Inside is a broken light bulb. Another bag contains small pieces of brown glass worn smooth by the sea. "Beer coloured glass," as Gabi describes it. Each item is individually wrapped and categorised. Gabi pulls a black zip out of a labelled bag and holds it up. "We keep it in as good condition as we can," she says, before explaining this object is one of her favourites. There's a miniature silver ball, a black button, a blue paper clip, a yellow bead, a faded black piece of foam, a blue Lego piece, and the list goes on. Many of them are scuffed and dirty. It is an odd assortment of objects for a little girl to treasure, but to Gabi these things are more valuable than gold. She didn't gather this collection. Each item was a gift - given to her by crows.

She holds up a pearl coloured heart. It is her most-prized present. "It's showing me how much they love me."

“If you want to form a bond with a crow, be consistent in rewarding them” - John Marzluff, Prof of wildlife science

Gabi's relationship with the neighbourhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She'd get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.

As she got older she rewarded their attention by sharing her packed lunch on the way to the bus stop. Her brother joined in. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi's bus, hoping for another feeding session.

You can read the rest of this article at : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31604026

Urinicity : Electricity produced from urine enough to power lights

9/3/2015

University of the West of England : Science Daily : Fri, 06 Mar 2015

A toilet, conveniently situated near the Student Union Bar at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), is proving that urine can generate electricity.

The prototype urinal is the result of a partnership between researchers at UWE Bristol and Oxfam. It is hoped the pee-power technology will light cubicles in refugee camps, which are often dark and dangerous places particularly for women.

Students and staff are being asked to use the urinal to donate pee to fuel microbial fuel cell (MFC) stacks that generate electricity to power indoor lighting.

The research team is led by Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, Director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre located in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at UWE Bristol. Professor Ieropoulos says, "We have already proved that this way of generating electricity works. Work by the Bristol BioEnergy Centre hit the headlines in 2013 when the team demonstrated that electricity generated by microbial fuel cell stacks could power a mobile phone. This exciting project with Oxfam could have a huge impact in refugee camps.

"The microbial fuel cells work by employing live microbes which feed on urine (fuel) for their own growth and maintenance. The MFC is in effect a system which taps a portion of that biochemical energy used for microbial growth, and converts that directly into electricity -- what we are calling urine-tricity or pee power. This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to utilise fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply."

The urinal on the University campus resembles toilets used in refugee camps by Oxfam to make the trial as realistic as possible. The technology that converts the urine into power sits underneath the urinal and can be viewed through a clear screen. Andy Bastable, Head of Water and Sanitation at Oxfam, says, "Oxfam is an expert at providing sanitation in disaster zones, and it is always a challenge to light inaccessible areas far from a power supply. This technology is a huge step forward. Living in a refugee camp is hard enough without the added threat of being assaulted in dark places at night. The potential of this invention is huge."

Both Professor Ieropoulos and Andy Bastable agree it is the cheap, sustainable aspect of this technology, which relies on the abundant, free supply of urine that makes it so practical for aid agencies to use in the field. Professor Ieropoulos says "One microbial fuel cell costs about £1 to make, and we think that a small unit like the demo we have mocked up for this experiment could cost as little as £600 to set up, which is a significant bonus as this technology is in theory everlasting."

It certainly brings new meaning to the idea of spending a penny in the fight against poverty.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3dyegoKX_U&feature=youtu.be

Electromagnetic memory promises faster and more energy efficient information storage

9/3/2015

James Devitt : Phys.org :06 Mar 2015

A developing form of computer memory has the potential to store information more quickly and more cheaply, while using less energy, than what’s used today by the semiconductor industry, NYU Physics Professor Andrew Kent concludes in an analysis that appeared in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

A developing form of computer memory has the potential to store information more quickly and more cheaply, while using less energy, than what's used today by the semiconductor industry, NYU Physics Professor Andrew Kent concludes.

In an analysis that appears in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Kent and his colleague Daniel Worledge of the IBM Watson Research Center discuss a new type of memory, spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM). STT-MRAM relies on magnetism to store information, like that used in existing hard drives. However, in contrast to hard drives, STT-MRAM is written and read electrically—that is, by applying only electric currents. It does not have moving parts like a magnetic hard drive and therefore can operate much faster than a hard drive. More significantly, STT-MRAM can operate as fast as the fastest semiconductor based random access memories, and thus be used as a computer and portable device's (e.g. smartphone) working memory—a memory that is accessed frequently. As a result, these magnetic devices can be used to improve the performance of such devices, adding speed while, at the same time, greatly reducing the amount of energy needed.

Kent and Worledge caution that several "technological challenges must be met before STT-MRAM can be widely adopted in the most advanced applications"—perhaps most importantly, advances that increase their information storage capacity. However, they note that the progress made over the past decade, thanks to rapid advances made in academic and industrial research, offers great hope that this pioneering memory technology will find its way into our computers and portable devices in the future.

More information: "A new spin on magnetic memories." Nature Nanotechnology 10, 187 - 191 (2015) DOI
Journal reference: Nature Nanotechnology
Provided by New York University
Source

Bionic eye lets blind man see again

7/3/2015

Tia Ghose : Live Science : 28 Feb 2015

A bionic eye implant is now allowing a blind man to see the outlines of his wife after 10 years in darkness. The implant, called a retinal prosthesis, consists of a small electronic chip that is placed at the back of the eye to send visual signals directly into the optic nerve. This bypasses the damaged cells in the man's retina. The bionic eye doesn't have enough electrodes to recreate the details of human faces, but for the first time since he lost his vision, the man can make out the outlines of people and things, and walk without a cane.

Degenerative disease

The Minneapolis-St. Paul man, Allen Zderad, suffered from a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, in which the cells in the retina that gather light gradually die. While many people who suffer from this condition experience only decreased night vision, some lose their central vision completely. Amazingly, after 10 years living with the disease, Zderad had figured out how to continue woodworking by relying on his sense of touch and perception of spatial relationships. But he was effectively blind; he could not see his wife or his grandkids, and could only see extremely bright lights.

Zderad's grandson was getting treatment for the same genetic condition from Dr. Raymond Iezzi, Jr., an ophthalmologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Zderad's grandson mentioned that his grandfather was almost completely blind, and the doctor asked to see Zderad. Iezzi, it turned out, was conducting a clinical trial of a bionic eye implant made by Second Sight. Zderad became the doctor's first patient to get the implant.

Dr Iezzi Bionic Eye : Mayo Clinic

Bypassing photoreceptors

Though retinitis pigmentosa destroys photoreceptors, the rest of the retina, including optic nerve cells that send light signals to the brain, remain healthy. "What we're trying to do is replace the function of these lost photoreceptors," Iezzi said in a YouTube video (above) released by the Mayo Clinic.

In January, Iezzi implanted the bionic eye by inserting the electronics and a wafer with 60 electrodes through the white of Zderad's right eye. Iezzi fixed the electronics outside the eye, then placed the wafer on the curved portion at the back of the eye, where the retina sits. Two weeks later, the team activated the external portion of the device: a set of glasses that contain a tiny camera on the bridge of the nose and a belt-pack computer. The glasses camera takes a picture of the world as the eye would see it, then feeds that information into the computer that Zderad wears around his waist. The computer translates that image into light signals that are then beamed through a wireless transmitter into the electrodes in the man's eye. The electrodes, in turn, transmit the light signals to the optic nerve, which relays the information to the brain.

As soon as the implant was activated, Zderad reached out to grab his wife's hands, which he could see for the first time in a decade. He even caught a glimpse of his own silhouette in a window. However, the system creates little flashes of light, rather than traditional images, so he will still need to go through physical therapy in order to better interpret the light signals coming from his implant, according to Mayo Clinic's statement on the case.
Source

Blind man sees wife for the first time in a decade - here's how : Reuters

Gone with the wind: wind-powered freighters

7/3/2015

Frauenhofer-Gesellschaft : Science Daily : 27 Feb 2015

© Lade AS

To make ships more eco-efficient, engineers have been working with alternative fuels. A Norwegian engineer is currently pursuing a new approach: With VindskipTM, he has designed a cargo ship that is powered by wind and gas. Software developed by Fraunhofer researchers will ensure an optimum use of the available wind energy at any time.

International shipping is transporting 90 percent of all goods on earth. Running on heavy fuel oil freighters contribute to pollution. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) wants to reduce the environmental impact of ocean liners. One of the measures: Starting from 2020, ships will only be allowed to use fuel containing maximum 0.1 percent sulfur in their fuel in certain areas. However, the higher-quality fuel with less sulfur is more expensive than the heavy fuel oil which is currently used. Shipping companies are thus facing a major challenge in reducing their fuel costs while complying with the emission guidelines.

A new way of reducing fuel consumption, emissions and bunker expenses is being pursued by the Norwegian engineer Terje Lade, managing director of the company Lade AS: With VindskipTM he has designed a type of ship that does not use heavy fuel oil but utilizes wind for propulsion. The highlight: The hull of the freighter serves as a wing sail. On the high seas, VindskipTM will benefit from free-blowing wind making it very energy efficient. For low-wind passages, in order to maneuver the ship on the open sea while also maintaining a constant speed, it is equipped with an environmentally friendly and cost-effective propulsion machinery running on liquefied natural gas (LNG). With the combination of wind and liquefied natural gas as an alternative fuel to heavy fuel oil, the fuel consumption is estimated to be only 60 percent of a reference ship on average. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by 80 percent, according to calculations by the Norwegian company.

Weather routing module determines the optimal course

For efficient operation, it is critical that the available wind energy is used in the best possible way. In order to calculate the optimal sailing route, researchers from Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services CML, a division of Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, have developed a customized weather routing module for VindskipTM. Considering meteorological data the software for the new ship type uses a navigation algorithm to calculate a route with the optimum angle to the wind for maximum effect of the design. "With our weather routing module the best route can be calculated in order to consume as little fuel as possible. As a result costs are reduced. After all, bunker expenses account for the largest part of the total costs in the shipping industry," says Laura Walther, researcher at CML in Hamburg. For the complex calculations, the researcher and her team apply numerous parameters, such as aero- and hydrodynamic data as well as weather forecasts from the meteorological services, such as wind speed and wave height.

So how is it possible that the VindskipTM is being pulled forward? "At angles close to headwind the wind generates a force in the ship's direction. The ship is pulled forward. Since the hull is shaped like a symmetrical air foil, the oblique wind on the opposite side -- leeward -- has to travel a longer distance. This causes a vacuum that pulls the ship forward," explains VindskipTM patent-holder Lade. This makes the freighter move at speeds of up to 18 to 19 knots, hence just as fast as conventionally powered ships. Due to its very low fuel consumption, Vindskip™ can utilize liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel and still be capable -- in the worst case -- of 70 days of steaming between bunkering. Thus, it can meet all of today's and tomorrow's challenges with regards to fuel economy and emission control.

Wind-tunnel tests completed successfully

The researchers from CML are continually developing the weather routing tool further; the first version has been available since mid-December 2014. By the end of January 2015, the software will be handed over to the company Lade AS. Ship types that are particularly relevant to the VindskipTM-design, for which the weather routing module is developed, are ships like car and truck carriers, big ferries, container ships and LNG carriers. Terje Lade forecasts that the freighter will set sail as soon as 2019. First, the ship model has to pass numerous tests in a marine research model tank -- also called a towing tank by experts. Tests in wind tunnels have already been completed successfully.

Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

NASA Spacecraft becomes first to orbit a dwarf planet

7/3/2015

March 6, 2015 : NASA PRESS RELEASE 15-034

Ceres is seen from NASA's Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles (about 48,000 kilometers).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday.

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California received a signal from the spacecraft at 5:36 a.m. PST (8:36 a.m. EST) that Dawn was healthy and thrusting with its ion engine, the indicator Dawn had entered orbit as planned. "Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet," said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL. "Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres, home."

In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The most recent images received from the spacecraft, taken on March 1 show Ceres as a crescent, mostly in shadow because the spacecraft's trajectory put it on a side of Ceres that faces away from the sun until mid-April. When Dawn emerges from Ceres' dark side, it will deliver ever-sharper images as it spirals to lower orbits around the planet.

"We feel exhilarated," said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives."

Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

For a complete list of mission participants, visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission
For more information about Dawn, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
[email protected]

Elizabeth Landau
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6425
[email protected]

Never Stuck

2/3/2015

From Kryon Live Channel, "Current Events", April 2005 in Washington, DC

"Oh, this is complicated, but it’s true. No one is ever “stuck”. And if you hear that, it doesn’t honor the grandness of the angel called the Human Being, or the system you’ve set up to help the planet.

You have full choice when you’re not here. The Human-Earth scenario is the only place where you receive a hidden persona where you don’t know who you are and have to seemingly walk in the dark. When you’re not here, you’re a part of the whole of God.

Death is a known transition, and not filled with uncertainty, error, mistakes or mystery. It’s simply the closing of one door and the opening of another. "

~ KRYON, through Lee Carroll
http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/kryon--who-is-kryon--and-who-are-we.html
http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/kryon-books.html

So long transistor, hello memristor: how this could revolutionize electronics

2/3/2015

Jacopo Prisco : CNN : 02 Mar 2015

In 1971, a physicist conceptualized the existence of a fourth fundamental element in the electronic circuit, besides the three that were already in use at the time. His name was Leon Chua and he believed -- for reasons of symmetry -- that an extra component could one day be constructed to join the resistor, the capacitor and the inductor. He called it "memristor", a portmanteau of the words memory and resistor.

It took 37 years for our engineering abilities to catch up with that idea: the first memristor was built by Hewlett Packard in 2008. And today, many researchers believe it could spark a revolution in computing.

From electrons to ions

Simply put, the memristor could mean the end of electronics as we know it and the beginning of a new era called "ionics". The transistor, developed in 1947, is the main component of computer chips. It functions using a flow of electrons, whereas the memristor couples the electrons with ions, or electrically charged atoms. In a transistor, once the flow of electrons is interrupted by, say, cutting the power, all information is lost. But a memristor can remember the amount of charge that was flowing through it, and much like a memory stick it will retain the data even when the power is turned off.

This can pave the way for computers that will instantly turn on and off like a light bulb and never lose data: the RAM, or memory, will no longer be erased when the machine is turned off, without the need to save anything to hard drives as with current technology. But memristors have another fundamental difference compared with transistors: they can escape the boundaries of binary code.

Like a brain

Initially, the technology will be mostly used to create super-fast memory chips that contain more data and consume less energy. This alone would make regular computers much more powerful, but down the line, the memristor could also take on the processing.

Jennifer Rupp is a Professor of electrochemical materials at ETH Zurich, and she's working with IBM to build a memristor- based machine. Memristors, she points out, function in a way that is similar to a human brain: "Unlike a transistor, which is based on binary codes, a memristor can have multi-levels. You could have several states, let's say zero, one half, one quarter, one third, and so on, and that gives us a very powerful new perspective on how our computers may develop in the future," she told CNN's Nick Glass. Such a shift in computing methodology would allow us to create "smart" computers that operate in a way reminiscent of the synapses in our brains. Free from the limitations of the 0s and 1s, these more powerful computers would be able to learn and make decisions, ultimately getting us one step closer to creating human-like artificial intelligence.

You can read the rest of this story at : http://www.sott.net/article/293283-So-long-transistor-hello-memristor-How-this-could-revolutionize-electronics

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS, BEHAVING STRANGELY:

2/3/2015

The southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) has come to an end. NASA's AIM spacecraft observed the last wisps of electric-blue over Antarctica on Feb. 20, 2015. The end of the season was no surprise: the polar clouds always subside in late summer. Looking back over the entire season, however, reveals something unexpected. In an 8-year plot of Antarctic noctilucent cloud frequencies, the 2014-2015 season is clearly different from the rest:

These data come from the AIM spacecraft, which was launched in 2007 to monitor NLCs from Earth orbit. The curves show the abundance ("frequency") of the clouds vs. time for 120 days around every southern summer solstice for the past 8 years.

"This past season was not like the others," notes Cora Randall, a member of the AIM science team and the chair of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado. "The clouds were much more variable, and there was an enormous decrease in cloud frequency 15 to 25 days after the summer solstice. That's when the clouds are usually most abundant."

What does this mean? Previous research shows that NLCs are a sensitive indicator of long-range teleconnections in Earth's atmosphere, which link weather and climate across hemispheres. The strange behavior of noctilucent clouds in 2014-2015 could be a sign of previously unknown linkages. "Preliminary indications are that it is indeed due to inter-hemispheric teleconnections," says Randall. "We're still analyzing the data, so stay tuned."

Now attention turns to the northern hemisphere, where the season for NLCs typically begins in May. Will the northern season ahead be as strangely variable as the southern season, just concluded? Says Randall, "I can't wait to find out."
www.spaceweather.com

Rest .... your soul speaks to you in the quiet moments inbetween your thoughts

2/3/2015