Applied Physics

A new proposed spacecraft named MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is expected to be launched in 2013, a $485 million mission to collect atmospheric data on Mars. The purpose of the NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is to gain further knowledge on the history of the planet’s climate and atmosphere, as well as the planet’s availability of water and its future habitability. Photo Credit: NASA.gov “Today, the martian atmosphere is about half a percent as dense as the Earth’s and it’s about 95 percent carbon dioxide, which makes it very thin and very dry,” states John T. Clarke, an…

This summer, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Take this quiz to find find out how NASA knowledgeable you really are. You consider yourself a staunch supporter of space travel. As a child, you spent many a day lying under your mother's dining room table, pushing imaginary overhead buttons in your very own spaceship. When Apollo 13 opened in movie theaters, you spent all 140 excruciating minutes questioning its historic accuracy while your date slumped over snoozing. You even know that Starfleet Headquarters is located in San Francisco.…

People who believe eating genetically modified organisms will turn them literally into what they eat are in for a new nightmare - genetically engineered animals. Highly ironic case of misinformed alarmist sprouting antlers, snout reported to FDA The Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance on the regulation of genetically engineered animals today. (For those not well versed in the parlance of regulation, this is a document that describes FDA's current thinking on an issue. The agency alerts the relevant stakeholders that they can comment on the guidance, and then a final…

LONDON, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Working Buildings 2008 announce today the launch of a major new feature for 2008, 'The Office of the Future', where visitors can get a glimpse of tomorrow's office, today. A major design project that's attracting huge attention, The Office of the Future is organised in partnership with BIM Products and Smartcomm and is sponsored by Dyson Airblade. The brand new feature brings together two cutting edge technologies in a way never seen before with BIM (Building Information Model) applications for FM, M&E and energy analysis being run on the latest giant…

Nothing would make historic sites more fun to visit than a golf cart that drives itself, navigates around obstacles and lets you concentrate on enjoying the scenery. If the 'Verdino' takes off, you just may have it. A team of engineers from the University of La Laguna (ULL) in the Canary Islands designed the Verdino and have demonstrated it as a self-steering vehicle that can sense the road surface using a technique called Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), based on the behavior used by ants to find the shortest way between their ant hill and sources of food. The study’s lead author, Rafael…

NYON, Switzerland, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Mymetics Corporation (OTCBB: MYMX), a vaccine development company, is pleased to announce their preliminary SHIV challenge results on non-human primates previously immunized with the Company's mucosal HIV-AIDS vaccine designed for triggering mucosal protection. The results significantly exceed the Industry standard of 60% to 70% effectiveness to be considered as a promising vaccine as well as of Mymetics' expectation which was considerable above this level. The Company will continue to do further tests to confirm these results and will present…

LONDON, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail Decisions (ReD), a card issuer and a world leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing is pleased to announce a new research and development project in conjunction with City University London, the UK's leading research centre in neural computing. The project will focus on enhancing and advancing ReD's neural technology PRISM(R). PRISM(R) is ReD's proprietary neural technology developed by Nobel Prize winning scientist, Dr. Leon Cooper. The PRISM product line utilises both predictive neural and rules-based technologies and is designed to…

Johns Hopkins scientists report success in significantly suppressing levels of the "hunger hormone" ghrelin in pigs using a minimally invasive means of chemically vaporizing the main vessel carrying blood to the top section, or fundus, of the stomach. An estimated 90 percent of the body's ghrelin originates in the fundus, which can't make the hormone without a good blood supply. "With gastric artery chemical embolization, called GACE, there's no major surgery," says Aravind Arepally, M.D., clinical director of the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design and associate professor of…

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- - One of the world's largest architectural LED lighting grids shines on the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery LightWild today announced the completion of an exterior architectural lighting project for the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. The project, one of the world's largest architectural LED lighting grids, spans across the entire south glass facade of the new arena that opened Sept. 10, 2008. To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/lightwild/34977/ The approximately 15,000 square-foot (1,400 square-meter…

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas, September 16 /PRNewswire/ -- - Innovative LED manufacturer unveils five-surface architectural lighting project LightWild today announced the completion of an interior lighting project for the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. The significant wall and ceiling installations throughout the main and VIP lobby entrances embrace visitors with light, color, and effects in the arena that opened Sept. 10, 2008. To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/lightwild/34978/ In the main lobby, two walls feature thousands of frosted circular lenses…