TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Experts to probe stinger treatments Far north Queensland researchers will use a $40,000 grant to investigate just how lethal irukandji and box jellyfish venom is and to look for treatments. abc.net.au |
Green Christmas A special seasonal message from Father Christmas news.bbc.co.uk |
Choo-Chooing Along to Aid in Measure of Neutrons A toy carrying californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart, was used to ensure accurate measurements in a physics experiment. feeds.nytimes.com |
The Planets | Your next box set The BBC's landmark series about our cosmic neighbourhood is a fascinating look at the planets themselves, and at the people who taught us about themThis is the story of the solar system: how it was made, what it is made from, how it might evolve. It is also the story of the human ingenuity involved in finding all of this stuff out. How do you take pictures of a planet when its surface is so hot it would melt a probe? How do you survey the furthest planets when rocket power can only propel a probe to Jupiter?The Planets was the BBC's landmark science series to end the 20th century. Today, we're spoilt by regular pictures of our neighbouring worlds, but The Planets still cuts it as a near-definitive report card for the state of human knowledge on Earth's celestial family. Even the special effects – probe flybys, planet close-ups and lots of big bangs – don't look dated. Just as compelling are the first-hand accounts of the Âscientists and engineers who worked out the staggering mechanics of sending probes to distant worlds, poring over grainy images and endless data to find out facts we now take for granted.Venus's surface temperature can hit 400C and its atmospheric pressure is almost 100 times that on Earth. No probe could survive there and several Russian Venera missions failed, while others sent back images for an hour before melting. So Nasa's Pioneer mapped the surface using radar instead, orbiting from a distance. And how did they reach the furthest planets? By using the gravity of the gas giants to accelerate a probe from one planet to the next. But the "slingshot" can only work if everything is properly aligned, something that takes place once every 175 years. Fortunately, this happened in the 1970s, which allowed Voyager 1 to send back the first close-ups of Jupiter and Saturn.It's not all geology and rockets, though – it's hard to keep a straight face at the haircuts, beards and plastic helmets (with horns) worn by all the jubilant scientists in the Nasa control room, as Viking successfully lands on Mars in 1976. This is, after all, as much a story about people as it is about planets.TelevisionAstronomySpaceSpace technologyAlok Jhaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Massive Mayan head found in jungle Archaeologists have discovered a huge Mayan sculptured head in Guatemala, suggesting a little-known site in the jungle-covered Peten region may once have been a significant city. abc.net.au |