Name: Norman Anthony Aguero
Currently a student at FIU. My major is chemistry and my minor is physics. My goal is to hopefully earn a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry.
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Yup, as you all probably know, I play guitar, and now I'm trying to learn bass. I'm told I'm pretty clever on the instruments, and now I found a way of enhancing chops and saving relationships. Yup, simple, it's called Listerine. Watch:
Yup, believe it of not, I used to drive trains between 1988 - 1992. I started out as fireman, then brakeman, until I reached the dubious title of : 'conductor.' After all the schooling, I was promoted to engineer. I got qualified on 2 yard switchers, as well as 2 road switchers.
I grew up in NYC, in front of the IRT elevated West Side line. As a child, I was always fascinated by trains. Luckily, I eventually got to drive them for myself.
Summary
A photograph purported to be of EBE-1: B.R. received this from an ex-intelligence officer while at the UFO Congress in Laughlin, Nevada, in March 2006. It is not specifically connected with Serpo and the source was not Anonymous. However, such is the nature of the material that it is assumed that visitors to this site will be most interested in the image.
"I have seen two different kinds of ETs from crashes, and this is definitely one of them. It could very well be him. I am not 100% sure, but I'd bank on it." -- Ex-military archivist, who in the 1980s handled photographs, films and artifacts from crash retrievals in the late 1940s - name supplied.
Appearance
Typically, Greys are described as being approximately 4 feet tall, with grey (sometimes blue-grey/green-grey) skin. Their body is typically described as being elongated, and lacking in muscular definition. Their legs are shorter and jointed differently than one would expect in a human, giving them an apparently awkward gait. Their arms often reach down to their knees, and some accounts give them three digits, or three digits and a thumb on each hand. They have a bulbous, hairless head supported by a thin neck, which is dominated by large black lidless eyes. They typically have small flat noses, small mouths and small ears lacking a pinna. In some cases, Greys are reported as having slit-like nostrils on a flat face.[2][3][4][5]
Some reports have Greys wearing tight neutral colored uniform like jumpsuits. Other reports have them appearing to be naked. In most cases, clothed Greys have no determinable gender and naked Greys have no visible external genitals.
Perspectives
American researcher and alternative knowledge author Lloyd Pye advocates the hypothesis that modern Human are the result of genetic intervention by Greys from another star system, and believes that there has been a sustained program to crossbreed Greys and Humans over the centuries. He that holds that the so-called Mexico Starchild skull constitutes empirical evidence in support of his standpoint. [14]
According to English reproductive biologist Jack Cohen, the typical image of a Grey, given that it would have evolved on a world with different environmental and ecological conditions from Earth, is too physiologically similar to a human to be credible as a representation of an alien.[15]
Neurologist Dr. Steven Novella believes that the physical appearance of a Grey does not represent a real flesh and blood creature, but that it is instead a byproduct of the human imagination. With the Grey's most distinctive features representing everything that modern humans traditionally link with intelligence. “The aliens, however, do not just appear as humans, they appear like humans with those traits we psychologically associate with intelligence” Dr. Steven Novella.
According to Novella if you were to plot the physical differences between an ape and a human, and then were to apply these differences directly to a human model, the resulting human would strongly resemble a Grey.[16]
Philosopher Michael Grosso believes that Greys, along with many paranormal myths and legends throughout history, are the telepathic manifestation of the collective consciousness of a community or culture [17]. He proposes that the physical form of the Grey is that of a malnourished human being, not an alien, and that Greys may be a manifestation of guilt felt by the developed world over the plight of the developing world.
Meteorite blaze over Guadalajara Mexico.
The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken
Echoes from the Edge
Variable star V838 Monocerotis lies near the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, about 20,000 light-years from our sun. Still, ever since a sudden outburst was detected in January 2002, this enigmatic star has taken the center of an astronomical stage. As astronomers watch, light from the outburst echoes across pre-existing dust shells around V838 Mon, progressively illuminating ever more distant regions.
This stunning image of swirls of dust surrounding the yellowish star was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in September 2006. The picture spans about 14 light-years. Astronomers expect the expanding echoes to continue to light up the dusty environs of V838 Mon for at least the rest of the current decade. Researchers now have found that V838 Mon is likely a young binary star, but the cause of its extraordinary outburst remains a mystery.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Bond (STScI)
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As probably you all gathered, I'm very fond of cats. Here's one that sings; I'm sure most of you seen this video. The trick is to 'hear' what the beast is trying to harmonize. It sounds like 'How much is that doggy in the window.'
I love kitties, and all denizens of our great planet.
Aerogel in Hand
Though ghostly in appearance like a hologram, aerogel is very solid and feels like hard styrofoam to the touch. Aerogel was used on the Stardust spacecraft to capture comet particles from Comet Wild 2 in January 2004.
Stardust returned to Earth with the particles on January 15, 2006. The mission was successful.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Aerogel is a low-density solid-state material derived from gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. The result is an extremely low density solid with several remarkable properties, most notably its effectiveness as an insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like extruded polystyrene to the touch.
The Cat's Eye Nebula
The full beauty of the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is revealed in this new, detailed view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The image from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) shows a bull's eye pattern of eleven or even more concentric rings, or shells, around the Cat's Eye. Each 'ring' is actually the edge of a spherical bubble seen projected onto the sky -- that's why it appears bright along its outer edge.
Observations suggest the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1,500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each of which contain as much mass as all of the planets in our solar system combined (still only one percent of the Sun's mass). These concentric shells make a layered, onion-skin structure around the dying star. The view from Hubble is like seeing an onion cut in half, where each skin layer is discernible.
The bull's-eye patterns seen around planetary nebulae come as a surprise to astronomers because they had no expectation that episodes of mass loss at the end of stellar lives would repeat every 1,500 years. Several explanations have been proposed, including cycles of magnetic activity somewhat similar to our own Sun's sunspot cycle, the action of companion stars orbiting around the dying star, and stellar pulsations. Another school of thought is that the material is ejected smoothly from the star, and the rings are created later on due to formation of waves in the outflowing material.
Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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DNA replication or DNA synthesis is the process of copying a double-stranded DNA molecule. This process is paramount to all life as we know it. The DNA replication involves copying the genetic material and passing it on to daughter cells, therefore the process is important in continuation of life.
The main goal of DNA synthesis is to unwind and separate a single DNA molecule and copy its two strands, resulting in two new DNA molecules. To accomplish this task DNA replicating machinery is assembled.
For Faaraa:
This is the constellation Orion.
Notice M42 and M43 under the first star in the 'belt.' Those are nebula forming or giving birth ot young stars. Here is a picture of the two nebulae, M42 is to the left, and M43 is on the right:
Near the firt star in the belt there is also another nebula called the 'Horsehead.' Again, here is a picture:
Although not a 'part' of the milky way, the orion area is rich in stars. We beleve that orion lies within one of the spiral arms of our galaxy. If you have a pair of binoculars, sweeping the orion area is very rewarding. In fact, M42 is visible to the naked eye as a faint, hazy spot around the star underneath the belt.
Milky Way Neighbor
Our Sun and solar system are embedded in a broad pancake of stars deep within the disk of the Milky Way galaxy. Even from a distance, it is impossible to see our galaxy's large-scale features other than the disk.
The next best thing is to look farther out into the universe at galaxies that are similar in shape and structure to our home galaxy. Other spiral galaxies like NGC 3949, pictured in this Hubble image, fit the bill. Like our Milky Way, this galaxy has a blue disk of young stars peppered with bright pink star-birth regions. In contrast to the blue disk, the bright central bulge is made up of mostly older, redder stars.
NGC 3949 lies about 50 million light-years from Earth. It is a member of a loose cluster of some six or seven dozens of galaxies located in the direction of the Big Dipper, in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). It is one of the larger galaxies of this cluster.
Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
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NGC 602 and Beyond
Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies the young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and undulating shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602.
Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA)
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Ring Holds a Delicate Flower
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope finds a delicate flower in the Ring Nebula, as shown in this image. The outer shell of this planetary nebula looks surprisingly similar to the delicate petals of a camellia blossom. (A planetary nebula is a shell of material ejected from a dying star.) Located about 2,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra, the Ring Nebula is also known as Messier Object 57 and NGC 6720. It is one of the best examples of a planetary nebula and a favorite target of amateur astronomers.
The "ring" is a thick cylinder of glowing gas and dust around the doomed star. As the star begins to run out of fuel, its core becomes smaller and hotter, boiling off its outer layers. Spitzer's infrared array camera detected this material expelled from the withering star. Previous images of the Ring Nebula taken by visible-light telescopes usually showed just the inner glowing loop of gas around the star. The outer regions are especially prominent in this new image because Spitzer sees the infrared light from hydrogen molecules. The molecules emit the infrared light that they have absorbed ultraviolet radiation from the star or have been heated by the wind from the star.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
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Bright Lights, Big Cities
As United States has undergone a steady process of urbanization, scientists are becoming more concerned about the long-term effects. Unlike rural communities, urban sprawl completely transforms the landscape and the soil and alters the surrounding ecosystem and the climate. Marc Imhoff, a biologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and a team of researchers have been looking for ways to measure the effects of urbanization on the biological productivity in the United States and other countries around the world. The researchers created a method of mapping urbanization on a countrywide scale by using satellite images of the light cities generate at night. With the resulting city lights maps, they are now zeroing in on the impacts urban sprawl has on the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the ecosystem within which we live.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon
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Effects of superstrong magnetic fields
A magnetic field above 10 gigateslas is strong enough to wipe a credit card from half the distance of the Moon from the Earth. A small neodymium based rare earth magnet has a field of about 1 tesla, Earth has a geomagnetic field of 30-60 microteslas, and most media used for data storage can be erased with a millitesla field at very short range.
The magnetic field of a magnetar would be lethal at a distance of up to 1000 km, tearing tissues due to the diamagnetism of water. Tidal forces of a 1.4 solar mass magnetar would also be lethal at such a distance, pulling an average-sized human apart with a force of over 20 kilonewtons (over 4500 pounds-force).
Formation
When, in a supernova, a star collapses to a neutron star, its magnetic field increases dramatically in strength (halving a linear dimension increases the magnetic field fourfold). Duncan and Thompson calculated that the magnetic field of a neutron star, normally an already enormous 108 teslas could, through the dynamo mechanism, grow even larger, to more than 1011 teslas (or 1015 gauss). Such a highly magnetic neutron star is called a magnetar.
The supernova might lose 10% of its mass in the explosion. In order for such large stars (10–30 solar masses) not to collapse straight into a black hole, they have to shed a larger proportion of their mass—maybe another 80%.
It is estimated that about 1 in 10 supernova explosions results in a magnetar rather than a more standard neutron star or pulsar[citation needed]. This happens when the star already has a fast rotation and strong magnetic field before the supernova. It is thought that a magnetar's magnetic field is created as a result of a convection-driven dynamo of hot nuclear matter in the neutron star's interior that operates in the first ten seconds or so of a neutron star's life. If the neutron star is initially rotating as fast as the period of convection, about ten milliseconds, then the convection currents are able to operate globally and transfer a significant amount of their kinetic energy into magnetic field strength. In slower-rotating neutron stars, the convection currents form only in local regions.
Short lifetime
In the outer layers of a magnetar, which consist of a plasma of heavy elements (mostly iron), tensions can arise that lead to 'starquakes'. These seismic vibrations are extremely energetic, and result in a burst of X-ray and gamma ray radiation. To astronomers, such an object is known as a soft gamma repeater.
The life of a magnetar as a soft gamma repeater is short: Starquakes cause large ejections of energy, and matter. The matter is held in the strong magnetic field, and evaporates in minutes. Radial ejection of matter carries away angular momentum which slows the rotation. Magnetars lose rotational speed at a higher rate than other neutron stars, attributed to their high magnetic field. Slowdown weakens the magnetic field, and after only about 10,000 years the starquakes cease. After this, the star still radiates X-rays, and astronomers conjecture it forms an anomalous X-ray pulsar. After another 10,000 years, it becomes completely quiet. Starquakes are explosive events and some have been directly recorded, such as that at SGR 1806-20 on December 27, 2004, and more are expected to be recorded as telescopes increase in number and capability.
Known Magnetars
As of December 2004, 4 soft gamma repeaters and 5 anomalous X-ray pulsars are known, with a further four candidates in need of confirmation.
Stellar Quakes
In December 2004, a neutron star flared up so brightly, it temporarily blinded all the x-ray satellites in space, and lit up the Earth's upper atmosphere. This tremendous blast of energy was from a giant flare created by the neutron star's twisting magnetic field. Objects like this are called magnetars, and they produce magnetic fields trillions of time more powerful than those here on Earth. These fields are so strong they can actually buckle the surface of the neutron star causing these powerful star quakes.
Image credit: NASA
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Cosmic Epic Unfolds in Infrared
This majestic view, taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, tells an untold story of life and death in the Eagle Nebula, an industrious star-making factory located 7,000 light-years away in the Serpens Sonstellation. The image shows the region's entire network of turbulent clouds and newborn stars in infrared light.
The color green denotes cooler towers and fields of dust, including the three famous space pillars, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," which were photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 (right of center; see http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/ssc2007-01b.html for exact location).
But it is the color red that speaks of the drama taking place in this region. Red represents hotter dust thought to have been warmed by the explosion of a massive star about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Since light from the Eagle Nebula takes 7,000 years to reach us, this supernova explosion would have appeared as an oddly bright star in our skies about 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.
According to astronomers' estimations, the explosion's blast wave would have spread outward and toppled the three pillars about 6,000 years ago (which means we wouldn't witness the destruction for another 1,000 years or so). The blast wave would have crumbled the mighty towers, exposing newborn stars that were buried inside, and triggering the birth of new ones.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Institut d'Astrophysique Spatia
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Cyclones in Tandem
A cyclone is a low-pressure area of winds that spiral inwards. Although tropical storms most often come to mind, these spiraling storms can also form at mid- and high latitudes. Two such cyclones formed in tandem in November 2006. MODIS, flying onboard NASA's Terra satellite, took this picture on Nov. 20. This image shows the cyclones south of Iceland. Scotland appears in the lower right. The larger and perhaps stronger cyclone appears in the east, close to Scotland.
Cyclones at high and mid-latitudes are actually fairly common, and they drive much of the Earth's weather. In the Northern Hemisphere, cyclones move in a counter-clockwise direction, and both of the spiraling storms in this image curl upwards toward the northeast then the west. The eastern storm is fed by thick clouds from the north that swoop down toward the storm in a giant "V" shape on either side of Iceland. Skies over Iceland are relatively clear, allowing some of the island to show through. South of the storms, more diffuse cloud cover swirls toward the southeast.
Image credit: NASA
WASHINGTON - Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist theorizes in a paper released Sunday.
The problem was the Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life and didn't recognize it, the researcher said in a paper presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.
This new report, based on a more expansive view of where life can take root, may have NASA looking for a different type of Martian life form when its next Mars spacecraft is launched later this year, one of the space agency's top scientists told The Associated Press.
Last month, scientists excitedly reported that new photographs of Mars showed geologic changes that suggest water occasionally flows there - the most tantalizing sign that Mars is hospitable to life.
In the '70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life. But it was looking for Earth-like life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living cells. Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, that life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide, said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, author of the new research.
That's because a water-hydrogen peroxide mix stays liquid at very low temperatures (-68 degrees Fahrenheit), doesn't destroy cells when it freezes, and can suck scarce water vapor out of the air.
The Viking experiments of the '70s wouldn't have noticed alien hydrogen peroxide-based life and, in fact, would have killed it by drowning and overheating the microbes, said Schulze-Makuch, a geology professor at Washington State University.
One Viking experiment seeking life on Mars poured water on soil. That would have essentially drowned hydrogen peroxide-based life, Schulze-Makuch said. A different experiment heated the soil to see if something would happen, but that would have baked Martian microbes, he said.
"The problem was that they didn't have any clue about the environment on Mars at that time," Schulze-Makuch said. "This kind of adaptation makes sense from a biochemical viewpoint."
Even Earth has something somewhat related. He points to an Earth bug called the bombardier beetle that produces a boiling-hot spray that is 25 percent hydrogen peroxide as a defense weapon.
Schulze-Makuch acknowledges he can't prove that Martian microbes exist, but given the Martian environment and how evolution works, "it makes sense."
In recent years, scientists have found life on Earth in conditions that were once thought too harsh, such as an ultra-acidic river in Spain and ice-covered lakes in Antarctica.
Schulze-Makuch's research coincides with work being completed by a National Research Council panel nicknamed the "weird life" committee. The group worries that scientists may be too Earth-centric when looking for extraterrestrial life. The problem for scientists is that "you only find what you're looking for," said Penn State University geosciences professor Katherine Freeman, a reviewer of the NRC work.
A new NASA Mars mission called Phoenix is set for launch this summer, and one of the scientists involved said he is eager to test the new theory about life on Mars. However, scientists must come up with a way to do that using the mission's existing scientific instruments, said NASA astrobiologist and Phoenix co-investigator Chris McKay. He said the Washington State scientist's paper piqued his interest.
"Logical consistency is nice, but it's not enough anymore," McKay said.
Other experts said the new concept has a certain logic to it, but more work is needed before they are convinced.
"I'm open to the possibility that it could be the case," said astrobiologist Mitch Sogin of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Mass., and a member of the National Research Council committee. But he cautioned against "just-so stories about what is possible."
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On the Net
American Astronomical Society: http://www.aas.org/
NASA's Phoenix mission: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/phoenix.html
Exploding star 'breaks the rules'
An exploding star that seems to contravene the laws of physics is puzzling astronomers.
'The wierdest type of supernova yet'
The supernova is twice the brightness expected, suggesting it arose from a star much too massive to exist.
Past observations of supernovae led to the discovery that the Universe's expansion is speeding up.
The findings could affect their use as probes of dark energy, the mysterious entity behind the expansion, scientists report in the journal Nature.
'Pandora's box'
The object, known as SNLS-03D3bb, was discovered in April 2003, in a small, young, star-forming galaxy. It is classified as a type 1a supernova, based on chemicals detected in the atmosphere around it.
Type 1a supernovae are thought to be reliable distance indicators because they have a standard amount of fuel 
Peter Nugent, astrophysicist
Type 1a supernovae have always been regarded as uniform in brightness and distances are traditionally calculated on how bright they appear to be through telescopes.
They are thought to form when a white dwarf - the remains of a low or medium mass star - pulls enough matter from a nearby companion star to explode in a violent thermonuclear reaction.
According to the Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, no white dwarf can be more massive than about 1.4 solar masses before it self destructs. SNLS-03D3bb, however, appears to contravene this rule.
"Type 1a supernovae are thought to be reliable distance indicators because they have a standard amount of fuel - the carbon and oxygen in a white dwarf star - and they have a uniform trigger," said Peter Nugent, an astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, who worked on the study.
"They are predicted to explode when the mass of the white dwarf nears the Chandrasekhar mass, which is about 1.4 times the mass of our Sun.
"The fact that SNLS-03D3bb is well over that mass kind of opens up a Pandora's box."
'Standard candles'
Astronomers now have to explain how a white dwarf could grow so massive. One possibility is that two white dwarfs could spiral together and eventually merge.
Another, more likely explanation, is that matter accumulated by a white dwarf from a companion star could add extra angular momentum causing it to rotate more rapidly.
This would provide extra support against gravity and allow the white dwarf to become extra-massive before exploding.
Astronomers are now considering whether objects such as SNLS-03D3bb should be screened out in cosmological studies, to avoid them "contaminating" results.
"As this supernova does not obey the relations that allow type 1a supernovae to be calibrated as standard candles, and as no counterparts have been found at low redshift, future cosmology studies will have to consider possible contamination from such events," the authors write in Nature.
Depleted uranium is very dense; at 19050 kg/m³, it is almost 70% denser than lead. Thus a given weight of it has a smaller diameter than an equivalent lead projectile, with less aerodynamic drag and deeper penetration due to a higher pressure at point of impact. DU projectile ordnance is often incendiary because of its pyrophoric property.
