Science!

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Launch tomorrow morning from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou!
Set for 9:12:19 GMT (10:12:19 CET).

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ESA’s Gaia mission will conduct the biggest cosmic census yet, charting the positions, motions and characteristics of a billion stars to create the most precise 3D map of our Milky Way. Also, Gaia will seatch for new planets near other stars and unknown asteroids in our own solar system.
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Gaia/Gaia_has_ticket_to_ride
 
Welcome to our fungi overlords!

Plastic-eating fungi found in Amazon may solve landfill problems

Just when you thought that plastic waste was never going to break down in the environment, along comes Mother Nature to solve the problem.

The Amazon contains more species of flora and fauna than virtually anywhere else on earth.

In a report by NZ Herald it was stated that a group of students from Yale University found a species which appears to be happy eating plastic in airless landfills.

The group of students are part of Yale's annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. Travelling with professor Scott Strobel of the molecular biochemistry lab into the jungles of Ecuador, the mission was to allow "students to experience the scientific inquiry process in a comprehensive and creative way."

Plastic garbage could last indefinitely, meaning that landfills of garbage will continue on possibly for centuries.

But now there may just be the perfect solution.

The group brought back a new fungus with a voracious appetite for polyurethane, which is a common plastic used for many modern purposes, including shoes, garden hoses and other non-degenerating items.

The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is able to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and, which is even more surprising can do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment. Perfect for conditions at the bottom of a landfill.

A student named Pria Anand recorded the remarkable behaviour of the microbe, and another isolated the enzymes that allow the organism to degrade plastic as a food source.

Their findings were published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology last year with the conclusion that the microbe is "a promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation."

There is now hope for a plastic-free environment in the future.
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Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/320986#ixzz2oGfE8dmE
 
That's not necessarily the news, the news is that we might get rid of the plastic garbage we already have.
 
Scientist devises the stupidest idea ever:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26492720

Building three "Great Walls" across Tornado Alley in the US could eliminate the disasters, a physicist says.

The barriers - 300m (980ft) high and up to 100 miles long - would act like hill ranges, softening winds before twisters can form.

They would cost $16bn (£9.6bn) to build but save billions of dollars of damage each year, said Prof Rongjia Tao, of Temple University, Philadelphia.
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This is an unspeakably bad idea. No consideration for potential consequences and complete lack of understanding of the situation. Madness. :nuts:
 
Not exactly a discovery. More a sad end of a scientist we all know very well in my little country.

Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutchman in space, died from cancer, at age 68.

On 30 October 1985 Ockels was one of the astronauts on the Challenger. He stayed seven days in space.
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The next flight of the Challenger was the catastrophal one.

During his scientific career he did several things. Here's some of it:
In 1992, Ockels was appointed part-time professor Aerospace Engineering (in particular, Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and Technology) at the Delft University of Technology, and promoted to full-time professor in September 2003. In this function, he has overseen the Nuna projects. He has also proposed the development of a Superbus, a new method of high speed (250 km/hour) public transportation by road.

Wubbo Ockels escaped from death several times.

- the defect that was the cause of the catastrophe with the Challenger was already present during his flight, in 1985
- he survived an airplane accident
- he survived an earlier phase of the kidney cancer
- his heart stood still for six minutes (after a severe heart attack)

Sadly, the cancer came back and turned out to be fatal.

Rest in Peace.

EDIT:
Recently he gave an interview in which he said that cancer changed his life:
Before he was a pure academic and astronaut. After he'd heard he was ill he "turned into a human".
 
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That's... fascinating. Who would have thought that HIV could be used to... fight HIV?

However: In this technique, the "scissors" used to cut the DNA are in the form of a short-lived protein carried by the modified HIV virus particles. :censored:
 
World’s First Solar Road Opens In Netherlands

Every year we consume more and more energy, and our dependence on technology is increasing day by day. This poses a bit of a problem, as our current methods of energy production are not sustainable (not even remotely so). This is where SolaRoad comes in. This project is exactly what it sounds like—solar panels that pull double duty as road surface and electricity generator. (more)
 
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