Video: Woolly Mammoth found out in the wilds of Siberia?

A Russian civil engineer has filmed what he thinks is a live Woolly Mammoth out in the wilds of Siberia.

Who is up for an "Avatar" robot?

Japan scientist makes 'Avatar' robot

Yokohama: A Japanese-developed robot that mimics the movements of its human controller is bringing the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" one step closer to reality.

Users of the TELESAR V don special equipment that allows them not only to direct the actions of a remote machine, but also to see, hear and feel the same things as their doppelganger android.

"When I put on the devices and move my body, I see my hands having turned into the robot hands. When I move my head, I get a different view from the one I had before," said researcher Sho Kamuro.

"It's a strange experience that makes you wonder if you've really become a robot," he told AFP.

Professor Susumu Tachi, who specialises in engineering and virtual reality at Keio University's Graduate School of Media Design, said systems attached to the operator's headgear, vest and gloves send detailed instructions to the robot, which then mimics the user's every move.

Image of the Day: The Milky Way Creates Shadow

The Milky Way Creates Shadow

Chinese internet video posted Jan. 25 showing sea trials for China’s first aircraft carrier

Chinese internet video posted Jan. 25 showing sea trials for China’s first aircraft carrier.

Strange Video: Mythical 'Worm Monster' makes appearance in Fljotsdal Valley

What is this strange creature(object?) in an Iceland lake?

Amateur video shows mysterious 'creature' in Iceland

What does the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy eat when it has the munchies

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/F. Baganoff et al.; Illustrations: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Asteroids...

ScienceDaily — The giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be vaporizing and devouring asteroids, which could explain the frequent flares observed, according to astronomers using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

For several years Chandra has detected X-ray flares about once a day from the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A*, or "Sgr A*" for short. The flares last a few hours with brightness ranging from a few times to nearly one hundred times that of the black hole's regular output. The flares also have been seen in infrared data from ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile.


"People have had doubts about whether asteroids could form at all in the harsh environment near a supermassive black hole," said Kastytis Zubovas of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, and lead author of the report appearing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "It's exciting because our study suggests that a huge number of them are needed to produce these flares."

Zubovas and his colleagues suggest there is a cloud around Sgr A* containing trillions of asteroids and comets, stripped from their parent stars. Asteroids passing within about 100 million miles of the black hole, roughly the distance between Earth and the sun, would be torn into pieces by the tidal forces from the black hole.

These fragments then would be vaporized by friction as they pass through the hot, thin gas flowing onto Sgr A*, similar to a meteor heating up and glowing as it falls through Earth's atmosphere. A flare is produced and the remains of the asteroid are swallowed eventually by the black hole.

Daredevil adventurer Felix Baumgartner's plans to plunge 23 miles from the edge fo space back to Earth

Daredevil to attempt hypersonic jump from space

Seagrass Holds Secrets of the Most Ancient Living Organism On Earth

Ancient giant Posidonia oceanica may be more than 100,000 years old.

ScienceDaily — It's big, it's old and it lives under the sea -- and now an international research collaboration with The University of Western Australia's Ocean's Institute has confirmed that an ancient seagrass holds the secrets of the oldest living organism on Earth.

Ancient giant Posidonia oceanica reproduces asexually, generating clones of itself. A single organism -- which has been found to span up to 15 kilometres in width and reach more than 6,000 metric tonnes in mass -- may well be more than 100,000 years old.

"Clonal organisms have an extraordinary capacity to transmit only 'highly competent' genomes, through generations, with potentially no end," said Director of UWA's Oceans' Institute Winthrop Professor Carlos Duarte. Keep on reading...

Cool Video: Stunning Footage from Space

Stunning Footage from Space

Via YouTube:

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions
28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October,
2011.