Beam Me Up # 477 is now online

Episode 477 centers around a nice story, Stars in Her Eyes, by Vaughn Stanger which I run in the last half of the program. 

Articles this program included a heart felt good-by to John Glenn, books that may have changed the science fiction landscape and speaking of landscapes, in Cassini's final year, the probe will make many new close approaches to Saturn's major moon Titan which it will record as well as many of the inner rings which has been slated for the probe to dive through. This goes on until September of 2017, at which time it has been programmed to Saturn's cloud tops. 

Click   HERE  for podcast audio

Beam Me Up Episode 474 now onlone

Episode 474 came together this week without much of a problem.

I start with a cut to give me a few moments to get organized.  Next I travel over to the Beam Me Up blog wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com.

First on the agenda is the loss of the ESA's Schiaparelli lander.   Next SyFy has picked up Van Helsing with an order for 13 new episodes. 

Hubble continues to do phenomenal science.   SyFy has pushed back Star Trek Discovery.

Rosetta considered successful.  

Musk still thinks Mars colonization viable. 

Osirus Rex mission still go. 

Dave Scholes The Real Dream World is our story of the afternoon. 

Podcast 474 HERE

Enjoy

Beam Me Up #470 Now Online

Beam Me Up podcast, # 470,  is now online and ready to be downloaded or listened to directly.

This week I read from the blog concerning Mars rovers. Plus a rather unusual mission patch that NASA has designed  for certain future missions.

The bulk of the hour however is Galleon by Matthew Harrison a tale of a far future colony whos  roots are planted firmly in our past.

Click HERE for the podcast. 

Beam Me Up #470 Now Online

Beam Me Up podcast, # 470,  is now online and ready to be downloaded or listened to directly.

This week I read from the blog concerning Mars rovers. Plus a rather unusual mission patch that NASA has designed  for certain future missions.

The bulk of the hour however is Galleon by Matthew Harrison a tale of a far future colony whos  roots are planted firmly in our past.

Click HERE for the podcast. 

Beam Me Up #470 Now Online

Beam Me Up podcast, # 470,  is now online and ready to be downloaded or listened to directly.

This week I read from the blog concerning Mars rovers. Plus a rather unusual mission patch that NASA has designed  for certain future missions.

The bulk of the hour however is Galleon by Matthew Harrison a tale of a far future colony whos  roots are planted firmly in our past.

Click HERE for the podcast. 

 

Scientists Discover Possible Origin of oxygen

A team of researchers just confirmed the presence of oxygen in a galaxy 13.1 billion light years away.

This is the furthest oxygen has ever been detected. Suggesting that this may  be the first oxygen to form in the early universe.

The scientists based their conclusions on data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory.

The galaxy SXDF-NB1006-2, was discovered just four years ago, and they have been trying to identify the elements that are present ever since. The scientists describe their findings in a new paper published in the magazine "Science".

For Complete article, press HERE

BMU Episode 465

Episode 465

This week I have two stories.

Opening Doors by Sean Mulroy and Handyman by Frank Banta.

 I start with Elton John's Rocketman, then head over for a few articles from the blog.

Astronomers have observed the most luminous galaxies in the universe. 10 bil 4 after big bang. Bigelow spacecraft module. Supergirl still has not been reserved. The Batman / Joker animation "The Killing Joke" is due out this summer and The Justice League vs Tean Titans is available as of this publication. Finally Adam Nemoy "For the Love of Spock" has released a trailer. Adam raised over 600 thousand dollars towards the final project. No time line yet, but I can not imagine it being too far out there.

Thanks to Mebbles for the update!

Here is the direct link to the program.   Press Here

How to See a Black-hole With a Small Telescope

Blackholes are one of the most mysterious and powerful objects in the universe. Plus, due to their nature, all but invisible.

Scientists traditionally have used x-ray or gamma ray telescopes in hopes of locating new singularities.

Unfortunately these installations are large and expensive, well outside the capabilities of the back yard astronomer.

Now, according the the original Gizmodo article, a new study suggests that we could accomplish the same thing with

nothing more than a standard, optical 8-inch telescope.

This hat trick is accomplished by one of the most common black hole - an X-Ray binary consisting of a massive dead star that proceeds to absorb all the material in it's vicinity.   This leads to the emission of huge amounts of X-Rays, but a new discovery shows that the X-Ray binary also emits a small amount of low - level light, but well within the capabilities of a modest backyard telescope.

Using data from a nearby black hole (V404 Cygni which had a recent flickering event) the black hole was show to emit low-energy photons which makes the singularity "flicker" and visible to even modest telescopes.

Video  of  V404 Cygni flickering

Complete Gizmodo article

BMU #448 is now online

This week I do a live gig! Mainly for the extra time to get the story "A Matter of Character" by Ed McKeown, ready.   It still had glitches, but not so bad. 

Next, from the blog  Kallimus says goodby for now.  

David Scholes tells us that his newest book is on  Amazon.  

NASA is showing great interest in Shackleton's crater.  

The Star Trek merch store has a new item that I am sure all Trekies would love to add to their collections.  

I review Jupiter acceding. 

Lastly:  I found an article that speculated on China's capabilities of landing a man on the moon. 

You can go to the podcast episode directly  HERE   or log to the podcast HERE

Large Hadron Collider Observes a Very Rare Event

Scientists at the LHC announced that they have observed the decay of a particle that if anything is harder to discover that the elusive Higgs particle.   The strange B meson which plays an important role to play in the Standard Model of particle physics.

The Standard Model allows particle physicists to classify subatomic particles and make predictions about particles and processes still not yet observed. The Higgs boson being the most famous example.

Mesons are one of many subatomic particle. This particle can decay into several "flavors" of which the strange B mesons being just such a particle flavor of the subatomic particle. Every sub-atomic particle will decay. Mesons should decay at a rate of four out of every billion strange B mesons ever produced, and non-strange B mesons at a rate of one in 10 billion.

Now teams of physicists have detected the decay of strange B mesons for the first time, but the kicker is that the decay rate strange B meson was four times what the Standard Model predicted.

Discounting the amount of decay seems to support the Standard Model which is good and bad. The SM is known to be incomplete and it also can not account for Dark Matter or why the universe is made of matter instead of anti-matter.

New Horizons Closing for July Flyby

I know I am being a bit redundant   -  but you have to admit that as far as NASA's New Horizons mission is concerned  -  It is  starting to heat up in the coldest part of the solar system.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft is nearing its History making July 14 Encounter with Pluto, giving us up close data that here to fore has been from ground based and Earth orbiting space observations.

This means that the New Horizons spacecraft will be sending back  first-ever close up images  of distant Pluto and its moons.

New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft ever launched, has traveled a longer time and farther away – more than nine years and three billion miles – than any space mission in history to reach its primary target. (voyager may have traveled further but had completed its mission and reached it primary target decades ago)

Its flyby of Pluto on July 14 will complete its primary mission, but may also open the door to new data in the Kuiper Belt, a large area beyond Neptune’s orbit with with numerous and interesting objects.

Interestingly, even with New Horizons closer to Pluto than the Earth is to the Sun, the Pluto system resembles little more than bright dots in the distance. That's enough however for the team team operating the spacecraft to  navigate New Horizons toward a  target 7,750 miles from Pluto’s surface. This is critical, since the craft's computer can not receive commands in real time and it needs to know where to  point its science instruments as it  passes Pluto.

Another real interesting data point:  New Horizons’s work doesn’t end with the flyby. Because its time close to Pluto is so short, New Horizons is designed to gather as much data as it can, as quickly as it can,which means, taking about 100 times as much data on close approach as it can send home before flying away.  The spacecraft will send the data stored in onboard memory for a full 16 months after close approach.

For more on the New Horizons mission, here is the NASA link http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons

Beam Me Up episode 442 Deep Web - David Scholes + IPS #34 - Jason Kahn

Hi and welcome to this week’s episode of Beam Me Up.  This is episode 442.

Area of discussion this episode is quantum mechanic’s proofs and the many worlds conjecture as a results of one area of quantum “proofs”

I start this episode with a musical name “The Right Time” which was the closing theme for the anime series Paraclete.

The first story this afternoon is episode 34 of Jason Kahn’s “In Plain Sight”

From there, I head it over to the blog for Beam Me Up. This episode starts with the quantum many worlds idea, which is bizarre enough on it’s own right, but when combined with a mathematical proof system, its then that things get well, weird.

I talk for a moment about the “proof of concept” film “Sundays” which of its own right is a wicked powerful as well as a compilation of all that made the sci fi adventure flick entertaining.

There is now mounting proof that super-nova are indeed the things planets are made of.  A lot of them!

I found an app that shows all the cyber – well – attack activity around the world and how much is pointed straight at the USA!  Not just government but private institutions as well!

and the final story this afternoon is from David Scholes called Deep Web.  A strange and weird story about very very deep web sites.

And That is it for episode 442!  Enjoy!

Nine of the Wierdest Implications of Quantum Mechanics Many Worlds Interpretation

 

Are there any of you out there that are not at least conversational on the "Many World Interpretation of  the rarefied mathematical field  Quantum Math"

Supernova May Indeed be the Stuff Planets Are Made of......

An international group of scientists, using data obtained from NASA's SOFIA, an infrared observatory, have concluded that  supernova do indeed output enough material for planetary formation.

The groups observations reveal a particular cloud produced by a supernova explosion 10,000 years ago. The cloud contains enough dust to make 7,000 Earths.  

The researchers had evidence that a supernova’s outward-moving shock wave can produce huge amounts of dust. The question was - would the dust continue to spread, after encountering the interstellar medium - or be pushed back into the relative vicinity of the supernova. 

The team found that The dust survived the initial shock waves from the supernova event and continued "flowing into the interstellar medium where it can become part of the ...  material for new stars and planets..."

Check out the complete NASA article HERE

Where Has all the Anti-Matter Gone?..... Off to Mutual Annihilation - Every one.....

Yeah, I know.  A Folk singer I ain't.

But the core question is valid.  As I pointed out in a discussion last summer - If after the initial expansion, the Universe had equal amounts of matter and anti-matter - where is it all - anti- matter I mean.

Light Pollution is Worse Than You Think

Many observatories are now threatened by a very real pollution problem.   A problem that could make many of today's best visible light observatories useless in a matter of a few decades!  This pollution is an easily avoided problem of too much night time light pollution.

Check out the video on this worsening problem and steps that are being taken to preserve the night time sky......

BMU Episode 437 is now Online

Welcome to Beam Me Up - episode 437.

Pretty well grounded episode this week.

After the opening monologue, I open with a great anime musical piece, Nobody knows.

Before the first story of the afternoon, I switch gears and read a short article from Kallamis that if you like the Darwins or the more recent "Here is your sign" then you can understand his dismay and frustration even while laughing.

The first story for the afternoon is a funny little tale called "My New Roommate" from a new writer for BMU Russ Bickerstaff.

From the blog, NASA's Dawn is closing in on it's second half of its asteroid mission by visiting the most massive body in the asteroid belt.

EU's Beagle 2 lander which has been missing for better than 10 years may have been found.

I found an awesome youtube video on quantum mechanics.  I have the link but it was a bit long for this weekend's program.

Finally, I play part two of Mimsy Were the Borogoves read by CrystalWizard.

And that's it.  I hope you enjoy the program.

Listen to episode 437 HERE

Episode 435 of BMU now Online

After my opening for this week's episode (435) I spend a moment memorializing Jason Kahn who passed away 12/16/14 after a long illness.

Next - the first story of the afternoon is Venus or Bust pt2 by Alec Jones

From the Blog  wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com

A fake tweet from NASA and a planetary alignment might make you feel lighter?

2015 is an auspicious year for Back to the Future, how much did they get right and how much was plain misses.

Some people have way too much time on their hands and way too many legos!

SpaceX is another step closer to crew transport.

Finally this episode ends with part two of Margaret Karmazin's Sound Effects.

Enjoy!

The program can be listened to or downloaded from Here  
or  the podcast  beammeuppodcast.com

Change your DNA With Only Your Thoughts!

CrystalWizard sent is this very interesting piece.

researchers at ETH Zurich have an ongoing research project to construct a gene network that can be controlled by thoughts.

Vsauce Asks, Is Earth Actually Flat?

I subscribe to Vsauce on Youtube because their science is always provocative and fun.

Here is one that recently was entered asking what seems to be a fairly straightforward question but from there, things get decidedly weird......Is the Earth flat?