RIP: Leonard Nimoy @ 83

 Leonard Nimoy, well known, talented and beloved character actor, died Friday at the age of  83.   A family member told CNN that Nimoy succumbed  due to complications brought on by
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Nimoy is probably best remembered for his depiction of the green, pointed eared alien - Spock - in the 1960 television series (and later feature movies) Star Trek. 

His is survived by cast members  William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Takei wrote "We return you now to the stars, Leonard. You taught us to 'Live Long And Prosper,' and you indeed did, friend," .

Read the CNN 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.

Earth to Ceres: Dawn is Comming

Cratered surface of Ceres taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft

After seven years, Dawn will arrive at Ceres, albeit after a layover at a neighbor's, March 6th. 

Ceres is in a class now designated as "dwarf planet" that includes Pluto, Makemake and Haumea.  But it is the giant of the bunch, Ceres, that now holds NASA's Dawn spacecraft's attention. 

From the CNN article:

• New images from Dawn, taken when the probe was about 52,000 miles from Ceres, show craters and what NASA calls mysterious bright spots.

More info at the Space.com article HERE

Artist's rendition of NASA's Dawn explorer

Would You Travel to Space, Given the Chance?

Would You Travel to Space, Given the Chance?  The answer to that question would seem to be, at face value, an extremely simple one...duh  of course!  But it would seem that we are in the minority.  

Matt Novak writing for Gizmodo writes:

• Monmouth University in New Jersey has the new poll with the somewhat surprising results. When asked if they'd like to go to space with a private space company, a whopping 69 percent of Americans said that they wouldn't. Even if the company were offering the trips at absolutely no cost! Only 28 percent said they'd take the free trip.

Most Americans would not take the high road even for free?  So it would seem.   One might think that this would be a fairly recent phenomena but not so.  A Gallup poll from 1966 found that only   17% said that they would want to be on the first flight to the Moon.  

But not all is dark and gloomy.  Check out the rest of  Monmouth University's findings   HERE 

Putty of Rare Earth Magnets, Makes for a Very Weird Film

This has got to be one of the weirdest videos I have see to date.  Submitted online at YouTube by Scott Lawson.

Lawson describes the film as:

• Magnetic putty time lapse as it absorbs a rare-earth magnet. Taken over 1.5 hours at 3fps, played back at 24fps. The magnetic putty will eventually arrange itself so that the outer surface is as evenly distributed around the magnet as possible.

The grey putty like material appears almost alive as it absorbs the solid block.