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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Chinese astronaut teaches 60 million kids from space

A Chinese astronaut gave China its first physics lesson by video from space today, a required lesson for middle schools across the country.

By Peter Ford,?Staff writer / June 20, 2013

A student looks at his iPad as his class watches a live broadcast of a lecture given by Shenzhou-10 spacecraft astronauts on the Tiangong-1 space module, at a primary school in Quzhou, Zhejiang province June 20, 2013.

REUTERS

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It adds a whole new meaning to ?distance learning.?

Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

Surveying the saviors: A look at BlackBerry 10 and Lumia sales so far

Edward Snowden is marooned in the Moscow airport, perhaps without any clean pants, because he flew there without checking bags. On June 21, Snowden received an encrypted email from someone claiming to be a government representative, The Wall Street Journal's Te-Ping Chen and Ken Brown report, and the person urged him to leave Hong Kong, assuring him that he'd be able to clear immigration. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surveying-saviors-look-blackberry-10-lumia-sales-far-163013084.html

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When presidents meet -- in eight images and videos (Washington Post)

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Monday, July 1, 2013

Despite Design Focus, iOS 7 Doesn't Fix Apple's Horribly Off-Center 1

I had high hopes for iOS 7. It's designed by Jony Ive, the God of Minimalism, Attention to Detail and Tight T-Shirts. I love his work almost as much as I love Phil Schiller (so huggable!) But Jony... you broke my heart, Jony. WHY DIDN'T YOU OPTICALLY CENTER THE 1 IN THE CALENDAR APP ICON?

2 guys who directed traffic to save 5 ducklings (video) (Americablog)

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Cloud behavior expands habitable zone of alien planets

July 1, 2013 ? A new study that calculates the influence of cloud behavior on climate doubles the number of potentially habitable planets orbiting red dwarfs, the most common type of stars in the universe. This finding means that in the Milky Way galaxy alone, 60 billion planets may be orbiting red dwarf stars in the habitable zone.

Researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University based their study, which appears in Astrophysical Journal Letters, on rigorous computer simulations of cloud behavior on alien planets. This cloud behavior dramatically expanded the habitable zone of red dwarfs, which are much smaller and fainter than stars like the sun.

Current data from NASA's Kepler Mission, a space observatory searching for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, suggest there is approximately one Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of each red dwarf. The UChicago-Northwestern study now doubles that number.

"Most of the planets in the Milky Way orbit red dwarfs," said Nicolas Cowan, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. "A thermostat that makes such planets more clement means we don't have to look as far to find a habitable planet."

Cowan is one of three co-authors of the study, as are UChicago's Dorian Abbot and Jun Yang. The trio also provide astronomers with a means of verifying their conclusions with the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018.

The formula for calculating the habitable zone of alien planets -- where they can orbit their star while still maintaining liquid water at their surface -- has remained much the same for decades. But the formula largely neglects clouds, which exert a major climatic influence.

"Clouds cause warming, and they cause cooling on Earth," said Abbot, an assistant professor in geophysical sciences at UChicago. "They reflect sunlight to cool things off, and they absorb infrared radiation from the surface to make a greenhouse effect. That's part of what keeps the planet warm enough to sustain life."

A planet orbiting a star like the sun would have to complete an orbit approximately once a year to be far enough away to maintain water on its surface. "If you're orbiting around a low mass or dwarf star, you have to orbit about once a month, once every two months to receive the same amount of sunlight that we receive from the sun," Cowan said.

Tightly orbiting planets

Planets in such a tight orbit would eventually become tidally locked with their sun. They would always keep the same side facing the sun, like the moon does toward Earth. Calculations of the UChicago-Northwestern team indicate that the star-facing side of the planet would experience vigorous convection and highly reflective clouds at a point that astronomers call the sub-stellar region. At that location the sun always sits directly overhead, at high noon.

The team's three-dimensional global calculations determined for the first time the effect of water clouds on the inner edge of the habitable zone. The simulations are similar to the global climate simulations that scientists use to predict Earth climate. These required several months of processing, running mostly on a cluster of 216 networked computers at UChicago. Previous attempts to simulate the inner edge of exoplanet habitable zones were one-dimensional. They mostly neglected clouds, focusing instead on charting how temperature decreases with altitude.

"There's no way you can do clouds properly in one-dimension," Cowan said. "But in a three-dimensional model, you're actually simulating the way air moves and the way moisture moves through the entire atmosphere of the planet."

These new simulations show that if there is any surface water on the planet, water clouds result. The simulations further show that cloud behavior has a significant cooling effect on the inner portion of the habitable zone, enabling planets to sustain water on their surfaces much closer to their sun.

Astronomers observing with the James Webb Telescope will be able to test the validity of these findings by measuring the temperature of the planet at different points in its orbit. If a tidally locked exoplanet lacks significant cloud cover, astronomers will measure the highest temperatures when the dayside of the exoplanet is facing the telescope, which occurs when the planet is on the far side of its star. Once the planet comes back around to show its dark side to the telescope, temperatures would reach their lowest point.

But if highly reflective clouds dominate the dayside of the exoplanet, they will block a lot of infrared radiation from the surface, said Yang, a postdoctoral scientist in geophysical sciences at UChicago. In that situation "you would measure the coldest temperatures when the planet is on the opposite side, and you would measure the warmest temperatures when you are looking at the night side, because there you are actually looking at the surface rather than these high clouds," Yang said.

Earth-observing satellites have documented this effect. "If you look at Brazil or Indonesia with an infrared telescope from space, it can look cold, and that's because you're seeing the cloud deck," Cowan said. "The cloud deck is at high altitude, and it's extremely cold up there."

If the James Webb Telescope detects this signal from an exoplanet, Abbot noted, "it's almost definitely from clouds, and it's a confirmation that you do have surface liquid water."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/g9tQ0dZnz1k/130701135131.htm

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Games of the week: Layton Brothers, Iron Sky Invasion, Random Heroes 2 and more!

It's Sunday, and that can only mean that it's time once again for a roundup of the iMore teams most played games of the last seven days. We've got a real variety this week, with a healthy dose of iOS games accompanied by a couple for those Mac gamers out there. Let's take a look.

Random Heroes 2 - Joseph Keller

I have fond memories of my Nintend Entertainment System. It was the first video game console I ever had, and I had a lot of fun with it. Mario, Zelda, and Mega Man were my first, and to this day some of my favorite, gaming experiences. So when I pick up a game like Random Heroes 2, a side-scrolling action-platforming game, it sort of feels like returning to my gaming roots. Random Heroes 2 features an eclectic group of heroes, each with unique abilities, battling aliens across several stages. Use the touch controls to navigate around levels, using the A and B buttons to fire and jump, respectively. You can even aim your weapon using the A button. You can buy different heroes and weapons with the coins and items that you either earn by playing the game or buy from the in-game store. With engaging action and at times challenging platforming, Random Heroes 2 is a great time if you want a fun challenge that gives you a dose of good, old-fashioned 2-D action.

Free - Download Now

Dumb Ways to Die - Simon Sage

One of the great free games climbing the charts lately is Dumb Ways to Die. Players have to successfully get through a gauntlet of simple minigames for as long as possible, though they become progressively more difficult. These can range from shooing away piranhas from your crotch, swatting bugs, and holding onto balloons so you don't dive onto the tracks. The art style fantastically morbid - cute little characters are constantly getting maimed in new and exciting ways. As you play, you unlock more of them as your life counters. The best part about this game is that it's actually a kind of public service warning by the Melbourne transit association to make sure people don't do stupid things near the tracks. There's [even a cute music video](Dumb Ways to Die). Well-played, Australia. Well-played.

Free - Download Now

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - Chris Parsons

I love racing games but I'm more a fan of silly racing games rather than serious ones so when I came across Sonic & Sega All-Stars racing I had to give it a go. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It's a pretty sweet kart racing and doesn't really involve much effort to play, plus the included AirPlay support is awesome. It's free to download and while the nags to upgrade are there, they're not really bothersome. If you Mario Kart was your game back in the day, you'll feel right at home here.

Free - Download Now

Iron Sky Invasion - Peter Cohen

The movie "Iron Sky" is one of my guilty pleasures - it's pure B-movie sci-fi cheese, but that's rather the point: space Nazis living on the Moon attempt an invasion of Earth. TopWare Interactive responded last year with a video game for PC and consoles based on the movie. Now they've adapted it for iOS. This isn't the deepest game I've ever played on my iPad, and it's not the most challenging, but it's a good bit of fun: You defend Earth from the invading Moon Nazis as you fly seven different experimental space spacecraft ranging from nimble fighters to heavy bombers. You can collect salvage to recharge your shields and use different weapons like rockets, laser cannons and plasma launchers as you go up against wave after wave of invading Moon Nazis in 18 missions - you'll even have to blow up gargantuan Space Zeppelins. Iron Sky was firmly tongue-in-cheek and so is this game, which is more than a nod to classic space dogfighting games of yore like Wing Commander.

$2.99 - Download now

Layton Brothers Mystery Room - Ally Kazmucha

Layton Brothers Mystery Room is a detective game in which you'll work as Lucy Baker to solve cases with the unstable Professor Layton. You'll comb over case files and use scene reconstructions in order to figure out who committed each crime.

As you work your way through the game, the crime scenes will become more intricate and you'll have more evidence to comb through and suspects to comb through. If you're a fan of crime scene games, this one will be a great addition to your file. It isn't terribly difficult but some of the case files will keep you thinking.

Free - Download Now

Dirt 2 - Richard Devine

I've played rally games on consoles since the very first Colin McRae title all those years ago, and while Dirt 2 isn't the very latest in the series which was born from that, it's an impressive game nonetheless. I actually picked this up as part of the Feral bundle, but it's well worth the asking price in the Mac App Store. Dirt 2 has a whole host of different rally style races to take on, and a bunch of different vehicles in which to do it. It looks fantastic, and if you hook up something like an Xbox controller it becomes an identical experience to that on the console.

I'm not traditionally a big Mac gamer, but Dirt 2 has been my go-to fix ever since I acquired it. And there's a lot of life to be had from it.

$19.99 - Download Now

Lego Batman - Rene Ritchie

Lego Star Wars was good. Lego Indiana Jones was okay. But Lego Batman? It was the Dark Knight truly triumphant. I bought it for the PS3 when it first came out and spent many hours playing it with my little brother and my god children. When it became available for the Mac App Store I bought it again, just for the convenience. There's a sequel now, with Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Lego Justice League along for the ride, any why it's technically great, it doesn't have the awesome, word-less feel of the original.

If you've never played Lego Batman, or any of the Lego games before, you're in for a treat. It's everything you love about the classic pop heroes mixed with great, family friendly game play that varies from adventure to racing, and a mind-bogglingly large cast of characters. (From Nightwing to Harley Quinn, Batgirl to Clayface.)

I'm not a big video game player, but Lego Batman was and is some of the most fun I've ever had playing video games. The Tim Burton score doesn't hurt either.

$19.99 - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/a4NnjmlD_zw/story01.htm

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