[Unmuseum_newsletter] UnMuseum Newsletter for November 2007

[A Monthly Update on the World of Science]

The UnMuseum Newsletter for November 2007
Science Over the Edge A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the News: 
*Real UFO Under Development - The. Defense department is studying a real flying saucer to be used in tight 
urban combat situations. The prototype is radio controlled model but it could be scaled up to almost any 
size according to David Steel, director of GFS Projects which is designing the device for the military. The 
saucer has a propeller in the center surrounded by the fuselage of the vehicle. Fins along the exterior 
keep it the body from spinning a give direction control. Having the body surround the propeller keeps it 
from coming in contact with objects such as trees, cliffs or buildings. Rotor contact with such objects can 
cause a fiery crash with other hovering vehicles like helicopters. According to a GFS spokesman, this shape 
makes the craft more stable and easier to fly than a helicopter. Also because it has fewer moving parts 
than a helicopter, it's easier to build and maintain. 
*Luna Orbit Mystery Solved - A scientist has solved the mystery of the moons strange orbit. For many years 
now experts have wondered why the moon has an elongated orbit. Matija Cuk of the University of British 
Columbia has figured out that the gravity pull of Jupiter and Venus have been the cause. The pull of 
gravity from these distance worlds is tiny, but the effect has added up over the millions of years the moon 
has been around. It can be compared to someone pushing a child on a swing. Each push may be tiny, but the 
effect of a new one at just the right time adds up. These "resonance" effects has pulled the moon out of 
its circular orbit into an elongated one. Cuk's paper on this subject appears in the October 12 issue of 
the journal Science. 
*Workers Find Mammoth Bones - A construction crew working in Stockton, California, unearthed what has 
turned out to be mammoth bones. The workers were drilling foundations when they came across several large 
bones. A coroner was called to confirm that the remains were not human then archeologist Paul Hampson 
collected that bones which will be sent to U.C. Berkeley for examination. Scientists estimate that the 
remains are 10 to 20 thousand years old. 
*New Big Dino from Argentina - Scientists have unearthed what seem to be a giant new species of dinosaur in 
Argentina. The creatures appears to be 105 feet in length and has been given the name Futalognkosaurus 
dukei after the Indian words for "giant" and "chief," and for Duke Energy Argentina, which assisted in the 
funding of the giant's excavation. It is estimated the creature roamed the wilds of Patagonian some 88 
million years ago. The giant plant eater was a sauropod dinosaur which sported long necks, long tails and 
walked on four feet. Patagonia also was boosts two of the other largest dinosaurs known: Argentinasaurus at 
around 115 feet long, and Puertasaurus reuili, which grew up to 131 feet. 
*Beach Party 164,000 Years Ago - Humans were having clambakes as far back as 164,000 years according to new 
findings at an excavation in South Africa. At a point bordering the Indian Ocean near Mossel Bay scientists 
found evidence that they harvested and cooked seafood, collected reddish pigment from ground rocks, and 
used small pointy technology. This indicates man was eating seafood about 40,000 years earlier than 
previously believed. The red pigment was probably used for makeup, one of the earliest reports of such use, 
as was the case with the small bladed tools. According to scientists the presence of all three at this 
location indicates that the people there were "almost modern." 
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Science Quote of the Month - "Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we 
suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." - John Burden Sanderson Haldane (1892-1964) English geneticist. 
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at the Museum: 
*How to Build an Atomic Bomb- With a few parts from a hardware store and some know-how, it is possible to 
build a weapon of mass destruction. Well, as long as you can find a few of pounds of plutonium on Ebay to 
fuel it. (http://www.unmuseum.org/buildabomb.htm)
*The Big Three: Arthur C. Clarke - The conclusion in our series about the "Big Three" Science fiction 
writers of the 20th century. (http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/b3clarke.htm)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ask the Curator:
*Time Speeding Up? - Someone just said to me she thinks the last 3 years have aged everyone more than in 
the past because the actual minute itself (the unit of time) is speeding up. Can this be possible? - 
Jennifer E.
I suspect your friend is referring to the insertion of "leap seconds" into the calendar in the last few 
years. If this is the case, it isn't so much that time itself is speeding up, but that the earth's rotation 
is slowing down.
Of course, how you look at it depends on how you define time. We casually define our days as one rotation 
of our planet, hours as one 24th the length of that day, minutes as one 60th of the length of that hour and 
seconds as one 60th the length of that minute. If the Earth rotation slows (which it does due to the pull 
of the moon and sun's gravity on our oceans which create friction between the water and land) the days get 
longer by a few fractions of a second each year. 
While this tiny difference is unimportant to most people, it is of great concern to scientists who need to 
measure things carefully down to the thousandths of a second for many scientific experiments. If the length 
of a second is changing as the earth slows down it can't be used to compare the results of one experiment 
with a similar one done years earlier. To solve this problem scientists invented the "physics second." A 
physics second is length that the second was according to the rotation of our planet in 1900. Scientists 
then use atomic clocks (that measure time as a function of the change of states in the element cesium) to 
track time without having to refer to the earth rotation. When the atomic clocks slip out of sync with the 
rotation of the earth by about a second a "leap second" is inserted into the clocks tracking to keep it 
aligned with the astronomical day. 
If you thought of the real value of time as the length of the day, then indeed you might come to the 
conclusion that time is going faster - after all we are inserting extra fractions of a second into those 
days so time must have sped up, right? Well, not really. It is probably more accurate to think that time 
has stayed the same, but our days are getting longer. 
Have a question? Click here!->(http://www.unmuseum.org/postmail.htm)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In History: 
*Ball Lightning Recollection - In the November 23, 1930 issue of Nature, British scientist Alexander 
Russell told of his experience with ball lightning: 
"…I saw two globes of lightning. They were reddish-yellow in color, and appeared to be rotating. One of 
them struck a building and burst with a loud report, causing the inhabitants to open the windows and look 
out to see what had happened, but as there was no trace of anything they looked bewildered. The other 
drifted away slowly. Globular lightning make a slight noise as it drifts about. It was been compared with 
the purring of a cat…"
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the Sky: 
Leonid Shower Returns - On November 17 and 18, The Leonid meteor shower reaches its peak on November 17 and 
18. Watch for meteors coming from the constellation Leo with the best time to see them after midnight till 
sun up. 
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Observed: 
Hoaxer Fools Community with Remote Controlled UFO - A man has been fooling residents of Irvine, California, 
and the surrounding towns with his radio control model UFO for the last three years, according to The 
Orange County Register. Linn Murphy owns a three foot wide saucer shaped remote control model aircraft that 
has been mistaken for an extraterrestrial vehicle numerous times. Though the model only weights a pound, it 
resembles a huge flying saucer when hovering at 400 in altitude. Flights of the saucer have caused a number 
of calls to police departments in the area, but as one officer admitted, "There's no ordinance that says it 
is illegal to fly a super-double-secret gyroscopic UFO in county airspace." 
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the Tube: 
Please check local listing for area outside of North America. 
Nova:  Sputnik Declassified - Top-secret documents rewrite the history of the famous satellite and the 
early space race. On PBS. November 6 at 8 pm. 
Giant Squid: Caught on Camera - The first photographs ever of the giant squid - one of the world's largest 
and most mysterious sea creatures. On Science Channel. Nov 10, 8:00 pm Nov 10, 11:00 pm Nov 11, 3:00 am. 
Brainman - Daniel T. is a "super brain". He can calculate numbers to hundreds of decimal points in seconds 
and learn new languages in a week. Through a set of challenges against other "super brains," Daniel's 
amazing abilities are demonstrated. On Science Channel. Nov 03, 9:00 pm Nov 04, 12:00 am Nov 04, 4:00 am.
Lost Worlds - Lost Worlds : Jekyll & Hyde - Part of the Lost Worlds series. One of the most frightening 
horror stories ever written was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Was this story, however, Robert Louis Stevenson's 
disturbing fantasy or was it based on a series of blood-curdling episodes that took place in the town of 
Edinburgh? Follow a team of historical detectives who use evidence from recent excavations and historical 
documents to look under the grand façade of Edinburgh. Watch as an underworld of streets and houses with a 
blood-soaked history of grave robbers, body-snatchers and unspeakable crimes is uncovered. Computer 
graphics allows the viewer to fly over, enter the streets, walk through the halls and peer into the 
Edinburgh of long ago. On The History Channel. Thursday November 01 01:00 AM
Lost Worlds : The Age of Airships - Part of the Lost Worlds series. Airships flew years before the Wright 
Brothers flew the first airplane, yet it has been almost forgotten. The largest aircraft ever built was an 
airship. The first aerial bombardment of one nation by another was conducted using airships and they still 
are the only airborne aircraft carriers ever built. Follow the rise and fall of the airship and discover 
the shining future of air travel that never was. On The History Channel. Wednesday November 07 09:00 PM
MonsterQuest: Sasquatch Attack- Part of the MonsterQuest series. Does Canada have its own Bigfoot? Owners 
of a fly-in fishing cabin report attacks by an unknown creature. Can DNA tests on blood and tissue from the 
alleged beast reveal its true identity? The test results will surprise you. One-part history, one-part 
science and one part monster, discover the truth behind these beasts and take a scientific look at 
legendary creatures around the world. The best evidence available will be examined, from pictures and 
video, to hair and bones. Scientists will be brought in to tell viewers what the evidence reveals. 
Ultimately the evidence will reveal the truth....or in some cases continue the mystery. On The History 
Channel. Wednesday, November 07 10:00 PM Thursday, November 08 02:00 AM Friday, November 09 11:00 PM 
Saturday, November 10 03:00 AM .
The Universe Episode: Beyond the Big Bang - Part of The Universe Series. The universe began with a massive 
expansion, billions and billions of years ago, and it continues to expand with every passing second. The 
idea that the universe, and man's very existence, began with a "Big Bang" is no longer a topic of debate 
among most scientists--it is essentially taken as fact. How has man come to this conclusion, and how has 
our knowledge evolved so that we can recreate the very first seconds of our universe and all that has 
developed since? Interviews with the world's leading physicists and historians are woven together with 
animated recreations and first-person accounts to explain concepts such as the formation of galaxies, the 
creation of elements and the formation of Earth itself.On The History Channel. November 10 08:00 PM Sunday, 
November 11 12:00 AM 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------*LGM: Check out the antics of Meep and Zeep as they try to find their flying saucer! 
(http://www.unmuseum.org/soearch/over.htm#lgm)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/unmuseum_newsletter/attachments/20071101/3301b7a8/attachment.html>