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I am surprised no one has started this topic yet. The reason why many people venture out or keep a telescope or radio dish aimed at the stars isn't just to find strange new world alones, we also seek "new Civilizations", which would prompt the boldly go where no man has gone before line Astronomy and Space explorations serves this fundamental purpose of seeking out "alien" life, perhaps its exo-biology and search for life on Mars, Titan, or Europa. Maybe, it's SETI and listening in to radio signals for alien broadcasts. It's also a controversial topic, some claim it would remove the uniqueness of human species if we find other alien life forms beyond our little blue orb among the billions of planets in the universe. Some fear it would pollute humanity to non-terran cultures and beliefs. Still, as the first poll of GA's Tech forum, I'd like to ask readers and writers alike, what are your opinions of this search for life and intelligent life at that. Recently NBC brought this up as a news story for the manned mission to Mars,,is the risk of exploration for this cause worth its implications to humanity? https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/debate-heats-over-search-life-mars-ncna800376 If we find martian microbes, what will change on earth? Is that discovery worth endangering life? Also, the bigger question, after searching for so long, why haven't we found anything or anyone found us? I share a similar view to Carl Sagan, we're not ready yet for contact or joining a larger galactic community. We are still too young and self-destructive as evident by recent social, political, and religious issues to be able to accept a larger universe of potential. In time, if we don't blow ourselves up, we may become a species worth a conversation, some of us are already there, but it will take generations for that to be a norm if at all.

I found these videos on YouTube. Pretty interesting to see what dry ice does to a knife heated to 1,000* Fahrenheit as the blade cuts through the ice block.

A place for geeky fun!

I've been looking at free software. The quantity is immense, and the quality uneven but I very much like: (1) euler, a freeware programmable scientific calculator that can do symbolic as well as numerical mathematics. I tested it with the integral of x^3*sin(x^2). It is available here: http://euler.rene-grothmann.de/ (2) A freeware version of lateX, that euler can use to format its output, available here: https://miktex.en.softonic.com/?ex=DSK-309.5 (3) A program called 'golly' for John Conway's game 'Life' from here: http://golly.sourceforge.net/ (4) A periodic table program that includes lots of information about each element and has links to a series of video clips, one for each element. The link is: http://download.cnet.com/Periodic-Table-freshney-org/3001-2054_4-10803643.html

Now, onto the important stuff, like how to make 10-year-old whisky in a few weeks (using science, of course). https://theconversation.com/can-you-make-a-10-year-malt-whisky-in-weeks-the-chemistry-says-yes-86827

Mysterious Radioactive Cloud Over Europe Hints At Accident Farther East November 10, 20172:05 PM ET NPR Monitoring stations similar to this one in Germany detected unusual radioactive material over Europe last month. CTBTO/FLICKR European authorities are providing new details about a cloud of mysterious radioactive material that appeared over the continent last month. Monitors in Italy were among first to detect the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 on Oct. 3, according to a fresh report by France's Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute, known as IRSN. In total, 28 European countries saw the radioactive cloud, the report says. The multinational Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which runs a network designed to monitor for nuclear weapons tests, also confirmed to NPR that it had detected the cloud. Based on the detection from monitoring stations and meteorological data, the mysterious cloud — which has since dissipated — has been traced to somewhere along the Russia-Kazakhstan border, according to Jean-Christophe Gariel, director for health at the IRSN. "It's somewhere in South Russia," he says, likely between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. Authorities say the amount of material seen in Europe was small. "It's a very low level of radioactivity and it poses no problems for health and the environment in Europe," Gariel says. A map from French authorities suggests that the release came from the east, near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. IRSN But modeling suggests that any people within a few kilometers of the release — wherever it occurred — would have needed to seek shelter to protect themselves from possible radiation exposure. "If it would have happened in France, we would have taken measures to protect the population in a radius of a few kilometers," Gariel says. French authorities, he adds, will conduct random checks of foodstuffs from the region to check for possible contamination of agricultural products. Ruthenium-106 is a radioactive isotope that is not found in nature. "It's an unusual isotope," says Anders Ringbom, the research director of the Swedish Defense Research Agency, which runs radioactive monitoring for that nation. "I don't think we have seen it since the Chernobyl accident." The IRSN analysis suggests that the ruthenium did not come from a nuclear reactor accident. Instead, it most likely came from either the chemical reprocessing of old nuclear fuel or the production of isotopes used in medicine. Based on the size of the release, Gariel says, whatever happened had to have been accidental. "It's not an authorized release, we are sure about that," he says. A handful of Russian nuclear facilities are located roughly in the region where the ruthenium originated, including a large nuclear reprocessing plant known as the Mayak Production Association. During the Cold War, the Mayak plant turned used nuclear fuel into material for nuclear weapons. The plant has been the site of numerous past accidents, including a 1957 explosion that rivaled the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima and Chernobyl. Gariel says that while Mayak is a possible source of the cloud, there simply aren't enough data to conclusively link it to the release of radioactive material. He also says he has spoken to Russian safety officials over the past few days and that while they do not dispute his analysis, they are unaware of any incidents in the region in the past few months.

I'm an engineer and I tend to keep current on technology. I've been watching 3D printing for the last few years. I can tell you that we have 3 massive 3d printers at work that are basically running 24/7. The amount of stuff we can do with them would blow your mind. But the interesting thing is that there is a company out there that brings the power of this stuff right to your home. https://www.prusaprinters.org/ The guy in charge of our industrial grade machines has one of these at home. As do 3 others that also use work's 3d printers. That's a pretty big ringing endorsement for me. Of course, the fact that the demo picture is printing a dragon helps I plan on picking up a Prusa printer when I have completed stage 2 of my mancave project. I need a nice temperature regulated place to keep my new printer before I go and buy it. I figure putting it in the new workshop I'm designing and building would be the best bet. Is anyone here playing with 3d printing yet?

I think I'll open up this area for discussion and for those of us, who love exploring this side of applied science, it's an interesting peak into our future. Here's a few websites that gives new developments: I am a huge fan of the Verge from its inception as a tech news site: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence Science Daily also has a good update of popular subjects: https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/artificial_intelligence/ PS: A group from University of Illinois is attempting to create an Origami based robot, which is really fascinating in terms of range of motion. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170824121428.htm The IEEE, or The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , is a consortium news area where new developments and interesting tidbits of new development are offerred on current tech http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/artificial-intelligence

If you see any unique buildings or construction that make use of recycled, "green", or environmentally friendly materials, post them here! http://weburbanist.com/2007/10/23/5-kinds-of-creative-recycled-architecture-cans-bottles-and-other-unusual-building-materials/ Old shipping containers get a facelift as part of the structure of a modern home. In this concept, turf has been used to cover the exterior of the home, providing a layer of insulation.

We are the people that make the trains run on time. Not really. Some of us have never seen a passenger train. That's just a metaphor; another way of saying we make things work. People call us geeks or tekkies. They really have no idea how much they depend on us to keep all of their thingamajigs and whatsits online, working and not bursting into flames. This is our play ground: science, technology, our toys, our tricks and traps. Let us know about interesting science, new tech or useful software. If its shiny, fun or useful and catches your eye, post it here.

This is one of the most thought about subjects in the last quarter century, we knew this day would come sooner rather than later, when we could successfully change a human's genetic make-up. We've succeeded in our first steps: Let this topic be the spot, where we explore the strange and new worlds Genetic engineering has opened up for humanity. Beyond just human engineering, we're doing a lot of work with our produce, enhancing certain things with infamous GMO, but also with something less recognized: These Foods Aren’t Genetically Modified but They Are ‘Edited’ These foods are not labelled for GMO, but what we've done to them is no less intrusive.

C'mon, what Science club would be complete without a Dinosaur topic? My fascination with dinosaurs dates back to my childhood. In fact, one of my first memories is of watching The Land Before Time, and of course Jurassic Park later on (although as a kid, I freaked out the first time I heard the T-Rex roar, lol).Those two movies led to my "dinosaur" phase in my childhood, the only toys and books I wanted had to be dinosaur-related. Of course, I got out of that phase... eventually, lol. And yes, my interest in them has waned from its peak in my childhood, that doesn't mean I no longer find them fascinating. So with that fascination in mind, I present the Dinosaurs Topic! This is the place to share whatever the latest news on dinosaurs (such as the discovery of a new species), to share what your favorite species are, and whatever facts about them you want to share with us!

How Hurricane Harvey Became So Destructive By LISA FRIEDMAN and JOHN SCHWARTZAUG. 28, 2017 NYT Scientists say the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which has been stalled over the Texas Gulf Coast since Friday and dumped more than 20 inches of rain in some areas, were worsened by a lethal confluence of meteorological events: warm water in the Gulf of Mexico that intensified the rainfall, and a lack of winds in the upper atmosphere that could have steered Harvey away from land. Exacerbating the situation, said Hal Needham, a storm surge expert and founder of the private firm Marine Weather & Climate in Galveston, Tex., was that the storm surge elevated Galveston Bay, blocking drainage of the rain that pummeled coastal and inland areas. “A two- or three-foot storm surge alone would not have been catastrophic,” Mr. Needham said. “It was all these ingredients coming together.” And it’s not over. Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the driving rains would continue for another two or three days, pouring an additional 15 to 25 inches over parts of Southeast Texas. Some areas, he said, could see as much as 50 inches of rain. “This is unprecedented,” he said. Yet it does have some parallels. J. Marshall Shepherd, director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia, said Harvey is very much like Allison, a tropical storm that flooded Houston badly in 2001 because it lingered over the city and dumped prodigious amounts of rain. “In some ways, I think this event is going to far surpass what we saw in Tropical Storm Allison,” Dr. Shepherd said. The atmosphere is not helping to push it anywhere else. “The steering currents that would normally lift it out of that region aren’t there,” he said. Hurricanes are essentially large weather engines fueled by the warm waters of the ocean below. The mind-boggling amount of rainfall during Harvey is a function of the storm sitting by the Gulf of Mexico and continuing to draw moisture directly from it. Because of the orientation of the storm, Dr. Shepherd said, “you’ve just got this stream of moisture firehosing into the Houston region,” as the moisture is constantly replenished by the gulf. “This could go down as the worst flood disaster in U.S. history.” Scientists are increasingly able to link some extreme weather events to climate change, but when it comes to hurricanes, many say there remain a number of unknowns. What is clear, though, is that rising global temperatures warm the oceans, which causes more water to evaporate into the atmosphere. The buildup of moisture in turn contributes to the global increase in extreme rainfall, Kenneth Kunkel, a researcher with the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, said. Even without climate change as a factor, Dr. Kunkel said, oceans are normally warm this time of year. But, he pointed out, the Gulf of Mexico has been warmer than average lately, most likely feeding into the deluge. Several scientists stressed that while the damage of Hurricane Harvey was unrelenting, it was not unexpected. Forecasters were anticipating a very wet storm to park over Houston for an extended period. “This, honestly, is playing out, unfortunately, exactly as we thought it would several days ago,” Dr. Shepherd said. He said he grew worried when he saw public statements of relief that the storm had been downgraded from Category 4 strength to a tropical storm. He said the change in technical terminology may have confused the public and led local officials to lose focus on the greater threat, a multiday rain event. “There was always a one-two punch with this particular storm, but we were always more concerned about the ‘two,’ the rainfall,” Dr. Shepherd said. “Once that subsided, people like me said, ‘O.K., we’re just getting started.’” Different models predict different aspects of storms. Rick Luettich is director of the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences and an internationally recognized expert on storm surge, and a principal developer of the ADCIRC computer programs, which can be used to predict storm surge. For Harvey, Friday’s calculations suggested a surge of eight to 10 feet in the coastal areas, with as much as 12 feet in some of the shallow coastal estuaries. The water threat that is getting the most attention with Harvey, however, is the intense rainfall predicted as the storm lingers over the Houston area. With storms growing wetter thanks to climate change, Mr. Luettich and his collaborators are trying to add rainfall calculations to the coastal surge forecasting model. “People don’t care, if they got wet or got drowned, whether their water was salty or fresh,” he said. _________________________

BBC: First Picture of a Black Hole