Adventure Ausrama Blog

Minerals are classified into species like animals. You would think that all minerals had been identified by scientists. This is not the case. A completely new mineral has been found in Australia at Polar Bear peninsula, Southern Lake Cowan. It is named after the two scientists who discovered it, Christine and Andrew Putnis based at the University of Münster in Germany. Putnisite is now among the 4,000 known minerals. It was found on the surface of Lake Cowan in Western Australia. The mineral is composed of tiny 0.5 mm diameter crystals in volcanic rock. Its crystals are square and in a range of colors: white, pink, purple and dark green. The mineral is composed of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur, calcium, strontium and chromium. It glistens as light can penetrate the substance. Unlike other minerals which belong to families similar in structure, putnisite is unique. Nature joins things together to form minerals. Scientist did not believe a blend of these bases cou

If you thought that research into the ethereal world of religion and beliefs have gone - think again. The Russians are pouring millions of rubles into analyzing the paranormal. Telekinesis and mind control are the main areas studied. There has been continuous planned research beginning in 1917 and officially ending in 2003, though it is believed that it is still ongoing. It is estimated to have cost more than a billion dollars. Psychotronics may sound like something to do with robotics, but it the Russian word for parapsychology. Russians still strongly believe that the human brain, being an electronic device, is capable of transmitting and receiving information. There is film of a subject moving objects around a table purely by thought. Even thinking about it could stimulate the immune systems of humans and plants. Some people were influenced unknowingly by others forcing them to do things purely by targeted thought. Igor Smirnov was quietly brought out of retire

Though Australia is the world's leader in development of the scramjet, it needs partners to meet the objective of successful launch. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) led by the University of Queensland has put together a group of 13 to test the rocket. The launch will take place above the Arctic Circle in September. Preparation of the rocket has begun in Norway. There is a learning curve. A lot is expected to be learned from the project. Hypersonic physics and combustion is a relatively new area of research. The aim is to be able to launch satellites cheaper. The overall cost of the launch is $14 million, believed to be money well spent. There is no doubt that participating scientists will be nervous on day zero. The two-stage rocket will leave Andoya Rocket Range and soar to 320 kilometers. When the thrusters cease it will gently fall back to earth in a swan dive. Unfortunately, the scramjet will not be salvaged. It is set to self-destruct

Who would have thought that ear wax would add to scientific knowledge. A wax ear plug from a dead 12 years old whale has shed more light on its life. Traditional research involved blubber, faeces and blood. Lipids, keratin and waxes built up by two layers a year. This was used to tell the age of the whale. When sliced ultrafine, 24 separate rings were identified. Closer analysis was done and various industrial chemicals and pesticides were found. Some of the chemicals persisted in the wax despite being banned world wide ten years before. There is no doubt that these chemicals were stored in the females fat and passed onto the young. Mercury was high at two periods in the whale"s life. Testosterone level rose when the whale reached maturity at ten years of age. The high chemical rate is believed to have an indirect effect on the high cortisol level, the stress hormone. However, a 12 year old male would have been driven to compete with other males for females and form so

It is said there is nothing like blowing your own trumpet. Well, in some cases it can be very pleasing. The fact that the Voyager 1 probe has pass into space beyond the solar system is good news, The US must take most of the praise, but a small country in terms of population played a major part. Australian scientists are base at Canberra's Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC). The controlling body is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). This company is a big mover in world science. Many new ideas, concepts and discoveries have their origin at CSIRO. The world's most advanced antennas are situated at the CSIRO base and they have been following Voyager since its launch in 1977. A round trip for a signal forward and back between the Earth and satellite is 34 hours. There are two probes, Voyager 1 and 2. Only one is in deep space. Due to improvements in technology the antennas have been constantly upgraded as the probe journeyed

Treating the effect as the cause is wasting valuable time in finding a cure for cancer. A Study found that depressed people lived shorter lives when they had cancer. Depression per se and lack of hope, optimism and anxiety were tested. Those suffering from these "attributes" didn't live as long as "optimists" who were also cancer sufferers. A great leap of faith was made to claim that mood sufferers did not seek second opinions on cancer. Note that this was not proven it was just surmised. Overall findings were that optimism did not lead to better survival in people with cancer. Well this is game. set and match. You can't have it both ways. Either being optimistic improves survival or it doesn't. There is no doubt that psychological treatment improves the well being of cancer patients, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and say optimistic cancer sufferers live longer. A great deal of money is set aside for medical research. We have to be caref

Important discoveries have been made in regard to early farming in Europe. DNA evidence shows that invaders from Turkey brought farming skills to western regions 8,000 years ago. They were not hunter gatherers from Germany as was originally believed. Hunter gatherers didn't suddenly take up farming. It was a learned skill that was passed on to the younger generation. The research has been so informative that the route invaders took is clear. An earlier movement of eastern people has also been identified. It took place 11,000 years ago. invaders moved through south-eastern Europe via the Carpathian Basin near present day Hungary into central Europe. The history of Man is fascinating and we do not have all the answers yet. Perhaps in the past a civilization equal to our own existed and all the knowledge they had has been lost. There are many mysterious things we do not know about ancient Egyptians.  Their culture faded only in recent times. http://www.adventure--australia.b

Have you heard of the person who got part of a needle stuck in his hand and it came out 10 years later through his foot? Strange things like this do happen. It is the body's way of safely ridding the body of potentially dangerous objects. Work on Australian frogs show they deal with such things in a different way. Tiny bead-like radio transmitters were implanted into frogs. They were put into body cavities of frogs and even toads. Oddly, the small devices disappeared. The beads moved along the body into the bladder where they were, in due course, fully expelled from the body. This may sound like something quite obvious and unremarkable until one is informed that the beads were two centimeters long and some of the frogs were only eight centimeters long. It is no mean feat for such a small animal. It was discovered that tissue from the bladder grows out and envelopes the foreign object. The object is then drawn into the bladder. Apparently, frogs have evolved this to rid their

Energy created by lasers could be the way of the future. Researchers have used models and they show that lasers can produce "cold" energy by nuclear fusion. A new generation of fast, powerful lasers makes this possible. To achieve fusion a short, carefully controlled pulse is required. The pulse target is hydrogen and boron. Creating neutrons is not the objective because they cause radioactivity. The Australian research is duplicating what is going on at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, but they are using deuterium-tritium fuel. A single laser pulse can generate 500 times more electricity than all the power stations in the US. At first the research team did not believe hydrogen-boron fuel would work. However, models indicated that it was only ten times more difficult than deuterium-tritium. For it to work the laser pulse must be clean, that is, lasting only a million, millionth of a second. Optical energy

Be careful when you travel abroad - you could bring something unwanted home with you. In 2002 Alfred Heliah and his wife Helene accompanied research scientists on a trip to Peru. They volunteered to assist in the study of red and green macaws. During their visit they were constantly attacked by biting insects. Though they wore protection right down to their wrists they were bitten black and blue. On their return home the wounds slowly healed. While shaving one morning Alfred noticed what he thought were pimples on the side of his chin. They didn't hurt, but over time they grew larger. They eventually burst, becoming shallow ulcers oozing a yellow discharge. Treating them with antibiotic ointment had no affect.  A new lump appeared and he thought it was time to see a doctor. After being told by Alfred that he had recently returned from the tropics in Peru, doctors at the local hospital believed that he had leishmanisis that could devour the flesh on his face. It causes maj

Claims about consuming certain things to improve health are way off beam. Every now and then supposed new research shows that if you eat this or don't eat that your health will improve. Years late we discover that the "experts' were totally wrong and your health was actually damaged. This happened with margarine, milk, eggs and so on. What is the latest? Well, apparently drinking up to three cups of coffee or tea each day reduces the risk of getting diabetes. Look around. Do you see people who drink these beverages regularly with diabetes? You sure do. There are thousands of them. The University of Sydney says “If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial.” Their trials must be wrong. Surely millions of regular drinkers who have diabetes are thinking, "Why me? Why have I got the disease&qu

While some doctors are not in favor of yoghurt saying it is just milk gone sour, others are now claiming it assists in the prevention of heart disease. Apparently, it slows the build up of plaque in the arteries. Daily consumption of yoghurt in moderate amounts reduces the thickness of artery walls. Consuming cheese and milk had no effect. Tests were only done on elderly women, but the effects are believed to be the same for men. Not much research has been done into the effects of dairy products in regard to disease prevention. The positive result of yoghurt has increased interest in dairy food and more tests will be done. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Food

It would be ideal if obesity could be treated by taking something, instead of drastic dieting. A possible solution has been found in molasses. This sweet substance is rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that seem to change the consequences of a high-fat diet. For 12 weeks mice were given a high-fat diet supplemented with up to 4 per cent molasses extract. The mice lost weight. This was believed to be caused by the molasses reducing caloric absorption. Fat cells make the hormone leptin. This hormone was reduced in the blood. Next year work will be done on humans to see if results are the same. Molasses are inexpensive and capsules could easily be produced. It would be a great leap forward if a simple "cure" like this is effective. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . .

Despite claims that growing crops for fuel is pushing up food prices the University of Queensland and Carolina's Clemsen University have signed an agreement to develop biofuels. The work will revolve around transforming sugar cane residue into fuel using algae. A pilot plant is to be built in Queensland. More research on cellulosic monomer conversion will be done. Clemsen University has concentrated on converting sorghum and switchgrass into ethanol. A new base called loblolly pine is also being examined. This combined project will benefit both institutions. Pooling funding and resources will speed up projects. Despite possible drawbacks of biofuel it is intended to seek further funding and press on with research. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sci

A young 22 year old Australian lady finds the answer to missing mass in the universe. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie is not even a post-graduate researcher. She is studying for an Aerospace Engineering/Science degree. She was in a research team when the mysterious substance showed up in her data. In theory, there should be a lot more observable mass in our local universe. It was thought to be "hidden" in shoelace-like filaments. When the data were first analysed they were dismissed in the usual manner as not showing anything, but Amelia suggested they check it again and the strings were there for all to see in the X-ray wavelength. Though the achievement was mainly her's, Amelia gives credit to Dr Kevin Pimbblet and Dr Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway the other members of the team. This is a dream start toward a future career for the young student. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustrali

Dark energy is no longer theory it is fact. Evidence from 200,000 galaxies confirms the hypothesis that dark energy is pulling the universe apart. It is a constant in that it pushes uniformally causing steady expansion of the universe. Einstein was correct after all. He said there was a force pushing out stopping the universe from collapsing. This was known as "Einstein's biggest blunder'. He had to enter something into an equation which stopped the universe from collapsing. Though he didn't use the term "dark energy", this was the force he was talking about. He was wrong about the universe being static but he quickly revised his ideas when Edwin Hubble found that the universe was expanding. Gravity is no longer accepted as the force driving the universe apart. Gravity cannot push and pull at the same time. Calculations show that dark energy makes up 74 per cent of the universe. Dark energy is not he same as dark matter. There is 22 per cent of dark