Image: Scott Sonner/Associated Press RENO, Nev. — A flash fire that injured 13 people, mainly children, at a Nevada science museum happened when an employee applied the chemicals in the wrong order during a tabletop demonstration about the mechanics of tornadoes, officials said Thursday. Reno firefighters said a three- to five-second blaze erupted Wednesday at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum after the presenter poured alcohol on a cotton ball that had been dusted with boric acid and partially ignited. The alcohol is supposed to be applied before the boric acid and the flame. “It was a simple oversight by the presenter,” Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said in a statement. “Our prevention staff will be meeting with museum staff to review demonstration and safety procedures and make appropriate recommendations as necessary.” Several TV news stations got hold of cellphone video footage from the incident, including CBS This Morning. The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, spokeswoman Teri Williams said. Eight children and one adult were transported to a Reno hospital for minor burns or smoke inhalation, Reno spokesman Matthew Brown said. One child was hospitalized overnight, but all patients had been released by Thursday afternoon, according to officials at Renown Regional Medical Center. Four other people were treated at the scene, but their ages were not available. Jackie Rider said she and her family were watching the demonstration, which is supposed to produce a tornado of green fire, when the flames leaped toward her children and niece. “She was on fire, completely on fire,” Rider told KOLO-TV about her niece. “Her hair, her back, her face. My best friend tackled her and was putting her face out with her hands.” Mat Sinclair, executive director for The Discovery, said the facility’s primary focus was on its patrons. “All those affected by today’s incident continue to be in our thoughts, and we are committed to determining the cause of this incident,” he said in a statement Wednesday. Museum representatives didn’t immediately respond to inquiries Thursday about the employee’s medical condition or employment status in light of the fire department’s conclusions. The tornado effect is created when a cotton ball soaked with methyl alcohol is dusted with boric acid and then set on fire inside a large glass container. The jar is set on a Lazy Susan, then spun around to create a miniature green whirlwind. The two chemicals are commonplace and often combined because they can produce green flames, said Vince Catalano, a chemistry professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Boric acid is a mild solid that is sometimes used in eye washes, while methyl alcohol is a common solvent that produces low-heat flames when burned. While it is common sense not to put a flammable liquid on a burning substance, Catalano said, “keep in mind that methanol flames are nearly colorless. It might have been difficult to see that the cotton ball was on fire. It’s difficult to speculate without knowing all of the […]
"Bubbleberries" are a type of small strawberry called the "musk strawberry" that were much more common in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The fruit is more flavorful than most supermarket strawberries.Image: Waitrose British supermarket Waitrose is marketing “bubbleberries” in some of its stores, describing them as resembling a small strawberry that is “beautifully fragrant, with the unmistakable taste of bubblegum”. They are admittedly better smelling and tastier than most strawberries in the supermarket. So what is their secret? If you buy strawberries in a shop today, it is almost certain that they will be the “garden strawberry”, a hybrid species of Fragaria × ananassa. This seems to have arisen quite fortuitously in 18th-century Europe, as an accidental cross between two imports into France, Fragaria chiloensis from the western side of America and Fragaria virginiana, from the eastern side of America. This hybrid acquired the characteristics of fruit that was both large and red, and over the centuries breeders have striven to produce strawberries with these characteristics, as well as others including long shelf-life and freedom from disease. The result is that today, with the assistance of air-freight, we can buy strawberries all the year round. This has come at a price, as genes for the production of key sensory molecules have been lost, which is why shoppers often complain that their strawberries have a rather bland taste. This is the result of a kind of “funnel effect”, a breakdown of genetic diversity -– inbreeding, if you like. Scientific researchers have made an intensive study of the hundreds of different molecules that contribute to the smell of strawberries. Strawberries get their flavor from a blend of odorant molecules -– they contain no single “strawberry-smell” molecule -– which is why there is so much variation in flavor from one species to the next. Experts talk about particular sensory characteristics of strawberries, which include caramel, fruity, green, milky lactone-like and buttery. There must be a balance of these in a fruit for it to smell right. For example, too much lactone leads to a strawberry that reminds you of a peach. Unripe strawberries have an excessive “green” smell, due to molecules like hexenal, the compound you smell when grass is cut. The caramel “note” comes from two molecules known as furaneol and mesifurane, while fruity smells come from a family of molecules called esters. Researchers have found that wild strawberries have more intense aromas and richer flavors, not just because they contain greater amounts of these molecules, but they also contain a wider range. Some molecules, such as the highly aromatic terpenoids, are only found in wild strawberries. This is where bubbleberries come in. They are described as “resembling small strawberries” because they are small strawberries, long known as musk strawberries. The musk strawberry (Fragaria moschata) is known as hautbois in French. This name was anglicized to “hautboys”, and this is the “infinitely superior” strawberry which Jane Austen describes in Emma. Hautboys were very scarce then, and they were to become scarcer, […]
In this corner, standing at five feet, six inches and host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart! And in the other corner, at six feet, four inches and host of Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly! The two frequent adversaries, who often appear on one another’s shows, are scheduled for a live, 90-minute debate on Oct. 6. The showdown will be held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “The Rumble In The Air-Conditioned Auditorium,” as it’s being called, will be livestreamed for a small charge, with half of the proceeds going toward charity. “In order to illuminate the vital issues associated with the upcoming presidential election, Stewart and I will debate man-to-man, eye-to-eye,” said O’Reilly on his Monday broadcast. “Well, not really. He’s a tiny guy.” For more, visit TheRumble2012.com. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/18/stewart-oreilly-debate/
A mosaic made from raw images from Cassini, taken on December 21, 2010, shows a detailed look at the south pole of Enceladus. Image: NASA / JPL / SSI / J. Major Finding liquid water on a celestial body within the solar system is exciting. The only thing that is probably more exciting is finding an ocean full of it. Today such news comes via Cassini, which has made measurements that show that Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a hidden ocean beneath its icy surface. While orbiting Saturn in 2005, Cassini found jets of salty water spewing from the south polar region of Enceladus. According to Luciano Iess of Sapienza University of Rome, lead author of the new study published in Science, “The discovery of the jets was unexpected.” Geysers require liquid water, and we wouldn’t expect Enceladus to have any. It is too far from the Sun to absorb much energy and too small (just 500km in diameter) to have trapped enough internal energy to keep its core molten. The answer to how the water got there might lie in the details of the moon’s internal structure. Water beneath an icy crust The data to understand Enceladus’s internal structure came from by measuring changes in Cassini’s speed as it flew close to the moon. When passing the denser parts of the moon, it sped up by a few extra thousandths of a meter per second. That minute change was tracked through recordings of the radio signals Cassini was sending to NASA’s Deep Space Network station. In making such tiny measurements, scientists had to filter out other factors that could influence Cassini’s speed. These include pressure on the spacecraft from sunlight, the nudge from heat radiating from its nuclear-powered electrical generator, and the drag of the particles it strikes as it passes through the south polar plumes. Iess and his colleagues have produced a model of the internal structure of Enceladus using the measurements. They conclude that there is a core that is roughly 200km in diameter; above that lies a 10km-thick layer of liquid water, which is followed by 40km of ice crust. The water layer may extend all the way to the north pole, but its thickest part lies at the south pole. This diagram illustrates the possible interior of Saturn’s moon Enceladus based on a gravity investigation by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network, reported in April 2014. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech It is possible that Saturn’s powerful gravity is responsible for the liquid water under Enceladus’s surface. Its pull could heat up the interior through a process called tidal kneading, which involves the slow compression and expansion of the core as the moon rotates through Saturn’s gravity well. After the initial discovery of the plumes, Cassini’s minders put a lot of effort into determining Enceladus’s internal structure, but it still took nearly ten years to do so. This is because the time the spacecraft spends around Saturn is very valuable, and there are lots of other things […]
TOSA, or Trolleybus Optimisation Systeme Alimentation, is a new electric bus charging system that takes only 15 seconds to power up. It is now being tested in Geneva, Switzerland. The system currently in place has the vehicles constantly connected to overhead trolley cables or, alternatively, running entire routes on a single charge. The new system allow buses to charge at every third or fourth stop using a device installed at the stop that engages with the roof using a laser guidance system. Once connected, the mechanism delivers a 15-second-long, 400-kilowatt boost to the bus batteries as passengers are getting on and off. TOSA’s charging stations will be completely wireless. Image courtesy of TOSA. TOSA enables flexible routes and eliminates the need for messy and unsightly overhead cables. Additionally, all of the electricity the buses use comes from hydropower, so no CO2 is emitted at any point in the process. The project is a collaboration between Geneva’s public transport company (TGP), the Office for the Promotion of Industries and Technologies (OPI) and the Geneva power utilities SIG and ABB. The trial will begin with a route from Geneva International Airport to the Palexpo exhibition system. If it succeeds, Geneva will be the world’s first city to use this concept and one step further towards a greener transport system. Image courtesy of TPG This article originally published at PSFK here Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/06/10/charging-electric-buses/
Private spaceflight company SpaceX has been testing its Grasshopper rocket over the past few months, but it set a record last week with its latest launch in which it flew 2,440.94 feet in the air — the vehicle’s highest leap yet. Using a single camera hexacopter drone, SpaceX was able to get closer than ever to record the video above, which the company released Monday. As the rocket climbed gracefully into the air, the drone camera — which you can see in the right-hand corner of the frame — adjusted to capture the seemingly slow launch. Grasshopper soared in an almost-perfect straight line — quite different from its August launch, when it leapt sideways. The 10-story-high Grasshopper is one of SpaceX’s most outside-the-box experiments. Most rockets burn up when reentering Earth’s atmosphere, but Grasshopper is a reusable Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle built to withstand these harsh conditions and return to the planet’s surface intact. Grasshopper holds the first-stage tank of the Falcon 9 rocket, which boosts SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. BONUS: 10 Rare of Inside-Views of Spacesuits Inside the Spacesuit: 10 Rare Views of a NASA Icon Alan Bean Spacesuit Astronaut Alan Bean wore this A7-LB suit on the 1973 Skylab 3 mission. Bean logged 1,671 hours and 45 minutes in space, including more than 10 hours of EVA (extra vehicular activity). Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Boot X-Ray An x-ray of an Apollo-era “overboot” shows the adjustment strap that allowed astronauts to tighten this boot over another shoe that was attached to the spacesuit. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Glove Astronauts wore special gloves during lunar excursions. Made with rubber and Neoprene interior bladders, gloves covered hands completely to the wrist and were attached to the arms of the spacesuit with aluminum rings. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Helmet X-Ray This 1964 A4-H “Universal” helmet was designed to fit on more than one suit. The x-ray reveals ball bearings in the neck ring that allowed the helmet to move right and left without restriction. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Phase I Apollo Helmet X-ray of a helmet that was developed for the Phase I Apollo program. Image: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Mark V Spacesuit The Mark V suit was relatively flexible and incorporated design elements that allowed for a fuller range of movement. Image: Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Apollo Spacesuit Overshoe X-ray of an extravehicular (EV) overshoe that was designed to be worn over the Apollo spacesuit boots while an astronaut was walking on the Moon. Image: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Mark Avino Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 Spacesuit An x-ray of Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 spacesuit allows curators and conservators to “see” inside space clothing — a task that had previously been done by peering through the neck or the wrist with a flashlight. Image: X-ray by Roland H. Cunningham and Mark Avino Freedom 7 Spacesuit Alan B. Shepard, one of the original “Mercury […]
Runner’s shoes are laid out in a display titled, ‘Dear Boston: Messages from the Marathon Memorial’ in the Boston Public Library to commemorate the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, on April 14, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. Image: Andrew Burton/Getty Images When I ran my first Boston Marathon in 2009, I was stunned by the aura. Most marathon crowds pack a part of the course and disappear for the out-of-the-way stretches, but the Boston crowd was at least three-deep nearly the entire time. Everyone picked out something about the runners’ outfits — your singlet, the color of your shorts — and shouted words of encouragement. Drunk college kids from every school in the city lined the course and hollered as only drunk college kids can. It’s hard to forget that kind of uproarious positivity. That’s why the Boston Marathon is so special. An optimism normally derided as hokey or fake is open and encouraged there. For many, that marathon is the culmination of an achievement that took years to build to, which contributed to why last year’s bombing at the finish line that injured at least 260 and killed three was so vile. Lives were ended and shattered, and it felt like the two suspected bombers had totally marred the positivity on which the Boston Marathon thrives. During that 2009 race, it was amazing that there could be such a raucous party for a running event, and it wasn’t until years later that I realized the crowd knew something I didn’t: Completing a marathon is worth celebrating. People start running for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, each step provides a modicum of control in an otherwise hectic life. Other times, it’s the easiest way a person knows to lose weight. Maybe it’s just simply that for as long as someone is running, he’s removed from his phone and email. But every catalyst is for the good of that individual. Not everyone who runs likes doing so, but there’s always some sort of satisfaction there. That kind of inherent positivity has a way of building on itself. If a person feels good after one run, there’s a good chance he’ll lace up again and again until he’s running road races filled with people who are there for the same reason: because running provides some sort of solace, because it gives them goals and a means to accomplish them. Participants in a cross-country charity relay that began in March in California cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Sunday, April 13, 2014. Image: Michael Dwyer/AP Images/Associated Press That understanding is like an energy at the Boston Marathon that washes from shouting spectators onto runners and flows among competitors. It’s almost like a party rather than a race. Getting to Boston was the hard part and, for many, that marathon is like a long victory lap. The Boston Marathon is the culmination of thousands of runners’ personal goals. Watching tens of thousands of dreams come true within the span of a few hours is nothing […]
NASA‘s Chris Cassidy wanted to give fellow astronaut Luca Parmitano a warm welcome to the International Space Station last week, but a bottle of wine or a nice casserole wouldn’t cut it. Cassidy buzzed his head to match Parmitano’s signature clean-shaven look. (Hey, imitation is the best form of flattery.) However, even the most menial of tasks take on a whole new level in zero gravity. Cassidy couldn’t just pick up a standard razor — hair would be floating around the ISS for weeks. Instead, he used an electric hair trimmer and a vacuum. “I don’t think I’ve looked like this since Plebe Summer!” joked Cassidy, who has a reputation as a notorious prankster. When he arrived on board the ISS in March, he donned an over-the-top fake mustache for Commander Chris Hadfield. The fun didn’t stop with the video above. Once the nerds at Mission Control back on Earth heard about the space haircut, they jumped in on the joke with this “Wanted” poster in search of the missing hair. Images courtesy of NASA Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/06/04/nasa-astronaut-shaves-head/
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire want to hear what you’ve got to say. The two stars unveiled a campaign on Monday called Vote4Stuff. It urges voters to use social media to talk about what issues are most critical to them in the upcoming election. A public service announcement went online Monday, asking: “What stuff is important to you?” Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Edward Norton and Ellen Degeneres — among others — also appear in the video. Anyone interested can submit their own 30-second video about their biggest concerns going into the election. Then, selected videos — in addition to tweets, photos or posts directed at Vote4Stuff — will be incorporated into the campaign later in the month. The PSA mentions several potential issues to talk about, including jobs, marriage equality, foreign policy, immigration and education. But DiCaprio and the team are encouraging people to be creative. “Hey, knock us out and we’ll put (the video) in,” Norton says in the announcement. What issues matter most to you in this election? Let us know in the comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, Tostie14. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/01/dicaprio-maguire-want-you/
The Social Good Summit continues Sunday in New York — but you can still join in the global conversation even if you couldn’t make it to New York. This year’s livestream is available in seven languages — English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew. This year’s Social Good Summit expands beyond the 92nd Street Y’s New York walls. Partner events, forming The Global Conversation are taking place in Beijing, China; Nairobi, Kenya; and Mogadishu, Somalia on Monday. One of the early Meetups took place Sunday morning in Madagascar: @thierry_ratsiz partage son exprience du web et des médias sociaux au #sgsglobal #madagascar twitter.com/saveoursmile/s… — Hery Zo (@saveoursmile) September 23, 2012 All Meetups in dangerous regions of the world have been cleared with U.N. security officials, who are taking responsibility. Are you taking part in a community Social Good Meetup? Let us know what’s taking place your region in the comments. About Ericsson Read more of Mashable’s coverage of the 2012 Social Good Summit: Day One: Hillary Clinton Opens the Social Good Summit [VIDEO] How the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Is Making Data Awesome Can Mobile Phones Help Fight Pediatric AIDS? How Is Social Media Changing Diplomacy? Peter Gabriel Makes Case For Internet Freedom ITU Secretary-General: OK to Make Profit When Helping Developing Nations 8-Year-Old YouTube Sensation Performs at Social Good Summit Social Good Summit Day 1: Highlights and Pics Day Two: ShoutAbout Aims to Inspire Social Action Based on News Stories Tim Pool, Guerrilla Journalist of the Digital Age [VIDEO] U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice: Twitter Crucial to Her Mission How Social Media Is Empowering Women in Haiti How to Use Mobile Devices to Solve Global Problems How Forest Whitaker Is Using Technology to Spread Peace Social Good Summit Day 2: Highlights and Pics Day Three: Napolitano: Congress ‘Got Stuck’ on Cybersecurity U.N. Foundation Challenges the World to Take Action Nick Kristof Takes Social Good Gaming to the Next Level Why Tech and New Media Can Help End Modern Slavery UNICEF Launches Online Campaign to Reduce Child Mortality Rates What It Means to Be an Advocate in the Digital Age What Non-Profits Can Learn From Cat Videos Wikipedia Founder: Online Connections Foster Real Change Deepak Chopra: Social Media is the Next Phase of Humanity [VIDEO] How Social Good Summit Sparked the Largest Conversation on Earth Social Good Summit Day 3: Highlights and Pics 10 Inspiring Quotes From Mashable’s Social Good Summit Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, skegbydave window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement(‘script’);js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}; _msla(“//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”,”twitter_jssdk”); Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/23/social-good-livestream-summit/
