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Urban Development on the Moon
What's really standing in the way of building a colony on the moon - besides the generally inhospitable environment - is the lack of truly macho dirt-moving equipment to get a grip on changing the surface. Where are the cranes, bulldozers, drills and backhoes? NASA is working on it with a two-ton prototype vehicle called the Lunar Chariot. At 20 kilometers per hour for its top speed, it's slow, but tests conducted in the two-acre Lunar Yard (an area designed to mimic the surface of the moon) since September 2007 show that it can get the job done.
The current prototype uses a detachable plow, but the Chariot's designers believe future models may include a backhoe and a drill rig. This mighty vehicle boasts enviable maneuverability, with independent steering on each of its six pairs of wheels. It can spin on the spot, climb steep crater walls, and even work its way into tight areas. It claims Spirit and Opportunity as its parents, since designers applied the lessons learned from those two Mars rovers over the past four years to the Chariot.
If you want to see this machine in action, you won't have to wait until it lands on the moon. Tests have been scheduled for the first two weeks of June at Moses Lake State Park in Washington State. And they're going to be open to the public. Lucien Junkin, lead engineer for the Chariot, noted that "America paid for it, they ought to be able to get a chance to see it at work."
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The Bard and the Internet
There have been many versions of Shakespeare's plays published in the four centuries since they were originally written. Alas, we have none in the playwright's own hand; the ones that come closest were published in the quarto format before the year 1641, and available only to scholars. Thanks to the Bodleian Library in Oxford and Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., that is about to change.
The two libraries are collaborating to digitize all 75 editions of Shakespeare's plays printed in the quarto format before 1641. Furthermore, the digitized plays will be made available online. Bodleian spokeswoman Oana Romocea noted that "There are no surviving manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays in his handwriting so the quartos are the closest we can get to what Shakespeare really wanted. Some quartos do, however, have his annotations around the printed text."
The downloading process is scheduled to begin next month. When it is complete, online viewers will be able to search the plays, mark and tag the texts, and compare images next to each other. Fans of the Bard will be able to see differences in different quarto versions of the same play. "For example, some of the famous lines in 'Hamlet' exist in one quarto and in another they don't, or they are very different," Romocea explained.
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A Warmer Take on Suspended Animation
Suspended animation, long a mainstay of science fiction, has some valid medical uses. The problem is that it requires chilling the body to extremely cold temperatures, which can be difficult, expensive, and medically hazardous. Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital may have come up with a way to do that is far less costly and doesn't involve icicles.
The research team used hydrogen sulfide gas to suspend the metabolism of mice. These mice went under and stayed under as long as they kept breathing the gas, coming out of the suspended state with no ill effects not long after they stopped breathing it in. The scientists hope to test the technique on larger animals next, and for longer periods of time.
The one potential drawback to this method of suspended animation is the smell. Hydrogen sulfide gas is responsible for the characteristic odor of rotten eggs. The scientists did not say whether the animals themselves continued to smell of the treatment after it ended, or for how long the pungent aroma lasted.
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