The first comet landing

By Anya Stacey

On the 12^th of November the first space probe ever landed on a comet, this comet was called Rosetta.

Comets are huge lumps of rock that orbit planets such as earth.  Scientists wanted to explore the comets in more detail than we already have.

This programme has been going on for a very long time and finally a space probe landed. As the space probe landed, the probe projected its landing gears into the nucleus of the comet to keep it attached, however, various reports have said that the probe is already starting to detach.

So, big space programming companies like NASA are getting involved in this operation.

Scientists are excited to find new discoveries such as the elements that the comet contains, and what dangers it could bring to Earth as life goes on.

The space probe will project and take various pictures of the comets surface and maybe even look for bacterial life’s existence, however scientists highly doubt that.

Currently scientists believe that comets are spare or stranded lumps of rock that were left over after the Big Bang was caused, but looking into even more detail can always make new discoveries.

Let’s hope for exciting new discoveries after this overwhelming news!

 

 

Are we alone?

By Olivia Haigh

Since the beginning of time, we have been told about extraterrestrial life such as life on Mars, yet still we haven’t had proof, until now. For centuries, we humans have inhabited the Earth and made it the place we call home. Now, evidence of possible life on Mars has created an even bigger debate for scientists. The real question is, are we alone?

There is a possibility that there are microbes living on Mars. “There is also a possibility that life began on Mars,” stated Professor Brian Cox at a recent STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) day in Lincoln.

Wherever there is water, there are microbes, living forms that could possibly evolve, giving us a new form of life. Probes will be sent to Mars on a new mission to look for underground water. “There is a chance that there is water under the surface of Mars and wherever there is water, like on earth, there will most probably be some sort of life forms,” added Professor Cox.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirits and Opportunity, are exploring Mars. It began in 2003 and they are there in order to look at the surface and geology. Evidence of a thigh bone was found, meaning this could lead to proof that life began on Mars and possible evidence of dinosaurs.

But why aliens? Why not another form of human being? Think about the word alien, the dictionary definition is ‘belonging to a foreign country’. What’s the first thing you think of when you say alien? We all seem to picture a short green blob with one eye, but what could they really look like? What if we are living amongst aliens, but we don’t notice because we all look exactly the same? Turn to the person next to you; do you know for sure that they’re from Earth? Are we really alone?

 

Schoolboy inventor is given funding for printer idea

By Aydah Ashraf

13-year old Shubham Banerjee has been promised a few hundred thousand dollars to develop his idea by tech company Intel. A Braille printer will provide blind people with the chance to print out and read pages from the Internet as well as other text documents.

 

It has been difficult to develop electronic Braille printers in the past due to their cost but he thinks he has got it. The teenager originally created a prototype of a Braille printer out of Lego when he was just 12.

He was invited to show this early version of the printer at the White House in Washington DC.

The schoolboy from California has secured funding to bring his idea for a low-cost Braille printer to market. This new printer will mean blind people will not need to order Braille read books. Braille is a system of bumps to read.

Shubham originally came up with the idea for a science fair. He then set up his company Braigo Labs with funding from his parents. He is now working with the tech company on a new version using a budget-priced chip and 3D-printed parts. Let’s wish him full success on this.

Rosetta: The Most Daring Landing Ever Attempted

10 years ago, the Rosetta deep space explorer was sent off to begin its long journey into deep space. This journey was long, and along the voyage to the comet it had to get not one, but three gravity assists from earth and one from mars (Using the gravity of the planets to get to the right direction and increase its speed). After that, the comet went into hibernation for a couple of years, before finally embarking on the comet earlier this year. However, (If everything goes to plan that is) today will prove the be a historic event in the history of astrophysics and space travel, as this is both the first time that an orbital spacecraft has ever orbited a comet, and the first time that a lander has attempted to land on one. This could prove to be a historic day for earth and physics, as if the landing is successful, scientist will be able to know a large amount of information about how comets work, and whether they were the reason as to why our planet has an atmosphere and oceans. In fact, even before they have landed scientists have begun to find new and unexplained things, such as a strange noise coming out of the comet, which they believe to be a stream of charged particles coming out of the comet, however the exact reason is not yet fully known (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2830476/Listen-Rosetta-s-comet-singing-Scientists-baffled-mysterious-sounds-recorded-near-67P-ahead-Philae-landing.html, visit that link to hear the singing comet).

Today will be a day that will truly go down in history, and the knowledge gained from the comet should prove revolutionary. Remember to visit the live stream at: http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding

The landing should happen around 3:30 PM GMT, and we should get the first images at around 5:30, as there is a several hour delay from the spacecraft to earth. Make sure to stay tuned!

Damian Bemben
Columnist

A Helping flipper from the Robo-Penguin researcher

By Emily Bonner

On 2^nd November, findings from a report on the behaviour of Emperor penguins in the Antarctic were published thanks to the help of a robotic rover dressed as a penguin chick. The researchers, from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, told BBC news they were trying to find "a less invasive and stressful way to collect data on these species", which are known to be extremely timid.

Dr Yvon Le Maho, who led the study, found that when approached by humans, the penguins’ heart rates would increase considerably, so came up with the idea of using a rover to study them in their normal state. Early models looked a little like remote controlled cars and Dr Yvon explained to BBC news that "Emperors huddle together, because they have no [other] territorial defence… So when they see the rover approaching, they get very stressed.”

Five models later, and the researchers had disguised the rover as a fluffy chick. The penguins seemed much more comfortable around it, even huddling with it and trying to communicate with it.

The scientists wanted to avoid the usual approach of tagging flippers, because they felt it was “unethical” and altered the penguins’ health. They worked with nature filmmakers to come up with a new approach of using under-the-skin transponders, which work like microchips. The rover can recognise the transponders within 60cm of a penguin, providing useful data for scientists.

"Scientists do not generally speak about disturbance they cause," Dr Le Maho told BBC News. “But I have always been very concerned with that - it relates to both science and ethics."

Cousin of Higgs Boson observed in Superconductors

By Damian Bemben

A relative of the Higgs Boson, one that inspired the long hunt for the Higgs Boson in the first place, has been observed properly for the first time.

The Higgs Boson itself was first proposed to exist in the 1960s, and only appeared in the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva in 2012, 50 years later. Peter Higgs and François Englert theorised the existence of the particle, and received the Nobel Physics prize for their hard work and dedication in 2013.

However their ideas were actually inspired by how photons (Particles of Light) behave in superconductors. Metals, when dropped to an extremely low temperature (around -234 Degrees Celsius), allow electrons to move around them with little to no resistance. This produces a lot of extremely cool effects, for example the Meissner effect, which allows a magnet to levitate above a superconducting surface.

However, when the metal reaches around zero degrees kelvin (Absolute Zero, which is the lowest temperature that can possibly be reached) , vibrations are made in the superconducting metal, which in turn slow down photons, making light act as if it has a mass.

This effect is linked very closely to the Higgs Boson, and Ryo Shimano at the University of Tokio who led the team making the new discovery has said that they are the Mathematical equivalent of Higgs particles.

In order to find this new effect, Shimano and his team shook the superconductor with a beam of light, which is a similar method to how particle physicists created the actual Higgs Boson in the Hadron Collider in the first place.

This could prove to be an amazing discovery in physics as by comparing the similarities between the Hadron Collider and the absolute zero superconductor could prove to be very useful in studying the actual Higgs Boson. This is because "One can really do the experiments in a table-top manner, which would definitely reveal new physics and hopefully provide some useful feedbacks to particle physics." Shimano has said.

Unimaginable Technology Restores Senses

A new bionic hand has been created which allows people to grip and manipulate objects. The successful advancement was developed by colleagues at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Photo: Dennis Aabo Sørensen
completing the sensory tests 

The medical breakthrough was made after an amputee named Dennis Aabo Sørensen had his sense restored while using the invention. The subject traumatically lost his left hand in a fireworks accident during a family holiday around 10 years ago. Last year, the 36 year old Danish man got the opportunity to test out the new prosthetic hand that connected to his nervous system and allowed him to grip and manipulate objects. Even more remarkably, Science Translation Medicine stated that he could physically feel what he was touching for the first time since his accident.

The new innovative design uses an extremely complex set up in order for the sense of touch to be achieved. The involvement of sensors in the artificial tendons that control the fingers of the bionic hand track tension as the hand moves. In turn, the sensors send the information to a nearby computer which translates them into signals which a person’s nervous system can understand. Once thousands of these translated signals reach electrodes implanted in nerves in the subject’s upper arm, a fundamental sense of touch is achieved.

Despite the astounding results of this remarkable discovery, it goes without mentioning the undoubtedly distinctive statement that technology is constantly changing. As predicted in the futuristic film ‘Back To The Future’ which was released almost 30 years ago in 1985, the 21st Century has seen an enormous progression in technology (apart from the optimistic involvement of flying cars in Marty’s trip to 2015...). Considering how much technology such as our phones and televisions have changed within barely a few years, imagine how much things will have changed this time in ten years. The everyday annoyance of not reaching 3G signal on our phones in certain areas could very well be an unexperienced nightmare in years to come with signal found absolutely everywhere following improved technology.

This synoptically links onto the topic of medical technological advances. Aabo Sørensen stated “I didn’t realise it was possible”. His realisation supports that it would have once been the case that the bionic arm would have been considered as a bizarre and unimaginable design. Now that it has now been proven successful, endless possibilities of creating even more advanced designs in the future are increasingly more optimistic.

The process of technological advancement however doesn't complete a quick and easy breakthrough. It took decades for development to be configured and the technology is still far from available on the global market. The complexity of the product generates many risks which may cause more harm than good for the users on a long term basis.

The announcement of this phenomenal advancement enlightens a wider perspective into how we take things for granted. We are constantly and subconsciously using our senses to complete day-to-day tasks and it is gratifying to imagine how many benefits the bionic hand will provide for an extensive amount of people internationally, especially with the additional prospects of making even more advancements in the future.

Jade Chadburn,

year 13