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Using copper to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses

New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

S. L. Warnes, Z. R. Little and C. W. Keevil. Human coronavirus 229E remains infectious on common touch surface materials. mBio, November 2015 DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01697-15

This is human coronavirus 229E being inactivated on copper.        Credit: University of Southampton

What would Earth’s skies look like with Saturn’s rings? 

 Illustrator and author Ron Miller specializes in, among other things, incredible visualizations of other worlds. Now, Miller brings his visualizations back to Earth for a series exploring what our skies would look like with Saturn’s majestic rings. Miller strived to make the images scientifically accurate, adding nice touches like orange-pink shadows resulting from sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. He also shows the rings from a variety of latitudes and landscapes, from the U.S. Capitol building to Mayan ruins in Guatemala.

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Neptune-size exoplanet around a red dwarf star

Goleta CA (SPX) Nov 27, 2015 A team of astronomers have used the LCOGT network to detect light scattered by tiny particles (called Rayleigh scattering), through the atmosphere of a Neptune-size transiting exoplanet. This suggests a blue sky on this world which is only 100 light years away from us. Transits occur when an exoplanet passes in front of its parent star, reducing the amount of light we receive from the star Full article

Solar System: Things to Know  This Week

This week, we’re looking at MAVEN’s exploration of Mars, the Orionid meteor showers, Mercury’s “great valley” and more.

1. Celebrating MAVEN

MAVEN, the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution, was the second mission selected for our Mars Scout program and the first to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere . It launched on November 18, 2013 and entered orbit around Mars on September 21, 2014. 

+ MAVEN Quick Facts

2. Jupiter Moon Dance

This time-lapse sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images shows Jupiter’s moon Europa as it moved across the planet’s face over the course of 19 minutes. Europa is at the bottom center on Jupiter’s disk, the Great Red Spot to the left and Europa’s shadow to its right. The video was created by combining six snapshots taken in ultraviolet light with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.

+ Learn more

3. The Orionid Meteor Shower

Orionid shower peaks November 28. Look for the constellation Orion in the Southeast sky by 9 p.m. Using binoculars, look for the Orion Nebula. 

4. Comet Warming Up!! 

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdu áková will brighten to expected stunning binocular visibility in mid to late December, but is near Venus on November 23rd.

+ Track the Comet

5. Mercury’s “Great Valley”

A newly discovered “great valley” in the southern hemisphere of Mercury provides more evidence that the planet closest to the sun is shrinking. Using stereo images from our MESSENGER spacecraft to create a high-resolution map, scientists have discovered that revealed the broad valley – more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long – extending into the Rembrandt basin, one of the largest and youngest impact basins on Mercury. About 250 miles (400 kilometers) wide and 2 miles (3 kilometers) deep, Mercury’s great valley is smaller than Mars’ Valles Marineris, but larger than North America’s Grand Canyon and wider and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

+ Learn more

Discover the full list of 10 things to know about our solar system this week HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

We pulled together the week’s top tech stories, just for you:

1. Living in the ‘90s? So are Underwater Wireless Networks Pro tip for anybody experiencing the frustration of heavy lag when you’re trying to watch a streaming video: You might be underwater. Try unplugging your router and plugging it back in again, once you’ve made it to dry land. via: Cellular News

2. Man survives 48 straight hours in VR with no reported nausea This is great news for pretty much everybody involved. Of course, if you believe in the many-worlds theory, there’s some alternate timeline where two whole days of this guy’s life were a real bummer. via: @arstechnica

3. When Virtual Reality Meets Education A bold step forward in the radical plan to unseat “time for recess!” as the most exciting thing students hear at school. via: @techcrunch

4. In a Huge Breakthrough, Google’s AI Beats a Top Player at the Game of Go One 2,500-year-old game. One 19-by-19 grid. Two players. One human brain. One state-of-the-art neural network. 170 GPU cards. 1,200 standard processors. 250 possible moves for any given turn. (Go figures). via: @wired

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Researchers Discover Ultra-thin Diamond Nanothreads That Could Support Space Elevator

Today, in order to get to the Moon, an incredible logistical setup is required. From the training needed for astronauts, to the millions of dollars of equipment necessary for space travel, to the cost of rocket fuel—Space flight isn’t easy (or cheap). But what if one can reach the Moon by simply stepping into a small vehicle attached to a cable and pressing a button that says “Moon.”

If what you’re imagining is an elevator, then you are right.

It’s also an idea that several scientists have been trying to realize since 1895, and we have written a number of articles on the feasibility of this tech in the past. Now, with what researchers from the Pennsylvania State University discovered, we may be taking a step closer to achieving that idea.

When they applied alternating cycles of pressure to isolated, liquid-state benzene molecules, surprisingly, it was found that rings of carbon atoms assembled into neat and orderly chains, essentially forming strong ultra-thin diamond nanothreads.

Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/researchers-discover-ultra-thin-diamond-nanothreads-that-could-support-space-elevator/

Scientists Grow Vocal Cord Tissue in a Lab for the First Time, and It Produces Sound

Scientists in the University of Wisconsin-Madison have successfully grown functional vocal cord tissue in a laboratory - yes, vocal cords that work. This remarkable new tissue engineering technique could, someday, be used to restore the voices of patients who have certain voice disorders that are (at the present junctures) untreatable.

Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/scientists-grow-vocal-cord-tissue-in-a-lab-for-the-first-time-and-it-produces-sound/