Update: Not So Aww Crap After All?

I was disappointed that Spaceweather.com was not listing any ISS flybys for the next week, thinking that I had missed viewing it this time around. But on a whim, I decided to check out NASA's page with sighting schedules. What do you know? According to NASA, the ISS will be visible nearly everyday for the next two weeks.

I should mention, however, that most of the flybys will be very low, with maximum elevations in the teens or twenties. On the night of May 3rd, the ISS is scheduled to reach a maximum elevation of 67 degrees, though. That's pretty good. Also, on the next night, May4th, the sighting duration is scheduled to be longer: 4 minutes. That's pretty much the maximum amount of time that the ISS flyby ever lasts, since it moves so fast.

So get your binoculars out and happy ISS viewing to all!

Aww Crap!

It looks like Wired Science let me down this week.

The blog reported on an International Space Station flyby that has been taking place this week. This is a relatively rare event in which the ISS is not eclipsed by the planet as it makes its way overhead. I remember getting a good look at one of the recent ISS flybys a few years back, and it was pretty wild. During the flyby, the ISS is the brightest object in the night sky except for the moon. And it behaves unlike any other heavenly body. It moves startlingly fast, rising above the horizon and then setting at the opposite horizon, all within a matter of a few minutes.

The problem? Wired reported on the flyby on the afternoon of the last day that the ISS would be visible. And since I didn't see the post until this morning, I totally missed it! According to Spaceweather's satellite flyby database for my zip code (65203), the ISS was visible on the evenings of Monday April 18 and Tuesday April 19, with a magnitude of 'very bright.'

Oh well. I'll just have to do a better job of keeping up to date with Spaceweather. Hopefully the next time this happens, I'll be on top of it. And maybe we can have a big ISS flyby watch party. That would be awesome.

@Pharyngula: I'm In the Future Too! #itsnotsobad

I'm a little late in getting this out. But for any readers conducting high level research, albeit in academia, industry, or government, I can't recommend this post from Pharyngula enough. In fact, I not only recommend reading it, but I would also persuade you to absorb it via osmosis, respiration, hypodermic injection...whatever your preferred method of information delivery.

Here's the tale that Dr. Myers relates: a professor conducting research on genetics (this is a disturbingly gross simplification, but I'm going to leave it at that) published a paper in a high impact journal PLoS One. Rather than following standard operating procedure and sending out a traditional press release through the university, the professor posted a somewhat informal presentation of the paper on his blog.

This is an important event for a number of reasons, which Dr. Myers does a great job of discussing. But I would like to emphasize the point that the use of online media to reach a target audience is here to stay, and is only going to become more prevalent. As for myself, I recently published a paper in the journal Analytical Chemistry, and I was very proud of this achievement. When it was published, I linked to my paper and its selection as a featured article by the American Chemical Society on Facebook. I didn't do this because I thought it would be some kind of game-changing decision; I did it to brag about my success to my friends. But after reading the Pharyngula post, I can't help thinking that I could've taken the whole process farther. A lot farther.

Instead of directing my Facebook friends to the journal article, I could have posted an informal discussion of the article on this blog, linking to the journal article within the post. Then I could've directed my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn connections to the blog post by updating my status or tweeting or whatever with a link to my blog. In this way, I would've reached many more people with a very easy and free way of utilizing the online networks of which I am already a part.

I should point out that I am not special in thinking this is a good idea. Others are already utilizing new media to reach out to their peers and share information more quickly and easily than ever before. Dr. Myers concludes his blog post by saying this:

Are any of your grad students and post-docs blogging? You might want to think about getting them trained in this brave new world now, before it's too late. And you might want to consider getting started yourself, if you aren't already.

I agree, Fearless Leader. I agree.

What The Hell is That?

Here's a little tidbit that might inject some intellectual titillation into your Monday morning (or whenever you happen to be reading this):

Via Wired Science, an unknown cosmic phenomenon is being observed. The astronomical blast, which is emitting large amount of electromagnetic radiation aimed in our general direction, is puzzling NASA researchers. Initially, it was thought to be a gamma ray burst. A gamma ray burst is a directional expulsion of energetic gamma rays associated with the collapse of a massive star. But gamma ray bursts normally only last for a matter of seconds, while the blast in question has now lasted for 11 days. And equally bizarre is how the event has been behaving over those 11 days, with the radiation fading and brightening and emitting sudden pulses.

Check out the original post for more information on this wild event and to read up on what researchers believe the blast might be.

How To: Destroy a Planet Part II

As a regular reader of Paul Krugman's blog and NY Times column, I've grown somewhat enamored with the Nobel laureate. So much so that I've developed a bit of a heterosexual man-crush. But my being smitten is not what's important right now. Moving along...

Krugman is vastly knowledgeable about a number of issues, most of which are very close to my heart. I must admit I have very little interest in international economics, which is the Princeton economist's forte. But I do have a lot of interest in politics, particularly with respect to health care and social security, as I'm a firm believer in the importance of insuring the welfare of this fine country's populace. Poverty is, after all, a despicable thing. I also have a lot of interest in climate change, and this is a topic that Krugman addresses often and with great care. Case in point: Krugman's recent column, titled 'The Truth, Still Inconvenient.'

This is a very well written and thought out essay, but there is one point in particular that I would like to emphasize. Krugman indicates that climate change deniers are guilty of a certain degree of irresponsibility. After all, if climate change is indeed a myth, then the worst that could happen is that we uselessly spend a fraction more money than normal on trying to be more responsible citizens of our planet. On the other hand, if the multitude of research studies prove to be correct and climate change is a real and dangerous phenomenon, then the climate deniers have committed an egregious act of purposeful obfuscation that could be absolutely catastrophic. So you can kind of see how the consequences of these scenarios are not really equally balanced.

I know that I am certainly biased and may be oversimplifying the situation, but I think the overall idea here is most definitely accurate. But hey, this is something I've already discussed in a previous post. It's difficult to stress, though, how important this idea is: it's all about the consequences of one's actions, and it seems to me that staunch climate deniers have done a very poor job weighing the consequences of their actions.

What the DJ Does on Techno Night

That's actually not what electrospinning is. But it seems like it should be.

Electrospinning is a pretty neat process, and although I'm only vaguely familiar with the concept, I'm going to try to lay it out for you. So generally, electrospinning is a method for creating structured polymeric fibers with diameters in the range of several microns down to tens of nanometers. The fibers are formed from a liquid precursor solution, which is held in a reservoir and pushed into a capillary or needle (called the spinnerette), creating a droplet of the solution on the end of the spinnerette. A strong electromagnetic field is applied to the solution. Commonly this is created by applying a strong voltage to the spinnerette and a corresponding ground to a ground plate inside the electrospinning apparatus. If the electromagnetic field is strong enough, it overcomes the surface tension of the solution, deforming it into a conical shape. The solution then becomes a charged jet. The jet ejects from the spinnerette and moves toward the ground plate, pulling and subsequently charging more precursor from the reservoir, through the spinnerette, and into the electromagnetic field. This results in a continuous filament that moves about randomly in the electric field on its way to the ground plate, where it forms an electrospun mat of polymer fiber. The process is illustrated very nicely in an interactive Flash animation that has been generously shared publicly at Michigan Tech's Nanotechnology website. And an SEM image of electrospun fibers is shown in the image below (I stole this image from a former colleague's Epernicus page, which can be found here).


Electrospinning, and its close cousin electrospraying, have been around for many decades. But the process of electrospinning has seen a bit of a resurgence lately. During my doctorate work, I had several colleagues who successfully used electrospinning as a platform onto which a biosensor architecture could be applied. The high surface area of the micro- and/or nano-fibers was ideal for sensing applications.

If you're interested in learning more about electrospinning, I came across this paper (pdf), which appears to be available without a subscription. And as is usually the case, Wikipedia is a pretty good resource if you're looking to gain a basic understanding of the process. And of course you can find some really good links in the 'References' section of the Wikipedia page as well.

Beer? Liquor? I Say Both!

I'm taking a break today from the tedium of grant proposal writing, which I've been hard at all week. Instead of writing, I visited the MU campus to talk with my former advisor. And I've spent the rest of the day thus far drinking coffee, reading, and listening to community radio. It's a welcome break, though I find myself dwelling on the work I have ahead of me - as soon as I finish the rough draft of the proposal that I'm currently working on, I'll have to immediately start working on another. I also can't help thinking that it may have been a very bad idea to take a day off of writing, as it will set me back by a full day with a deadline looming ahead. But I'm trying to push these thoughts aside so that I can relax and enjoy my little hiatus.

Although I'd like to include in this post something science- or technology-related, I'm just not in the mood. I'm feeling more like rambling on about delicious cocktails or draft beers that I'd like to partake of this evening. For instance, I've been interested in trying a gin fizz, but I'm afraid it may be a bit too cold here in mid-Missouri for such a refreshing drink. I'm sure I'll think of something by time I reach the pub.

Anyways, I'm thinking my next post will focus on the process of electrospinning, as I've had colleagues in the past whose research involved electrospinning of polymers and organosilicates. In the meantime, I'll keep weighing my options on adult beverages. I recommend you do the same. It's Friday, after all.