Cornell Creative Machines Lab

Nick Cheney at Cornell has developed a way for robots to evolve within days.

By Marshall Honorof
TechNewsDaily

NEW YORK — Robots are simply more efficient than humans at certain tasks. They already excel at building cars, exploring distant planets and hunting for explosives, but it turns out that robots might also evolve much faster than their flesh-and-blood counterparts.

Nick Cheney, a Ph.D. student at Cornell University, presented his research at an Inside Cornell lecture on May 21. Cheney has developed a method by which complex computer simulations in a specific virtual environment — robots, by his definition — can evolve from selective pressures, just like animals in nature, but on a timescale of days instead of countless generations.

To demonstrate the technology, Cheney showed how a series of diverse but effective robots spontaneously evolved from a single, inefficient ancestor. He programmed a virtual environment with only one parameter: robots that moved faster would be able to produce more offspring. Therefore, the only selective pressure was speed (in the wild, Cheney compared this behavior to running from predators).

"Nature is amazing in how it designs things," Cheney said. "We want robots to interact with their environments as naturally as animals do." Cheney considers natural selection — the process by which biological organisms survive, reproduce and change over time to better suit their environments — to be a natural algorithm, extremely similar to what engineers use to optimize robots over time.

Cheney's initial robot, a shambling, cubic progenitor, was not much to look at. It barely stumbled along a straight line in no particular hurry. However, small mutations occurred in its offspring, and the fastest specimens bred with each other. As subsequent generations evolved, reproduced and died, the robots took on much more diverse appearances and began to speed across the screen.

The robots did not resemble traditional animals in any meaningful sense. Although they had come a long way since their initial boxy shape, they were still collections of small squares rather than sleek, curved specimens.

One robot resembled an accordion, constricting and stretching out as it made its way across the screen. Another, which looked like a wave about to crash, walked on three small points, almost falling over itself before finding its balance every few steps. Others walked on two distant legs, or maintained balance through rotating, top-mounted appendages. [See also: 10 Incredible 3-D Printed Products]

"These robots walk in ways we would never have thought of," Cheney said. Letting robots evolve without human oversight eliminates many of the preconceived ideas and biases that humans bring to the table by default. "We start from randomness, which is the way life started for us. Most of the random ones are pretty bad, but every once in a while you get lucky, and one will be better than the others."

Although these robots are confined to virtual space for the moment, that won't be the case forever. Thanks to the advent of 3-D printing, Cheney envisions a future where his robots could be powered by air, pressure-sensitive materials, electricity or even muscle, tissue and bone like real animals. Recent developments in 3-D printing have produced biologically viable heart cells, liver cells and even skull pieces.

"What we could explore with this is virtually limitless, which is what excites me most about it," Cheney said. Rapidly evolving robots with specific parameters could create everything from a better vacuum cleaner to complex search-and-rescue robots, but Cheney stresses that this is not the beginning of an adversarial relationship between humanity and its creation.

"In the future, we'll have more of a collaboration than a competition," he said. "Working together will be more fruitful than trying to take over the world."

Follow Marshall Honorof @marshallhonorof. Follow us @TechNewsDaily, on Facebook or on Google+.

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By Jillian Scharr
TechNewsDaily 

When Justin Bieber tweets, 39,361,876 people (and counting) immediately jump to attention. But when one of those nearly 40 million people tweet, does the Beebs see it? Does he react at all?

Communication among terrorist cells works much in the same way as Justin Bieber's Twitter account, according to mathematicians from Ryerson University in Toronto who have built a mathematical model of the way information spreads through these hierarchical networks. Their approach may give counterterrorism agents insight into terrorism hierarchies and allow them to predict terrorist attacks and sabotage networks before the attack plans can be carried out.

Terrorist networks are often arranged hierarchically, meaning information flows in one direction: top down, from one leader to many followers. This model is called a "directed network without cycles," or a "directed acyclic graph." [See also: Google Search Algorithm Models Cancer Spread]

The limited and one-way nature of the contact among parties in these types of networks helps preserve anonymity, and makes it easy for terrorist leaders to blast messages out to a large audience. What these "directed networks without cycles" lack in teamwork they make up for in sheer numbers — leaders can assume that within their huge networks, at least one person will act on their commands.

But these hierarchical social networks have serious flaws, which counterterrorism agencies could use to detect and even sabotage terrorist networks before they succeed in carrying out an attack.

In a paper describing their mathematical model, the researchers compare the way information flows top-down to the way lava flows down a volcano's side. There's no practical way to contain the lava from every possible point — but you can minimize the damage by blocking the lava's flow at a handful of strategic points.

The key advantage of this model is its flexibility: It's able to account for the slow spread of information over time, and also gives counterterrorism agents — the ones blocking the lava's flow — the ability to respond dynamically as new pathways present themselves.

Granted, the model does operate on a number of assumptions, including that the hierarchical social structure is consistent throughout the terrorist network.

And there will always be rogue actors who act in unpredictable ways.

"The Boston bombers are a good example of how little we know about such terrorist networks," acknowledged Anthony Bonato, a mathematics professor at Ryerson and a co-author of the paper. "Did the Tsarneav brothers act alone, or as part of a more extensive network? Further, the structure and organization of these networks are not well understood."

Email jscharr@technewsdaily.com or follow her @JillScharr. Follow us @TechNewsDaily, on Facebook or on Google+.

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Peter Vrsansky & Dusan Chorvat

A new, light-mimicking cockroach Lucihormetica luckae is shown in daylight and under fluorescent light. Notable are two luminescent lanterns and one minor asymmetrical lantern on the right side.

By Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience

A glowing cockroach, a monkey with a blue behind and a meat-eating sponge snagged spots on a list of top 10 new species named in 2012, scientists announced Thursday.

In its sixth year, the Top 10 New Species list is compiled by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and is announced on the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus. An 18th-century botanist, Linnaeus created the modern system for naming and classifying species.

The panel plucked the top 10 new species from more than 140 nominations; to be considered, the species had to have been officially named in 2012 and described with the appropriate code of nomenclature. [See Images of the Top 10 New Species]

"We look for organisms with unexpected features or size and those found in rare or difficult to reach habitats," Antonio Valdecasas, a biologist and research zoologist with Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain, said in a statement. "We also look for organisms that are especially significant to humans — those that play a certain role in human habitat or that are considered a close relative," added Valdecasas, who is committee chair for the top 10 species list.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

This is the recently discovered carnivorous harp sponge, Chondrocladia lyra. The photo was taken in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California, at a depth of about 11,500 feet (3,500 meters).

Quirky species
One such creature with an odd feature is the glow-in-the-dark cockroach, named Lucihormetica luckae, whose luminescence may help the creepy-crawly mimic toxic click beetles and thereby avoid predators. In addition, a carnivorous sponge shaped like a harp also made the list. The sponge (Chondrocladia lyra), which lives nearly 2 miles (more than 3 kilometers) beneath the Pacific Ocean, sports 20 barbed vanes that resemble a harp's strings. Once it captures meaty prey, the sponge envelops it in a thin membrane and slowly begins to digest the animal.

And then there's the monkey with the blue butt. Discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cercopithecus lomamiensis is more easily heard than seen. Apparently the Old World monkey performs a booming song at dawn. Even so, it does sport some striking features, including bare blue patches of skin on its buttocks, testicles and perineum, along with humanlike eyes.

Other quirky creatures that made it to the top-10 list include a nocturnal snail-eating snake (Sibon noalamina) found in a mountain range in Panama, and a teensy frog (Paedophryne amanuensis) as small as 7 millimeters (0.3 inches) long and now considered the world's smallest vertebrate (an animal with a backbone).

Filling out the list is a black-hued fungus that threatens Paleolithic cave paintings, a tiny violet from the high Andes of Peru, an endangered shrub with emerald-green leaves and magenta flowers, and a new fossil species of hanging fly that mimics the leaves of a gingko-like tree.

Identifying biodiversity
The committee says identifying Earth's species is critical, especially since many are threatened.

"For decades, we have averaged 18,000 species discoveries per year, which seemed reasonable before the biodiversity crisis. Now, knowing that millions of species may not survive the 21st century, it is time to pick up the pace," Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU, said in a statement.

"We are calling for a NASA-like mission to discover 10 million species in the next 50 years," Wheeler added.

Follow Jeanna Bryner on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

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Rod Pyle / Space.com

Mars One founder Bas Lansdorp discusses pressure suit technology with an MIT professor attending his talk at the Space Technology Expo.

By Rod Pyle
Space.com

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The leader of a private effort to colonize Mars hopes the Red Planet's first few pioneers don't bring children into the world there.

Having kids on Mars would be irresponsible at this point, said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023.

"We are not in the business of telling people what to do, but astronauts are very responsible people," Lansdorp said here Tuesday at the Space Tech Expo 2013 conference. "When they realize they are living in a dangerous place, they will know what to do, that it’s not right." [Mars One's Red Planet Colony Project (Gallery)]

Doctors have said they don't know if humans can even get pregnant and give birth in the lesser gravity of Mars (which is 38 percent that of Earth), or how fetuses and babies would fare when exposed to the Red Planet's higher radiation levels.

Last month, Mars One officials said they would see how pregnant animals fare before considering encouraging human pregnancy on Mars.

Mars One / Bryan Versteeg

An artist's depiction of Mars One astronauts and their colony on the Red Planet.

Colonizing Mars
Lansdorp gave an update about Mars One's plans and progress during his presentation at the conference.

The organization plans to land a rover on the Red Planet in 2018 to scout out a good location for the colony. Unmanned modules would follow in 2020 to begin processing Martian soil. These robotic refineries would extract various volatiles, primarily water, for life support and agriculture, making settlement possible.

"Once we know it is all working, the first crew of four will go up in 2023," Lansdorp said.

Mars One wants to keep sending more crews every two years after that, gradually building up a permanent settlement on the Red Planet. There are no plans to bring any of these pioneers back to Earth.

The organization officially opened its astronaut selection process last month, receiving nearly 80,000 applications in less than two weeks. Mars One has also engaged its first contractors, including Arizona-based Paragon Space Development Corp., which has begun preliminary work on life-support systems and pressure suits.

“We’re very excited to have engaged our first partners in this venture,” Lansdorp said.

Can it be done?
Mars One estimates that it will cost about $6 billion to send the first four astronauts to Mars and $4 billion to launch each subsequent crew. It plans to foot the bill primarily by staging a global media event around the entire process, from astronaut selection to the settlers' life on the Red Planet.

Some people have voiced skepticism about the project, but Lansdorp remains confident that it can work.

"This mission is based on existing technology," he said. "Almost nothing new is needed. And each step is proved before risking lives on the next one."

“It’s doable," Lansdorp continued. "But the people I talk to about the money worry about the technology, and the engineers worry about the money," he added with a laugh.

While establishing a human presence on Mars will be challenging, Lansdorp said the Red Planet is a natural target for our wandering, adventurous species.

"Humans have always explored. We did so for about 10,000 years, then (exploration) slowed down," he said. "The next place to do this is Mars."

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Bernat Armangue / AP

In this April 14, 2011 file photo, a boat is by the jetty of the Capernaum National Park in the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.

The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated.

It's thousands of years old — a conical, man-made behemoth weighing hundreds of tons, practically begging to be explored.

The problem is — it's at the bottom of the biblical Sea of Galilee. For now, at least, Israeli researchers are left stranded on dry land, wondering what finds lurk below.

The monumental structure, made of boulders and stones with a diameter of 70 meters (230 feet), emerged from a routine sonar scan in 2003. Now archaeologists are trying to raise money to allow them access to the submerged stones.

"It's very enigmatic, it's very interesting, but the bottom line is we don't know when it's from, we don't know what it's connected to, we don't know its function," said Dani Nadel, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa who is one of several researchers studying the discovery. "We only know it is there, it is huge and it is unusual."

Archaeologists said the only way they can properly assess the structure is through an underwater excavation, a painstakingly slow process that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if an excavation were to take place, archaeologists said they believed it would be the first in the Sea of Galilee, an ancient lake that boasts historical remnants spanning thousands of years and is the setting of many Bible scenes.

In contrast, Israeli researchers have carried out many excavations in the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

Much of the researchers' limited knowledge about this structure comes from the sonar scan a decade ago.

Initial dives shortly after that revealed a few details. In an article in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology published earlier this year, Nadel and fellow researchers disclosed it was asymmetrical, made of basalt boulders and that "fish teem around the structure and between its blocks."

The cone-shaped structure is found at a depth of between three and 12 meters (nine and 40 feet) beneath the surface, about half a kilometer (1,600 feet) from the sea's southwestern shore. Its base is buried under sediment.

The authors conclude the structure is man-made, made of stones that originated nearby, and it weighs about 60,000 tons. The authors write it "is indicative of a complex, well-organized society, with planning skills and economic ability."

The rest is a mystery.

Yitzhak Paz, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority who is involved in the project, said that based on sediment buildup, it is between 2,000 and 12,000 years old, a vast range that tells little about it. Based on other sites and artifacts found in the region, Paz places the site's origin some time during the 3rd millennium B.C., or about 5,000 years ago, although he admits the timeframe is just a guess.

"The period is hard for us to determine. No scientific work was carried out there, no excavations, no surveys. We have no artifacts from the structure," Paz said.

Archaeologists were also cautious about guessing the structure's purpose. They said possibilities include a burial site, a place of worship or even a fish nursery, which were common in the area, but they said they wanted to avoid speculation because they have so little information.

It's not even clear if the structure was built on shore when the sea stood at a low level, or if it was constructed underwater. Paz reckons it was built on land, an indication of the sea's low level at the time.

In order to fill in the blanks, archaeologists hope to inspect the site underwater, despite the expense and the complexities.

Nadel noted that working underwater demands not only a skill such as scuba diving, but also labor-intensive excavations that are particularly difficult in the Sea of Galilee, which already has low visibility and where any digging can unleash a cloud of sediment and bury what's just been uncovered.

Also, divers can remain under water only for a limited amount of time every day and must choose the best season that can provide optimal conditions for excavating.

"Until we do more research, we don't have much more to add," Nadel said. "It's a mystery, and every mystery is interesting."

___

Follow Tia Goldenberg on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tgoldenberg

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

China Manned Space Engineering Office

A Chinese Long March 2F rocket launches on the Shenzhou 9 mission, China's first manned space docking flight and first flight of a female astronaut, on June 16, 2012 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

By Leonard David
Space.com

China’s growing space prowess shows no signs of slowing, the U.S. Department of Defense said in its annual report to Congress on military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China.

The Pentagon has been carefully monitoring China’s space activities, and pointed out that last year, the country conducted a total of 18 space launches and expanded its space-based intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation, meteorological and communications satellite constellations. 

"At the same time, China continues to invest in a multidimensional program to deny others access to and use of space," said David Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, during a Pentagon news conference on May 6 that highlighted the report. [Top 10 Space Weapons]

The report explains that China is keen on improving its capabilities "to limit or prevent the use of space-based assets by adversaries during times of crisis or conflict."

Helvey said the Pentagon welcomes the actions that China has taken to improve openness and the amount of information that’s made available about its military, including the regular publication of defense white papers.

"However, many uncertainties remain, which only underscores the importance of building a military dialogue with China that is sustained and substantive," he told reporters.

Marine Corps Sgt. Aaron Hostutler

David F. Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, briefs reporters about the military and security developments involving China during a news conference held at the Pentagon on May 6.

Space capabilities
The nearly 100-page document, "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013," flags a number of Chinese space developments and trends, including the following:

China launched six satellites for its Beidou navigation constellation in 2012. These six satellites completed the regional network, as well as the in-orbit validation phase for the global network, expected to be completed by 2020.

In 2012, China launched 11 new remote sensing satellites, which can perform both civil and military applications. China has developed a large constellation of imaging and remote sensing satellites under a variety of mission families. These satellites can support military objectives by providing situational awareness of foreign military force deployments, critical infrastructure and targets of political significance.

China also launched three communications satellites, five experimental small satellites, one meteorological satellite, one relay satellite and a manned space mission last year. [China's First Manned Space Docking (Photos)]

China will continue to augment its orbiting assets, with the planned launch of 100 more satellites through 2015. These launches include imaging, remote sensing, navigation, communication and scientific satellites, as well as manned spacecraft.

China is pursuing a variety of air, sea, undersea, space, counterspace and information warfare systems, as well as operational concepts, moving toward an array of overlapping, multilayered offensive capabilities extending from China’s coast into the western Pacific.

China’s 2008 Defense White Paper asserts that one of the priorities for the development of China’s armed forces is to "increase the country’s capabilities to maintain maritime, space and electromagnetic space security."

Further, China continues to develop the Long March 5 rocket, which is intended to lift heavy payloads into space. LM-5 will more than double the size of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) payloads China is capable of placing into orbit.

To support these rockets, China began constructing the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in 2008. Located on Hainan Island, this launch facility is expected to be complete sometime this year, with the initial LM-5 launch scheduled for 2014.

CCTV

China launches the Tiangong-1 space lab module Sept. 29, 2011 atop a Chinese Long March 2F rocket from the Gobi desert.

Space dominance
Space.com contacted several leading China experts to get their input on the newly issued report.

"What is clear, from other Chinese writings and the DOD’s report, is that the ‘new historic missions’ — which lay out the roles and missions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — continue to be in force," said Dean Cheng, a research fellow on Chinese political and security affairs at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public-policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

Those "new historic missions," Cheng told Space.com, "include the need to establish space dominance and information dominance. The latter includes space dominance as part of its tool kit."

Cheng said there is no reason to think the PLA is not interested in pursuing these goals. "As important, though, there is also no reason to think that the PLA is somehow doing this in defiance of, or without the knowledge of, the Chinese government."

Indeed, those sorts of arguments — often put forth by folks who seem to know little about how China is actually governed, Cheng said — raises an interesting question: "Should we feel reassured by the possibility that the PLA is notfirmly under the control of the civilian leadership of the People’s Republic of China?"

‘Blind and deafen the enemy’
One item in the Pentagon report points to PLA writings that emphasize the necessity of "destroying, damaging and interfering with the enemy’s reconnaissance ... and communications satellites," suggesting that such systems, as well as navigation and early warning satellites, could be among the targets of attacks designed to "blind and deafen the enemy."

That analysis of Chinese literature "suggesting satellites as targets" caught the eye of Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

“I am always baffled at why it would be thought that a country would take out a satellite — creating debris with the potential to damage their own satellites — when taking out the ground station is easier, yields the same result, and without the debris-creation issues," Johnson-Freese said, noting that the opinions she is expressing are her own and do not reflect the views of the U.S. government, the Department of the Navy or the Naval War College.

Dual use
Johnson-Freese pointed out that China has not conducted further orbital-debris-generating anti-satellite (ASAT) tests since a widely condemned 2007 operation that created about 3,000 new pieces of space junk.

"I think (China has) learned from the U.S. and India that the way to do ASAT tests without international condemnation is to call them missile-defense tests and conduct them in a manner nonthreatening to other space assets," she explained. "So, that China hasn’t done a high-altitude kinetic test means little in terms of capabilities development … but does perhaps show that they are learning to be more responsible/responsive to international norms," Johnson-Freese told Space.com via email.

Johnson-Freese also said the dual-use potential of most space technology continues to make it difficult to determine what its main purpose is meant to be. That's especially true for remote sensing and tracking systems, because China needs tracking for its human spaceflight program.

“In that regard, it seems important to understand that for the military, capabilities equal intent for potential military use…when that may or may not be the case," she concluded. [Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]

Survivability and resilience
"This Pentagon report says that unspecified 'PLA writings emphasize the necessity of' using anti-satellite weapons to 'blind and deafen the enemy.' However, one can easily find many comparable discussions in American writings," said Mark Gubrud, a postdoctoral research associate in the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University.

China has demonstrated its ability to develop and test ASAT weapon technologies, Gubrud said. The nation destroyed one of its own dead weather satellites in 2007, for example, and three years later took out an object that was not in orbit.

"The U.S. has similar ASAT-capable weapons, which have been tested dozens of times and which are operationally deployed in dozens and hundreds," Gubrud told Space.com. "China is not known to have perfected such weapons and operationally deployed them in force."

On the other hand, Gubrud added, the report documents China’s increasing reliance on military and civilian space systems. This would seem to give the Chinese an interest comparable to U.S. interests in the survivability and resilience of space resources, he said.

Level of deception
"I maintain that the only way to secure this interest is by combining defensive measures, such as hardening and backups, with strong arms control which bans both satellite weapons and anti-satellite weapons," Gubrud said. "If the threat to satellites is limited, defensive measures can be effective, but if it is unlimited, the offense will win."

Gubrud said the Pentagon report cites official Chinese policy that stresses, rather deceptively, that space weaponization is not inevitable.

I would like to see the U.S. engage in a similar level of deception," Gubrud said. "Let’s have American and Chinese diplomats gather with those of other nations and pretend to negotiate a treaty banning space weapons and their use. Since in reality it is impossible to develop and test space weapons without other major powers — and probably the whole world — knowing, the generals would have to abide by this treaty just as if it were a real one."

Read the full Pentagon report here.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and co-author of Buzz Aldrin’s new book, “Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration,” published by National Geographic.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Berkeley Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt

Samples of moon rocks from the Apollo 11 mission were found at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

By Megan Gannon
Space.com

Vials of moon dust brought back to Earth by the first men on the moon have been found inside a lab warehouse in California after sitting in storage unnoticed for more than 40 years.

The samples — collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — were rediscovered last month by an archivist who was going over artifacts tucked away at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"We don't know how or when they ended up in storage," Karen Nelson, who made the surprising discovery, said in a statement from the lab.

Nelson came across about 20 vials with handwritten labels dated "24 July 1970," packed in a vacuum-sealed glass jar. Accompanying the jar was an academic paper published in the Proceedings of the Second Lunar Science Conference in 1971, titled "Study of carbon compounds in Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 returned lunar samples."

All of the authors of the paper were from the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, including Nobel Prize-winning chemist Melvin Calvin, who worked with NASA on efforts to protect the moon from contamination during the first lunar landing, as well as plans to protect Earthlings from unknown pathogens feared to be lurking in lunar dust.

Marilee Bailey / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

This vial of Apollo 11 moon dust from a lunar sample collected in 1969 was rediscovered 40 years later in the warehouse of Berkeley Lab in California.

The moon dust samples were supposed to be sent back to NASA after the Space Sciences Laboratory team finished their experiments. By some wrong turn, they ended up in storage.

After making the discovery, Nelson contacted officials at the Space Sciences Laboratory. "They were surprised we had the samples," she said.

Nelson then got in touch with NASA officials, who allowed her to open the jar to remove the vials before she returned them to the space agency, according to the statement from Berkeley.

In all, NASA's moonwalking Apollo astronauts brought 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar samples back to Earth between 1969 and 1972, and very little of it is thought to be unaccounted for.

Of the 68-gram batch of lunar material distributed to Calvin and his collaborators in 1970, NASA knew that only 50 grams was returned, said Ryan Zeigler, NASA's Apollo sample curator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Space agency officials assumed that the unaccounted-for 18 grams had been destroyed during testing. Zeigler thinks the rediscovered, roughly 3-gram sample likely ended up in storage as a result of some miscommunication.

"Given the lengths taken to preserve the samples, this does not appear to have been an attempt of deliberate deception, but likely a miscommunication where some of the material was retained for ongoing or expected future studies which never happened," Zeigler wrote in an email. "Why they were never returned is unclear."

The vials have been returned to NASA's sample vault, the curator said, but it is possible that the samples could one day end up back in a lab.

"I do not know whether these samples will be studied again, but this sample (10059) is a very interesting Apollo 11 breccia that is in short supply, so I believe there is a good chance that this material could be used to fill future requests for this sample," Zeigler added.

Follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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WWF / Peking University

A giant panda in the Wang Lang Natural Reserve in Sichuan province, was captured by a camera trap set up by the World Wildlife Fund and its local partners as part of an effort to obtain footage of endangered species in China.

By Megan Gannon, LiveScience

New hidden camera footage from the giant panda's home offers a peek into the secret lives of China's wild creatures.

The newly released images and videos from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) show the famously endangered bears, as well as some of their neighbors — red pandas, leopard cats and macaques among them — exploring their natural habitat.

The footage comes from more than 100 automated infrared camera traps set up in nature reserves in the Sichuan region. The images were obtained "where there was little external disturbance and therefore they truly reflect the conditions of those species in the wild," Jiang Zeyin, species program officer at WWF-China, said in a statement. [Wild Panda Caught on Camera]

But the camera traps may not have caught all of the animals unawares. In one video clip of a group of Tibetan stump-tailed macaques, one of the monkeys curiously sticks its face in front of the camera and looks as if it's inspecting the lens.

Footage of wild giant pandas is of particular interest because there are thought to be just 1,600 of the lumbering, black-and-white bears left in China. The cameras also captured other threatened species, including tree-loving Asiatic black bears, which are hunted for their skins, paws and even gall bladders for use in certain Asian medical traditions. Brilliantly colored birds like golden pheasants and temminck's tragopans posed for pictures, too, as did yellow-throated martens, golden-haired takins and wild boars.

Conservationists contend that efforts to protect so-called umbrella species or flagship species like giant pandas can give a boost to other species that share its habitat. World Wildlife Fund officials said the diversity of animals in the footage is an encouraging sign that current efforts are working.

"The images demonstrate that through the conservation of the giant panda, a flagship umbrella species, we can also protect other threatened wildlife from the same habitat and preserve biological diversity," Fan Zhiyong, director of the WWF species program in China, said in a statement.

China has more than 10 flagship species, including Amur tigers, musk deer and the Yangtze finless porpoise, according to WWF. All told, China is considered one of the "mega-biodiversity" countries with more than 6,500 species of vertebrates.

"The overall biodiversity in China is in decline despite partial improvement in some places," Fan added. "The main threat has been the habitat loss and fragmentation due to invasive human activities."

The conservation organization released the footage to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity (May 22), first designated by the United Nations two decades ago. Biodiversity can refer to variability of life within a species' gene pool, an ecosystem, and, on a much larger scale, the entire planet. Conservationists often strive to preserve high biodiversity, which is considered a signature of a healthy ecosystem.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com..

• Baby Panda Pics: See A Cub Growing Up
• Camera Trapped: Elusive Wildlife Caught in Photos
• Gallery: China's Rare Creatures Caught on Camera

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A dog may not only fill a home with joy, it fills a home with a whole lot of bacteria, new research suggests.  But that doesn't mean you have to kick your pooch out of the bed.

featurepics.com

This adorable puppy is loaded with bacteria, but those germs may actually be beneficial.

Research from North Carolina State University published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE found homes with dogs have both a greater number of bacteria and more types of bacteria than homes without dogs. 

The findings were part of a larger study that analyzed the types of microbes living in 40 homes in the Raleigh-Durham area of N.C.  Participants swabbed nine areas of their homes and informed researchers about aspects that could influence bacterial life, such as whether there were dogs or cats and how many people lived in the home. 

“The project was a first step toward making an atlas of microbes found in the entire home and how they may affect our health and well-being” said Holly Menninger, a co-author and director of public science at NC State’s Your Wild Life program.

Of the places where household bacteria were found, pillowcases and television screens had the most detectable dog-related microbes.

“Some of the microbes we know come from dogs themselves,” said Menninger. “Some of these bacteria come from the outdoor environment, such as dogs bringing bacteria from the soil and into homes.” 

The researchers were able to identify a few classes of bacteria linked to dogs, and certain microbial classes that may cause disease in humans, such as gingivitis and pneumonia.  However, genetic testing of the bacteria was not specific enough to determine whether any harmful strains were there.

All those germs tracked in on dirty paws don’t mean dog-free homes are necessarily healthier, though. While the researchers did not identify the specific species of bacteria living in each household, they were able to say that most of the organisms they found are not disease-causing – and may actually provide some benefits.

“We co-exist with bacteria and healthy, small exposures to bacteria do not pose any risk and might, on the other hand, be beneficial, as long as we keep a good hygienic environment,” said Dr. Rani Gereige, director of medical education at Miami Children's Hospital.  Gereige was not involved in the research.

A recent study found that exposure to a microorganisms from a pet during a child’s first year of life of life may help ramp up the immune system, lowering the risk of developing allergies later. 

“Research has actually shown that mothers who live with dogs while pregnant are less likely to have children with conditions like atopic dermatitis or to develop allergies,” said veterinarian Dr. Andy Roark of Greenville, S.C. 

Certain bacteria from dogs – such as salmonella and listeria -- can cause infections in humans, however, so it is important to be vigilant, he cautions.

“It is always a good idea for both adults and children to wash hands after playing with pets, especially before eating,” said Roark.

The study did not control for certain factors that could affect bacterial growth, such as household climate and cleanliness, and there were not enough homes with cats to accurately analyze the feline contribution to residential bacteria.  The researchers did not analyze whether certain dog breeds harbor more bacteria than others.

The microbes found throughout the different homes fell into three general groups: those that come from skin and live on surfaces we touch, such as door knobs and toilet seats; bacteria linked to food found in kitchens; and organisms found in places where dust gathers, such as television screens and moldings.

Menninger added that the research team is in the process of analyzing samples and other data from a total of 1,300 homes across the United States. 

“We know we have all these bacteria in our home,” said Menninger.  “Let’s learn to live with them.” 

 Related: 

Your skin microbes prove you're a 'dog person'

NASA / Jesse Allen, using data provided by Tony Song (NASA / JPL)

An image from an animation using satellite observations of the March 11 tsunami that shows how the waves of the tsunami were influenced by seafloor features. Wave peaks appear in red-brown, depressions in blue-green and ocean floor topography is outlined in gray.

By Elizabeth Howell
LiveScience

The global positioning system (GPS) — the same system that helps people navigate unfamiliar places — could also serve as an early-warning system for tsunamis, according to new research.

When a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Japan on March 11, 2011, coastal residents received an inaccurate estimate of the earthquake's magnitude before the waves hit and leveled thousands of buildings.

The area under alert was warned based on an estimated earthquake magnitude of 7.9 — 130 times less intense than the actual quake was — meaning fewer neighborhoods were evacuated in response to the perceived threat.

Researchers behind a new study have said that GPS systems along the coast could have given the residents a better warning. Sifting through the GPS data from stations along the coast and issuing a more accurate tsunami alert based on that data would have taken only three minutes, the study found. [7 Ways the Earth Changes in the Blink of an Eye]

Subduction zones and GPS
Most tsunamis occur when one tectonic plate slides underneath another and causes an earthquake. In the process, the top plate is forced upward, and this uplift of the seafloor pushes on the water above it, setting off the tsunami. How high the ground rose on the seafloor would influence wave heights up on the surface.

The coast also slightly rises or falls along with the ocean floor, making it possible to see these changes through coastal GPS stations. Therefore, areas near these so-called subduction zones can be mapped and measured using GPS to see how much the ground has shifted and in what way it has deformed.

Whereas traditional seismological stations are located some distance away from the source, GPS transmitters can be placed much closer, on the coastline, to where the tsunami occurred, buying valuable time for those looking to escape.

"To really get absolute values of slip, you would need to have stations at the seafloor," said Andreas Hoechner, a postdoctoral researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam.

"However, (the coastal GPS readings are) good enough to get good tsunami wave estimates."

A subduction quake makes several ocean waves: crest waves on top of the seafloor that rise, and trough waves on the seafloor that drop down. Additionally, independent research has recently showed that a shoreline's features also influence the severity of a tsunami's impact on land.

Reconstructing an alert
To reconstruct what a GPS alert would have looked like during the 2011 temblor, the scientists took information from the Japanese GPS Earth Observation Network (GEONET) the day before, the day of, and the day after the 2011 earthquake. The station is typically used for long-term changes to the ground, such as "relaxation processes" between earthquakes, but has not been applied yet for tsunami warnings, Hoechner said.

While Japan has about 1,200 of these stations, the researchers only used 50 of them in order to take less time to issue an alert. The exact number of stations does not matter in this scenario, Hoechner noted, as long as there are enough to note a rapidly changing height difference between the ground on the coast and the ground further inland.

GPS stations provide more accurate information about ground shifts than seismological stations do, as seismological stations are better suited for looking at the amount of ground shaking — rather than shifting — associated with an earthquake. Both systems are useful in their own ways and should be used together, Hoechner said.

In the case of Japan’s Tohoku earthquake, a tsunami warning issued just three minutes after the earthquake struck would have provided several minutes for people to scramble to safety. Tsunamis typically hit land about 20 to 30 minutes after they are generated, Hoechner said, depending on the distance between land and the earthquake's epicenter.

The challenge will be to actually use the GPS sensors for real events, not just for simulating past tsunamis. And the technique could be used not only in Japan, but also in Indonesia. After the devastating 2004 earthquake in that region, there were some GPS stations installed, but the researchers say more are needed to make accurate tsunami warnings.

The results appear in the latest edition of Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, an open-access journal of the European Geosciences Union.

Hoechner's team plans to extend its research to Chile, which was the site of a devastating tsunami in 2010.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace. Follow us @livescience, Facebook and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com .

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