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Saturday, June 6, 2009

French authorities have today revealed that Air France Flight 447 sent 24 error messages shortly before the plane disappeared during the flight between Rio de Janeiro and Paris with 228 people on board. They also said that the plane’s auto-pilot was not active, although they say that from the error messages it is impossible to determine the reason for it being inactive. The crash is said to be the world’s worst aviation disaster since 2001.

Officials have still not determined the reason for the flight’s disappearance or located the wreckage of the plane, but have said that it was flying through an area of “powerful cumulo-nimbus” clouds. The authorities continued saying, “these are found frequently in this area and in normal climactic [sic] conditions”. However other meteorologists said the jet was entering a zone with unusual storms and 100mph updrafts which could have formed a vacuum, sucking water up from the ocean.

Fourteen of the error messages sent by the system were done so within a period of one minute, 2:10 a.m. – 2:11 a.m. UTC. It is thought that some of the error messages are related to the flight speed and controls related to auto thrust. Paul-Louis Arslanian, director of the French air accident investigation agency, said that the error messages indicated systems had shut down one after another. He also confirmed that the plane in question had encountered difficulties with measuring its speed and that Airbus was currently completing “a programme of replacement, of improvement”.

Airbus and Arslanian insist that planes are still safe, however Airbus have since re-sent information regarding difficulties with calculating speed and confirming their advice in such situations.

Previous announcements by the Brazilian air force that they had successfully located part of the wreckage of flight 447 have turned out to be false after ships recovered unrelated debris from the sea. After recovering debris from the sea, including a cargo pallet and two buoys, Brigadier Ramon Cardoso, the director of Brazilian air traffic control said, “[U]p to now, no material from the plane has been recovered.”

He continued, “We confirm that the pallet found is not part of the debris of the plane. It’s a pallet that was in the area, but considered more to be trash. The pallet was made of wood, and the Air France Airbus A330 did not have any wooden pallets on board. That’s how we can confirm that the pallet isn’t part of the remains of the aircraft”. It is thought the pallet came from a passing ship which is also being blamed as to the reason for the oil slick spotted in the area.

David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, said: “The fact that the autopilot was not working is not the cause of this accident”, continuing by saying it is “not at all unusual” for the autopilot to cut out, alerting the pilots with a loud warning, adding “it’s not the cause, it’s the symptom” of the accident.

He also said that it was “designed to cut out at any time that it receives conflicting messages, which we know it was” and that “It’s designed to cut out rather than controlling the airplane in an unsafe way – it’s not an intelligent system, it doesn’t know which of the data are correct.”

Rescuers have long since given up on attempting to find any survivors instead now trying to locate and recover the wreckage of the flight and more importantly the flight data recorders, without which they say they may never know what happened to the flight. The process of recovery is expected to be difficult with the seabed reaching depths of 3,000 to 4,000 meters. Both American and French specialist equipment has been sent to the area with the aim of recovering the recorders, however French officials say that the locator beacons attached to the boxes could possibly have become detached by the force of the impact.

Speculation has been rife as to the thought cause of the flights disappearance, ranging from a direct lightning strike to weather in the area, however recently a Spanish pilot has said, via his airline Air Comet, that on a flight in the area he saw an “intense flash of white light”. The report, initially released by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo and then confirmed by AFP also said a co-pilot and passenger also saw the bright light.

“Suddenly, we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white light, which followed a descending and vertical trajectory and which broke up in six seconds” the unidentified captain said.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Princeton, New Jersey —According to Ryan Walsh, editor of the websites for both the Princeton Journal of Science and American Foreign Policy, internet news service Wikinews was the topic of a report by Federico Baradello in a Princeton University course on mass media and public policy. The course, offered through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, studies “the impact of policy on the content, presentation, influence, and technology of a rapidly-evolving 21st century news media,” according to the school.

Walsh, currently a junior at Princeton, characterized the report in an email to Wikinews user Pingswept as “great” and added that “everyone in the class seemed to enjoy learning about Wikinews, and Federico was a great speaker.”

According to an email from Baradello, the report, which took place on Monday, 21 February 2005, provided a “basic overview of its history (evolution), ownership, viewership, and position in the news market.” It included a live demonstration of adding new content to Wikinews. The barebones content provided in the demonstration was developed into this article.

Baradello’s report is available on the course’s blog. His final course paper on the decentralization of news gathering includes a case study on Wikinews with commentary from Jimmy Wales and will be available in PDF form by late May.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Jesse Sullivan has two cybernetic arms, after electrical burns suffered while working as an electrical utility lineman resulted in amputation of both his arms at the shoulder. Claudia Mitchell has a similar cybernetic left arm, after a motorcycle accident resulted in amputation. Sullivan and Mitchell shook hands with these thought-controlled prosthetic arms at an event staged Thursday in Washington, D.C. by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Center for Artificial Limbs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

Unlike traditional prosthetic limbs, these are actuated through muscle reinnervation; nerves are grafted onto specific muscles, controlling their contraction, which are then detected by electrode sensors and control the prosthetic limb. “Basically it is connecting the dots. Finding the nerves. We have to free the nerves and see how far they reach,” says Dr. Todd Kuiken, developer of the prostheses and director of neuroengineering at the Rehabilitation Institute. By this chain of communication the prostheses utilize thought-controlled biomechanics. According to Sullivan, “When I use the new prosthesis I just do things. I don’t have to think about it … I do all the yard work. I take out the garbage.”

DARPA, as an agency of the United States Department of Defense, seeks to eventually provide such prostheses for soldiers losing their organic limbs in combat. “We’re excited about collaborating with the military,” said Kuiken. 411 U.S. troops in Iraq and 37 in Afghanistan have had wounds that cost them at least one limb according to the Army Medical Command.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered evidence for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. The study has been published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.

Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and usually low in salt far away from the moon. Closer to the moon’s surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an “ocean-like” composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt-water. When water freezes, the salt is squeezed out, leaving pure water ice behind.

Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging spectrograph also recently obtained complementary results that support the presence of a subsurface ocean. A team of Cassini researchers led by Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, measured gas shooting out of distinct jets originating in the moon’s south polar region at five to eight times the speed of sound, several times faster than previously measured. These observations of distinct jets, from a 2010 flyby, are consistent with results showing a difference in composition of ice grains close to the moon’s surface and those that made it out to the E ring, the outermost ring that gets its material primarily from Enceladean jets. If the plumes emanated from ice, they should have very little salt in them.

“There currently is no plausible way to produce a steady outflow of salt-rich grains from solid ice across all the tiger stripes other than salt water under Enceladus’s icy surface,” said Frank Postberg, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

The data suggests a layer of water between the moon’s rocky core and its icy mantle, possibly as deep as about 50 miles (80 kilometers) beneath the surface. As this water washes against the rocks, it dissolves salt compounds and rises through fractures in the overlying ice to form reserves nearer the surface. If the outermost layer cracks open, the decrease in pressure from these reserves to space causes a plume to shoot out. Roughly 400 pounds (200 kilograms) of water vapor is lost every second in the plumes, with smaller amounts being lost as ice grains. The team calculates the water reserves must have large evaporating surfaces, or they would freeze easily and stop the plumes.

“We imagine that between the ice and the ice core there is an ocean of depth and this is somehow connected to the surface reservoir,” added Postberg.

The Cassini mission discovered Enceladus’ water-vapor and ice jets in 2005. In 2009, scientists working with the cosmic dust analyzer examined some sodium salts found in ice grains of Saturn’s E ring but the link to subsurface salt water was not definitive. The new paper analyzes three Enceladus flybys in 2008 and 2009 with the same instrument, focusing on the composition of freshly ejected plume grains. In 2008, Cassini discovered a high “density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected” in geysers erupting from the moon. The icy particles hit the detector target at speeds between 15,000 and 39,000 MPH (23,000 and 63,000 KPH), vaporizing instantly. Electrical fields inside the cosmic dust analyzer separated the various constituents of the impact cloud.

“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson in 2008, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“This finding is a crucial new piece of evidence showing that environmental conditions favorable to the emergence of life can be sustained on icy bodies orbiting gas giant planets,” said Nicolas Altobelli, the European Space Agency’s project scientist for Cassini.

“If there is water in such an unexpected place, it leaves possibility for the rest of the universe,” said Postberg.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

One of Kentucky’s newest state lawmakers, who also serves as a high school teacher, sustained a critical head injury Tuesday morning while intervening to break up a fight between two students in the school’s cafeteria.

State Representative DeWayne Bunch (R), 49, was listed in “extremely critical” condition when he was taken to the Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin, Kentucky, immediately following the fight between two male teens.

Bunch was reported as being unconscious and bleeding from the ears when emergency responders arrived at Whitley County High School.

The fight, between a fifteen- and sixteen-year-old, was caught by a surveillance camera which showed Bunch being punched by the sixteen-year-old, according to the sheriff. It is not clear what started the fight, which took place in the school’s cafeteria during breakfast.

The teens have been charged with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of third-degree assault. They are both in custody at a juvenile detention center according to the sheriff.

Bunch was later transported to University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. His family has requested no information be publicly released about his condition.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The president of Egypt has suffered a “devastating blow” after the country’s army announced they would not use force against their own people, who continue to protest against the government tonight. The news came hours after six journalists who reported on the protests were released from custody.

Hosni Mubarak yesterday announced a new cabinet, which does not include several figures who protesters largely do not approve of. Analysts have, however, suggested little had changed within the government; many positions, they say, are filled with military figures.

In a statement broadcast on state media in Egypt, the army said: “To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people … have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people.” A BBC correspondent in Cairo said the announcement meant it “now seems increasingly likely that the 30-year rule of Mr Mubarak is drawing to a close.”

“The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people,” the statement added. “Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody.”

Earlier today, six journalists from the independent news network Al-Jazeera were released from custody after being detained by police. The U.S. State Department criticized the arrests; equipment was reportedly confiscated from the journalists.

Egyptian officials yesterday ordered the satellite channel to stop broadcasting in the country. Al-Jazeera said they were “appalled” by the government’s decision to close its Egyptian offices, which they described as the “latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt.”

In a statement, the news agency added: “Al-Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists. In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.”

On Friday, Wikinews reported the government had shut off practically all Internet traffic both out of and into the nation, as well as disrupting cellphone usage. A spokesperson for the social networking website Facebook said “limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community.”

A reported 50,000 campaigners, who are demanding the long-time leader step down and complaining of poverty, corruption, and oppression, filled Tahrir Square in Cairo today, chanting “We will stay until the coward leaves.” It is thought 100 people have so far died in the demonstrations. Today there have been protests in Suez, Mansoura, Damanhour, and Alexandria.

Speaking to news media in the area, many protesters said the new cabinet did little to quell their anger. “We want a complete change of government, with a civilian authority,” one said. Another added: “This is not a new government. This is the same regime—this is the same bluff. [Mubarak] has been bluffing us for 30 years.”

In Tahrir Square today, protesters played music as strings of barbed wire and army tanks stood nearby. Demonstrators scaled light poles, hanging Egyptian flags and calling for an end to Mubarak’s rule. “One poster featured Mubarak’s face plastered with a Hitler mustache, a sign of the deep resentment toward the 82-year-old leader they blame for widespread poverty, inflation and official indifference and brutality during his 30 years in power,” one journalist in the square reported this evening.

Monday, August 31, 2015

A fire in the eastern Saudi city of Alkhobar tore through a housing complex for oil workers yesterday, killing eleven, according to civil officials.

The Radium complex is rented by oil firm Aramco for their employees. According to nearby resident Mohammed Siddique the fire broke out early in the morning. Siddique says the building contains locals, as well as Westerners and Asians. The cause is unclear but the civil defence ministry tweeted “Cars and furniture caught fire in the basement of one of the towers”.

Over 200 people were injured. Firefighters scaled the burning tower on ladders, and helicopters were on-scene. Other towers in the complex were evacuated. Thick smoke from the blaze complicated rescue efforts.

Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser said the firm is “deeply saddened to learn of the fatalities and injuries. We offer heartfelt condolences to the families. Our immediate priority is to provide full support to those affected by this tragic incident.” Aramco, which produces and exports more crude oil than any competitor worldwide, say the fire is under investigation.