Tycho Supernova Remnant

SPACE WATCH
NASA – The Tycho supernova remnant is named for the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who reported observing the supernova in 1572. It is located in the Milky Way, about 13,000 light years from Earth. Because of its proximity and intrinsic brightness, the supernova was so bright that it could be seen during the daytime with the naked eye.

This image comes from a very deep Chandra observation of the Tycho supernova remnant, produced by the explosion of a white dwarf star in our Galaxy. Low-energy X-rays (red) in the image show expanding debris from the supernova explosion and high energy X-rays (blue) show the blast wave, a shell of extremely energetic electrons . These high-energy X-rays show a pattern of X-ray “stripes” never previously seen in a supernova remnant. Some of the brightest stripes can also directly be seen in the full color image, on the right side of the remnant pointing from the outer rim to the interior. The stellar background is from the Digitized Sky Survey and only shows stars outside the remnant.

These stripes may provide the first direct evidence that supernova remnants can accelerate particles to energies a hundred times higher than achieved by the most powerful particle accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. The results could explain how some of the extremely energetic particles bombarding the Earth, called cosmic rays, are produced, and they provide support for a theory about how magnetic fields can be dramatically amplified in such blast waves.

The X-ray stripes are thought to be regions where the turbulence is greater and the magnetic fields more tangled than surrounding areas. Electrons become trapped in these regions and emit X-rays as they spiral around the magnetic field lines. Regions with enhanced turbulence and magnetic fields were expected in supernova remnants, but the motion of the most energetic particles — mostly protons — was predicted to leave a messy network of holes and dense walls corresponding to weak and strong regions of magnetic fields, respectively. Therefore, the detection of stripes was a surprise.

The size of the holes was expected to correspond to the radius of the spiraling motion of the highest energy protons in the supernova remnant. These energies equal the highest energies of cosmic rays thought to be produced in our Galaxy. The spacing between the stripes corresponds to this size, providing evidence for the existence of these extremely energetic protons. more> http://tinyurl.com/49rrk7u

Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K.Eriksen et al.; Optical: DSS

Reality-based patent reform

By Chris Gallagher and Kevin L. Kearns – Even a cursory reading of the FTC report (pdf) indicates that the fundamentals of our current system – like first-to-invent with its accompanying ‘grace period’ (during which an idea is protected while it is refined and shopped for financial support) – is key to expanding our ‘innovation ecosystem.’ Drastically altering the current law would be a serious mistake.

If S. 23 reflected the forward-looking FTC perspective, it would not be promoting the unwieldy ‘first-to-file’ procedure, which eliminates inventors’ critical ‘grace period’ protections. This and other provisions will cripple early-stage innovation by ‘harmonizing down’ our first-class patent system to the inferior systems of other countries, which should be persuaded to ‘harmonize up’ instead.

The FTC seeks to promote all innovation, not just the incremental innovation model of the large market incumbents. Europeanizing our system for the filing convenience of global multinational firms – that overwhelmingly practice the internal, ‘closed innovation’ approach – will cripple today’s innovation evolution with costly procedures while curtailing the beneficial ‘creative destruction’ inherent in technological progress. more> http://tinyurl.com/4mj23km

related>

• White Board: Goolsbee on Patent Reform
• Patent Reform Act in the U.S. Senate
• How the America Invents Act Changes Patent Law ←
• Patently absurd system encourages litigation, not innovation, James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle

Cyber-Security Can’t Ignore Human Behavior

By Eric Bonabeau – Cyberspace is the result of tremendous technological progress, is not just a piece of technology: It is both an enabler and an amplifier of human nature, eliciting new manifestations of human nature. It feeds (and in many ways feeds on) one of the most fundamental needs of human beings: communication. That it has become such an integral part of our lives in such a short time shows how deeply it resonates with our need to communicate and be connected. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the multifaceted dynamics of cyberspace be so strongly influenced, even defined, by the behavior of its participants.

According to Mark Graff (video) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, cyberspace gives individuals and small groups unprecedented reach to affect others; it makes physical distance much less of an insulating factor; confuses us about what is permanent, or public, or safe; and largely operates insensibly to us. We feel safer if important data is near us, or some place we know, or with someone we’ve met, but these comfort factors make no “Internet” sense and don’t scale to Internet dimensions either. more> http://tinyurl.com/48vbyjz

related>

• Cybersecurity: Lots of Answers, Now Let’s Ask the Right Questions ←
• The Kill Switch: ‘Death Panels of Cyber Security’, Jennifer Booton, FoxBusiness.com http://tinyurl.com/4rh2upj
• More questions than answers on cyber security, Clayton M. McCleskey, dallasnews.com http://tinyurl.com/5vz5foq
• Virtual war a real threat, Ken Dilanian, latimes.com http://tinyurl.com/4g9x7qu
• The challenge of cyber security: Opportunities for transatlantic cooperation in a heteropolar world, Blogactiv http://tinyurl.com/66b8zud
• DHS Outlines Cybersecurity Strategy, Elizabeth Montalbano InformationWeek http://tinyurl.com/47rvg6y

With AT&T/T-Mobile, wireless net neutrality should be back on the table

By Matthew Lasar – Back when the movement for strong open Internet rules included a company called Google, it was generally agreed among such advocates that clear federal agency provisions against protocol blocking and unreasonable discrimination should be applied to last-mile wireless and wireline broadband connections alike.

Google insisted (pdf) in April of 2010, “the record is clear that all last-mile broadband network providers have common incentives to discriminate in the absence of an effective and enforceable rule protecting consumers and competitors.”

All these concerns vaporized, of course, once Google made policy peace with its Droid partner Verizon last August. The two companies then issued their famous Legislative Framework (pdf) proposal that would deny the FCC even the authority to make hard-and-fast rules on its own. more> http://tinyurl.com/5wwos3x

related>

• If AT&T buys T-Mobile, US back to “Bell East and Bell West” ←
• AT&T to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion
• Opponents: kill AT&T bid for T-Mobile, Qualcomm licenses at same time, Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica
• AT&T buys T-Mobile—or does it? Tom Bowden, VOICES for REASON http://tinyurl.com/626scmg
• An Ex-Regulator’s Take on AT&T Buying T-Mobile, Bruce Gottlieb, Atlantic http://tinyurl.com/48egcas

Fed Chairman Bernanke to Start Holding Press Briefings in 2011

By Scott Lanman – Following is the text of a Federal Reserve statement today (3/24/11):

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hold press briefings four times per year to present the Federal Open Market Committee’s current economic projections and to provide additional context for the FOMC’s policy decisions. more> http://tinyurl.com/4ct54br

related>

• The revolution in central banking
• Bernanke briefing could be political boon for Fed, Mark Felsenthal, Reuters
• Federal Reserve chairman to meet regularly with media, Jim Puzzanghera and Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times, http://tinyurl.com/4e3gnam
• Bernanke will hold regular press briefings, Peter Schroeder, Hill http://tinyurl.com/4vm77rq