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The Hunt for Hidden Dimensions
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2/5/2009
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JoAnne Hewett, Professor at SLAC, Stanford University Extra dimensions of space may be present in our universe. Their
discovery would dramatically change our view of the cosmos and would
prompt many questions. How do they hide? What is their shape? How many
are there? How big are they? Do particles and forces feel their
presence? This lecture will explain the concept of dimensions and show
that current theoretical models predict the existence of extra spatial
dimensions which could be in the discovery reach of present and
near-term experiments. The manner by which these additional dimensions
reveal their existence will be described.
Watch lecture
(Quicktime required)
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Roundup at the Kepler Corral: the Race to Detect the First Earth-sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Sunlike Star
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1/21/2009
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Dr. Jeffrey Van Cleve, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp
The Kepler Mission http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov
is designed to detect transits of Earth-size planets orbiting in the
"habitable zone" (HZ) around main-sequence stars of apparent visual
magnitude 9 through 14, of F through M spectral type, by means of
differential photometry of
~100,000 stars in the constellation Cygnus. Jeff will discuss the box
in
temperature-diameter space ("The Corral") that Kepler was designed to
search, and show the population of extrasolar planets known from
ground-based radial velocity and gravitational lensing observations. He
will present a calculation of the distance between Earth and the
nearest
transiting planet likely to be discovered by Kepler, and compare it to
results of an all-sky planetary transit survey mission similar to TESS
(The TESS PI has commented that "...when starships transporting
colonists first depart the solar system, they may well be headed toward
a TESS-discovered planet as their new home"). He will end with some
speculation on why the end of the nominal Kepler mission coincides with
the end of the Mayan calendar (and possibly the end of the world as we
know it) on Dec. 21, 2012. Watch lecture
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Laboratory Studies of Water Ice Cloud formation under Martian Conditions
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1/14/2009
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Dr. Laura T. Iraci, NASA Ames Research Center Water ice clouds are an important part of the
martian hydrological cycle, influencing the water and energy
budgets. Microphysical models can be used to study the
connections between cloud formation and water distribution
throughout the system (for example, as surface frost
layers), but only if the intricacies of cloud formation and
growth are understood and properly parameterized. To that
end, we have performed laboratory studies of water ice
nucleation on a variety of surrogate materials and have
found that initiation of ice is more difficult than often
presumed. We will report these results, along with
preliminary growth rate observations.
Watch lecture
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Mission to a Potentially Threatening Asteroid
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1/7/2009
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David Morrison, NASA Ames Research Center
Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are interesting to both planetary scientists and
those who are concerned about protecting against their impacts. The first
step, now well underway, is to find them (with the Spacegaurd Survey). Next
we need to characterize NEAs using small spacecraft missions. We are
especially interested in the sub-km NEAs, since they are the most likely to
hit the Earth and also the most accessible targets for human flights beyond
the Moon. This talk focuses on a low-cost rendezvous mission to NEA Apophis,
with the goal of characterizing both the asteroid and its orbit.
Watch lecture
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The Weather on Mars by David Hinson
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12/3/2008
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Watch Lecture
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Some Thoughts from an Anthropologist on Culture, Interstellar Communication, and the Construction of Interstellar Messages by John Traphagan
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11/19/2008
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Watch Lecture
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How Spaceflight Was Born by Eugene Lally
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11/12/2008
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Watch lecture
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Science in my life, and the unpredictability of discovery by Charles Townes
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9/10/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Exploring the Extreme Universe with GLAST by Professor Lynn Cominsky, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sonoma State University
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8/27/2008
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watch video
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The Advanced Studies Laboratory - A unique linkage between UCSC and NASA Ames by Rosalind Grymes
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8/20/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Creation and Destruction of Continental Crust at Subduction Zones by Eli Silver
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7/16/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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People and Automation: Implications for Long Duration Lunar and Planetary Exploration by Jessica Marquez
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7/9/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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An Electromagnetic Sounder to Detect Subsurface Liquid Water on Mars: Field Test Results by Greg Delory
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7/2/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Toxicological effects of moon dust - how humans will react in the lunar environment by Jon Rask and Erin Tranfield
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6/25/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Exploratory data analysis of planetary hyperspectral datasets - use of statistics to enhance mission science return by Mario Parente
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6/18/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Liverpool Telescope: Development and science results from a fully autonomous common-user telescope by Robert Smith
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6/4/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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The Statistical Drake Equation by Claudio Maccone
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4/11/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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SETI Institute - History, the Institute Today, and Plans for the Future by Tom Pierson
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4/9/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Hepatitis B Virus. Discovery, the Present, and the Future. by Baruch Blumberg
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2/20/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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HiRISE views of Martian Strata and Slope Streaks by Ross Beyer
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2/6/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Anomaly Detection in Data Streams and its Implications for Radio Astronomy and SETI by Ashok Srivastava
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1/30/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Geodynamics of Icy Satellites by Francis Nimmo
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1/18/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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The Allen Telescope Array: A Wide-angle, Panchromatic Radio Camera for SETI and Radio Astronomy by Jill Tarter
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1/16/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Quantum Astronomy: Extending the Weirdness of Modern Physics to Cosmic Scales by Laurance Doyle
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1/9/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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On the extraction of all information embedded in radio siganls: Implications for SETI by Bo Thide
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1/2/2008
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Watch Lecture Online
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Planetary Habitability of Mars and of Titan: A Tale of Two Worlds by Devon Burr
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12/19/2007
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Watch Lecture Video
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