New Horizons Sees Changes in Jupiter System

New Horizons' voyage through the Jupiter system in 2007 provided a bird's-eye view of a dynamic planet that has changed since the last close-up looks by NASA spacecraft. A combination of trajectory, timing and technology allowed it to explore details no probe had seen before, such as lightning near Jupiter’s poles, the life cycle of fresh ammonia clouds, boulder-size clumps speeding through the planet’s faint rings, the structure inside volcanic eruptions on its moon Io, and the path of charged particles traversing the previously unexplored length of the planet’s long magnetic tail.
New Horizons passed our solar system's largest planet on its way to Pluto, which it should reach in 2015.

Nanoenergy Battery

A company called Front-Edge Technology has developed ultra-thin bendable battery technology which can deliverbetween 10 and 20 times more power than conventional batteries.
The flexibility of these "Nanoenergy" batteries makes them ideal for portable devices. Theese new batteries can also be manufactured in different shapes and in sizes that can be thinner than a sheet of paper.
Front-Edge Technology claims that the special characteristics of their batteries also make them ideal for micro power devices such as one-time-password smartcards, battery-assisted RFID tags, wireless sensor networks and medical applications such as hearing aids and heart-monitoring devices.

The Honda Hovercar

The Honda Fuzo is a Vertical Take-Off and Landing concept vehicle. The Fuzo has four high-powered turbines for high-speed horizontal flight and directional control.
The vehicle has a top speed of 350 mph and two joysticks on wither side of the armrest to control speed, trust, and steering.
It also features an automatic collision-detection system that relies on GPS to keep cars from hitting one another and also airbags on the inside and outside of the vehicle for safety.

DISCOVERY OF NEW DINOSAURS

A New Species

DISCOVERY OF NEW DINOSAURS can happen almost anywhere and anytime. A 14-year-old boy found these dinosaur bones buried on his family's ranch in Montana. Although no one realized it at the time, the fossil was unlike any other dinosaur and proved to be a new species. This dinosaur, named , looked similar to a modern bird and was a fierce hunter that may have preyed on small mammals and reptiles.
Around 90 percent of Bambiraptor's bones were recovered, making this one of the most complete specimens ever found in North America. With so much of the skeleton to study, researchers have been able to learn some surprising details about this fossil. Based on analysis of the skull, for example, scientists think that this species had a brain nearly as large as the brains of some modern birds.

FAST FACTS: Bambiraptor

• Species: Bambiraptor feinbergi
• Pronunciation: "BAM-be-rap-tor fine-BERG-eye"
• Size:
• LENGTH: 0.7 meter (30 inches)
• HEIGHT: 0.3 meters (12 inches)
• WEIGHT: 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds)
• Food: small mammals and reptiles
• When it lived: 75 million years ago
• Fun fact: The large claw on Bambiraptor's second toe was probably used for killing prey, suggesting the animal was a fierce hunter.

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New Discoveries at Mercury

Mercury's magnetic field is "alive." Volcanic vents ring the planet's giant Caloris Basin. And Mercury has shrunk in on itself more than previously suspected.
These are just a few of the new discoveries by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which flew past Mercury on January 14, 2008. The results are described in a series of 11 papers published in a special July 4th issue of Science magazine.
Six of the papers in Science report studies of the planet's surface--its colors, mineralogy, and the shape of its terrain. For instance, the color enhanced image below reveals evidence of volcanic vents along the margins of Caloris basin, one of the Solar System's largest and youngest impact basins:
"By combining Mariner 10 and MESSENGER data, the science team was able to reconstruct a comprehensive geologic history of the entire Caloris basin interior," says James Head of Brown University, lead author of one of the Science reports. "The basin was formed from an impact by an asteroid or comet during a period of heavy bombardment in the first billion years of Solar System history. As with the lunar maria, a period of volcanic activity followed, producing lava flows that filled the basin interior. This volcanism is responsible for the comparatively light, red material of the interior plains intermingled with [newer] impact crater deposits."
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