Made 'Giant Leap' as First Man to Step on Moon - New York Times

John Schwartz contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-armstrong-dies-first-man-on-moon.html?pagewanted%3Dall

Mars rover Curiosity, JPL win praise from Jerry Brown - Los Angeles Times

“If the idea is when you got a problem you don’t do
anything, then you shut this place down, that’s stupid,” he said during
his visit to the campus in La Cañada Flintridge. “You’ve got to do more
than one thing. We have to invest as well, as we take care of all these
other problems.Brown
acknowledged that he didn’t take any science courses in college but
reminisced about his involvement with the space industry over the years
and the reputation he earned for proposing far-out ideas during his
first term as governor, from 1974 and 1982.<br />http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/mars-rover-curiosity-jpl-win-praise-from-jerry-brown.html

Earthlings Look for Signs in New Photos of Mars - Wall Street Journal

Wilmer Faust, another Mars enthusiast, was the first human to spot the parrot formation in 2002, according to a website about the parrot research project. But he wouldn't have seen anything had it not been for his pet parrot's wild squawking and "bobbing his head" at Mr. Faust's computer monitor while he was examining images from Mars, according to an introduction on the website.He and his colleagues have been criticized by some in mainstream academia for their research. But Mr. Haas holds his ground. "I know art when I see it," says Mr. Haas, a past president of the Sculptors Association of New Jersey. He knows it is a hard sell. "The American public, they may not be ready for the parrot," he says.<br />http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443855804577599851584093374.html

Mars landing: Like NASA Curiosity rover, family switches to Mars time - Newsday

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Every mission to Mars, hundreds of NASA scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory make the time change for three months. But it's unusual for an entire family to join in. The kids will be on Mars time for about a month.<br />http://newyork.newsday.com/news/world/mars-landing-like-nasa-curiosity-rover-family-switches-to-mars-time-1.3913837

Massive galaxy cluster spawns more than 700 stars a year - Los Angeles Times

Further study of SPT-CLJ2344-4243 and massive galaxy clusters like it could also help astronomers figure out how unique Phoenix actually is, added Bradford Benson, a University of Chicago astrophysicist and study co-author. He said studying more clusters could lead scientists to determine whether star-making phases like the one observed in this study tend to be relatively brief (say, a few million years), or extended (100 million years).At first, astronomers didn't realize how unique the cluster was.&nbsp; But in the months that followed, McDonald and his co-authors analyzed a variety of signals from the cluster including X-rays, optical light, and infrared radiation it emitted &mdash; and realized they had a "remarkable" object on their hands.<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-phoenix-galaxy-cluster-20120815,0,2484591.story?track%3Drss

Confirmed: Mars rover Curiosity took photo of craft crash-landing - Los Angeles Times

The final seconds of Curiosity's eight-month-plus journey to Mars called for a spacecraft to lower the rover to the surface using a "sky crane" &mdash; three ropes. The ropes were then cut, and the last of the spacecraft, known as the "descent stage," cast itself toward the horizon. It crash-landed, on purpose, about 2,000 feet away.Many had dismissed the plume as dirt on the camera lens, but engineers pointed out that the initial photo was taken in stereo, with two side-by-side lenses. Both images picked up the same blotch. That eliminated the possibility that the lens was simply dirty, and confirmed, Sell said, that "the artifact was real."<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-0811-mars-curiosity-photo-confirmed-20120811,0,5983256.story

University Structure

The current island-structure of universities is a way of wasting invaluable potentials. The existence of various disciplines in university is a golden opportunity, but people usually ignore it.

http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/university-structure-m4z3

The Photo-Geek's Guide to Curiosity Rover's 17 Cameras - Wired News

The two nearly identical MastCams will combine to take 3-D stereo images. They can focus on objects as close as about 7 feet from the rover and see details down to roughly a few hundred microns. They will see in “true color,” or approximately what your eyes would see if you were there with Curiosity. Natural lighting on Mars tends to be slightly redder than on Earth because of the high amount of dust in the air. So the rover will be taking images with a slight adjustment that gives them a warm, orangey glow similar to sunlight at sunset on Earth to capture this effect. The MastCams will also be taking images without this feature.One of the biggest requests that scientists had for Curiosity was the addition of a telephoto lens. The previous rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, could see details about as well as a person would on Mars. But MastCam’s right camera has a 100-mm focal-length lens that provides three times the resolution of previous Mars rover cameras. It can dist!
inguish between a football and a basketball from seven football fields away. While the left camera, with its 34-mm lens, can’t see as well, it will provide much wider views â€" about 15 degrees versus the right camera’s five degree field-of-view.<br />http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/curiosity-mars-rover-cameras/

Social and Cultural Activities in University

It should be taken into account that the main goal of attending universities is to experience academic life and culture; thus, students should not only look for their degree and graduation. Instead, they should enjoy their academic life, and degree is a consequence of their studies. To this aim, it is necessary to have solid cultural programs, providing a delightful environment for students. The design of social activities should not be independent programs for students’ free times; instead they should be designed as a part of the university united program. In other words, social activities are not extra services to students, but part of their academic programs.
http://higher-education.criticpen.com/article/social-and-cultural-activities-in-university-m4z6