Super-TIGER shatters scientific balloon record in Antarctica
Over the holiday weekend, the WUSTL-led cosmic ray experiment Super-TIGER set a record for the longest flight ever made by a heavy-liftscientific balloon. Now aloft for 45 days, shattering the previous record of 42 days, it has recorded more than 50 million “events,” or hits by cosmic rays arriving from space. The scientists are ecstatic to have such a great balloon because the longer the it stays up, the more data they will collect and the more they will learn about the mysterious mechanism that accelerates these particles and sends them streaming across space.
Global plant diversity still hinges on local battles against invasives, study suggests
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis long suspected that dueling findings about the impact of invasive species on biodiversity reflect the different sizes of study sites. Now field work confims that the impact of invasive species is different at small scales than at large ones. The scientists hope an understanding of this “scale dependence” will help settle arguments that have broken out in the scientific community and discourage recent popular science articles downplaying the damage invasives cause.
Embedding with startups to study entrepreneurship
Washington University’s business, engineering, and law schools are collaborating on a new course in 2013 that will embed students in the center of the thriving entrepreneur community in downtown St. Louis. Students will trade their campus classroom for working space at T-REx, a new St. Louis tech incubator that offers startup companies affordable offices in the historic Railway Exchange Building.
Cheating — and getting away with it
We would all like to believe that there is a kind of
karma in life that guarantees those who cheat eventually pay for their
bad behavior, if not immediately, then somewhere down the line. But a
study of a new gene in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum suggests that, at least for amoebae, it is possible to cheat and get away with it.
Super-TIGER going for a record!!!
Super-TIGER the WUSTL-led cosmic ray experiment, has just been given the
green light for a third circuit around Antarctica. If the balloon stays up for a complete circuit it will probably break the heavy-lift scientific ballooning record of 42 days — and bring in a rich haul of data about cosmic rays, charged particles that continually bombard the Earth from space. The team has gone positively piratical over the prospect of more booty.
Discovery Competition narrows teams to six
The School of Engineering & Applied Science has selected six
semifinalists to receive a $1,000 interim funding award and to go on to
compete for a $25,000 grand prize in the inaugural Discovery Competition.
Super-TIGER stalks cosmic rays in Antarctica
Invisible high-velocity particles rain down on Earth day in and day out, but it has taken 100 years and clever deduction for physicists to figure out what they’re made of and where they come from. Although some details are still unclear, physicists have built a case that the cosmic rays are born in volleys of supernova explosions in OB associations, loose associations of hot, massive stars sprinkled throughout our galaxy.
Super-TIGER is up!!!
The Super-TIGER comic-ray experiment had a perfect launch Sunday 9:45 am New Zealand Daylight Time. The enormous balloon that will carry it to the limits of Earth’s atmosphere was stretched out on the ice and then partially
filled. As it
came up off the ice, the balloon rose over the downstream
instrument. When it was directly overhead the Boss released the two-ton cosmic-ray instrument and it was lofted effortlessly into the skies over Antarctica.
WUSTL gathers global leaders in India to explore sustainable energy access solutions and improving lives in developing nations
WUSTL and its academic and corporate partners worldwide are putting research into action and leading a major initiative in Mumbai, India, Dec. 6-12 to address global energy and environmental solutions. The WUSTL-led McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environmental Partnership (MAGEEP) — a consortium of 28 international universities — is convening in Mumbai for the Fourth International Symposium on Energy and Environment: ACCESS. The symposium is co-hosted by Washington University, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay.
Rough guide to Super-TIGER watching
The word from Antarctica is that the polar vortex is setting up early this year and the balloon-borne Super-TIGER cosmic-ray experiment may be launched into the vortex any day now. Once the launch starts, web cams and a tracking map will go live at NASA’a Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility site Blogs and Twitter feeds are already providing a lively running commentary on the buildup to launch.
Older Stories