Category: Science

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Chief Science Officer’s Log: (2013.0902) September Science Report

Can We Build a Star Trek Tricorder?

Qualcomm is offering a $10,000,000 prize to whomever can invent the first medical tricorder. Many companies have entered this race and already have some production models. This would be a great leap forward in medical diagnosis, and a boon for Starfleet Medical officers. Read more about the race here: http://americablog.com/2013/08/can-build-actual-star-trek-medical-tricorder-theyre-sure-trying.html

New Technology Will Help Assist Women in Childbirth

The sad truth is that even in our current century, pregnancy and childbirth are the #1 killer of women who are child-bearing age, and it tends to be worse in rural areas and developing countries that are far from good medical access. The ePartogram seeks to help lower this statistic. Much like you’d remember in the Starfleet archives where Lieutenant Worf delivers Keiko O’Brien’s baby in Ten Forward on the Starship Enterprise, the ePartogram will help walk birth attendants through the steps of labor and delivery, and identify and prevent complications. Read more here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/deniserestauri/2013/08/26/how-emerging-technology-will-save-womens-lives-during-childbirth/

Earth Life May Have Originated from Mars

Mars Hubble

Yet another theory has arisen that life on Earth began on Mars. While Mars isn’t a very hospitable planet for life currently, it was the perfect place for the creation of certain materials millions of years ago. Scientists are now speculating that life started on Mars because it has boron and molybdenum and Earth’s crust has very little, and this is needed to create the RNA, DNA, and proteins. This life-forming material traveled over to Earth on meteorites but we know the real truth about where our genetic materials came from…the ancient Humanoids that existed in the Milky Way Galaxy and spread their genetic makeup across the universe before going extinct. You can read more about the false theory here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23872765

=^= LT Amy MacKinnon
Chief Science Officer & Cyberneticist
USS Loma Prieta

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Chief Science Officer’s Log: (2013.0826) August Science Report and Departmental Summary

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The USS Loma Prieta’s science department continues to make exciting breakthroughs in a variety of scientific disciplines.We are happy to report that even though Ensign Shawn Alpay has been largely distracted by while writing his fan fiction, the Stellar Cartography department has continued to thrive. Thanks to the efforts of Ensign Alex Ionescu, Stellar Cartography’s SETI @Home project has computed so much astronomical data that the USS Loma Prieta BOINC account  now ranks in the top 95th percentile of all SETI @Home team’s worldwide.
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At our recent crew dinner, honoring the decommissioning of the SFI based NCC-26848 (we’ve now taken up operations on the newly rebuilt NCC-26848-A), Xeno Psychologist Ensign Melissa Crystal conducted an experiment on the crew’s capacity for taste. Using small strips of chemically treated P.T.C. paper, individual members of the crew place them on their tongues to determine their status as a ‘non-taster’, ‘taster’, or ‘super-taster’. Those who have the abnormal sensory capacity of super-tasters were met with a distinguishing bitter taste from the test strips. Thankfully, adult beverages were on hand to wash away the experiment’s unpleasant aftermath.
Now for a summary of this month’s scientific discoveries from around the Federation:
 
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Scientists Invent a Hangover Free Beer
For years scientists have been trying to perfect alcohol concoctions that don’t get you drunk or have other ill effects and now an exciting step forward has come about. Scientists are getting closer to creating alcohol that has the same great taste, but doesn’t get you drunk or hungover. By adding electrolytes to the beer, they realized that the taste was unaffected but it was helping to keep the drinkers hydrated. As this research continues they may even create alcohol that has absolutely no drunken effects at all. I wonder what they will call this synthetic alcohol…maybe synthehol? Read more about the new beer here.
 
Implantable Device Records Brain Activity
Researchers have developed a device that can not only record neural activity in the brain but also send electronic charges to it. With devices such as these they can better treat movement conditions like Parkinson’s, and may even help with other brain disorders like depression. Our Starfleet doctors and nurses are very excited about the possibilities of this new way to treat conditions. I just hope a device like this doesn’t get into the hands of those who would use it for ill, like the Romulans. For more on this ground-breaking research, click here.
=^= LT Amy MacKinnon
Chief Science Officer & Cyberneticist
USS Loma Prieta
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Science Officer’s Log (2013.0410): [Pre] First Contact Day and [Pre] Replicators

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[ABOVE: Ensign Andy Smith cuts a newly printed combadge from his replicator, after successfully printing a science department themed iPhone case]

The crew assembled to anticipate the momentous occasion (in 50 years time) of First Contact. In command was First Officer Jon Sung, Captain Perkins having been called away on an important mission to the Coachella System. The crew was pleased to welcome new recruit, Ensign Melissa Crystal.

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Headquarters being temporarily unavailable, the crew was hosted by Ensign Smith… who has a frakking REPLICATOR. During the course of the evening, the replicator produced two badges and an iPhone case. It was determined that the more ambitious project of creating Geordi’s visor should be postponed due to inherent structural anomalies.

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[ABOVE: USS Loma Prieta crew members celebrate their First Contact Day fiesta with a game of Artemis: The Starship Bridge Simulator]

After the traditional absorption of picklebacks, the crew donned their sombreros for several rounds of Artemis. Concerns were expressed about the extreme probability of recreating the Kobayashi Maru. Said concerns having proved more or less valid, the crew switched to playing Spaceteam. Gameplay was found to be faster, louder, and more hilarious than Artemis. Excellent results were achieved by shouting absurdities and waggling devices. Ultimately all perished horribly, and the meeting adjourned.

Replicators gonna replicate,

=/= EN Kelly Jensen
Scientific Dilettante
USS Loma Prieta

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Captain’s Blog, Supplemental: (2012.0605) The Transit of Venus

[Above: Close-up of Venus by the Japanese Hinode spacecraft]

On June 5th, 2012, the USS Loma Prieta witnessed one of the rarest of known predictable celestial phenomena: the visible transit of the planet Venus across our Sun. These transits occur in pairs, eight years apart. The last transit occurred in 2004, but before that the transits hadn’t occurred since 1874 and 1882. Knowing that the next transit wouldn’t occur for at least another 105 years (in 2117 and 2125), this was a once (er, twice) in a lifetime event that could not be missed. The Loma Prieta’s stellar cartography team was immediately directed to prepare for observations of the event and take detailed sensor readings.

[Above: Capt. Perkins using the Solar Sensors]

However, due to the immense power of our star, the phenomenon could not be observed with the naked eye and would make our standard sensors and cameras useless. With the assistance of civilian Federation scientist Dr. J. Cox, we devised an ingeniously improvised device out of a pair of level 5 wielding googles, supplemented with an additional pane of level 9 glass. Together, these provided the level 14 protection necessary for safe solar viewing. Dr. Cox’s ‘solar sensors’ were further augmented with binoculars for magnification.

[Above: Dr. Cox’s improvised Solar Sensor device]

Much to my amazement, our ‘solar sensors’ worked magnificently! Through the device would could clearly see the tiny planet transverse in front our star like an ant crawling across a bright green apple (the solar sensors made the sun appear that color). Sadly, due to the extreme magnification and strange lighting of the ‘solar sensors’, it was impossible to get a clear visual record with our iPhone model Tricorders. Even though we were unable to take any high res holo-images, the exhilaration of seeing the planet Venus with our own eyes made the mission a resounding success.

[Above: Holo-image of the Sun through Solar Sensors, x4 magnification]

~Capt. Zach Perkins
Commanding Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

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Joint Science Log: (2012.0502) April Science Report and Departmental Summary

THIS WEEK IN STELLAR CARTOGRAPHY: 
Stellar Cartographer Ensign Shawn Alpay here! Captain Perkins wanted me to provide you some context on a few very exciting stellar occurrences happening this week.

Saturday May 5 at 0835 PDT will yield the largest full moon of the year. The perigree of this “supermoon” will generate the largest tides seen in some time, exerting 42% more tidal force than the apogee two weeks later. To residents in the Loma Prieta’s San Francisco sector, I can happily report that such events harbor no known link to earthquakes.

Also this week is one of the best chances in your lifetime to see Venus with the naked eye. ‘Sol II’ will be best observed about an hour after sunset; it appears in the night sky beneath and to the right of the Moon. It’ll be closest to Earth on June 5th, but by then its phase will be thinner, due to its angle towards the Sun. At that time, however, we’ll be able to observe an eclipse-like Transit of Venus, during which the planet travels over the Sun; get your solar observation equipment handy, because this won’t happen again until 2117!

Speaking of eclipses, our next solar eclipse will occur in November, but you’ll have to be somewhere near the Oceania sector for the best view.

Finally, your moment of Zen: a binary star dubbed Sagittarii 2012 exploded into space last week. Of course, this occurred many years ago, but only now do Earth-dwellers observe such splendor. Google ‘Sagittarii 2012’ at your LCARS terminal to see a video of the nova’s appearance.

~Ensign Shawn Alpay
Stellar Cartographer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

APRIL SCIENCE REPORT:
The Beginnings of a Positronic Brain: Great headway is currently being made by Earth’s cyberneticists and the quest to create a sentient android. The BrainScaleS project has succeeded in launching their first prototype of neuromorphic hardware that emulates parts of the humanoid natural brain. It is an eight inch large wafer equipped with 51 million artificial synapses. In three years, when they are finished with the project, the artificial brain will be able to re-create neurological processes 10,000 times faster than in human brains. No doubt this research will be the building blocks that will lead to Dr. Noonien Soong’s success in creating a positronic brain.

Earth Claims Discovery of Oldest Planets: Recently Earth astronomers came upon the oldest alien planets discovered yet: 2 Jupiter-sized planets that were formed before the Milky Way galaxy was even formed. These 2 planets are estimated to be 12.8 billion years old and are 375 light-years away. No word from the Federation yet on whether a ship is going to be re-routed to explore these ancient planets.

Distilling Alcohol in Space: Long space missions can be very difficult to endure, so it is important to keep the ship’s inhabitants in good spirits—to that end NanoRacks LLC, with the assistance of Ardbeg distillery, is conducting a two-year experiment to create better alcohol for our comrades exploring the far reaches of the galaxy. Unmatured malt has been sent to the International Space Station orbiting Earth, where they will see how it develops without gravity. Everyone is very excited about the experiment and what will be learned about the chemical building blocks for new flavors.

~Ensign Amy Sloan
Cyberneticist
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4