Get a free Citizen of the Universe Badge showing your Citizenship Grade!

Posted on by March 15, 2013
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Sample Badge

You live in the universe, but do you really understand what the universe is like, where you are within it, or how you got here?

If you can show that you understand the basic facts about where you are and how you came to be here then you can become a Citizen of the Universe and receive your very own badge, similar to the one shown here, with your name and city (or any other information you desire) and your Grade.

You can then use your Citizen’s badge on your email or social network page.

To apply for your badge, visit Citizen of the Universe.

One Day Universe – The History of the Universe in a Day

Posted on by February 27, 2013
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One Day Universe on 21 September 2013 will be a 13.7-hour celebration of science from the Big Bang to the Anthropocene, one hour for each billion years of history. It will involve over 20 speakers presenting Big History to an anticipated audience of 700 at a cost of each of almost $1000. It will take place in the Liberty Science Center, Jersey City.

The day will be organized in 5 sessions:

Cosmos
Beginning with the Big Bang, this segment will address the development of the early Universe, the Standard Model, unanswered cosmological questions, and how we have come to understand our own place in this enormously fascinating Universe.

Microcosmos
Physicists, chemists and biologists will discuss the evolution of matter from the first subatomic particles to the emergence of life. These experts will explain the proceses from which complex chemicals emerged and how those chemicals gave rise to life.

Earth
Geologists will discuss the intricate processes and systems that are constantly reshaping the Earth and its biosphere. These presenters will reflect on how the Earth was formed and how its geological processes have contributed to the evolution of life.

Human History
This segment will address human evolution and its relationship with the studies of anthropology, philosophy, psychology, economics, sociology, religion and more. Central themes include collective learning, agriculture, social networks, and more.

Anthropocene
A newly-coined term, the Anthropocene refers to a geological period characterized by a human-dominated environment. This segment will address the challenges of the 21st century in light of this emerging reality of pervasive human influence.

Little Big Histories will be interspersed throughout the day, interdisciplinary, multi-dimensional segments will explore common themes like: water, energy, food, fashion, economics, alcohol, architecture and more!

A number of ancillary projects are also planned in cooperation with corporate sponsors.

The cost of the event is $995 (early registration discount of $200 before 15 March 2013). The fee includes all meals, refreshments, receptions, local transportation, and more for the 14-hour program. A number of faculty and student stipends will be available. All attendees must fill out a brief application before paying registration fees.

Alternatively you can watch internet livestream for $10. Viewers can also participate via an interactive portal.

The strategy is to replicate One Day Universe as an annual celebration of Big History, the discovery of which is perhaps the most significant accomplishment of human civilization. One Day Universe is produced by Metanexus in partnership with Liberty Science Center.

For more information, go to http://www.onedayuniverse.org/
Metanexus can be found at http://www.metanexus.net/

Quadruple DNA helix discovered in human cells – life – 20 January 2013 – New Scientist

Posted on by January 21, 2013
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Sixty years after James Watson and Francis Crick established that DNA forms a double helix, a quadruple-stranded DNA helix has turned up.

Quadruple helices that intertwine four, rather than two, DNA strands had been made in the laboratory, but were regarded as curiosities as there was no evidence that they existed in nature. Now, they have been identified in a range of human cancer cells.

The four-stranded packages of DNA, dubbed G-quadruplexes, are formed by the interaction of four guanine bases that together form a square. They appear to be transitory structures, and were most abundant when cells were poised to divide. They appeared in the core of chromosomes and also in telomeres, the caps on the tips of chromosomes that protect them from damage.

Because cancer cells divide so rapidly, and often have defects in their telomeres, the quadruple helix might be a feature unique to cancer cells. If so, any treatments that target them will not harm healthy cells.

“I hope our discovery challenges the dogma that we really understand DNA structure because Watson and Crick solved it in 1953,” says Shankar Balasubramanian of the University of Cambridge, UK.

via Quadruple DNA helix discovered in human cells – life – 20 January 2013 – New Scientist.

Genome Reveals Comb Jellies’ Ancient Origin: Scientific American

Posted on by January 11, 2013
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Animals evolved gradually, from the lowly sponge to the menagerie of tentacled, winged and brainy creatures that inhabit Earth today. This idea makes such intuitive sense that biologists are now stunned by genome-sequencing data suggesting that the sponges were preceded by complex marine predators called comb jellies.

via Genome Reveals Comb Jellies’ Ancient Origin: Scientific American.

Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy 5 times as big as Milky Way

Posted on by January 11, 2013
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The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now a team of astronomers from the United States, Chile and Brazil has crowned it the largest known spiral, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, which has since been loaned to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Measuring tip-to-tip across its two outsized spiral arms, NGC 6872 spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.

via NASA’s Galex Reveals the Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Evidence for Asteroid Belt Around Vega

Posted on by January 9, 2013
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Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.

What is maintaining the gap between the warm and cool belts around Vega and Fomalhaut? The results strongly suggest the answer is multiple planets. Our solar system’s asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is maintained by the gravity of the terrestrial planets and the giant planets, and the outer Kuiper belt is sculpted by the giant planets.

“Our findings echo recent results showing multiple-planet systems are common beyond our sun,” said Kate Su, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Su presented the results Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., and is lead author of a paper on the findings accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

via NASA, ESA Telescopes Find Evidence for Asteroid Belt Around Vega – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA)

Posted on by December 26, 2012
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The Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) is a global network of parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations advocating citizen’s representation at the United Nations.

At the Campaign’s launch in April 2007 at more than one dozen events on five continents an international “Appeal for the Establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly” was published. In April 2009 the Campaign issued a “Call for Global Democratic Oversight of International Financial and Economic Institutions”. The Campaign’s statements are supported by 4942 individuals from 152 countries, among them 834 members of parliament, and 349 NGOs from all around the world.

Four international conferences have taken place so far: In November 2007 in the Palais des Nations in Geneva under the patronage of former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in November 2008 in the European Parliament, in October 2009 in New York and in October 2010 in the Senate of Argentina in Buenos Aires.

The Campaign’s Secretariat is led by the Committee for a Democratic United Nations. The work of the Campaign is guided by an informal Steering Committee, which helps to define the Campaign’s goals, policies and strategies.

The Campaign’s objectives

  • To make the UNPA proposal visible in political debates and the media
  • To facilitate the creation of national and local networks of individuals, non-governmental organizations and parliamentarians advocating a UNPA in their sphere of influence
  • To establish a global multi-stakeholder coalition which unites parliamentary and civil society efforts for a U.N. Parliamentary Assembly
  • To facilitate contacts and debates with potentially like-minded parliaments and governments

More information at unpacampaign.org

Earliest Bladelet Technology 70ky ago

Posted on by November 10, 2012
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A haul of stone blades from a cave in South Africa suggests that early humans were already masters of complex technology more than 70,000 years ago. The journal Nature reports on the new find which suggests that early humans passed on this knowledge down the generations. Dr. Curtis Marean, an archaeologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, who led the team that found the bladelets and Dr. Matthew Pope from the University College London argue that this could be the earliest evidence of truly modern human behaviour.

Podcast with more details

The Observer says “Big History theories pose latest challenge to traditional curriculum”

Posted on by October 28, 2012
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A provocative new theory of history which has won influential support from Bill Gates poses the latest challenge to the coalition government plans to return to a traditional school curriculum.Big History, a movement spearheaded by the Oxford-educated maverick historian David Christian, is based on the idea that the academic study of the past can no longer be carried out from a nationalist perspective. Christian and his acolytes argue that the discipline will progress only once it charts human activity with a global scope, looking at chains of cause and effect that do not respect national borders. On a Big History course, the species Homo sapiens is not even mentioned until more than halfway through.

via Big History theories pose latest challenge to traditional curriculum | Education | The Observer.