Guitares Cinématiques: Links

The Heliosphere

NASA's IBEX Reveals: A Ribbon of Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs): 5 papers in the Nov 13th, 2009 issue of the journal Science detail NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer's (IBEX) discovery of a unexpected and highly intense concentrated "ribbon" of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) (with energies ranging from 0.2 to 6 KeV) existing at the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium.

Visual Sound

Cymatics: A lecture on visualization of sounds by Evan Grant presented on www.Ted.com

Electro-Magnetic surprises

The Aharonov-Bohm effects: Variations on a subtle theme: In the September 2009 issue of the journal Physics Today, an article on the AB effects. These effects fell out implicitly from the 1926 Schröedinger equation. They are that electrons can be affected by EM potentials without even coming in contact with actual force fields.

Builder of the Kasha design "Mercedes" guitar

Jay Hargreaves - master guitar & bass luthier: Website from my guitar builder Jay Hargreaves, featuring photos of the guitar

Guest Artists

Shanna Gilfix, vocalist: My favorite of Shanna's videos on youtube. Shanna sings on songs:"Natukashii", "Kontiki", "So Easy", "Hi L'eau", and ALH840001" on the Penguins on Mars CD.
Steve Stanley, trumpet & flugelhorn: Steve Stanley plays flugelhorn on the piece "Hi L'eau" and trumpet on the piece "So Easy" on the Penguins On Mars CD. Steve's bio is listed on this webpage for the group Aja Vu

Auroras (northern & southern lights)

Asymmetric aurora displays between the North and South Poles: Article in the July 23, 2009 edition of Nature presenting observational research supporting theoretical studies that conductivity differences may be the cause of inter-hemispheric currents which induce differences in displayed auroral intensity.
auroral videos: Really nice videos of auroral light displays!

Space Flight Technology News

Ion engines for space travel: An article in the July 24th, 2009 edition of New Scientist magazine. Ion engines, are less powerful for liftoff but can continue to generate power for long lengths of time. As such, a rocket could potentially reach a higher max speed than with a conventional chemical engine.

Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetotail Reconnection Triggering Substorm Onset: Angelopoulous et al report in Science (Aug 15, 2008, Vol 321, No 5891, pp931-935) that results demonstrate that magnetospheric substorms are likely initiated by magnetotail reconnection.
Comment on "Tail Reconnection Triggering Substorm Onset": A rebuttal to the the previous artible in Science by Angelopoulos et al (Science, Aug 15, 2008), that magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail is causally responsible for triggering the onset of a magnetospheric substorm.
Response to Comment on "Tail Reconnection Triggering Substorm Onset": A rebutal to the responsed by Lui that magnetic reconnection was not responsible for triggering the onset of a magnetospheric substorm.

Solar Corona

Alvén waves versus Nanoflares as a possible source of heating for the Sun's corona: Article (pages 19-21) of May 2009 edition of journal Physics Today detailing an NCAR study of Alvén waves analyzing CoMP (Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter) plots of spatial frequency versus temporal frequency of coronal emissions.

Solar Cycle 24

Sunspots are currently missing: An article about the current lull in sunspot activity in the July 21st, 2009 edition of the NY Times
Solar cycle 24: Article May 8, 2009 in online version of the journal Science concerning the unusually low activity in the current solar cycle

Astrobiology of Early Solar System

Survival potential of microbial activity of the early Earth: Article (pages 419-422 ) in May 21, 2009 edition of the journal, Nature. Researchers claim that the Earth could not have been completely sterilized even by the tremendous onslaught of asteroids during the period of known as the "late heavy bombardment." They conclude that hyperthermophilic microbes could have survived the intense heat and be the ancestors of any present day life on Earth and elsewhere.

Effects of Solar Storms on Earth

Deleterious Effects of Space Storms on Earth: Article by Michael Brooks in March 21, 2009 edition of New Scientist magazine warning of a complete shutdown of all electrically reliant technology due to a massive DC current overloading of the power grid if ever a major solar storm (but only a storm possessing a southward pointing magnetic field whose magnetic field lines could reconnect with the Earth's) would someday make a direct hit on the Earth.
Holes in Earth's Magnetic Field: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist.
The impact of solar flares and magnetic storms on humans: An article reviewing the hazards to biological systems posed by photon radiation from solar flares, SEPs (solar energetic particles), and inhomogeneities in the solar wind that drive magnetic storms, was published in journal Earth in Space (ISSN 1040-3124), vol. 4, no. 7, March 1992, p. 11-14.

Solar Coronal Mass Ejections

Info on CMEs (NASA): A description of Coronal Mass Ejections
Space Weather prediction center (NASA): Up-to-date data on the current space weather conditions surrounding our planet

MS and Solar Storms

Multiple Sclerosis' relationship to Solar Storms: Dr Johannes Resch's 1995 paper on the similarity between the geographic distribution of the neurological disease Multiple Sclerosis ("MS") and the incidence of solar particle rays on the Earth
Correlation of MS to Cosmic Rays: 1960 Paper by JS Barlow from Harvard Medical School siting the connection between the geographic distribution of MS and cosmic ray intensities

Nerve cell research

keys to triggering myelination of axons: An article in the Sept 11, 2009 edition of the journal Nature. They propose that G protein-coupled receptor Gpr126 causes the differentiation of promylenating Schwann cells by raising the levels of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and in doing so trigger the expression of the transcription factor Oct6 which in turn causes myelination.

Martian dynamo

Theories of how the Martian dynamo died: 4/30/09 Article in AAAS Science onine mag ScienceNow. Research suggested that impacts from large asteroids during the period of heavy bombardment 3.9 billion years ago may have upset the convective flow and turned off the Martian dynamo.
Martian dynamo & atmospheric research: This article from the Feb 2009 issue of the journal, Astrobiology, outlines a future research mission to Mars named "Mars Environmental and Magnetic Orbiter" (MEMO)

Magnetic Field Reversals

Solar magnetic field reversals: Info on magnetic field flips of the Sun (NASA)
Earth's changing magnetic field: Info on Earth's variable magnetic field (NASA)

Hazards of Space Travel

Sociological problems of long duration space missions: A Russian simulation of a Mars mission to detemine the ability of astronauts(cosmonauts) to coexist peacefully during long periods of isolation away from the Earth. It appears this is not easy...as humans have a propensity to not get along with each other when trapped together for long periods of time!
Abstract regarding Hazards of space travel: Neurobiological problems in long-term deep space flights.
The effects of proton exposure on neurochemistry and behavior: Dosage effects of proton bombardment from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs)
Emerging Radiation Health-Risk Mitigation Technologies: An abtract from a paper discussing the triage of factors for risk mitigation to space flight outside of the Earth's protective magnetic field

Magnetic Shields

Magnetic Shields for Space Travel: New research on portable magnetic plasma shields to protect against Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs)

Water on Mars

Water existing as a liquid on Mars below the freezing point: Article (pages 401-404 ) in May 21, 2009 edition of the journal, Nature. Researchers showed that water with solutes Si, Fe, S, Mg, Ca, Cl, Na, K and Al could remain in the liquid state at temperatures well below 273 K..
Mars' past ocean: summary of an article regarding ancient shorelines of Mars
Evidence for water on Mars: The Nasa Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars.

Martian Meteorites

Landmark article on Martian Meteorite ALH840001: This was the famous paper written by David Mc Kay and others at NASA (published in the August 1996 issue of the journal, Science) that led to the search for life on Mars based on the premise that possible evidence of life had been found in a Martian meteorite named "ALH840001" that was discovered in Antartica.
ALH840001: Article "Magnetotactic Bacteria on Mars." A discussion on whether the magnetite crystals in the Martian meteorite named ALH840001 found in Antarctica were of biological or non-biological origin.

Geophysics

true polar wander: an interesting article regarding magnetic anomalies in the Svalbard ocean sediments point to the Earth's ability to shift it's spin axis in response to a lop-sided build-up of continental mass

Kontiki - Polynesian Theory

Thor Heyerdahl's legacy: A BBC summary of Thor Heyerdahl's Koniki expedition and contribution to his theory of the Peruvian origins of the Polynesians.