A flying carpet might take us to Pluto
LOS ANGELES, April 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist says a giant solar panel unfurled in space like a carpet might one day make space flights possible without using nuclear propulsion.
Space scientist Rudolf Meyer at the University of California-Los Angeles has designed a "flying carpet" formed of a solar-electric membrane. The membrane would supply power to an array of ion engines, in which xenon ions are attracted to a high-voltage grid and pushed from a nozzle.
The proposed design will require significant advances in solar panel technology before becoming a reality, but it might provide an alternative to nuclear-powered spacecraft such as NASA's planned Prometheus mission to Jupiter and its moons.
Nuclear power is considered undesirable because an accident, or the dumping of crippled or spent spacecraft, would pollute interplanetary space with radioactive material.
Meyer explains his theory in the space-flight journal Acta Astronautica.
Amphibian extinctions sweep the world
CHICAGO, April 26 (UPI) -- A devastating fungus is reportedly sweeping the world, wiping out entire populations of amphibians, with more than 120 species gone extinct since 1980.
The devastation has so alarmed biologists they are using temporary tanks in hotel rooms and people's houses in some areas to save some of the most endangered species -- in what one biologist called "one of the largest extinction spasms for vertebrates in history," The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
One major concern -- aside from the role they play in the food chain by consuming insects -- is that amphibians are believed to have great medical potential. Some frog's skin appears to inhibit HIV infection, and pharmaceutical companies are researching a compound found in frogs that could yield a painkiller 200 times more potent than morphine, the Tribune said.
"It is a race against time, and it's a matter of months," Bob Lacy, a population geneticist at the Chicago area's Brookfield Zoo, told the newspaper.
He said at least one-third of the Earth's 6,000 amphibian species are threatened.
Satellite launch again scrubbed by NASA
VANDENBURG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., April 26 (UPI) -- NASA canceled the launch of two satellites Wednesday, for the second consecutive day, because of poor weather conditions at the California launch site.
The launch of NASA's CloudSat and CALIPSO -- Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations -- satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., was scrubbed at 4:24 a.m. EDT Wednesday due to thick clouds.
Lift-off was rescheduled for 6:02 a.m. Thursday.
The previously scheduled Tuesday launch was scrubbed due to higher than allowable upper level wind speeds.
Forecasters said they expected weather conditions to improve for a Thursday morning attempt. The Wednesday morning forecast called for an 80 percent probability of acceptable weather conditions at launch time Thursday.
Study: Cancer cure worth $50 trillion
CHICAGO, April 26 (UPI) -- University of Chicago researchers calculate the prospective gains from a cure for cancer would be worth about $50 trillion.
Researchers Kevin Murphy and Robert Topel said even modest advancements against major diseases would have a significant impact. For example, a 1 percent reduction in cancer mortality has a value to Americans of nearly $500 billion.
"We distinguish two types of health improvements -- those that extend life and those that raise the quality of life," the researchers said. "As the population grows, as incomes grow, and as the baby boom generation approaches the primary ages of disease-related death, the social value of improvements in health will continue to rise."
Murphy and Topel also posit the value of increased longevity far exceeds rising medical expenditures overall. They said gains in life expectancy during the last century were worth about $1.2 million per person to the current population, with the largest gains at birth and young ages.
"Improvements in life expectancy raise willingness to pay for further health improvements by increasing the value of remaining life," they said
The study is to appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy.
