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Sunday, June 17, 2012

2012 U.S. Open Golf: Health Benefits Are For Everyone

The 2012 U.S. Open will close on Sunday, June 17, and though the event celebrates the driving and putting achievements of professional athletes like Tiger Woods and Luke Donald, it's a good opportunity to revisit all the ways that this sport, often viewed as more of a leisure activity, actually improves fitness and health.

In one large 2008 study from Sweden's Karolinska Institute comparing health outcomes for 300,000 golfers to the rest of the population, researchers discovered that the golfers had a 40 percent lower death rate than non-golfers of the same gender, age and socioeconomic circumstance. What's more, they enjoyed an average five year increase in life expectancy.

The researchers credited several factors for golf's healthful effect. "A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six to seven kilometres, something which is known to be good for the health," said lead study author Anders Ahlbom in a statement at the time of the study's release. "People play golf into old age, and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help."

But just how strenuous is a round of golf? An experiment conducted by Neil Wolkodoff of Denver's Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences and detailed in Colorado AvidGolfer magazine found that golfing a nine-hole course while carrying one's own bag burned a full 721 calories. Using a pull cart was similarly beneficial, burning 718 calories, though there was no shame in bringing a caddy along: walking alongside a caddy, unencumbered by the bag, still managed to burn 613 calories and riding in a cart burned 411 calories.

So next time you find yourself in close proximity to a course (this Father's Day perhaps?), it might be worthwhile to take a page from both the champs -- and the weekend warriors -- and hit the links.

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Hey, kids! Get your stuff sent into orbit

Montana State Univ. / NASA

CubeSats like the one shown in this artist's conception, measuring 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, are coming within reach of student experimenters and DIY enthusiasts.

By Alan Boyle

Wanna do some space science? You no longer have to be a professional researcher, or even a grown-up, to get your experiment into orbit. A new program called DreamUp is offering slots on the International Space Station's experimental racks to school groups for as little as $15,500 a pop, and you can use credit-card reward points to help cover the cost.

"We are committed to lowering the barriers for entry to space research," Jeffrey Manber, managing director of NanoRacks, said in a news release announcing the program. "This is a double win. This first-of-its-kind student experiment donation platform will help create a world-class experience for students."

NanoRacks, which has already helped put iPhones and the makings for Scotch whisky into space, is partnering up with the Conrad Foundation on the DreamUp program.

"Some experiments can't be done on Earth because we can't 'turn off' gravity," said Nancy Conrad, the foundation's chairman and the widow of Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad. "DreamUp, powered by our partner NanoRacks, is the ultimate 'plug and play,' helping our next great innovators participate in a scientific research opportunity like no other."

Organizers say American Express Membership Rewards points can be put toward the cost of an experiment, at the rate of $10 for every 1,000 points redeemed. The DreamUp program is open to junior-high students, high-schoolers and college undergraduates from accredited U.S. schools.

Teacher, I shrunk the experiment
The concept follows up on a series of student experiments that have already flown up to the station on NanoRacks' platforms. One of the key players in the project will be Werner Vavken, director of Valley Christian Schools' Applied Math, Science and Engineering Institute in San Jose, Calif. Vavken and his students have built experiments for the space station and taught several other schools to do likewise.

The first lesson that Vavken shares with other schools is that doing space science isn't as hard as it sounds. "I explain this to them, and they think I'm from outer space," he told me. "But they really can do it. The sky is no longer the limit."

Werner Vavken / Valley Christian Schools

Valley Christian High School's principal, Mark Lodewyk (back row with tie), Vice Principal Jennifer Griffin and projector mentor George Sousa (in the blue shirt) witness the packing of one of two NanoLabs being readied for shipping to the International Space Station. The students are Brian Hu and Evan Borras.

NanoRacks / Kentucky Space / Valley Christian Schools

A NanoLab container holds a plant growth experiment as well as electronic gear.

The key trick is to shrink the experiment: Vavken said the experiments that he and his students build have to fit within a 2-by-2-by-4-inch space (5 by 5 by 10 centimeters). That sounds incredibly challenging, but it can be done. One of the schools he worked with wanted to design an experiment to mix concrete in microgravity?? a task that some thought would cost millions of dollars. Suffice it to say that the eight-student team from Faith Christian Academy in Coalinga, Calif., found a cheaper way.

"They conjured up a way to mix concrete in space, in 16 cubic inches, and they didn't have a $4 million budget," Vavken said. The experiment is due to return to Earth next month aboard a Russian Soyuz craft, and the students will then analyze how zero-gravity concrete differs from the Earth-made equivalent on the molecular level.

Other high-school experiments have been aimed at monitoring?plant growth,?bacterial growth?and food spoilage in microgravity.

"The opportunity for students to do small experiments on the ISS is a powerful motivator in science, technology, engineering and math," Julie Robinson, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station, said in this week's news release. "DreamUp will provide the opportunity for top students of all socio-economic levels to fly their experiments to the space station, and the NanoRacks system allows them to be completed without any impact to other research activities."

The revolution continues
NanoRacks' standardized research platforms, known as NanoLabs, are shipped up to the space station on cargo flights. NASA astronauts plug them into the station's power and communication system, and then just let them run for 30 days. The students get the opportunity to interact with the astronauts and check in with their experiment.

"It's really pretty revolutionary for teenagers to conjure this up, get it built and tested, and approved by NanoRacks," Vavken said.

Next year could be even more revolutionary. "We are teaching the kids how to design and launch a satellite from the International Space Station," Vavken said. The CubeSat device, measuring 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, could be sent into orbit as early as next February from?Japan's Kibo laboratory, he said.

Vavken acknowledged that the $15,500 cost was "a little pricey," but he said the project could be a game-changer for teens who are interested in math, science and engineering. He recalled the case of one high-schooler who was on the team for a space experiment he helped organize. "She graduated this past year ... and got a four-year, full-ride scholarship to MIT," he said. "Now, I think that's a good payback for a kid in an after-school program."

For more information about the DreamUp program, including a registration form, click on over to the Conrad Foundation website.

But wait ... there's more
Meanwhile, aerospace experts and their corporate partners have just set up a Kickstarter campaign for a citizen-space-science project called ArduSat. They're soliciting donations to cover the anticipated $35,000 cost of building a CubeSat that will contain more than two dozen sensors for orbital observations. "As soon as the funding goal is met, we can move ahead with applications for free launches through various NASA or ESA ride-along programs," the project leaders say.

Organizers of the ArduSat project state their case for Kickstarter backing.

Organizers of the campaign say that ArduSat will be the "first open platform allowing the general public to design and run their own space-based applications, games and experiments, steer the onboard cameras to take pictures on demand, and even broadcast personalized messages back to Earth." If the project gets off the ground, Kickstarter supporters will get the first turns at taking the controls, at a discounted price.

Discover Magazine has partnered with ArduSat to run the Discover Space Challenge, which is soliciting ideas for innovative experiments, games or applications to run on the nanosatellite. The winning team members will be awarded a Team Development Kit that could turn their idea into a reality.

Interested? For more information, check out Phil Plait's spiel on the Bad Astronomy blog, plus Evan Ackerman's report on the DVICE blog.

More about nanosatellites:

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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Oberon Design Bold Celtic Tote Handbag and Wallet Review

The Gadgeteer has?reviewed several items?which are?handcrafted by Oberon Design.?When I was asked to review the Bold Celtic Tote Handbag and the?matching Bold Celtic Women’s Bi-Fold Wallet, I was really excited?to get?the opportunity. You may remember the news item for the iPad cover with the Tree of Life pattern on it. I am a very happy [...]

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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Experts: Okla., not Texas, had hottest summer ever

FILE - In this July 21, 2011 file photo, Liz Moody, left, and Stephanie Russell, right, both of Forest Grove, Ore., cover their heads with towels to keep cool as they watch the Japan-Canada World Cup of Softball game in Oklahoma City. After recalculating data from 2011, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year ? not Texas as initially announced last fall. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2011 file photo, sailboats and a floating dock lie on the dry, cracked dirt in a harbor at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City. After recalculating data from 2011, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year ? not Texas as initially announced last fall. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2011 file photo, sweat shines on the face of Larry McMillan as he takes a drink of water after working with a weed-eater in the heat of the day in a city park in Warr Acres, Okla. After recalculating data from 2011, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year ? not Texas as initially announced last fall. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? Oklahoma and Texas have argued for years about which has the best college football team, whose oil fields produce better crude, even where the state border should run. But in a hot, sticky dispute that no one wants to win, Oklahoma just reclaimed its crown.

After recalculating data from last year, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year ? not Texas as initially announced last fall.

"It doesn't make me feel any better," joked Texas rancher Debbie Davis, who lives northwest of San Antonio.

In the new tally by the National Climatic Data Center, Oklahoma's average temperature last summer was 86.9 degrees, while Texas finished with 86.7 degrees. The previous record for the hottest summer was 85.2 degrees set in 1934 ? in Oklahoma.

"I'm from Oklahoma, and when you talk about the summer of 1934, there are a lot of connotations that go with that," said Deke Arndt, chief of the NCDC's climate monitoring branch in Asheville, N.C. "That whole climate episode ? the Dust Bowl ? that is a point in our state's history that we still look back to as transformative."

Yet the summer of 2011, "was warmer than all those summers that they experienced during the Dust Bowl," Arndt said.

The record swap became apparent after extra data trickled in from weather stations and meteorological field reports across both states. That data also pushed up Oklahoma's mark as the hottest month ever by two-tenths of a degree, to 89.3 degrees in July 2011.

Oklahoma had experienced unusually dry, hot weather in the winter and spring, then summer brought regular triple-digit temperatures that fueled wildfires, prompted burn bans and led to water rationing in some communities.

"We didn't just barely surpass the previous summer record, we smashed it," said Gary McManus, Oklahoma's associate state climatologist. "That last summer was so far above and beyond what we consider normal, I don't think there will be another, compared to what we had."

Through the years, Texans and Oklahomans have fought over just about everything, from water rights to barbecue joints. Huge crowds attend the annual meeting of the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma football teams in Dallas. It even took the states until 1999 to settle a boundary dispute that landed before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1894 ? before Oklahoma's statehood.

But residents on both sides of that now undisputed Texas-Oklahoma border want no part in the summer fight.

For Oklahoma rancher Monte Tucker, last summer was a breaking point, and it didn't make him feel any better Friday when he learned about his state's new dubious honor.

Last summer felt like "opening an oven after cooking bread," said Tucker, who ranches in Sweetwater, in western Oklahoma. "We basically got up right about sun-up and did all we could until 11 in the morning, and we basically shut down almost 'till dark and kind of started up again.

"I don't want to do it again, I'll say that much," he said.

Last summer also took a toll on plants and trees, many of which were weakened by the intense heat.

"We had to stop planting last summer because it was silly to plant in 100-degree temperatures," said Stephen Smith, who works at Southwood Garden Center and Nursery in Tulsa.

"I've been in this business 30 years," he added. "And it was probably one of the worst temperatures I can remember."

Associated Press

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Does smoking weed cause acne - Health and Fitness

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