¿Qué pasaría si la Tierra dejara de girar?

¿Qué pasaría si la Tierra dejara de girar?

Aunque nosotros no lo percibamos porque nos movemos con ella -y ya dijo un tal Einstein que todo es relativo- la Tierra, en su movimiento de rotación, se mueve a unos 1.700 kilómetros por hora en el ecuador, velocidad que baja a unos 850 kilómetros por hora a 60 grados de latitud, y que sólo es nula en los polos.
Esta velocidad provoca lo que conocemos como fuerza centrífuga, aunque los físicos nos dirán que esta no existe y que en realidad deberíamos hablar de la fuerza centrípeta, que hace que la Tierra se ensanche por el ecuador, que el nivel de los océanos suba también hacia este, así como otros efectos en el clima y en las placas tectónicas.
No es previsible que la Tierra deje de girar, aunque si esto sucediera de repente saldríamos disparados a causa de la inercia, con consecuencias catastróficas.
Pero Witold Fraczek, que trabaja en Esri, una empresa que desarrolla software para Sistemas de Información Geográfica, ha utilizado el software de esta para modelar cómo quedaría la Tierra si su movimiento de rotación fuera frenando poco a poco, y sus conclusiones son que al final habría dos grandes océanos alrededor de los polos y un gran continente único situado alrededor del ecuador:

If the Earth Stood Still por Witold Fraczek

Claro que a nuestros hipotéticos descendientes nos importaría más bien poco porque probablemente no habrían sobrevivido a los drásticos cambios en el clima que provocaría tener noches y días de seis meses de duración, por no hablar de los tremendos terremotos que se producirían cuando las placas tectónicas se recolocaran según fuera disminuyendo el efecto de la fuerza centrípeta.

Un extraño en tu hogar

Un extraño en tu hogar

Vivir con alguien que sufre algún tipo de trastorno mental es difícil. Ver como nuestro familiar, antes sano, tiene ahora dificultades para recordar cosas sencillas, no gusta a nadie.

El alzheimer es posiblemente una de las enfermedades más conocidas, pero hay otros trastornos menos frecuentes, que pueden llegar a sorprender al familiar que se encuentre con los síntomas sin conocer su origen.

Y dentro de estos, hay un grupo que tiene como punto común unos síntomas curiosos: el paciente cree que en su casa están viviendo extraños, ya sea de una forma oculta, o suplantando a alguno de sus antiguos familiares. Veamos tres de ellos.

El primero es el Síndrome o Mal de Capgras, donde el paciente cree que una persona allegada ha sido suplantada por un doble idéntico. Pensará que es el único que se ha percatado del problema (ya que nadie le dará la razón), y tratará de impostor al “extraño”.

Este mal es debido a un problema de conexión entre el reconocimiento visual y la memoria afectiva. Por ejemplo, si el enfermo cree que su tía es una doble, será porque la verá, la identificará como su tía, pero en cambio no tendrá los recuerdos que conllevan la parte emocional de una relación.

En el siguiente vídeo se puede ver de una forma clara de qué trata el problema. La primera parte es una situación ficticia, seguida de la explicación teórica.

Otro trastorno de síntomas parecidos es el Síndrome de Frégoli. En este caso, el paciente pensará que de alguna forma, un familiar o persona cercana es alguien distinto, aunque también allegado.

Es decir, que un enfermo con este síndrome podría suponer que su primo es en realidad un hermano que murió y ha ocupado su cuerpo.

Y por último tenemos el Síndrome del Huésped Fantasma. La persona que sufra este trastorno, pensará que su casa está ocupada por alguien que de alguna forma, consigue ocultarse para no dejarse ver.

Aún así, el enfermo tendrá la idea delirante de que detecta a su curioso ocupante, ya sea viendo su reflejo en un espejo, escuchando el televisor encendido…

Curiosas enfermedades que poco a poco, y gracias a los avances en neurociencia, van teniendo respuestas.

Syd Field

Dear Screenwriter,

I believe that filmmaking is in the middle of an evolution/revolution; and the change has taken place in the theatre of technology as the state of digital filmmaking has become more pronounced. This development has facilitated traditional as well as non-linear storytelling, making available countless new storytelling tools to screenwriters around the world. It is an inspiring and innovative time to be a screenwriter.

My books on screenwriting were inspired by the great French Film Director Jean Renoir's statement that a movie should be like an act of revolution. I feel the screenwriter should take responsibility for stimulating the audience into action; to think -- to feel -- to passionately inspire others.

And I truly believe that the mission of the young filmmaker is to pave the way for the future. All of us embody that future. We have the imagination, the tools, the skills, and we know the craft -- but do we have the courage and the strength to bring our own personal vision into the world?

Screenwriting is a craft that occasionally rises to the level of an art. It is my goal to help inspire screenwriters around the world to realize their vision. It is my mission, my passion.

Thank you for joining me on this exciting journey.

Sincerely,

SydField.com

Shoot-Through, Invisible, Self-Healing Shields: Darpa Goal

Danger Room

Invis_artic_2 Darpa, the Pentagon's wide-eyed research arm, is betting big on "metamaterials" -- composites that can seemingly-impossible new properties, thanks to their molecular structure. But even for Darpa, and even for metamaterials, this seems like a long shot: a $15 million program to build shoot-through, one-way-invisible, self-healing shields for soldiers in urban battlefields.

Metamaterials are already showing promise, as the building blocks to real-life invisibility cloaks; that's because the composites let electromagnetic waves flow around them, instead of reflecting 'em back. Darpa's "Asymmetric Materials for the Urban Battlespace" program goes way, way beyond mere invisibility, however.

"Asymmetric, or 'one-way,' materials will support basic unit operations such as raids, cordon and search activities, snap checkpoints, and fire fights," according to military budget documents. "Friendly forces will be able to see through [one of these new materials] and shoot through it, but hostile forces will not." Such shields will also have "the ability to 'self-heal' if necessary. The materials must be lightweight, respond instantly, and be easy to deploy and retract in confined spaces."

Darpa doesn't give much guidance on how this might be done. But the agency does offer a clue, buried in an earlier budget document: "Initial studies have shown optical analogs of secure digital communication hold great promise for providing a 'coded' obscurant system. The optical properties of obscurant can be tailored such that they develop transparency at narrow, tunable wavelengths. This narrow band optical bleaching phenomena could be realized through optical threshold sensitive switching materials akin to some developed for laser protection goggles."

Of course, producing stuff like this won't be easy, Darpa admits. There are "significant technical obstacles," the agency notes, including "the design and fabrication of composite or meta-materials with true one-way capabilities." Which is pretty much the whole program.

Laser-Guided Bullets: Pentagon Pursuit

Danger Room

American soldiers have been using laser scopes for a long time, to make their shots more accurate. But what if the bullets themselves were steered by lasers, and able to turn on a dime? That's the idea behind a new, $7.5 million Darpa initiative to be a "laser-guided bullet."

Bullet_from_revolver_1The Pentagon's way-out research agency has been working hard, lately, to figure out ways to make already-deadly snipers even more lethal -- designing scopes that automatically compensate for the elements, for instance.

Similarly, this precision-bullet push is meant to "significantly improve first shot effectiveness in engaging distant enemy forces," Pentagon budget documents promise. To make it happen, however, researchers will have to design whole "new guidance technologies, such as compact MEMS-based thrusters" and "initial side-thrust technologies with sufficient authority to move a projectile in flight." In addition, the ammo will need "high stress-tolerant electronics in the guided bullet and new compact targeting systems robust to field operations under a variety of conditions."

In 1998, a North Carolina inventor patented a laser-guided bullet design to do just that. Ammo-maker Alliant Techsystems was granted a patent last year for radar-directed bullets that promise "improved kills per round, with the potential for reducing the ammunition expended and time-loading on the fire control system and its guns."

At stake, of course, is more than just a few extra cases of ammo. It used to take a whole bunch of bombs -- causing a whole bunch of civilian casualties -- to knock out a single target. Then came the laser-guided munition. Aerial warfare became more precise. "Friendly fire" deaths and so-called "collateral damage" dropped, accordingly. Now, the Pentagon is looking to bring that kind of accuracy to all kinds of weapons, from artillery shells to mortars. Bullets could be the next step, some day.

The Futurist

The Futurist

"We know what we are, but we know not what we may become"
- William Shakespeare

Technovelgy

Explore the inventions and ideas of science fiction writers - over 1,275 are available. Use the Timeline of Science Fiction Invention or the alphabetic Glossary of Science Fiction Technology to see them all, look for the category that interests you, or browse by favorite author / book. Browse more than 1,075 Science Fiction in the News and Beyond Technovelgy stories.

Technovelgy.com

Quantum information teleported from light to matter

Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.

Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.

But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.

"It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.

The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.

"Teleportation between two single atoms had been done two years ago by two teams but this was done at a distance of a fraction of a millimeter," Polzik, of the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Quantum Optics, explained.

"Our method allows teleportation to be taken over longer distances because it involves light as the carrier of entanglement," he added.

Quantum entanglement involves entwining two or more particles without physical contact.

Although teleportation is associated with the science-fiction series Star Trek, no one is likely to be beamed anywhere soon.

But the achievement of Polzik's team, in collaboration with the theorist Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, marks an advancement in the field of quantum information and computers, which could transmit and process information in a way that was impossible before.

"It is really about teleporting information from one site to another site. Quantum information is different from classical information in the sense that it cannot be measured. It has much higher information capacity and it cannot be eavesdropped on. The transmission of quantum information can be made unconditionally secure," said Polzik whose research is reported in the journal Nature.

Quantum computing requires manipulation of information contained in the quantum states, which include physical properties such as energy, motion and magnetic field, of the atoms.

"Creating entanglement is a very important step but there are two more steps at least to perform teleportation. We have succeeded in making all three steps -- that is entanglement, quantum measurement and quantum feedback," he added.

Device uses waves to "print" on water surface

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen), working in conjunction with professor Shigeru Naito of Osaka University, have developed a device that uses waves to draw text and pictures on the surface of water.

The device, called AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin), consists of 50 water wave generators encircling a cylindrical tank 1.6 meters in diameter and 30 cm deep (about the size of a backyard kiddie pool). The wave generators move up and down in controlled motions to simultaneously produce a number of cylindrical waves that act as pixels. The pixels, which measure 10 cm in diameter and 4 cm in height, are combined to form lines and shapes. AMOEBA is capable of spelling out the entire roman alphabet, as well as some simple kanji characters. Each letter or picture remains on the water surface only for a moment, but they can be produced in succession on the surface every 3 seconds.

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories have developed similar devices in the past that used waves to draw pictures on the surface of water, but those devices had trouble producing letters with straight lines (such as the letter K). Additionally, it took the previous devices up to 15 minutes of data input time to produce each letter.

The newly developed technology uses improved calculation methods for controlling the wave generators, relying on formulas known as Bessel functions. In addition to being able to draw letters consisting of straight lines, the input time has been drastically reduced to between 15 and 30 seconds for each letter.

Akishima Laboratories expects the technology to be incorporated into amusement devices that combine acoustics, lighting and fountain technology, which they hope to see installed at theme parks and hotels.

Dutchman devises floating bed

Revu.nl

Operation to remove light bulb from inmate's anus

Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass light bulb in his anus.

On Wednesday night, doctors brought Mohammad's misery to an end after a one-and-a-half hour operation to remove the object.

"Thanks Allah, now I feel comfort. Today, I had my breakfast. I was just drinking water, nothing else," Mohammad, a grey-beared man in his mid-40s, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the southern central city of Multan.

"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."

Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.

"When I woke up I felt a pain in my lower abdomen, but later in hospital, they told me this," Mohammad said.

"I don't know who did this to me. Police or other prisoners."

The doctor treating Mohammad said he'd never encountered anything like it before, and doubted the felon's story that someone had drugged him and inserted the bulb while he was comatose.

JP Brown's Serious LEGO

Woman in auctions herself with her Ferrari

A woman living in Germany is auctioning off her red Ferrari Enzo sports car and including a little extra in the package -- herself.

The 26-year-old has invited bids on Internet auction site ebay starting at 1.25 million euros (860 thousand pounds). She said she was rich herself, liked her car and was looking for a man who could foot the bill for such a luxury.

"Only a millionaire could afford such a car," said the woman, who gave her name as Leila and said she once worked as a singer in Syria. "I want a man who doesn't like me just for my money."

Leila said she would meet with interested bidders but would need to see the bidder's passport and proof of capital. No bids have been made yet in the auction which ends in a week.

Vatican astronomer denounces Creationism as "paganism"

The Vatican Astronomer has denounced Creationism and the idea that the universe was created in seven days as "superstition" and "paganism" at a speech at the Glasgow Science Centre. He also called Papal Infallability a "PR disaster."

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

"Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism - it's turning God into a nature god. And science needs religion in order to have a conscience, to know that, just because something is possible, it may not be a good thing to do."

X-Men may be closer than you think

Small damages to sequences in the human genome are causing evolutionary changes in our DNA, according to a group of Japanese geneticists.

Their recent findings prove that a common form of DNA damage caused by oxidation (called 8-oxoG) is a primary cause of mutagenesis, damage to DNA during the genome replication process that causes mutations in the resulting DNA molecules.

Succinctly, the human race is genetically mutating, and we now may know how and why--at least in part.

Japanese geneticist Yusaku Nakabeppu of Kyushu University and his team released their findings Monday in Genome Research.

"Our findings suggest that 8-oxoG is one of the main causes of frequent recombinations and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in the human genome, which largely contribute to the genomic diversity in human beings," the researchers concluded in their Genome Research journal article.

DNA is made up of four nucleobases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. Combinations of these four bases make up the human genome. Among the four bases, guanine is the nucleotide most susceptible to oxidation, and the most common oxidation product of guanine is known as 8-oxoG (8-oxoguanine). It is this prevalent substance that is thought to cause SNPs.

SNPs are subtle changes in chemical pairings found in the DNA sequence. SNPs and frequent recombination of code result in genetic mutation.

These changes in chemical pairings sometimes cluster in one area of the DNA sequence but, until recently, scientists were unsure of why. Nakabeppu and his team have found a causal link between 8-oxoG and clusters of sequence variations in the human genome.

While the specific environmental factors causing the mutation were not part of the research, the study established that the change is not happening in a closed system. The scientists agree with previous studies that have seen exposure to ionizing radiation and other environmental causes as genetic threats, according to their article.

Previously, SNPs were thought to be natural occurrences caused by internal byproduct releases from chemical reactions.

The Japanese researchers used genetic material from two healthy men and two healthy women (all unrelated genetically) in the study.

Scientific American originally disclosed Genome Research's release of the findings.

Detectan en la constelación de Pegaso una colisión intergaláctica | elmundo.es

El telescopio terrestre de Calar Alto, en Almería, y el observatorio espacial 'Spitzer' de la NASA han detectado la colisión de cinco galaxias en la constelación Pegaso, informó el Laboratorio de Propulsión a Chorro (JPL) de la agencia aeroespacial de EEUU.

La enorme onda expansiva de la colisión, a unos 300 millones de años luz de la Tierra y mucho más grande que nuestra Vía Láctea, fue detectada por el telescopio de Calar Alto mediante luz visible y consiste principalmente de hidrógeno candente.

El Observatorio Astronómico hispano-alemán de Calar Alto, en la sierra de los Filabres, cuenta con cuatro telescopios y desde que fue inaugurado en 1980 ha participado en importantes proyectos y es considerado el más importante en la Europa continental.

Un comunicado del JPL indicó que, por su parte, el 'Spitzer' utilizó para las observaciones su espectrógrafo infrarrojo, un instrumento que separa la luz en sus elementos básicos.

Añadió que las imágenes proporcionadas por el observatorio espacial mostraron en el llamado 'Quinteto de Esteban', formado por las cinco galaxias, una explosión "increíblemente turbulenta" de gases formados por moléculas de hidrógeno.

Este tipo de moléculas, a diferencia del hidrógeno atómico, se desprenden de su energía a través de vibraciones detectadas en el espectro infrarrojo.

"Este gas de enorme expansión es el hidrógeno molecular más turbulento que se haya detectado jamás", indicó el JPL, que no aclaró cuándo ocurrió el descubrimiento.

Añadió que los astrónomos quedaron sorprendidos no sólo por la turbulencia del gas, sino también por la enorme fuerza de la emisión.

Descubren en El Cairo un templo con estatuas del faraón Ramses II

Un equipo de arqueólogos egipcios ha descubierto en un barrio de El Cairo los vestigios de un templo de la época del Imperio Medio y Nuevo que estaba decorado con estatuas del faraón Ramsés II (1304 a.C-1237 a.C).

El templo, que fue hallado en el populoso barrio de Ein Shams, forma parte del conjunto de templos que fueron dedicados al culto del Sol en la zona, según informaron fuentes del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades (CSA).

"En el lugar se encontraron tres estatuas con las facciones del faraón Ramsés II, entre ellas una esculpida en granito rosa, con un peso de entre cinco y seis toneladas y una altura de tres a cuatro metros", dijo Rida Suleimán, uno de los expertos del CSA.

Suleimán indicó que las otras dos esculturas de Ramsés II corresponden a un busto, también en granito rosado, de 2,5 toneladas de peso, y una estatua sedente esculpida en piedra arenisca, en cuya espalda se grabaron jeroglíficos.

La cuarta pieza, esculpida en granito rosa y que pesa entre una y dos toneladas, representa al faraón Sesostris I, perteneciente a la XII dinastía del Imperio Medio, que gobernó Egipto entre los años 2040 y 1777 antes de Cristo, agregó Suleiman.

El experto del CSA informó de que también se descubrió un conjunto de pequeñas figuras en piedra caliza que datan del rey Amenofis IV, de su esposa Nefertiti, y su suegra Titi, que datan de la XVII dinastía.

Donde ahora se encuentra Ein Shams, se hallaba el santuario de "Un", el centro de culto solar más importante del dios solar Ra en la era predinástica. "También "Un" se destacó porque sus sacerdotes inventaron el primer calendario solar, y porque acogió la primera universidad del mundo que enseñó la ciencia de la astronomía.

Hubble Confirms Two New Moons of Pluto

Astronomers using NASA´s Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of two new moons around the distant planet Pluto. The moons were first discovered with Hubble´s Advanced Camera for Surveys in May 2005, but the science team probed even deeper into the Pluto system on Feb. 15, 2006 to look for additional satellites and to characterize the orbits of the moons. In addition to verifying the reality of the moons, the observations also rule out the possibility of other satellites of roughly similar size orbiting Pluto inside the orbits of the two moons. The moons, provisionally designated S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2, are approximately 40,000 and 30,000 miles away from Pluto, respectively. In the Hubble image, Pluto is in the center and Charon is just below it. P 1 is to the right and just below Charon. P 2 is to the right of Pluto and Charon. Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory), A. Stern (Southwest Research Institute) and the HST Pluto Companion Search
Team

Anxiously awaited follow-up observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of two new moons around the distant planet Pluto. The moons were first discovered by Hubble in May 2005, but the science team probed even deeper into the Pluto system last week to look for additional satellites and to characterize the orbits of the moons.

Though the team had little doubt the moons are real, they were happy to see the moons show up very close to the locations predicted from the earlier Hubble observations. The initial discovery is being reported today in this week's edition of the British science journal Nature.

The confirmation reinforces the emerging view that the Kuiper Belt, a swarm of icy bodies encircling the solar system beyond Neptune, may be more complex and dynamic than astronomers once thought. Pluto resides inside the Kuiper Belt and is about 3 billion miles from the Sun. Pluto was discovered in 1930.

The moons' orbits are in the same plane as the orbit of the much larger satellite Charon (discovered in 1978). This likely means the moons were not captured, but instead were born, along with Charon, in what is commonly theorized to have been a titanic collision between two Pluto-sized objects over 4 billion years ago.

A team of astronomers, led by Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., made the new observations on Feb. 15, 2006, with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

The team used the sharp vision of the ACS to do a targeted search of the region around and inside the orbits of the twin moons. In addition to confirming the reality of the new moons, the observations also rule out the possibility of other satellites of roughly similar size orbiting Pluto inside the orbits of the two moons. The moons, provisionally designated S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2, are approximately 40,000 and 30,000 miles away from Pluto, respectively.

Astronomers believe that the formation of the Pluto system is similar to that of our Earth and Moon. In both cases a comparable-sized body slammed into the parent planet. Simulations show that debris from the collision would go into an orbit around the planet and coalesce to form one or more satellites. Investigating how Pluto ended up with three moons while the Earth has only one should yield valuable insights into the processes by which satellite systems form around planets.

The team will use Hubble again on March 2 to study the new moons. They hope the follow-up observations will provide information on the moons' color, as well as their size and shape, which could yield further clues about the formation and evolution of the Pluto system.

In the Hubble image, Pluto is in the center and Charon is just below it. P 1 is to the right and just below Charon. P 2 is to the right of Pluto and Charon.

Un físico de EEUU presentará hoy la solución a la ecuación del campo gravitatorio de Einstein

La comunidad científica está expectante ante el anuncio del físico Franklin Felber, quien promete que presentará hoy una nueva solución exacta a la ecuación de campo gravitatorio formulada por Albert Einstein hace 90 años.

Felber, un físico estadounidense con 30 años de carrera en las Fuerzas Armadas, dijo que revelará su solución a las 19.00 GMT ante centenares de científicos que asisten en Albuquerque (Nuevo México) al Foro de Tecnología Espacial y Aplicaciones.

La solución a la que ha llegado Felber es la primera que resuelve incógnitas creadas por masas que se mueven a una velocidad cercana a la de la luz, de 300.000 kilómetros por segundo.

Según los científicos que han hecho la revisión crítica de la solución de Felber, su descubrimiento resuelve dos de los mayores problemas del viaje espacial a altas velocidades.

Por un lado, la identificación de una fuente de energía capaz de producir la aceleración y, por otro, la gestión de las presiones sobre humanos y equipos durante la aceleración.

La ecuación de campos de Einstein es una ecuación diferencial en la teoría general de la relatividad, que describe cómo la materia y la energía cambian la geometría del espacio-tiempo. Esta geometría curva se interpreta como el campo gravitatorio de la fuente de materia.

Entre los factores de la ecuación de Einstein se incluyen la conservación de energía e impulso, la no linealidad de las ecuaciones de campo y el principio de correspondencia. Esta ecuación de campo de la Teoría General de la Relatividad de Einstein jamás se ha resuelto antes para calcular el campo gravitatorio de una masa que se mueva a una velocidad cercana a la de la luz.

"La investigación de Felber representa una revolución en la mecánica del vuelo espacial, ya que ofrece una modalidad totalmente nueva para el envío de naves espaciales", afirmó Eric Davis, del Instituto de Estudios Avanzados de Austin (EEUU).

"Su pensamiento, realmente único y que se ha probado de forma rigurosa, representa un enorme paso adelante para hacer que sean posibles los viajes espaciales a velocidades próximas a la de la luz, de manera mucho menos costosa", añadió. Davis es uno de los científicos que hizo la revisión crítica de la propuesta de Felber.

La investigación de Felber indica que cualquier masa que se mueva más rápido que un 57,7% de la velocidad de la luz -esto es, que se traslade a más de 173.100 kilómetros por segundo- repelerá gravitatoriamente otras masas que estén dentro de un "haz de antigravedad" frente a la masa en movimiento.

Cuanto más se aproxime la velocidad de esa masa a la velocidad de la luz, más fuerte será su "haz antigravedad", agrega el estudio. Los cálculos de Felber muestran asimismo cómo se puede usar la repulsión de un cuerpo que viaja por el espacio para obtener la enorme energía necesaria para acelerar enormes cargas, de forma rápida y con poca presión.

Según los científicos que ya conocen la respuesta de Felber a la ecuación de campo de Einstein, la aceleración de una carga de una tonelada al 90% de la velocidad de la luz requiere una energía equivalente a 30.000 millones de toneladas de dinamita.

En el "haz antigravedad" de una estrella que se desplaza rápidamente por el espacio, una carga podría usar la enorme fuerza antigravedad de la masa de la estrella.

Eden

A team of international scientists say they have found a "lost world" in an Indonesian jungle, home to dozens of new species of animals and plants.

"It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the team.

The scientists claim to have discovered 20 frog species, four butterfly species and at least five new types of palms.

But their discoveries will have to be reviewed by peers before being officially classified as new species.

The team - from the US, Indonesia and Australia - surveyed a region near the Foja Mountains in Papua province in eastern Indonesia, which covers an area of more than a million hectares (two million acres) of forest.

"There was not a single trail, no sign of civilisation, no sign of even local communities ever having been there," Mr Beehler told the Associated Press.

He said that even two local tribesmen, who accompanied the scientists, were astonished at the area's isolation.

"As far as they knew, neither of their clans had ever been to the area," Mr Beehler said.

Unafraid of humans

One of the team's most remarkable discoveries was a honey-eater bird with a bright orange patch on its face - the first new bird species to be sighted in the area for more than 60 years.

They also found a Golden-Mantled Tree Kangaroo, which was previously thought to have been hunted to near-extinction, and took the first known photographs of the Berlepsch's Six-Wired Bird of Paradise, first described by hunters in the 19th Century.

Mr Beehler said some of the creatures the team came into contact with were remarkably unafraid of humans.

Two Long-Beaked Echidnas, primitive egg-laying mammals, even allowed scientists to pick them up and bring them back to their camp to be studied, he added.

The December 2005 expedition was organised by the US-based organisation Conservation International, together with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

The team admit that in their month-long trip, they did not have enough time to survey the area completely.

"We just scratched the surface," Mr Beehler told reporters. "Anyone who goes there will come back with a mystery."

Mr Beehler himself hopes to return later this year.