Grail shattered on moon

Summary: The GRAIL mission has officially ended as its two satellites, Ebb and Flow, has been commanded to crash into the surface of the moon. It was decided to direct a crash landing when the fuel ran out rather than wait for an eventual, unpredictable fall so as not to destroy any of the historic landing sites like the Apollo site. (Imagine if a satellite fell and knocked over the American flag!)
Most of the data from these two satellites has not been fully analysed yet, but scientists do know that the data from these two provide the most detailed map of the surface of the moon that we have to date. As usual, for for details, check out the original article.




BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20761903

Lake drilling halted

Summary: Drilling in Antarctica that had begun early last week had to be halted on Saturday due to a failure in the backup boiler. The primary boiler had already failed with the same issue. Thankfully there is enough hit water to keep the drill from freezing over.

The objective is to drill through the ice to the lake underneath and analyse the water brought up to see if there is life down there.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20755450

Geminid Meteor Shower Tonight!

The biggest and best meteor shower of the year is tonight!! (Clearly the Universe is celebrating the release of The Hobbit). For info about the shower check out http://www.meteorwatch.org/ where you can find details and pictures from other sky watchers. Furthermore, it is a new moon tonight so they sky should be especially dark. Happy sky watching!

Dark matter

If you do not understand Dark Matter, here is a good blog post comparing the universe to making a cake.

Scienceblogs: http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/12/07/yes-we-really-really-need-dark-matter/#.UMoxBFcfs8I.twitter

Wishy-washy Higgs

Summary: The inconsistencies and weird things in the data that lead scientists to announce the discovery of a new particle back in July, curiously still remain. It seems to be a difference in measurement that makes the difference.

There have also been hints of other weird science occurring that frankly does not make much sense to me, but something about particles flattening and gaining gluons as they reach the speed of light, possibly being observed.

Either way, next week the LHC will shift into a new phase before being shut down for upgrading at the beginning of 2013. Not to worry though, they still have tons of data to analyze.


NewScientist
Higgs:http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23003-higgs-boson-having-an-identity-crisis.html
flat particles: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22556-lhc-sees-hint-of-highspeed-particle-pancake.html

Decay

Summary: Students and scientists at CERN have completed their zombie movie! After three long years of working on it you can watch it at the link below. The premise is that some engineers were down in the tunnels of the LHC when some radiation leaked and turned them into zombies. Now the remaining members must figure out what caused it before they are also dead meat.
To mock Hollywood's atrocious science, they too purposefully made ludicrous claims, only in this case, the actors (also students) kept trying to fix the errors and had to be reminded that it was wrong on purpose.
 I'll update this post after I watch it with a spoiler-free review.



Decay-trailer: http://youtu.be/luNueXoAw3I
Decay-full movie: http://youtu.be/n-NwLUPZWZc

New galaxies examined

Summary: The Hubble telescope has been used to look again in the area of the Hubble Deep Field and has found 7 new galaxies, one of which may be the most distant galaxy observed. We can tell by the redshift. (The further away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us. Because it is moving so fast, the light gets shifted a measurable amount. Further away=greater redshift.)


SpaceTelescope.org: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1219/ (I know, a new source!)

Top secret US space plane!

Summary: The US military has successfully launched its super secret space plane. It's so secret, it is unmanned and indicates that it is designed for long term mission, no one knows how long though.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20680253

Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore dies

Sadly, Sir Patrick Moore has passed away. He is most known for his TV show and his his books published on his research. He was 89 and passed away peacefully in his home.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20657939

Multiple Universe Theories

For those of you interested in more than just antimatter and enjoy bizarre theories, here is a link to an article about some theories for multiple universes. Personally, I am hoping that there are multiple universes, but I doubt that we would be able to prove it in any way. But the thought of it is mind-blowing.
And if you don't know about the multiple universe theory, take a look at let it amaze you.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50120363/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.UMQQ-qwRZ8F

Ice on Mercury!!!

Summary: At last, a planet close to home that we can travel to and ice skate on! But actually, the Messenger satellite has discovered that craters at the poles hold ice. The exciting thing is that because of this evidence, all strongly held theories about the formation of Mercury are incorrect. Now scientists will get to rewrite the history of the planet and maybe other inner planets like it.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553879
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/11/28/science.1229953
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/11/28/science.1231106
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/11/28/science.1229764
Science Podcast: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6111/1233.2.full
SciShow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-b6Q_hbhk0&feature=share&list=UUZYTClx2T1of7BRZ86-8fow