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Science and the Muslim world

Science and the Muslim world

A man once said to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): "Teach me some words that I can live by. Do not make them too much for me, lest I forget." The Prophet replied: "Do not become angry."

Al-Muwatta, Volume 47, Hadith 11

A large ocean floater moves out to deep water as the sunsets. they normally feed near shore during the day and float out over deeper water at night.

HOVERBOARD - NILS GUADAGNIN from nils guadagnin on Vimeo.

Space center abuzz over Atlantis' last launch

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer – Wed May 12, 3:40 pm ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA is getting hit up for extra launch passes, and mission stickers and pins are flying off the shelf. Another Twittering crowd is descending on the space center. Even science fiction writers want in on the action.

Welcome to space shuttle Atlantis' 32nd and final voyage.

When Atlantis blasts off — show time is 2:20 p.m. Friday — only two more missions will remain before the shuttle program ends.

Besides equipment for the International Space Station, Atlantis holds two big tool bins that are crammed full of shuttle and station memorabilia: flags, medallions, bookmarks and the like.

Three miles from the pad, the firing room where launch controllers will give one final "go" is decorated with photos of Atlantis launching, flying in space and landing over the past 25 years. The collage includes patches from each mission, including the last, which depicts Atlantis sailing into the sunset.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_sc/us_space_shuttle_atlantis;_ylt=Aro6GT67csVvxLb3JMVhcH2HgsgF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ2NGY0MWczBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTEyL3VzX3NwYWNlX3NodXR0bGVfYXRsYW50aXMEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDc3BhY2VjZW50ZXJh

Transparent Aluminum

we have been waiting for it since scotty talked about it.

Ceramic Windows
The windows and transparent doors are made of aluminum oxynitride, a millimeters-thin ceramic being developed by the military as a bulletproof replacement for vehicle windows and domes.

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-04/future-drive-electric-luxury-racer

Philp K Dick

If you are not reading or have read Phili K Dick's stories, well you really need to. some of the best science fiction movies made are based on his short stories.

Movie Story

Total Recall =We Can Remember It For You Wholesale

A Scanner Darkly= A Scanner Darkly

Blade Runner= Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Minority Report= Minority Report

Screamers =Second Variety

Paycheck= Paycheck

Next =The Golden Man

Tech update

http://www.sc.edu/news/newsarticle.php?nid=876

Ordinary T-shirts could become body armor

A simple cotton T-shirt may one day be converted into tougher, more comfortable body armor for soldiers or police officers.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina, collaborating with others from China and Switzerland, drastically increased the toughness of a T-shirt by combining the carbon in the shirt’s cotton with boron – the third hardest material on earth. The result is a lightweight shirt reinforced with boron carbide, the same material used to protect tanks.

Dr. Xiaodong Li, USC College of Engineering and Computing Distinguished Professor in Mechanical Engineering, co-authored the recent article on the research in the journal, Advanced Materials.

“USC is playing a leading role in this area. This is a true breakthrough,” Li said, calling the research “a conceptual change in fabricating lightweight, fuel-efficient, super-strong and ultra-tough materials. This groundbreaking new study opens up unprecedented opportunities.”

The scientists started with plain, white T-shirts that were cut into thin strips and dipped into a boron solution. The strips were later removed from the solution and heated in an oven. The heat changes the cotton fibers into carbon fibers, which react with the boron solution and produce boron carbide.

German scientists have created a three-dimensional "invisibility cloak" that can hide objects by bending light waves.

The findings, published in the journal Science on Thursday, could in the future make it possible large objects invisible, but for now the researchers said they were not keen to speculate on possible applications.

"For now these...cloaking devices are just a beautiful and exciting benchmark to show what transformation optics can do," said Tolga Ergin of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Transformation optics use a class of materials called metamaterials that guide and control light.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100318/sc_nm/us_invisibility_cloak;_ylt=Ap.G70S_BILXAbU8RgO1sLCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNwNzZ1ZzBsBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwMzE4L3VzX2ludmlzaWJpbGl0eV9jbG9hawRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzgEcG9zAzUEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNpbnZpc2liaWxpdHk-

"We have ordained a law and a way of life for each of you. If God wanted, He could have made all of you a single nation. But He willed otherwise in order to test you in what He has given you. Therefore try to excel one another in good works."

The Holy Quran, 5:48

Aliens on earth

If we need proof that their could be life on other planets we just need to see the extreme places that we find life on earth.

WASHINGTON – In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Six hundred feet below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.

That's why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera's cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.

"We were operating on the presumption that nothing's there," said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler, who will be presenting the initial findings and a video at an American Geophysical Union meeting Wednesday. "It was a shrimp you'd enjoy having on your plate."

"We were just gaga over it," he said of the 3-inch-long, orange critter starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it's not a shrimp. It's a Lyssianasid amphipod, which is distantly related to shrimp.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100315/ap_on_sc/us_sci_antarctica_sea_life;_ylt=ApJF8eW8WZFJ1w8GsAzOqTsPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJydDJncG1yBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzE1L3VzX3NjaV9hbnRhcmN0aWNhX3NlYV9saWZlBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawN0aGlzdmlkZW9mcmE-

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do you know who is (truly) poor?" His companions replied: "A poor man amongst us is one who has (no money)." The Prophet then said: "The poor of my community will be he who comes on the Day of Resurrection with prayers and fasts and charity, but since he hurled abuses on others, brought slander on others, unlawfully consumed the wealth and shed the blood of others...his virtues will be credited to the account of the one (who suffered at his hand)."

Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1179

"The (true) servants of (God) the Compassionate are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, reply with (words of) peace."

The Holy Quran, 25:63

"Verily, for all men and women who have surrendered themselves to God, and all believing men and believing women, and all truly devout men and truly devout women, and all men and women who are true to their word, and all men and women who are patient in adversity, and all men and women who humble themselves (before God), and all men and women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and self-denying women, and all men and women who are mindful of their chastity, and all men and women who remember God unceasingly: for (all of) them has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward."

The Holy Quran, 33:35

SAY SOMETHING GOOD OR KEEP QUIET - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever believes in God and the (Day of Judgment) should not hurt his neighbor...should serve his guest generously and...should say something good or keep quiet."

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Number 158