ROYAL SOCIETY OPENS ARCHIVES TO PUBLIC

The venerable Royal Society, the over 350-year-old British scientific organization, has just opened up its archives to the web-dwelling public. That's over 60,000 scientific papers dating back to the first ever peer-reviewed research publication in 1665. Other highlights include Issac Newton's first ever published paper, research from Charles Darwin, and Ben Franklin's famous kite experiment. You can access the archives here.

NEW PHASE-ALLOY TURNS WASTE HEAT INTO ENERGY

A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has found a way to harness energy from our hot castoffs. The group has apparently created a brand spanking new alloy that spontaneously creates energy when its temperature is raised by a small amount. Future uses for the material, known as Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10, include charging a hybrid car's battery with the help of waste heat from its exhaust. So what's the trick? Well, this wonder material is a phase changer, meaning it can go from non-magnetic to magnetic in moments, when the temperature rises. When that happens, the alloy absorbs heat, and bam! You've got electricity. The team is also collaborating with chemical engineers to create a thin film version of the material that could be used to convert waste heat from computers.

NASA GIVES UP ON MARS ROVER SPIRIT

Back in March NASA raised concerns over the health of Spirit, one of the Mars rovers that landed on the red planet back in 2004. Spirit‘s problems began back in January of last year when NASA reported that the rover’s mission was concluded as a result of it getting stuck in the Martian sand. At that point, Spirit began operations as a stationary research platform until it went into hibernation in March 2010.

Since then Spirit has been silent. NASA had originally hoped that Spirit might finally wake up when the rover reached its peak solar energy production on March 10th of this year, but alas there was no response. It is believed that a “stressful” Martian winter without much sunlight may have contributed to Spirit’s demise since it likely experienced colder internal temperatures than its previous six years on the planet. Some of the rover’s components are believed to have been damaged by the cold since there was inadequate solar energy to power Spirit’s survival heaters.

As a result, NASA has ceased all attempts to contact the rover using its Deep Space Network of antennas on Earth in addition to its two Mars orbiters. Due to the low probability that Spirit will once again establish communications these communication assets are now being transitioned to NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The MSL is NASA’s next generation Mars rover that is expected to launch on November 25th of this year. NASA did state that its Deep Space Network may listen for signals from Spirit when “the schedule permits.”

Opportunity, an identical rover that landed on Mars three weeks after Spirit, is in much better shape and continues to explore the planet’s surface. Opportunity’s current odometry as of May 18, 2011 is over 18 miles.

PARALYZED MAN WALKS AGAIN THANKS TO SPINAL STIMULUS

A 25-year-old paraplegic is now walking again, thanks to a groundbreaking procedure developed by neuroscientists at the University of Louisville, UCLA and Cal Tech. The Oregon man, Rob Summers, was paralyzed below the chest in 2006, after getting hit by a speeding car. This week, however, doctors announced that Summers can now stand up on his own and remain standing for up to four minutes. With the help of a special harness, he can even take steps on a treadmill and can move his lower extremities for the first time in years. It was all made possible by a spinal implant that emits small pulses of electricity, designed to replicate signals that the brain usually sends to coordinate movement.

Prior to receiving the implant in 2009, Summers underwent two years of training on a treadmill, with a harness supporting his weight and researchers moving his legs. This week's breakthrough comes after 30 years of research, though scientists acknowledge that this brand of epidural stimulation still needs to be tested on a broader sample of subjects before any definitive conclusions can be drawn. Summers, meanwhile, seems understandably elated. "This procedure has completely changed my life," the former baseball player said. "To be able to pick up my foot and step down again was unbelievable, but beyond all of that my sense of well-being has changed."

SILICINE IS THE NEW GRAPHENE...MAYBE

Graphene it the one-atom-thick layer of pencil lead has the potential to change the world of computers, batteries and screens that has been around for awhile. Now, Silicine has appeared on the horizon.

Silicine is a version of graphene constructed out of silicon, which doesn't naturally align itself into the same eminently useful honeycomb shape -- but, given a little prod here and a layer of silver or ceramic compound there, can do much the same thing, and with better computing compatibility. First proposed around 2007, it's reportedly been produced twice now by two different teams, which gives physicists hope that it could actually be useful some day. For now, researchers need to figure out a way to easily produce it so detailed experiments can be performed

AHHHHH...the moon is shrinking!!!!!

New research published in last Friday's edition of the journal Science indicates cracks in the moon's crust, that have formed as the interior has cooled and shrunk over the last billion years or so.  That means the surface has shrunk too, though not anyone could really see by looking at it.