PASADENA, Calif. -- From radar on a chip to new "planetoids," a quarterly review of research at the California Institute of Technology.
Most Distant Object in Solar System Discovered; Could Be Part of Never-Before-Seen Oort Cloud
A planetoid more than eight billion miles from Earth has been discovered by Caltech researchers. "Sedna," the proposed name for the distant object, is more than three times the distance of Pluto, making it by far the most distant body known to orbit the sun.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12505.html
Researchers Using Hubble and Keck Telescopes Find Farthest Known Galaxy in the Universe
One of the farthest known objects to date in the universe may have been discovered by a team of astrophysicists using the Keck and Hubble telescopes. The object, a galaxy behind the Abell 2218 cluster, may be so far from Earth that its light would have left when the universe was just 750 million years old.
According to Caltech astronomer Jean-Paul Kneib, the galaxy is most likely the first detected close to a redshift of 7.0, meaning that it is rushing away from Earth at an extremely high speed due to the expansion of the universe. The distance is so great that the galaxy's ultraviolet light has been stretched to the point of being observed at infrared wavelengths.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12492.html
Planetary Scientists Find Planetoid in Kuiper Belt; Could Be Biggest Yet Discovered
Planetary scientists at Caltech and Yale University have discovered a new planetoid in the outer fringes of the solar system. The planetoid, currently known only as 2004 DW, could be even larger than Quaoar--the current record holder in the area known as the Kuiper Belt--and is some 4.4 billion miles from Earth.
According to the discoverers, Caltech associate professor of planetary astronomy Mike Brown and his colleagues Chad Trujillo (now at the Gemini North observatory in Hawaii), and David Rabinowitz of Yale University, the planetoid was found as part of the same search program that discovered Quaoar in late 2002.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12495.html
Nanoscience Institute to Be Created at Caltech with $7.5 Million Gift
A $7.5 million grant has been awarded by Fred Kavli and the Kavli Foundation to create a new institute at the California Institute of Technology for research in the emerging field of nanoscience. Caltech's Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) will foster innovative research at the frontiers of nanoscale science and engineering.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12503.html
Caltech, Cornell Announce New $2 Million Study for Building Giant Submillimeter Telescope
Caltech and Cornell University are planning a new 25-meter telescope to be built in Chile. The submillimeter telescope will cost an estimated $60 million and will be nearly two times larger in diameter than the largest submillimeter telescope currently in existence.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12502.html
The Bumpy Road of the First Robotic Race
In the DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous desert road race that took place in March, Caltech's entry, a 4X4 Chevy Tahoe truck with the nickname Bob, finished approximately 1.3 miles of the course, successfully navigating through sand, pits, and dozens of sagebrush bushes, before veering off course and getting caught by a barbed-wire fence. Alas, no team finished the race. The farthest distance covered by any entry was 7.4 miles.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12510.html
Caltech Engineers Design a Revolutionary Radar Chip
Ali Hajimiri, an associate professor of electrical engineering, has designed the world's first radar on a chip--specifically, a novel antenna array system on a single, silicon chip.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12490.html
Caltech Ranks No. 2 Among American universities in Number of Patents Awarded in 2003
For the first time, Caltech moved into second place among all American universities in the number of annual patents awarded, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For 2003, Caltech was awarded 139 patents, which was slightly ahead of MIT's 127 patents but behind the University of California System with its 439 patents.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12494.html
Researchers Demonstrate Existence of Earthquake Supershear Phenomenon
As if folks living in earthquake country didn't already have enough to worry about, scientists have now identified another rupture phenomenon that can occur during certain types of large earthquakes. The only question now is whether the phenomenon is good, bad, or neutral in terms of human impact.
Caltech geophysics graduate student Kaiwen Xia, aeronautics and mechanical engineering professor Ares Rosakis, and geophysics professor Hiroo Kanamori have demonstrated for the first time that a very fast, spontaneously generated rupture known as "supershear" can take place on large strike-slip faults like the San Andreas. They base their claims on a laboratory experiment designed to simulate a fault rupture. The Caltech experiment is the first time that spontaneous supershear rupture has been conclusively identified in a controlled laboratory environment, demonstrating that super-shear fault rupture is a very real possibility rather than a mere theoretical construct.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12509.html
So-Called "Zombie" Behaviors Are Part of Everyday Life, According to Neurobiologists
Longtime collaborators Christof Koch and Francis Crick (of DNA helix fame) think that routine behaviors that we perform constantly without even thinking--"zombie agents," they call them--are so much a central facet of human consciousness that they deserve serious scientific attention. In a new book titled The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, Koch writes that only a subset of brain activity gives rise to conscious sensations and feelings. Koch, a Caltech professor and head of the Computation and Neural Systems program, says zombie agents include everything from keeping the body balanced, to unconsciously estimating the steepness of a hill we are about to climb, to driving a car, riding a bike, and performing other routine yet complex actions.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12491.html
Researchers Discover Fundamental Scaling Rule That Differentiates Primate and Carnivore Brains
Caltech graduate student Eliot Bush and his professor, John Allman, have discovered a basic difference between the brains of all primates, from lemurs to humans, and all the flesh-eating carnivores, such as lions, tigers, and bears. The difference lies in the way the percentage of frontal cortex mass increases as the species gets larger.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12499.html
Caltech's Oral Histories and Personal Memoirs Online
The Oral Histories Online Project began in the fall of 2002, and brings selected interviews to the public in digital text form. Approximately 30 in-depth interviews from the fields of biology, chemistry, geology, physics, astronomy, environmental science, and social science are currently online, and additional interviews continue to be added.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12493.html
Caltech to Feature HP's Carly Fiorina As 2004 Commencement Speaker
Carly Fiorina, chairman and chief executive officer of HP, will be the commencement speaker at the Institute on June 11. One of the country's most recognizable corporate executives, Fiorina has led HP since 1999.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12506.html
Caltech Coders Vie for World Title
The team of three Caltech students who traveled to Prague in March to compete in the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest placed in the top 10 among 73 competing teams from around the world.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12507.html
Revolutionary Chemical Instrument Receives Historical Recognition
In the mid-1930s, Arnold O. Beckman, then an assistant professor of chemistry at Caltech, solved a problem confronting the California citrus industry: how to get a rapid and accurate measure of the acidity of lemon juice. His pH meter--a faster and simpler acid and alkaline measuring device--revolutionized instrumentation.
The development of the Beckman pH meter was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark in a special ceremony at Caltech. The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, sponsored the landmark program.
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12508.html
CARMA Move Begins This Summer
This summer the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy will be created at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains near Bishop, California.
Creating the new site involves moving six existing 10-meter telescopes at Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter-wave array, along with nine 6-meter telescopes at the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array, to the new location. At 9,000 feet, the Cedar Flat site will provide much improved atmospheric transparency.
