Luis von Ahn, profiled on this past season of NOVA scienceNOW, has just sold his company reCAPTCHA to Google.  The company came up with the idea for  'CAPTCHAs' - those squiggly words many websites require you to type in to verify that you are a real human (and not some auto-spammer).  Computers have trouble reading the skewed letters, but humans have no trouble at all. 

But the 'catch' with 'CAPTCHAs' is that many of the words come from scanned documents such as book and newspaper archives.  So they actually do double duty - protecting you from spam and helping to catalog all sorts of new information by teaching the computer to read blurred or faded words from the scanned text. 

Google plans to use the technology to help with their large text scanning projects including Google Books and Google News Archive Search.

Find out more about CAPTCHAs and their inventor here.

Of the many important life lessons I learned at 7th grade acting camp, one stands out: You only look ridiculous when you feel ridiculous. If you take yourself seriously while, say, pretending to be a fir tree swaying in the wind, or improvising an interpretive dance to the Dances with Wolves theme, your audience will take you seriously, too. Especially if they're your parents.

Of course, when it comes to not looking ridiculous, it also helps if you're Isabella Rossellini. The third installment of Rossellini's strange and wonderful video series with the adults-only title is now online at the Sundance Channel web site. In each video, Rossellini acts out the mating habits of a different sea creature. This time, her characters are edible, and marine biologist Claudio Campagna chimes in with environmentally-minded commentary on the sustainability of fishing each one.

Well, it's official: the astronomers are completely ecstatic!  And the science results of the mission are actually just beginning to come in.
 
Ed Weiler starts off the proceedings and echoes thoughts I've had myself recently - he calls the mission "a teachable moment in unparalleled teamwork."
 
He introduces Senator Barbara Mikulski as "the Godmother of Hubble."  Mikulski, in a wheelchair with a cast on her ankle, obviously feels strongly about Hubble; she calls the telescope "one of the greatest forms of public diplomacy that the US has," and reminds us that what Hubble does is open and public and given freely to the world.
 
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
She sounds a note of pride as she comments "We thank all our international partners - but when it comes to space, we are the indispensable nation."  And she concludes by saying that Hubble is "about science, it's about discovery, it's about our American character and the future of our children."
 
I'm hearing that the Augustine panel is very close to releasing their report on the future of American human spaceflight (which is rumored to be pessimistic because of lack of funding) and I wonder how much Mikulski intends her comments to sound a defiant note in the face of such uncertainty.
 
Then we get to the specifics.  The new Wide Field Camera is working better than expected.  The camera almost didn't get installed because the one bolt holding in the old camera got stuck - so the line is "Never have so many scientists owed so much to two guys who fixed a stuck bolt."
 

Morning rush hour traffic in DC is awful, but we're parked and loaded in at NASA HQ by 10 am.  The auditorium is empty so far, but there are a bunch of seats reserved; I see name placards for the astronauts, the new NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden (himself a former astronaut who coincidentally was pilot on the mission that launched Hubble in 1990), and Senator Barbara Mikulski, a longtime passionate champion for the telescope (aka "Hubble Hugger").
 
Suddenly a group of well dressed young men and women appear, and an intense conversation ensues between them and several NASA Public Affairs folks.  They're discussing the choreography of who will introduce Senator Mikulski and Administrator Bolden, where each person will stand, who speaks first, when the mic will be turned on and off, etc.  It's a little glimpse of the kind of stuff I imagine happens all the time in Washington - the handlers working out the details of the dance for the powerful people they represent.
 
I run into Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute; the last time we saw each other was in May at Cape Canaveral, watching the launch from the roof of the CBS News building.  He confesses that watching the shuttle roar into the sky carrying his friends on that momentous mission, he briefly teared up that day.  I tell him I had seen the emotion he was feeling, and in fact, though I had far less invested in the event, that I had felt it too.

It's 10:45 AM now, and the place is really filling up.  I recognize faces I saw every day in Houston during the mission: scientists, writers, science journalists, Goddard engineers, NASA Public Affairs folks from the various centers.
 
I overhear Matt Mountain, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, joking with a friend (who's obviously a fellow astrophysicist): "I get to take credit for something I did absolutely none of the work on - I love this job!"  He's far too modest; Matt may not have gone into space, but he worked the mission tirelessly in Houston, and I know the long hours he kept there.  Plus, not only does he run the place that runs the Hubble, he's also one of the most effective speakers and "translators" of science for regular folks that I've ever met.
 
The place is now full, and I see Senator Mikulski (in a wheelchair) is now in place; they're minutes away from starting...

I was checking in with slashdot this morning and I came across an eerie video that I am compelled to share. Now you too can gaze at your screen in bemused horror for a few minutes.

Meet HAL 5, the new robotic exoskeleton from Cyberdyne Inc. (Not Cyberdyne *Systems*.

Flew to Maryland on Tuesday; departure from Boston was delayed two hours, and then we sat on the runway 30 minutes waiting for a gate at Baltimore.  I've lost count of the number of trips to Goddard and Houston over the past two years, but I do know I've never traveled so intensively in my life.  Arriving last night, I realized that the BWI airport is now so familiar to me that I recognize on sight certain TSA security screeners and car rental agents.  Wow - that's not a good sign...
 
This morning NASA Headquarters will be releasing the first images from the new Hubble.  It's interesting; watching the astronauts and engineers prepare and practice over the past two years, I've gotten so immersed in the process that sometimes I almost forget the ultimate goal.
 
All that time and effort practicing the spacewalks...  all those ingenious tools...  all the support people inspecting each and every one of the shuttle's 24,000 heat tiles, and attending to a million other details.  (Last night I had trouble falling asleep; I pulled out a media reference guide and read the shuttle weather launch rules - two solid pages devoted to weather requirements for launch, including temperature, wind, precipitation, lightning, and ten different rules about types of clouds).
 
And, of course, all the incredible power of the launch itself, shaking the ground, the buildings, my feet and chest from three miles away.  All that power, all these people and work and time and money, all of it for one ultimate purpose: the science to be gained from the images.
 
Trying to put the entire endeavor in perspective, it's kind of inspiring to think that we, as a nation or just as humans, will make this kind of extraordinary effort for no other reason than simply to know.  It's easy to get swept up in the details - they're so extraordinary and the techno stuff is just plain fun, for me at least.  But today I'm struck by the larger purpose: billions of dollars, tens of thousands of people, years (in some cases, lifetimes) of work, all focused on answering one really basic but profound question: what's out there?

 

Publicist Note: Rush DeNooyer is a producer for NOVA's upcoming Hubble's Amazing Rescue premiering Tuesday, October 13th at 8PM ET/PT on PBS (please check local listings). Tomorrow, Rush will be blogging from the NASA press conference where new photos taken by Hubble will be unveiled.  You can read Rush's notes that chronicle his experience filming the Hubble Mission at Follow the Hubble Repair. 


It's a little over three months since the mission ended; I haven't blogged since Memorial Day when I got back home to the small Maine town where I live and started trying to put the whole experience in perspective.
 
For the astronauts and engineers, the mission peaked in late May when the shuttle Atlantis brought everyone home safely, with all repairs complete.  For our NOVA team, the mission is peaking over the next few weeks, as we race to finish editing the film, adding music and animation, and creating the ending to the story.  Naturally, the ending won't be complete without the first images from the new Hubble.
 
So today I fly to Maryland, and Wednesday morning Goddard cinematographer Mike McClare and I will go to NASA Headquarters in Washington for a press conference - the eagerly awaited unveiling of the first images from the rejuvenated Hubble.
 
Actually, early this summer they released a sneak preview when a comet unexpectedly slammed into Jupiter and left a huge visible scar.  But other than that, the scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore have been very secretive, as they've been calibrating all the new and repaired instruments.  No images will be seen until tomorrow.
 
I've pumped my sources at the Institute for information though - and they're telling me that all the repairs seem to have worked.  And they expect people to be blown away by all the things the new Hubble will reveal over the coming months.  I guess the analogy is if you had the same digital camera you bought in 1993, and then replaced it with a brand new one - in the case of one new instrument (Wide Field Camera 3), that's the kind of improvement we may see.
 
On Thursday, we'll film some specialized close-ups of some of the unique tools that Goddard engineers designed for this mission.  And then on Friday, we're filming with Dr. Matt Mountain (Director of STScI) to have him explain for us what the new images reveal, what their significance is, and what future hopes he has for this "brand new" 20-year-old space telescope. 
 
The press conference is midday on Wednesday, and I hope to be able to write directly from there - stay tuned!
 

When WGBH, NOVA's parent PBS company moved locations, our new home (in Brighton, MA) just happened to be next to the offices of the New Balance shoe company.  And they just happen to have a store in the building adjacent to ours.  So whenever I pass the store, it often brings running to mind.

Which leads me to my current post - Not too long ago I bought a pair of running shoes.  They are quite snazzy - with powder blue trim and futuristic looking mesh over the toes.  But they don't come close to some other running shoes I recently came across - the Vibram FiveFingers.  A cross between a gorilla's foot and a waterproof slipper, the shoes are meant to mimic the act of running barefoot.  Check out a demo video from Wired:



Sounds a little strange, but there is some science to back up the idea that running without shoes could actually prevent more injuries than it sounds like it would cause.

When one of your once-favorite bands stops writing songs about love, sex, and James K. Polk and starts turning out educational children's albums, it feels like some cosmic musical signal that it's time to pack up the futon, move out to the suburbs, and start reproducing.

That isn't in the cards right now (sorry Grandma--we're just not there yet!), but I think I'm allowed to listen to They Might Be Giants' latest audio/video release, Here Comes Science (iTunes), even if the Chuck-E-Cheese people won't let me on the slide anymore. Hey, it's about Science!

Here's a sample of a song called "I Am A Paleontologist," which is about being a paleontologist. There's also "What Is A Shooting Star" (it's not actually a star!), "Meet The Elements"  and, for the kids who feel like taking the evolution debate out on to the playground, "My Brother The Ape." Along with the opener "Science is Real," it pretty much clears up that whole "it's only a theory" thing. Plus, it kind of makes you want to dance.