Chinese Herbs May Relieve Endometriosis Symptoms, Review Finds

Chinese herbal medicine may relieve symptoms in the treatment of endometriosis. A systematic review found some evidence that women had comparable benefits following laparoscopic surgery and suffered fewer adverse effects if they were given Chinese herbs compared with conventional drug treatments.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Army Study Improves Ability To Predict Drinking Water Needs

When soldiers leave base for a three-day mission, how much water should they bring? New research may now provide military planners an accurate answer. The study improves an existing water needs equation by 58-65 percent. If the new formula works in the field, as expected, it could accurately predict water needs not only for soldiers, but also for civilians who work or exercise outdoors.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

New Device Could Benefit Treatment Of Hand Injuries

Bioengineering students invented a device to measure intrinsic hand muscle strength. The device could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of hand injuries and neurological disorders, specifically carpal tunnel syndrome.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

New Approach To Engineering For Extreme Environments

Composite materials such as fiberglass, which take on a mix of properties of their constituent compounds, have been around for decades. Now, a materials scientist is taking composites to the nanoscale, where entirely new properties, not found in any of the original compounds, can emerge.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Down Under Dinosaur Burrow Discovery Provides Climate Change Clues

The same paleontologist who made the Montana discovery of the first known dinosaur burrow has now found the trace fossil of a burrow in Australia almost identical to the one he identified in the US. His growing evidence of dinosaur burrows provides clues to climate change and how dinosaurs may have survived extreme environments -- throwing a wrench in some extinction theories.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Remote-control Closed System Invented For Inserting Radio-active Atoms Inside Fullerenes

A hands-off process for filling fullerenes with radioactive material is being tested to see if it will produce multi-modality material for better imaging and targeting of treatment of brain tumors.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Newborn Brain Cells Improve Our Ability To Navigate Our Environment

Although the fact that we generate new brain cells throughout life is no longer disputed, their purpose has been the topic of much debate. Now, researchers have made a big leap forward in understanding what all these newborn neurons might actually do. Their study illustrates how these young cells improve our ability to navigate our environment.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

First 16-patient, Multicenter 'Domino Donor' Kidney Transplant

Surgical teams at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit successfully completed the first eight-way, multi-hospital, domino kidney transplant.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

Key Protein Can Help Cells Or Cause Cancer

Scientist have discovered a key process in cell growth that can lead to the formation of tumors. They found that an overabundance of the polo-like kinase 1, or Plk1, molecule during cell growth, as well as a shortage of the p53 molecule, will lead to tumor formation.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

On Malaria Struggle, Baboons And Humans Have Similar Stories To Tell

Evolutionarily speaking, baboons may be our more distant cousins among primates. But when it comes to our experiences with malaria over the course of time, it seems the stories of our two species have followed very similar plots.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

The Nation's weather (AP)

AP - The most active weather in the country Saturday was expected to come from a cold front forecast to sweep through the eastern third of the country.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 10:06 am

Boxer faces 'challenge of a lifetime' on climate change bill (McClatchy Newspapers)

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — If the Senate doesn't pass a bill to cut global warming, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer says, there will be dire results: droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 10:00 am

U.S. space shuttle ready to deliver Japanese porch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA prepared to launch space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station on Saturday to deliver a Japanese porch and spare parts needed to keep the outpost going after the shuttle fleet's retirement next year.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:40 am

Tropical Storm Carlos getting stronger in Pacific (AP)

AP - Tropical Storm Carlos is getting stronger as it swirls far off Mexico's Pacific coast.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 9:02 am

Weather may delay shuttle launch

Stormy weather around Cape Canaveral may prevent space shuttle Endeavour from launching on time.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Jul 2009 | 7:44 am

Fast-growing kelp invades San Francisco Bay (AP)

AP - A fast-growing kelp from the Far East has spread along the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay, worrying marine scientists and outpacing eradication efforts.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 7:04 am

Weather worries cloud Endeavour launch attempt (AFP)

AFP - Inclement weather loomed over the space shuttle Endeavour's third launch attempt, as NASA moved ahead with preparations for the mission to blast off to the International Space Station.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 6:17 am

Final Countdown: A Guide to NASA's Last Space Shuttle Missions (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The planned Saturday evening launch of the space shuttle Endeavour may be the third orbiter flight this year, but it is one of just eight remaining missions before NASA mothballs its space plane fleet next year.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Jul 2009 | 3:15 am

Congress Needs A Read-The-Bill Bill (Investor's Business Daily)

Investor's Business Daily - Honesty: Lawmakers voted on the stimulus and global warming bills without having read either. Eventually they'll vote on health care legislation that could fund unrelated items. Time to end this systemic fraud.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Jul 2009 | 11:45 pm

Potato famine disease striking home gardens in U.S.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Jul 2009 | 9:22 pm

To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes

Before the Nikes, before the breathable, antimicrobial running shorts, before the personal fitness coaches, heart rate monitors, wrist-mounted GPS and subscriptions to Runner’s World, you were a runner.

And, like all children, you ran barefoot.

Now, a small but growing body of research suggests that barefoot is the way adults should run, too. So, many runners have been shucking off the high-tech trainers in favor of naked feet — or minimalist footwear like Nike Free, the Newton All-Weather Trainer and the glove-like Vibram FiveFingers.

“People have been running barefoot for millions of years and it has only been since 1972 that people have been wearing shoes with thick, synthetic heels,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University.

Strong evidence shows that thickly cushioned running shoes have done nothing to prevent injury in the 30-odd years since Nike founder Bill Bowerman invented them, researchers say. Some smaller, earlier studies suggest that running in shoes may increase the risk of ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis and other injuries. Runners who wear cheap running shoes have fewer injuries than those wearing expensive trainers. Meanwhile, injuries plague 20 to 80 percent of regular runners every year.

But the jury’s still out on whether going barefoot is actually an improvement.

“The running shoe right now is doing nothing for preventing injuries,” said Reed Ferber, director of the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology. But, he adds, going barefoot has downsides too, and the research so far is still inconclusive. “It’s a total tradeoff.”

Chris McDougall, author of the recent book Born to Run, goes further. “If this were a drug, it would be yanked off the market,” he said of running shoes. McDougall says his own persistent problems with plantar fasciitis cleared up after he started running in Vibram FiveFingers.

This short video by Wired.com shows a heel-first strike in a traditional running shoe (left) compared to a midfoot strike in Vibram FiveFingers (right).
Video: Michael Lennon/Wired.com

What’s so great about going shoeless? It allows the foot to flex and absorb shock, says Tony Post, president of Vibram USA, which makes FiveFingers. With thick heels, people lengthen their strides, landing heel-first and letting the shoe absorb the impact of each footfall. You can’t do that barefoot (try it sometime), so your body naturally falls into a shorter stride, landing first on the outside middle or ball of your foot. As you advance your foot rolls inward; the arch flattens and helps absorb the impact; it then springs back up as you lift your foot and push off the ground.

“In a sense the arch is acting like a leaf spring,” says Post.

Lieberman’s research into human and early hominid fossils suggests that the human body, including the foot, is well-adapted to long-distance running without shoes (.pdf). He hypothesizes that early humans didn’t need speed so much as endurance — just enough to run down herd animals like kudu or eland until they collapsed from overheating.

This so-called persistence hunting is not as hard as it sounds, Lieberman says. “You can be a middle-aged professor like me and still be a good enough runner to have been a fairly successful hunter in the Paleolithic.”

He’s sure that running barefoot or with minimal footwear is the way to avoid injury. After all, we evolved without shoes.

“If a third of runners had gotten injured in the Paleolithic with runner’s knee or plantar fasciitis, you can bet that natural selection would have weeded them out,” Lieberman says.

Ferber is more cautious. His studies of the biomechanics of running show that a midfoot strike does reduce the initial peak loading force — the impact in the first 25 milliseconds after your foot touches the ground. But your foot sustains a second peak load of three times your body weight about 100 milliseconds later, regardless of whether you’re a heel-first or midfoot-first runner.

“So it’s six of one, half dozen of the other, in that you’ve lost that first peak, which is maybe a good thing,” says Ferber. “But in order to do that midfoot strike, you have to take a shorter stride, so you’re taking more steps per mile. So that could cause injuries.”

Ferber does note that knee osteoarthritis rates are very low in China, where many people wear flip-flops (which also encourage a midfoot strike), and that studies have shown women who wear high heels are at increased risk for knee osteoarthritis. That research don’t address running specifically, however.

As for efficiency, Ferber’s studies suggest a midfoot strike might be about 1 percent more efficient — but that’s within the 2 percent error rate of the sensors used to measure human body force, so it’s a wash.

Both Ferber and Lieberman are in the midst of long-term studies aimed at producing more conclusive data about injury rates and efficiency of barefoot or nearly-barefoot running. Ferber’s lab is sponsored in part by SOLE, a shoe orthotics company, while Lieberman’s research is sponsored by Vibram.

The Vibram FiveFingers seem to have a special attraction to geeks, for whom claims of efficiency and scientific research resonate especially well. Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tim Ferriss wrote about the FiveFingers recently, calling them “nothing short of spectacular” in a blog post filled with technical and biomechanical references.

“For me the appeal is the radical minimalization of technology to serve its purpose (conditioning) better,” said Boston-based software designer Glenn McDonald, a self-described “not-very-serious runner” who wears FiveFingers on occasional runs.

How to Run Barefoot

If you’re interested in trying out barefoot (or nearly barefoot) running, keep in mind that it will take your body some time to get used to it. Here are some tips from the experts to get you started.

• Start slow, with quarter-mile runs at most, and build up very gradually.
• Listen to your feet. Don’t try to run with the same gait you use in shoes — shorten your steps and land on the forward part of your foot.
• Keep your head up and your body vertical. Your feet should be hitting the ground almost directly underneath you, not in front of you.
• Ankle and calf strength is key to avoiding injury, so consider Ferber’s four-week barefoot strengthening program before you start (.doc).
• Keep barefoot running to no more than 10 percent of your weekly regimen, especially at first.
• If you’re running completely barefoot, run on a mix of soft and hard surfaces to give your feet time to toughen up.

Finally, don’t try this if you suffer from diabetes or another condition that would affect your ability to feel and respond to sensations from your feet.

“Like any part of your body, you have to build up very, very slowly,” says Lieberman. “If you really pay attention to your body and build up slowly, you’ll be fine.”

For more advice and information, check out Barefoot Ken Bob and Barefoot Ted’s websites, as well as the barefoot running forum on the Runner’s World community site.

As a nerd and a runner myself, I could hardly let these claims go untested. So for the past month, I’ve been running once or twice a week in the Vibram FiveFingers KSO model, with occasional stints done completely barefoot.

Following the advice of experts like Ferber and Barefoot Ken Bob, I started out gradually. To kick things off, I stopped in the middle of a four-mile run one dewy June morning, took off my running shoes, and did a half mile completely barefoot on a smooth, graded dirt path. It felt great, like getting a foot massage on the run. But my tender soles were stinging by the time I was done, and continued to sting for the rest of the day.

My second barefoot run, on asphalt, went more poorly: I tore up the tip of my fourth toe on the rough surface and spent the rest of my (shod) run bleeding into my sock. That was enough to make the attraction of Vibram’s foot gloves clear: They give you much of the feeling of running barefoot, and give the same workout to your arches, Achilles tendons and calves — except you don’t have to worry about injuries from rough terrain.

But by the end of the third week I’d worked up to three or four miles in the VFFs and nearly a mile at a time barefoot. My feet got tougher, but were still happier with the rubber covering, especially on rocky ground and asphalt. Each run felt better than the last, though it’s clear that my calves and my Achilles tendons in particular are not used to this kind of a workout. I suffered from sore tendons and, after one longer run, a sore ankle.

That’s a common problem among runners who transition too quickly to barefoot or minimal footwear, says Ferber. He’s seeing many runners jump too enthusiastically into minimal footwear and develop plantar fasciitis as a result.

“Runners are insane — they don’t like to accommodate, they just like to do,” Ferber said.

The key, Ferber says, is to build up ankle strength, transition slowly, and keep barefoot running — like other really taxing parts of training, such as hill work or speed work — to just 10 percent of your overall regimen. (See sidebar.)

Despite the soreness, I enjoy running barefoot — or nearly barefoot. I’m building foot and calf muscles I never know I had, More than that, it just feels fun. And, truth be told, I enjoy the puzzled looks from the people I pass on the trail and the coworkers I terrorize with my freaky rubber gorilla feet.

“We’re designed for persistence hunting, which is a mix of running and walking,” says McDougall. “What’s built into that kind of running is a sense of pleasure. You are designed and built and perfect for this activity, and it should be enjoyable and fun.”

So, like other nerds, I’ll probably keep happily running in the Vibrams, while eagerly awaiting the results from the next running shoe study.

See also:

• These Toes Were Made for Running
• Your Shoes Are Killing Your Feet

Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Serious Cyclists' Sperm Suffers

Obama, pope meet on abortion, Mideast peace (AFP)

AFP - US President Barack Obama on Friday promised to try to reduce abortions in his country during his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, while also discussing Middle East peace efforts.

Software Watches Ball Games, Calls Plays

Shuttle Launch Threatened by Storms

World’s First Self-Irrigating Desert Plant Discovered

A desert plant has apparently figured out how to water itself.

Ecologists had been puzzling over the desert rhubarb for years: Instead of the tiny, spiky leaves found on most desert plants, this rare rhubarb boasts lush green leaves up to a meter wide. Now scientists from the University of Haifa-Oranim in Israel have discovered that ridges in the plant’s giant leaves actually collect water and channel it down to the plant’s root system, harvesting up to 16 times more water than any other plant in the region.

“It is the first example of a self-irrigating plant,” said plant biologist Gidi Ne’eman, a co-author on the paper published in March in Naturwissenschaften, a German journal of ecology. “This is the only case we know, but in other places in the world there might be additional plants that use the same adaptions.”

The desert rhubarb grows in the mountainous deserts of Israel and Jordan, where there’s only about 75mm of rainfall each year. Even during the rainy season, the region’s light rainfalls often don’t penetrate the rocky soil of the desert. Plants with large leaves and a deep root system, like the desert rhubarb, typically can’t survive in such an arid climate.

But when the researchers measured the plant’s water absorption during a light rain, they discovered that water infiltrated the soil 10 times deeper around the desert rhubarb then in surrounding areas. Upon closer examination, scientists discovered deep grooves around the plant’s veins, which are coated in a waxy cuticle that helps channel water down to the root.

“Even in the slightest rains,” the researchers wrote, “the typical plant harvests more than 4,300 cubic centimeters of water per year and enjoys a water regime of about 427 millimeters per year, equivalent to the water supply in a Mediterranean climate.”

See Also:

• Smarty Plants: Inside the World’s Only Plant-Intelligence Lab
• Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry. How Three Regions …

Image: Gidi Ne’eman, University of Haifa–Oranim

Obama tells pope he wants to reduce abortions in U.S. (Reuters)

Reuters - President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.

Storms NASA's only worry for shuttle launch (AP)

AP - Thunderstorms are threatening to delay NASA's planned launch Saturday night of space shuttle Endeavour, already running a month late.

Hey, Einstein! Is That You?

Ancient Etruscan Ointment Discovered in Italy

Win tickets to a BFI screening of Moonwalk One

Freaky Robot Is a Real Einstein

BLOG: 'Skylab-Esperance Day'

SLIDE SHOW: The Week's Top Stories

Shaping the future of science teaching

As concerns increase about the 'dumbing down' of science education, the government has launched a consultation on the new GCSE science curriculum

It's the last couple weeks of term and most teachers and students are winding down and enjoying the kind of fun activities we treat ourselves to at this time of year – school trips to the zoo or museum, lunchtime concerts and (whisper it) the occasional movie in class. Not exactly the best time for the government to launch a consultation on the new GCSE science curriculum you'd think, but that's exactly what they've done.

I found out about this by luck – I was at a meeting of educators where, pretty much as usual, I was ranting about the many flaws in the way we teach science. My year 10 students had just sat a module for the 21st Century Science GCSE and I was fuming that the exam was so appalling. As one of my students put it, the exam seemed "more like an English comprehension than a science paper".

The next day, I received an email from one of the other people at the meeting telling me that the government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) was about to launch a consultation to "gain views on proposed changes to the content and assessment of science GCSEs". This was the first I had heard about this.

The "dumbing down" of science education has been in the news regularly over the past couple of years. It would be poor form for me as a scientist to offer anecdotal evidence of this but, until recently, anecdotal evidence was pretty much all I had. Earlier this year, however, the government's regulator of qualifications and exams, Ofqual, published a report stating that there were "significant causes for concern" with the way that science is taught and assessed at GCSE level.

So the QCA consultation should be a good thing – a chance to fix things.

I really don't want to be negative about this but, as I've already suggested, I think there's a big problem with the fact that this consultation is taking place at a time when teachers are switching off from school concerns and about to go on six weeks of holiday.

And there are a couple of other problems. First, very few science teachers I know seem to be aware that this consultation is happening at all. Second, the recommended way of contributing to the consultation is to complete a time-consuming questionnaire after having read a couple of other lengthy documents.

I spoke to a woman on the team at the QCA responsible for the consultation and asked what they were doing to encourage teachers to take part. Her rather terse response was that "an email has been sent to all schools". It's not an email that has reached me.

This is an important issue. There are not enough students going on to study science at A-level. Top universities are complaining about the low standard of the few students who do choose to study science beyond school. There's a shortage of good science teachers.

These factors combine to create a crisis that has damaging implications for the future of British science and the economy. The QCA consultation is an opportunity for science teachers to play a role in improving things and I think as many science teachers as possible should take part.

So I've set up a website at www.howscience.co.uk to provide what I hope will be an easier way for teachers to contribute to the consultation. It's a place where teachers, and anyone else with an opinion, can leave their thoughts on the question "how should we teach science?"

While the QCA would prefer you to fill in their questionnaire, they have assured me that they will read a summary of the comments left on my website. I'm hoping it will provide some food for thought for those who will make the final decisions about the future of GCSE Science. I'm also hoping it will become a space for teachers to engage in discussion and debate with each other.

If you're a teacher who cares about how we teach and assess science at GCSE, fill in the QCA questionnaire or send me an email – alom.shaha@gmail.com – with your thoughts on how we should teach science. The deadline for the QCA to receive contributions to their consultation is 11 September, and I will be taking contributions at www.howscience.co.uk until Monday 7 September.

Alom Shaha is a science teacher and filmmaker

Americans value science, but not all of it: survey

New Moon Map Reveals Shrouded Craters

SLIDE SHOW: Cosmic Crash Spotted by Chandra

Oldest dinosaur burrow discovered

Molecules Made into Motors

BLOG: DustCart Robot Does the Dirty Work

Zubbles: World's First Colored Bubbles

The moon walkers

What did it take to become a member of the most exclusive club in human history?

The 12 members of the most exclusive club in human history had many things in common.

All came from a highly technical background and all but one studied aeronautical or astronautical engineering. Growing up, many had been Boy Scouts and even more were active members of their University fraternities. They all went on to study for further degrees – many at military test pilot schools – and almost all of them saw active service in cold war skies, often flying nuclear weapons behind enemy lines.

These high-risk professions often claimed the lives of those to the left and right of them and frequently it was only luck that kept them alive long enough to apply to Nasa.

We might expect such parallel lives in men picked through a selection process devised to seek out "the right stuff". But despite the similarities in their CVs, no two men were from the same mould, as became evident in the years after Apollo.

First: Neil Armstrong, commander Apollo 11

Trips into space: Two – Gemini VIII, Apollo 11
Time spent on the moon: 21 hours 31 minutes 20 seconds
Most famous for: Being the first man to set foot on the moon

Neil Armstrong was born in Ohio in 1930. His path to the moon began in 1949 while he was studying aerospace engineering, when he was called up by the US Navy. He flew 78 combat missions in Korea before returning to finish his studies. Armstrong became a test pilot in 1955 and then joined Nasa in 1962 as part of its second astronaut intake. He had only spent 10 hours in space when he was selected as commander on the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

In the summer of 1969 he became the first man to walk on the moon.

Following Apollo 11 Armstrong announced that he did not plan to fly in space again. He left Nasa in August 1971 and taught for eight years at the University of Cincinnati. During the 1980s he entered the world of business and became a spokesperson for Chrysler as well as serving on the boards of a number of companies. His authorised biography First Man was published in 2005, setting straight many of the rumours and myths that had emerged over the decades.

Second: Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot Apollo 11

Flights into space: Two – Apollo 8, Apollo 11
Time on the moon: 21h 31m 20s
Most famous for: Being the principal storyteller for mankind's first landing on the moon

Buzz Aldrin was born in 1930 in New Jersey. His father was an aviation pioneer and instilled in him a lifelong love of flying. He went on to join the US Air Force, flying 66 combat missions in Korea and carrying nuclear weapons under his wing during the cold war. Unlike the other astronaut candidates Aldrin was not a test pilot and believed his only chance of being selected was to study the emerging field of orbital rendezvous.

It worked and in 1963 he joined Nasa's third intake of astronauts. He was soon known affectionately as Dr Rendezvous. Twists of fate and a talent for working problems through propelled him onto the crew for Apollo 11 and in July 1969 he co-piloted the first landing on the moon.

Aldrin didn't enjoy the limelight that followed and later admitted he would have preferred to put his scientific talents to greater use on a later, less historic flight. Alcoholism and depression plagued the next 15 years of his life. But in the mid-1980s he returned to orbital mechanics, devising what became known as the Aldrin cycler, a spacecraft trajectory that he believes could carry humans to Mars.

Aldrin remains a tireless promoter of human space exploration.

Third: Pete Conrad, commander Apollo 12

Number of spaceflights: Four – Gemini 5, 11, Apollo 12, Skylab 4
Time spent on the moon: 31h 31m 12s
Most famous for: His first words on the moon – "That might have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me"

Charles 'Pete' Conrad was born in 1930 in Pennsylvania. As a student he battled dyslexia, but was obsessed with flying and obtained his pilot's licence before leaving high school. After graduating in aeronautical engineering from Princeton, he joined the US Navy and became a flight instructor. He was rejected by Nasa at his first attempt in 1959 because he rebelled against the barrage of medical tests, but was admitted after his second try in 1962.

By the time he flew to the moon as the commander of Apollo 12, Conrad was one of Nasa's most experienced astronauts. He returned to space on Skylab 2, spending 28 days in orbit in 1973.

Beyond Nasa, Conrad entered the aerospace industry and worked for a number of companies, including McDonnell Douglas. He died on 8 July 1999 in a motorcycle crash and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Fourth: Alan Bean, lunar module pilot Apollo 12

Flights into space: Two – Apollo 12, Skylab 3
Time spent on the moon: 31h 31m 12s
Most famous for: Being the only painter to have visited another world

Alan Bean was born in 1932 in Texas. From an early age he was fascinated by aircraft, filling his bedroom with models and dreaming of fictional heroes like Buck Rogers. Spurred on by his mother, he won a university scholarship to study aeronautical engineering and went on to become a naval aviator, a job he considered the coolest in the world until he saw Al Sheppard flying in a rocket. The event fuelled Bean's ambition to become an astronaut and ultimately catapulted him into Nasa on his second attempt in 1963.

He considered himself to be one of the more fearful astronauts, but luck and his good friend Pete Conrad intervened and plucked him from obscurity to fly to the moon on Apollo 12. He stayed on at Nasa after Apollo and returned to space on the Skylab 3 mission, spending almost two months in orbit in 1973.

Bean retired from Nasa in 1981 and has devoted himself to painting ever since. Looking back on his Apollo days he says he feels lucky. "Someone had to go, and they happened to pick me."

Fifth: Alan Shepard, commander Apollo 14

Flights into space: Two – Freedom 7, Apollo 14
Time spent on the moon: 1d 9h 30m 29s
Most famous for: Being the first American to fly into space and the first man to play golf on the moon

Alan Shepard was born in November 1923. He became the second person to fly into space on 5 May 1961, less than a month after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight. Unlike Gagarin, who parachuted the last few thousand feet to Earth as planned, Shepard rode his craft right back to the surface and splashed down in the Pacific, technically making him the first man to fly all the way into space and back.

As a US Navy test pilot he'd logged over 8,000 hours of flying time, and was selected as one of Nasa's original Mercury 7 astronauts in 1959. Following America's first historic manned spaceflight, Shepard was diagnosed with Meniere's disease which removed him from flight status for several years. Corrective surgery eventually cleared him to fly on Apollo 14 in 1971. At the age of 47, he became the oldest astronaut to step onto the moon.

Shepard retired from Nasa in August 1971 and served on the boards of several corporations. After a two-year battle with leukaemia he died on 21 July 1998.

Sixth: Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot Apollo 14

Flights into space: One – Apollo 14
Time spent on the moon: 1d 9h 30m 29s
Most famous for: Throwing the first 'javelin' on the moon. On the way back from the moon, he conducted his own research into consciousness and ESP

Edgar Mitchell was born in Texas in 1930. When he was a child, a barnstormer landed on his parent's farm and took him up for a ride. The sense of freedom he felt on that first flight spurred him on to gain his own pilot's licence by the age of 14.

Mitchell's attention turned to space after the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and he was seconded from the Navy to Nasa in 1966. Serving as backup pilot for Apollo 10, he later was assigned to the mission scheduled as Apollo 13, but which got switched to Apollo 14 at the last minute – winning him a walk on the moon. Of this experience he says he found the lunar surface a welcoming place, and in his exhilaration at first stepping onto the surface he joked: "I think they put champagne in the water."

It was on the way back that his life changed when he had an epiphany that he describes as "bliss – almost like being in love". The experience inspired him, after retiring from Nasa in 1972, to set up the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which conducts and supports research into areas that more mainstream scientists do not entertain, such as psychic events.

Seventh: David Scott, commander Apollo 15

Flights into space: Three – Gemini VIII, Apollo 9, Apollo 15
Time spent on the moon: 2d 18h 53s
Most famous for: Driving the first lunar rover on the moon; dropping a hammer and a feather simultaneously on the moon to prove a theory of Galileo's

David Scott was born in Texas in June 1932. At the age of three, after seeing his father flying a Jenny biplane in formation, he became hooked on flight. Pushed hard by his father he won a scholarship to West Point and distinguished himself in 1954 by finishing 5th out of 644 students. He elected to join the US Air Force, flying cold war fighter jet missions over Europe and later studying at MIT.

He applied to Nasa in 1966 and joined group three. During the next five years he flew the most missions of this group. In 1971 he became the seventh man on the moon when he commanded the first full science expedition, driving the first rover vehicle into the lunar highlands.

On returning to Earth Scott hoped his mission had inspired those who watched from Earth – reminding us at his press conference that "the mind is a fire to be ignited, not a vessel to be filled". Through his work on the film sets of Apollo 13 and other movies he has continued to ignite fires in millions more minds ever since.

Eighth: Jim Irwin, lunar module pilot Apollo 15

Flights into space: One – Apollo 15
Time spent on the moon: 2d 18h 54m 53s
Most famous for: Founding his High Flight Ministry and searching for Noah's Ark

James Irwin was born in March 1930 in Pennsylvania. He joined the US Air Force after university and graduated from the prestigious Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1963. Despite being involved in a plane crash in 1961 in which he almost lost a leg, Irwin qualified as an astronaut in 1966 and went on to land on the moon with Dave Scott in 1971.

Due to long working hours and the dehydration Irwin suffered on this mission he had a minor heart attack near the end of the day they left the moon. Resting during the return flight he made a good recovery, but he suffered a bigger heart attack a few months later. On the moon Irwin says he felt God's presence and after retiring from Nasa in 1972 he founded his High Flight Ministry.

In 1991, Jim Irwin suffered a third and fatal heart attack near his home in Colorado, becoming the first of the moon walkers to pass away.

Ninth: John Young, commander Apollo 16

Flights into space: Six: Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, STS-9
Time spent on the moon: 2d 23h 02m 13s
Most famous for: Flying more spacecraft than anyone else in history; having the lowest heart rate during a Saturn V launch – just 70 beats per minute

John Young was born in California in September 1930. As a child, he avidly read books about space and idolised the likes of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. He holds the distinction of being the most experienced astronaut of the 20th century having flown two Gemini missions in Earth orbit and flown twice to the moon, although he only landed once, on Apollo 16. He almost flew to the moon a third time when Gene Cernan suffered a sporting injury a few months before Apollo 17.

After Apollo, he went on to command the first space shuttle flight to orbit the Earth in 1981 and flew a second shuttle mission in 1983. Including the lunar rover he has 'piloted' a record five different types of spacecraft. Despite his distinguished career, Young was critical of Nasa after the Challenger Disaster in 1986 and was subsequently removed from active astronaut status. But he stayed on until he retired at the age of 74 and still supports human spaceflight operations there today.

Of the moon he says that every time he looks at it he still can't believe we're not going back.

Tenth: Charlie Duke, lunar module pilot Apollo 16

Flights into space: One – Apollo 16
Time spent on the moon: 2d 23h 02m 13s
Most famous for: Being Capcom on Apollo 11 and declaring "Roger Tranquility, we copy you down. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue ... we're breathing again"

Charlie Duke was born in October 1935 in North Carolina. As a boy he loved Wild West films, but he always saw himself as a flying ace – craving the speed. He joined the Air Force in 1957 and flew dangerous cold war sorties over Europe before becoming a research test pilot, flying the legendary F-104 Starfighter to the edge of space. In April 1966 he was selected for Nasa's fifth group of astronauts and, after key mission control roles supporting Apollos 10, 11 and 13, he made his one and only spaceflight on Apollo 16 in 1972, becoming the youngest man to walk on the moon at the age of 36.

Duke retired from Nasa in 1976 and became a successful businessman before realising that his path in life led in another direction. His turning point came at a bible study class near his home in Texas, where Duke opened his mind to Christianity. He has devoted his life since to spreading the teachings of Jesus. Of Apollo, Duke says "my walk on the moon only lasted three days but his walk with God is forever."

Eleventh: Gene Cernan, commander Apollo 17

Flights into space: Three – Gemini 12, Apollo 10, Apollo 17
Time spent on moon: 3d 02h 59m 40s
Most famous for: Being the last man to stand on the moon, in December 1972

Eugene Cernan was born in Chicago in March 1934. As a child he was fascinated by the black-and-white Movietone newsreels that played in the cinema's during the second world war. He loved the reports about brave US pilots and he knew he wanted to join their ranks. He trained as a fighter pilot at Miramar, later known as the Top Gun School.

But when Al Shepard became the first American in space Cernan realised he had to be an astronaut. He joined Nasa in its third astronaut intake in 1963 to work on Gemini and Apollo. On his Gemini flight Cernan performed a difficult and pioneering spacewalk during which he became dangerously overheated. But his greatest challenge came in 1972 when he commanded Apollo 17, becoming the last person to walk on the moon (since he was the last to re-enter the module).

He retired from Nasa in 1976 after the Apollo-Soyuz test programme and went into private business. On his place in history he says: "Here I am at the turn of the millennium and I'm still the last man to have walked on the moon, [it's] somewhat disappointing. It says more about what we have not done than about what we have done."

Twelve: Harrison Schmitt, lunar module pilot Apollo 17

Flights into space: 1 – Apollo 17
Time spent on the moon: 3d 02h 59m 40s
Most famous for: Being the only professional geologist to visit the moon; taking the most reproduced photograph in human history – the "Blue Marble" picture of Earth; singing "I was strolling on the moon one day ..."

Harrison "Jack" Schmitt was born in New Mexico in July 1935. He is the only man to have walked on the moon but never served in the military. Following in his father's footsteps he studied geology and then went on to work at the US Geological Survey's Astrogeology Centre at Flagstaff, Arizona.

When Nasa began to recruit "scientist astronauts" in 1964, Schmitt was one of the first to be admitted. From the start, the scientist astronauts were seen as outsiders who were non-essential in the race to the moon. But Schmitt worked tirelessly to enthuse the other astronauts about geology and got his own chance to practise lunar fieldwork on his Apollo 17 flight in 1972.

He resigned from Nasa in 1975 to run for election as a senator for New Mexico, winning and serving a single term before his defeat in 1982. Since then he has worked as a consultant in business, geology and space exploration. He is a persistent advocate of returning to the lunar surface, declaring: "We owe the future of humankind another walk on the moon."

Christopher Riley is the author of the new Haynes guide: Apollo 11 – An Owner's Workshop Manual. He curates the online Apollo film archive at Footagevault.com

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Happy birthday, Nikola Tesla

Electric motors, power generation, electricity delivered over great distances, radio and even those sparking towers in the Frankenstein films - a Yugoslav-born electrical engineer is the one to thank

Happy birthday, Nikola Tesla - although you aren't alive today, having died in poverty on 7 January 1943 (having been born on 10 July 1856). Perhaps you're spinning in your grave - which might be possible if some of the inventions inspired by your work on electromagnetism and forces are being used.

Many children are familiar with the Tesla coil - used at science demonstrations and lectures to demonstrate what happens when you discharge a high voltage (but low current: it's current that kills, not voltage) over a small space. Films of Frankenstein often show, somewhat anachronistically, Tesla coils discharging lightning-like bolts like billy-o.

Tesla, an ethnic Serb from Smiljan, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, started out his engineering life working for a telephone company in Budapest in 1881, aged 24. He'd already studied physics and maths; While there - while walking in a park, in fact - he had an inspiration and solved the equations relating to a revolving magnetic field. Which he then drew in the ground with a stick and explained to a friend. Quite a patient friend, one suspects.

Not much to you, perhaps, but those equations govern the induction motor, which is now the most common form of electric motor: put three coils around an outside former, and put a rotating element inside. If you run a current through the outside coils, and get the timing just right, then you create a current (and hence magnetic force) in the coils in the inside. So the inside rotor turns, but it doesn't have to touch the outer part: less friction means less energy used. (Compare that method to the carbon brushes needed in standard DC motors, which wear away where they touch the inner rotor.)

But it's in the development of mains electricity - the underpinning of our modern age - that Tesla really rules. When Americans tell the story of Thomas Edison, the famous inventor of the gramophone, and whose name is usually attached to the invention of the light bulb, Tesla's name is frequently left out.

However Tesla, who became an American citizen in 1891, worked with Edison for years, improving many of the early inventions and turning them into something workable. (The two were introduced in 1884, when Tesla came to the US, by a letter from a mutual friend to Edison which read "I know of two great men. One is you and the other is this young man.")

Yet it's thanks to Tesla, not Edison, that we have electricity coming out of plugs, and that we even have power stations able to generate serious amounts of energy. He won "the war of the currents" with Edison, who was convinced that direct current (DC) - the sort that comes out of an ordinary battery - was the way forward for power generation and distribution. Tesla was able to show that alternating current (AC) - which swaps its polarity at a regular rate, 50 times a second in UK mains electricity - was far more efficient (you don't lose anything like as much energy in transmitting it over long distances).

Even though Edison took to electrocuting dogs in public displays to show just how dangerous AC was (no, really), Tesla won the day. Where DC could only be transmitted for a couple of miles before the resistance of the lines reduced it to nothing, AC can be transmitted at high voltages for many times that distance. (A side note: did you know that the distribution equipment - transformers, transmission lines - is 80% of the cost of running an electricity company? The power generation is only 20%. Which is why even if we had free electricity generation - say from nuclear fusion - the upkeep of the distribution network would still mean you'd get a bill every quarter. Quite probably it would still be for the house next door which isn't on the same provider, too.)

And to quote his biography,

Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light , laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla's turbines and vertical take off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.

Then again, he also had ideas for the "death ray" - what we might now recognise as a directed energy weapon - and an ion-propelled aircraft (which was proven to be feasible).

However his life ended sadly: he spent the last ten years of his life in the two-room suite 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, having sold his patents and racked up substantial debts. After his death, the New York Supreme court ruled that he - rather than Marconi - invented the radio.

Even Google has noticed - given that New York State some time ago proclaimed today as Tesla's birthday, and that the corner of 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan has a street sign saying "Nikola Tesla corner".

If they were sensible, it would be a rotating sign, But you can't have everything.

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