BiotechMashup

After more than three decades of service to researchers and staff stationed at the bottom of the world, the dome at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was deconstructed this austral summer.

Culminating a decade of planning, innovation and testing, construction of the world's largest neutrino observatory, installed in the ice of the Antarctic plateau at the geographic South Pole, was successfully completed Dec. 18, 2010, New Zealand time. The last of 86 holes had been drilled and a total of 5,160 optical sensors are now installed to form the main detector -- a cubic kilometer of instrumented ice -- of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located at the National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) Almost 1,900 years ago, the Romans built what continues to be the world's largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world-the Pantheon. The secret is in the light-weight concrete used to build the dome and a process called internal curing. A new paper from NIST reviews the status of modern improvements on this ancient material.

A new dome projection developed in Europe offers a compelling replacement for the flat movie screen. The 'Immersive Dome' puts viewers at the heart of the action, and lets them actively participate. And instead of the conventional surround sound, a three-dimensional aural experience awaits visitors.

Almost 1,900 years ago, the Romans built what continues to be the world's largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world-the Pantheon. The secret is in the light-weight concrete used to build the dome and a process called internal curing. A new paper reviews the status of modern improvements on this ancient material.

(Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) The "Immersive Dome" puts viewers at the heart of the action and lets them actively participate. Instead of the conventional surround sound, a three-dimensional aural experience awaits visitors. At IBC, the trade show for the electronics media industry in Amsterdam, two institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft debut the "Immersive Dome" in Hall 8, Booth C81.

Civil engineers have built an ice dome 10 meters in diameter in Obergurgl, in the Austrian Alps, using an ingenious construction method.

(National Science Foundation) Culminating a decade of planning, innovation and testing, construction of the world's largest neutrino observatory, installed in the ice of the Antarctic plateau at the geographic South Pole, was successfully completed Dec. 18, 2010, New Zealand time.

(National Science Foundation) Biogeochemists have found new evidence linking "Snowball Earth" glacial events to the rise of early animals. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. Study results appear in this week's issue of the journal Nature.The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that, on several occasions, the Earth was covered from pole to pole by a thick sheet of ice lasting for millions of years.