| January 31, 2003 |
| Nanotechnology could
save the ozone layer: Whilst experimenting with nanospheres
and perfluorodecalin, a liquid used in the production of synthetic
blood, researchers have stumbled across a phenomenon that could ultimately
help remove ozone-harming chemicals from the atmosphere. |
| Clean air act reduces
acid rain: The federal Clean Air Act of 1990 appears to
be successful in reducing two major types of air pollutants that contribute
to acid rain, and signs of recovery are beginning to occur in lakes
and streams in the Midwest and East. |
| Environmental satellite
readied to detect solar storms: The nation's newest environmental
satellite, GOES-12, equipped with an advanced instrument for real-time
solar forecasting is being readied for operations. |
| Surfactant curtails
nanotube clumping in water: Scientists have long touted
carbon nanotubes as a futuristic means of delivering drugs, fortifying
brittle materials and conducting current in miniaturized circuits. |
| ISS Expedition Six
Science Operations Report: During the last week, the crew
focused on research that studies how the human body adapts to living
in space. |
| Antibodies critical
for fighting West Nile Virus infection: Researchers have
found that immune cells called B cells and the antibodies they produce
play a critical early role in defending the body against West Nile
Virus. |
January 29, 2003 |
| Ocean surface
saltiness influences El Nino forecasts: NASA sponsored
scientists have discovered by knowing the salt content of the ocean's
surface, they may be able to improve the ability to predict El Nino
events. |
| NASA joins snow
study over the Sea of Japan: NASA and two Japanese government
agencies are collaborating on a snowfall study over Wakasa Bay, Japan.,
using NASA's Earth Observing System Aqua satellite, research aircraft
and coastal radars to gather data. |
| Wind Against Fuel
And Energy Crisis: Efficient and reliable construction
of windmills has been developed by the specialists of the Open Joint-Stock
Company Moscow Engineering Plant VPERED. |
| Hikers may disturb
breeding spotted owls: The threatened Mexican spotted
owl lives in coniferous forests in the Southwest and Mexico. In Utah,
the birds nest, roost and hunt almost entirely in steep, narrow canyons. |
| Landers feel the
heat on space missions: Space is certainly a cold place,
but spacecraft have to face extremely high temperatures when they are
exposed to the Sun's radiation. |
| New cargo ship docks
with International Space Station: The tenth Russian Progress
resupply vehicle to the International Space Station is scheduled to
dock at approximately 9:55 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Feb. 4. |
January 29, 2003
|
| Free-Electron Laser
explores promise of carbon nanotubes: Jefferson Lab’s
Free-Electron Laser used to explore the fundamental science of how
and why nanotubes form, paying close attention to the atomic and molecular
details. |
| Space water recycling
experiment flying high aboard Space Shuttle: In space,
other than air, none is more precious than water. Improving the careful
use of that critical resource is the goal of the Vapor Compression
Distillation Flight Experiment, which is undergoing tests during the
STS-107 Space Shuttle mission launched January 16. |
| Oxford research
traces early human migration from Africa to Asia: New
genetic study confirms that some of the earliest migrants travelled
into Asia by a southern route, possibly along the coasts of what are
now Pakistan and India. |
| Scientists solve
puzzle of how influenza builds its infectious seeds: By
solving a long-standing puzzle about how the influenza virus assembles
its genetic contents into infectious particles that enable the virus
to spread from cell to cell, scientists have opened a new gateway to
a better understanding of one of the world's most virulent diseases. |
| Controlling phosphorus
pollution in wetlands more important than believed: A
study led by a Duke University scientist suggests that the current
emphasis on controlling upstream nitrogen pollution fails to adequately
address the impacts on water quality of another potential contaminant,
phosphorus. |
| Monsoon in West Africa
- Classic continuity hides a dual-cycle rainfal regime: Since
the end of the 1960s West Africa has continuously been suffering hard
drought. The rainfall deficit for the 1970s and 1980s, calculated to
compare with the 1950s and 1960s, thus reached as high as 50% over
the northern part of the Sahel. |
January 28, 2003 |
| Research reveals
how Strep bacterium evades immune system: Like a well-trained
soldier with honed survival skills, the common bacterium, Group A Streptococcus
(GAS), sometimes can endure battle with our inborn (innate) immune
system and cause widespread disease. |
| South Pole telescope
follows trail of neutrinos into deepest reaches of the universe: Researchers
can now pinpoint direction of elusive subatomic particles key to understanding
black holes, other cosmic events. |
| More people are getting
sick from eating fresh fruits: Salmonella, E. coli, shigellosis,
hepatitis A, and Norwalk -- these food-borne diseases can produce symptoms
that run from the mild to life-threatening outbreaks. |
| Study is first
to confirm link between exercise and changes in brain: Three
key areas of the brain adversely affected by aging show the greatest
benefit when a person stays physically fit. |
| NASA's SORCE satellite
soars into space to catch some rays: NASA's Solar Radiation
and Climate Experiment (SORCE) successfully launched Saturday aboard
a Pegasus XL rocket over the Atlantic Ocean. |
January 27, 2003 |
| ESA on the trail
of the earliest stars: Somewhere in the distant, old Universe,
a population of stars hide undetected. They were the first to form
after the birth of the Universe and are supposed to be far bigger in
mass than any star visible today. |
| Poor amino acid breakdown
increases the risk of heart disease: People with a genetically
determined, reduced breakdown of the amino acid homocysteine have an
increased risk of coronary heart disease compared to healthy people. |
| Increased Blood Flow
Could Lead To Healthier Blood Vessels: Scientists have
found a new way in which exercise may protect against heart disease.
Increased blood flow can mimic the powerful anti-inflammatory actions
of certain glucocorticoid steroid drugs. |
| Research reveals
that Gulf Stream is not responsible for mild winters in Europe: Research
suggests that ocean circulation plays less of a role in climate change
than previously thought. New research shows that the Gulf Stream has
little effect on winter temperatures between Europe and eastern North
America. |
| ISS Expedition Six
Science Operations Report: Expedition Six Zeolite Crystal
Growth research was successfully completed this week aboard the International
Space Station. |
January 24, 2003 |
| Human gene affects
memory: NIH scientists have shown that a common gene variant
influences memory for events in humans by altering a growth factor
in the brain's memory hub. |
| World's Most Intriguing
Lake Formed by Tectonic Activity - New data shed light on Lake Vostok: The
cavity which became Lake Vostok, a body of water located beneath more
than 4 km of ice in the middle of East Antarctica, was formed by tectonic
processes in the earth's crust millions of years ago. |
| Nano-competence for
hard thin films: Computer hard disks are becoming increasingly
small and powerful. To improve their surface properties, researchers
are devising super-hard, smooth and extremely thin diamond-like carbon
coatings - on all kinds of micromechanical devices. |
| NASA spacecraft
set to catch some rays: A new NASA satellite is ready
to leave the sandy coast of Florida and head to space to catch some
rays. The SORCE (Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment) mission will
study our sun's influence on our planet's climate by measuring how
the star affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation,
clouds, and oceans. |
| Distant World in
Peril Discovered from La Silla - Giant Exoplanet Orbits Giant Star: When,
in a distant future, the Sun begins to expand and evolves into a giant
star, the surface temperature on the Earth will rise dramatically and
our home planet will eventually be incinerated by that central body. |
| Shock waves through
the Solar Nebula could explain water-rich space rocks: Shock
waves through icy parts of the solar nebula could well be the mechanism
that enriched meteorites with water -- water that some believe provided
an otherwise dry Earth with oceans. |
| Prehistoric tusks
point to earliest fossil evidence of differences between sexes: The
large tusks of an animal that roamed Earth before the dinosaurs may
provide the earliest evidence yet of male-female distinctions in land
animals that existed millions of years ago. |
| Rocket to measure
auroral waves: University of Alaska Fairbanks Poker Flat
Research Range will open its 2003 launch season today with a single-rocket
mission designed to measure high-frequency wave signals in connection
with the aurora. |
January 23, 2003 |
| NANOTECHNOLOGY: New
Advances |
| Prehistoric NW
Indians hunted fur seals of sustainable basis: Archaeological
evidence from prehistoric hunters in Washington and Alaska adds new
fuel to the ongoing debate over the belief that humans have a propensity
to over-exploit their natural resources, and also indicates that early
Indians' harvest of northern fur seals was sustainable. |
| Bone marrow generates
new neurons in human brain: A new study strongly suggests
that some cells from bone marrow can enter the human brain and generate
new neurons and other types of brain cells. |
| CERN Receives First
U.S.-built Component for Large Hadron Collider: In a milestone
for global science collaboration, CERN took delivery today of the first
U.S.-built contribution to what will be the world's highest-energy
particle accelerator. The superconducting magnet, built at the U.S.
Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, will become
a key component of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). |
| Chemists discover
new molecules that excel at shedding electrons: Anyone
who's taken chemistry might know that the element cesium is the hands-down
champ when it comes to ionizing, or giving up electrons. And up until
about six months ago, they'd be right. |
| SORCE spacecraft
to be launched Janury 25th: The launch of the NASA-sponsored
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) spacecraft aboard an
Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) air-launched Pegasus vehicle is
scheduled for deployment over the Atlantic Ocean from OSC's L-1011
carrier aircraft on Saturday, Jan. 25th. |
January 22, 2003 |
| Scientists find geochemical
fingerprint of World Trade Center collapse: Dust and debris
deposits associated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center have left a distinct fingerprint on the sedimentary
record in New York Harbor, scientists have found. |
| Understanding Infertility
- The Role of Genes in the Control of Reproduction: There
has been a significant decline in fertility in different species for
various reasons. Understanding the mechanisms that control early embryonic
development may allow the design of strategies to enhance fertility
of improve contraception. |
| ESA's new challenge
with Rosetta: After the initial disappointment of postponing
the Rosetta mission, ESA’s Director of Science David Southwood
expressed his firm determination to accept the delay and take it on
as a galvanising challenge. |
| Research project
promises faster, cheaper and more reliable microchips: A
project between academia and industry is aiming to spark a world electronics
revolution by producing faster, cheaper and more reliable microchips. |
| How science can train
better athletes: Teach a man to fish and you will feed
him for a lifetime. But equip him with a high-tech gadget from the
University of Michigan and he will teach himself to cast farther and
more accurately in just a few hours of practice. And he might even
improve his golf game as well. |
January 21, 2003 |
| Longest Ice Cores
Retrieved from Canadian Yukon: In their quest to understand
what drives the climate of North America, a team of American, Canadian
and Japanese scientists is studying ice cores collected from the highest
mountain range in Canada. |
| Giant elephant tusk
found in desert - find thought to be eight million years old: Two
University of York graduates have found and preserved the giant tusk
of the largest elephant fossil of its type ever to be found in the
Middle East. |
| Researchers discover
how embryo attaches to the uterus: Researchers funded
by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how an embryo
initially attaches to the wall of the uterus -- what appears to be
one of the earliest steps needed to establish a successful pregnancy. |
| NASA Mission Will
Look at Clouds From Both Sides: CloudSat, the most advanced
radar designed to measure the properties of clouds, will provide the
first global measurements of cloud thickness, height, water and ice
content, and a wide range of precipitation data linked to cloud development. |
| Scientists Develop
Technique to Determine Molecular Structure of Heterogeneous Surfaces: Scientists
have refined a technique that uses the very intense light emitted by
the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at the U.S. Department
of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory to determine the structure
of chemically heterogeneous surfaces with a submillimeter resolution. |
| Air-conditioning of
buildings using solar energy: 2% of buildings capable
of having solar air-conditioning installed, could stop emitting 27,000
tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. |
| ISS Expedition Six
Science Operations Report: With the International Space
Station crew's attention on its spacewalk on Wednesday, the focus of
research activity was on human lung function in space and in the low-pressure
environment of the spacesuits. |
January 17, 2003 |
| Lightning really
does strike more than twice: NASA-funded scientists have
recently learned that cloud-to-ground lightning frequently strikes
the ground in two or more places and that the chances of being struck
are about 45 percent higher than what people commonly assume. |
| Rare Asian dolphin
threatened by human activities: According to a recent
scientific survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its
partners, the Irrawaddy dolphin may vanish from the Ayeyarwady River
(formerly Irrawaddy) without efforts to protect these aquatic mammals
from human activities along the river. |
| Isolated Star-Forming
Cloud Discovered in Intracluster Space: New observations
by the Japanese 8-m Subaru telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope
(VLT) have shown that massive stars can also form in isolation, far
from the luminous parts of galaxies. |
| Superconducting sensor
helps detecting gravitation waves: To be able to detect
gravitation waves in space, physicist have to measure truly minimal
displacements: ten billion times smaller than the size of an atom. |
| Scientists take
first 'full-body scan' of evolving thunderstorm: A doctor
gets a better view inside a patient by probing the body with CAT and
MRI scanning equipment. Now, NASA meteorologists have done a kind of
full-body scan of an evolving thunderstorm in the tropics, using advanced
radar equipment to provide a remarkable picture of the storm's anatomy. |
| Influences on Quality
of Life in Early Old Age: A golden early old age is within
sight for many people, says new research funded by the Economic and
Social Research Council, which demonstrates that the good life is much
less influenced by your past – the job your father had, for instance – than
by the present, when two of the most important influences are having
choices about working or not working, and having friends in whom you
can confide. |
January 16, 2003 |
| International team
uses genomic tools to discover gene for childhood genetic disorder: In
an advance illustrating the power of genomic information, an international
team of researchers today announced it has identified a gene that causes
Leigh Syndrome, French Canadian type (LSFC), a fatal inherited disorder
affecting 1 in 2000 live births each year in the Saguenay-Lac St Jean
region of Quebec. |
| Eye's light-detection
system revealed: A research team led by Johns Hopkins
scientists has discovered that a special, tiny group of cells at the
back of the eye help tell the brain how much light there is, causing
the pupil to get bigger or smaller. |
| Flight research
to focus on fundamental biology: Understanding how the
body adapts to space flight is the goal of four fundamental biology
experiments set to fly on this month's space shuttle mission. The 16-day
flight is dedicated to investigating human physiology and other areas
of research beneficial to people on Earth. |
| ESA payloads feature
on Space Shuttle research mission: European scientists
will be 'turning off' the effects of gravity during the STS-107 Space
Shuttle research mission in order to gain a better understanding of
processes in medicine, technology and science.. |
| Researchers Visualize
the Binding of Proteins to the Nuclear Surface: Not only
the genetic information of individual cells, but also that of the entire
organism is stored within the cell nucleus. |
| International Space
Station Status Report: Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox
and NASA Science Officer Don Pettit continued the assembly of the International
Space Station 6 and set the stage for a series of complex shuttle construction
flights to the complex later this year during a 6-hour, 51-minute spacewalk
staged out of the Quest Airlock. |
January 15, 2003 |
| Dinosaurs experienced
climate changes before K-T collision: Climate change had
little to do with the demise of the dinosaurs, but the last million
years before their extinction had a complex pattern of warming and
cooling events that are important to our understanding of the end of
their reign, according to geologists. |
| Field Museum uncovers
evidence behind man-eating; revises legend of the infamous man-eating
lions of Tsavo: Legend has it that in 1898, two Tsavo
lions killed at least 135 workers constructing a bridge in Kenya, temporarily
stopping the construction of a railroad linking Lake Victoria with
the port of Mombasa. Lt. Col. John Patterson eventually killed the
lions, which are now on exhibit at The Field Museum, Chicago. |
| NASA Instrument Captures
Early Antarctic Ice Shelf Melting: An international research
team using data from NASA's SeaWinds instrument aboard the Quick Scatterometer
spacecraft has detected the earliest yet recorded pre-summer melting
event in a section of Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf. |
| Designer molecules
correct RNA splicing defects: With a high-tech fix for
faulty cellular editing, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
have moved a step closer to developing treatments for a host of diseases
as diverse as breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis. |
| Facing extreme ice
conditions, coast guard, NSF deploy second icebreaker to Antarctica: Extremely
unusual ice conditions at McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's
(NSF) logistics and science hub in Antarctica, will require two Coast
Guard icebreakers to ensure that resupply and refueling ships can reach
the station. |
| NASA tests environmentally
friendly rocket fuel: NASA has successfully tested an
alternative rocket fuel that may increase operational safety and reduce
costs over current solid fuels. The new paraffin-based fuel could eventually
be used in Space Shuttle booster rockets. |
| Rosetta launch postponed: Having
considered the conclusions of the Review Board set up to advise on the
launch of Rosetta, Arianespace and the European Space Agency have decided
on a postponement. |
January 14, 2003 |
| Discovery of Nearest
Known Brown Dwarf: A team of European astronomers has
discovered a Brown Dwarf object (a 'failed' star) less than 12 light-years
from the Sun. It is the nearest yet known. |
| Human heart tissue
generated from embryonic stem cells: Human heart tissue
has for the first time been created in the laboratory. Generated from
embryonic stem cells, the tissue could be used for testing and creating
new drugs, for genetic studies, for tissue engineering and for studying
the effects of various stresses on the heart. |
| Researchers seek
heart of Black Hole mystery: New research has shown astronomers
may not yet have uncovered the mystery at the heart of one of the Galaxy's
oldest star systems, the globular cluster M15. |
| Bulimia And Impulsive
Behavior Are Associated In Adolescence: This is the first
study on bulimia and impulsivity in a large non-selected adolescent
population sample. Bulimic behaviour was associated with bullying,
truancy, excessive drinking and sexual disinhibition among both sexes. |
| Plasma probe scientists
ready for Rosetta blast-off: Scientists who built and
will control the instruments to investigate plasma changes around a
comet describe their contribution to the ten year long mission at a
pre-launch press briefing in London. |
| NASA successfully
launches the ICESat/CHIPS satellites: The NASA Ice, Cloud
and Land Elevation satellite (ICESat) and Cosmic Hot Interstellar Spectrometer
(CHIPS) satellite lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
aboard Boeing's Delta II rocket. |
| Deepest Wide-Field
Colour Image in the Southern Sky: The combined efforts
of three European teams of astronomers, targeting the same sky field
in the southern constellation Fornax (The Oven) have enabled them to
construct a very deep, true-colour image - opening an exceptionally
clear view towards the distant universe. |
January 13, 2003 |
| Scientists witness
end of the Dark Ages: Researchers using NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope reported today they are seeing the conclusion of the
cosmic epoch called the Dark Ages, a time about a billion years after
the Big Bang, when newly-formed stars and galaxies were just starting
to become visible. |
| Insight into the
genetic pathways that drive segmentation like clockwork: Researchers
at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research are gaining new insight
into the molecular players involved in the process of vertebral column
formation in the embryo. |
| Three Distant Quasars
Found at the Edge of the Universe: Astronomers with the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey have discovered three of the oldest, most
distant quasars yet found -- quasars close to the Big Bang that began
the universe. |
| Evolution of a
Galaxy-Spanning Magnetic Fields Explained: Researchers
at the University of Rochester have uncovered how giant magnetic fields
up to a billion, billion miles across, such as the one that envelopes
our galaxy, are able to take shape despite a mystery that suggested
they should collapse almost before they'd begun to form. |
| ISS Expedition Six
Science Operations Report: Remotely operated science combined
with the human touch got the second Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment
off to a good start during the past week. |
| Robotic telescope
catches best record yet of optical afterglow of gamma-ray burst: A
team of University of California, Berkeley, astronomers announced on
Thursday, Jan. 9 that its robotic telescope has captured one of the
earliest images ever of the visible afterglow of a gamma-ray burst. |
| International Space
Station Status Report: Preparations continue in orbit
for the 50th spacewalk dedicated to assembly and maintenance of the
International Space Station. Commander Ken Bowersox and NASA ISS Science
Officer Don Pettit are scheduled to step outside Wednesday about 6:30
a.m. CST. |
January 10, 2003 |
| Astronomers identify
new type of star: A new type of star has been discovered
lurking as a low mass component in a very compact binary star system. |
| Novel self-assembly
processes for nanotech applications: Researchers at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a series of novel
techniques in nanotechnology that hold promise for applications ranging
from highly targeted pharmaceutical therapies, to development of nutrition-enhanced
foods known as nutraceuticals, to nanoscopic sensors that might one
day advance medical imaging and diagnostics. |
| Endangered Northern
Right Whales Exposed to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning: With
fewer than 300 northern right whales remaining, the seriously endangered
species may face yet another obstacle to recovery. The right whale
is regularly exposed to the neurotoxins responsible for paralytic shellfish
poisoning (PSP) through feeding on contaminated zooplankton. |
| Black Holes form
first, Galaxies follow: New Quasar Study: A study at Ohio
State University has uncovered more evidence that black holes form
before the galaxies that contain them. |
| Cosmic Hot Interstellar
Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) ready to operate on 'The Bubble': NASA's
Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) satellite, scheduled
for launch on Jan. 11, will study the gases and dust in space, which
are believed to be the basic building blocks of stars and planets. |
| Astronomers poised
to apply novel way to look for comets beyond Neptune: Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory astronomers are major partners in a scientific
collaboration that will conduct an extremely novel search for small,
comet-like bodies in the outer solar system using four half-meter telescopes. |
| Stellar cocoons
in surprisingly harsh environment: University of Colorado
at Boulder astronomers have discovered what they believe to be dozens
of potential stellar cocoons within a giant star-forming region that
may harbor disks of dust and gas that could one day form planetary
systems. |
January 9, 2003 |
| Two global pollutants
work to offset each other: University of Colorado at Boulder
researchers have found, ironically, that two pollutants -- carbon dioxide
and hydrocarbons emitted from agricultural forest trees -- offset each
other somewhat in mitigating air quality problems. |
| Next-generation
solar cells could put power stations in space: Someday,
large-scale solar power stations in space could beam electricity to
the surface of the moon, the earth and other planets, decreasing our
dependence on a dwindling fossil-fuel supply. |
| Coronal activity
may be 'buried alive' in red giant stars: When Earth's
sun expands into a red giant star in roughly five billion years, long
after Earth has become uninhabitable, the hydrogen core will be burned
out and the bloated outer shell will be cool and murky. |
| Missing link found
between old and young star clusters: One and a half billion
years ago the small, inconspicuous galaxy Messier 82 (M82) almost smashed
into its large, massive neighbour galaxy Messier 81 (M81), causing
a frenzy of star formation. |
| Mammoth project reveals
frozen secrets: In an article published in the first edition
of Proceedings of the Physical Society in 1874, John Rae writes about
the physical properties of ice and mammoth remains. He put forward
a theory as to why so many of the mammoth skeletons found near the
Yenesei river in Siberia had been found with their heads pointing southwards. |
| Blocking one protein
helps cancer cells die of natural causes: Researchers
have identified a protein fragment that keeps at least one major tumor
suppressor gene from preventing cancer like it should. The fragment
belongs to a class of proteins known as apoptotic enhancers (ASPP),
named for their ability to stimulate programmed cell death, or apoptosis,
by the p53 gene. |
January 8, 2003 |
| Polar bear headed
for extinction: Unless the pace of global warming is abated,
polar bears could disappear within 100 years, says a University of
Alberta expert in Arctic ecosystems. |
| New insights on autism: Studies
indicate that the number of diagnosed cases of Autism, or autistic spectrum
disorder, is increasing with around 0.6% of the population affected. Early
infantile autism was first described almost 60 years ago and autism has
been the subject of intense research activities ever since, however the
origin of the condition is still not understood. |
| Hitchhiking rocks
provide details of glacial melting in West Antarctic: Rocks
deposited by glaciers on mountain ranges in West Antarctica have given
scientists the most direct evidence yet that parts of the ice sheet
are on a long-term, natural trajectory of melting. |
| Biggest Zoom Lense
in space extends the reach of the Hubble Telescope: The
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope,
has used a natural zoom lens in space to boost its view of the distant
universe. |
| Rosetta - a comet
ride to solve planetary mysteries: Rosetta's name comes
from the famous Rosetta stone, that almost 200 years ago led to the
deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. In a similar way, scientists
hope that the Rosetta spacecraft will unlock the mysteries of the Solar
System. |
| Finding life away
from Earth will be tough task, says noted paleontologist: Earth's
most ancient fossils are hard to find. Some scientists think a few
of the earliest fossils might still be preserved in Earth rocks blasted
to the moon by an asteroid or meteor. Others believe much of the evidence
has been erased forever by the constant heat and pressure of plate
tectonics. |
| Wetlands clean
selenium from agricultural runoff: Researchers from the
University of California have found a natural detox program for selenium-contaminated
farm runoff in the form of wetland vegetation and microbes. |
| Purdue researchers
discover basis for biological clock: The biological clock – timekeeper
for virtually every activity within living things, from sleep patterns
to respiration – is a single protein, Purdue University researchers
report. |
January 7, 2003 |
| Leading cloning
experts challenge Clonaid to prove claim: In reaction
to the recent claim by Clonaid that it had produced the first human
clone, three international cloning experts emphasized that current
cloning techniques have been shown to seriously compromise the health
of cloned offspring. |
| Research finds
life 1,000 feet beneath ocean floor: A new study has discovered
an abundance of microbial life deep beneath the ocean floor in ancient
basalt that forms part of the Earth's crust, in research that once
more expands the realm of seemingly hostile or remote environments
in which living organisms can apparently thrive. |
| Breast feeding can
relieve pain during medical procedures: Breast feeding
during a painful procedure reduces the response to pain in newborn
infants, finds a study in this week's BMJ. |
| Milky Way monster
stars in cosmic reality show: The longest X-ray look yet
at the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center has given
astronomers unprecedented access to its life and times. The new data
from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed that our galaxy's central
black hole is prone to occasional large outbursts and explosions. |
| Scientists discover
global warming linked to increase in tropopause height over past two
decades: Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory have discovered another fingerprint of human effects on
global climate. Recent research has shown that increases in the height
of the tropopause over the past two decades are directly linked to
ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases. |
| Honey Bee Genome
being sequenced: The department of entomology at Texas
A&M University is abuzz with the news the honey bee genome is being
sequenced by the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing
Center, especially since Texas A&M helped that project take flight. |
| 'Dark energy' dominates
the universe: Dartmouth researcher is building a case
for a dark energy dominated universe. Dark energy, the mysterious energy
with unusual anti-gravitational properties, has been the subject of
great debate among cosmologists. |
| NASA begins New
Year with International Arctic Ozone study: NASA researchers,
and more than 350 international scientists are working together this
winter to measure ozone and other atmospheric gases. The scientists
will use aircraft, large and small balloons, ground-based instruments
and satellites. |
January 6, 2003 |
| New study ties moderate
beer drinking to lower heart attack risk: A beer a day
may help keep heart attacks away, according to a group of Israeli researchers.
In preliminary clinical studies of a group of men with coronary artery
disease, the researchers showed that drinking one beer a day for a
month produced changes in blood chemistry that are associated with
a reduced risk of heart attack. |
| Earth and Asteroid
play orbital mouse and cat game: The first asteroid discovered
to orbit the Sun in nearly the same path as Earth will make its closest
approach to our planet this month before scurrying away for 95 years. |
| Effects of global
warming already being felt on plants and animals worldwide: Global
warming is having a significant impact on hundreds of plant and animal
species around the world - although the most dramatic effects may not
be felt for decades, according to a new study in the journal Nature. |
| Vast ring of stars
found around Milky Way galaxy: A vast, but previously
unknown structure has been discovered around our own Milky Way galaxy
by an international team of astronomers. |
| Breakthrough brings
laser light to new regions of the spectrum: Combining
concepts from electromagnetic radiation research and fiber optics,
researchers have created an extreme-ultraviolet, laser-like beam capable
of producing tightly-focused light in a region of the electromagnetic
spectrum not previously accessible to scientists. |
| ISS Expedition Six
Science Operations Report: The International Space Station
science team successfully completed the first Expedition Six research
with the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment on Wednesday. |
| Giant Black Holes
and Disks on the Balance: Quasars and active galactic
nuclei (AGN) are likely powered by matter accretion onto a super-massive
black hole located at their center. Before being swallowed by the black
hole, matter spirals towards the center, while forming an accretion
disc. |
| Volcanoes on Jovian
moon spew salt into atmosphere: Astronomers at The Johns
Hopkins University, the Observatoire de Paris, and other institutions
have solved a nearly 30-year-old mystery surrounding Jupiter's moon
Io, showing that volcanoes there appear to be shooting gaseous salt
into the moon's thin atmosphere. |
| International Space
Station Status Report: The Year 2003 began quietly for
the International Space Station Expedition 6 crew. Commander Ken Bowersox,
Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit
crossed the international date line 15 times during the last day of
2002, officially greeting the new year at midnight Greenwich Mean Time
during their sleep shift. |
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