World’s faster supercomputer models origins of the unseen universe

Scientists have for some time postulated that “dark matter” could partially account for evidence of missing mass in the universe, while the hypothetical form of energy known as “dark energy” is the most popular way to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate and accounts for 74 percent [...]

EU launches free EGNOS satnav system

The European Commission has announced the official start of operations of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), a satellite based augmentation system (SBAS) that improves the accuracy of the current US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS system signals from about ten meters to two meters. Like the U.S. GPS, the EGNOS Open [...]

NASA IBEX spacecraft shows where we sit in the galaxy

Move over Google Maps, NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has given scientists the tools to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and where it resides in the Milky Way galaxy. NASA says the new view will change the way researchers study the interaction between our galaxy and sun.
Six months in [...]

Water found on the moon – what will it mean for the future?

Newspapers and websites around the world are buzzing with the news that water and hydroxyl (hydrogen and oxygen) molecules have been found in the polar regions of the moon. NASA announced yesterday that instruments aboard three separate spacecraft revealed that water molecules were present, although in relatively small amounts. It was also discovered that hydroxyl [...]

Swift snaps our best-ever ultraviolet image of neighboring Andromeda Galaxy

In a galaxy far, far away … about 2.5 million light years, in fact, lie approximately 20,000 hot, young stars and dense clusters that comprise the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, was recently captured by an ultraviolet optical telescope aboard NASA’s Swift satellite and delivers the highest-resolution view of [...]

A NEW EQUATION FOR LIFE

Astrobiologists are trying to work out a mathematical equation to quantify how suitable other planets are for life, similar to the famous Drake Equation for judging the chances of contacting extraterrestrial civilizations.
The exercise could help future generations figure out where to look for aliens – or where to settle down. But coming up with a [...]

Surprise In Earth’s Upper Atmosphere: Mode Of Energy Transfer From The Solar Wind

UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere. The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, could improve the safety and reliability of spacecraft that operate in the upper atmosphere.
“It’s like something else is heating the atmosphere besides the sun. This [...]

Arctic warming overtakes 2,000 years of natural cooling

Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reached their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years, new research indicates. The study, which incorporates geologic records and computer simulations, provides new evidence that the Arctic would be cooling if not for greenhouse gas emissions that are overpowering natural climate patterns. The international study, led by [...]

The coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth

When you’re planning your next holiday, a site known as Ridge A that sits 4,053m (2.5 miles) high up on the Antarctic Plateau, will probably be one of the first places to strike off the list. Although the research team that discovered it says it could be the calmest place on Earth, it is also [...]

Newfound world may plunge to fiery doom

A newly discovered planet that whips around its star in less than a day may have been found mere cosmic moments before its demise.
The planet, WASP-18b, is one of the “hot Jupiter” class of planets that are huge in size (10 times the mass of Jupiter in this case), but orbit very close to their [...]

THREE FACES OF A NEBULA

The latest view of the Trifid Nebula serves as fresh evidence that good things definitely come in threes: This star-illuminated cloud of gas and dust gets its name from its three-lobed appearance (via the Latin word “trifidus”), and the European Southern Observatory’s crowd-pleasing picture puts the “three faces” of the nebula on full display.
The Trifid Nebula, [...]

NASA Research Reveals Major Insight Into Evolution of Life on Earth

Humans might not be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, NASA-funded research has found.
By comparing proteins present in more than 3000 different prokaryotes – a type of single-celled organism without a nucleus — molecular biologist James A. Lake from the University of California at [...]

Lightning helps create artificial blood vessels

 
Lightning bolts could help create artificial organs, according to new research by scientists at Texas A&M University.
An electrically charged block of plastic gives way to a series of tunnel-carving lightning bolts when a nail is driven into it. Adding human blood vessel cells to the tunnels could create a template upon which an artificial organ [...]

Researchers found First Discovery of Life’s Building Block in Comet

NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft.
“Glycine is an amino acid used by living organisms to make proteins, and this is the first time an amino acid has been found in a comet,” said Dr. Jamie Elsila of NASA’s Goddard [...]

Health: Genetically-engineered malaria vaccine

There were 247 million cases of malaria and 881,000 deaths worldwide from the disease in 2006, making it one of the world’s most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem, particularly in poverty stricken areas. We’ve previously looked at various proposals to fight the disease, from targeting the mosquitoes that spread it, to [...]

Top 10 New Species of the Year 2008

Each year, Arizona State University’s International Institute for Species Exploration releases a top 10 list of the most interesting new species from the past year. This weekend, the 2009 list came out. The top 10 includes a self-destructing palm, the longest insect, a tiny seahorse, the smallest snake, and caffeine-free coffee beans.
 First on the list [...]

Canadian startup proposes nuclear fusion power plant at a bargain price

Nuclear fusion offers a completely clean method of producing vast amounts of energy. So far the major stumbling block for scientists has been creating a controllable fusion reaction that achieves “net gain”, meaning it gives off more energy than is needed to trigger it. But Canadian startup, General Fusion, is claiming it can build a [...]

Astrorobotic rover aims to visit Apollo 11 site after 40 years

Forty years after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon, plans are afoot to revisit the site to see how the remains have stood up to four decades of radiation and micrometeorite bombardment. One vehicle that may well be used for this expedition is the third prototype lunar robot from Lunar X Prize entrant Astrobotic. [...]

Scientists stick with silicon to extend Moore’s Law

Scientists at Rice University and North Carolina State University have found a method of attaching molecules to semiconducting silicon that may help manufacturers reach past the current limits of Moore’s Law as microprocessors become smaller and more powerful. Moore’s Law, suggested by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965, refers to the number of transistors that [...]

Nanotechnology breakthrough promises cheaper, more efficient solar cells

The quest for alternative fuels has become one of science’s major pre-occupations and finding ways to cheaply produce energy from the sun is a key battlefront. Researchers at Berkeley, California, have found a way to make cheaper, better solar cells using tiny nanopillar semiconductors measuring just billionths of a meter wide. The underlying theory is [...]

Protecting world food supplies with salt-tolerant crops

Salt might be great with popcorn and peanuts, but it’s not so good with soil. The U.N. estimates that the world loses at least three hectares of arable land every minute because of soil salinity. Most crops simply can’t cope with too much salt. Which is why a discovery by a team at the University [...]

In space, worms help study microgravity effects

A transparent roundworm could reveal the biological effects of microgravity and space radiation, and perhaps provide clues on how to protect future human astronauts headed for the moon, Mars and beyond.
The C. elegans worm’s biological responses proved eerily similar to those of humans during a series of experiments aboard the International Space Station in 2004. [...]

Turning the Tide to Energy: New Concept Could Harness the Power of Ocean Waves

NASA researchers who developed a new way to power robotic underwater vehicles believe a spin-off technology could help convert ocean energy into electrical energy on a much larger scale. The researchers hope that clean, renewable energy produced from the motion of the ocean and rivers could potentially meet an important part of the world’s demand [...]

SpacE: NASA Scientists Find Evidence for Liquid Water on a Frozen Early Mars

NASA scientists modeled freezing conditions on Mars to test whether liquid water could have been present to form the surface features of the Martian landscape.
Researchers report that fluids loaded with dissolved minerals containing elements such as silicon, iron, magnesium, potassium and aluminum, can remain in a liquid state at temperatures well below freezing. The results [...]

SpacE: Planet-Hunting Method Succeeds at Last

PASADENA, Calif. — A long-proposed tool for hunting planets has netted its first catch — a Jupiter-like planet orbiting one of the smallest stars known.
The technique, called astrometry, was first attempted 50 years ago to search for planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. It involves measuring the precise motions of a star on the [...]

SpacE: Nearby Star May Be Getting Ready to Explode

Betelgeuse, a star so large its shape can be seen through the Hubble Space Telescope.

 Bye-bye, Betelgeuse?
The nearby, well-known and very bright star may soon explode in a supernova, according to data released by U.C. Berkeley researchers Tuesday.
The red giant Betelgeuse, once so large it would reach out to Jupiter’s orbit if placed in our own [...]

SpacE: NASA To Give Hubble New Life

NASA To Give Hubble New Life With Atlantis Mission Launching Monday 11, 2009

 On Monday, May 11, at 2:01 PM EDT, the space shuttle Atlantis will lift off for the final service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. For close to twenty years, Hubble has dazzled the world with its wonderful images and led to new [...]

SpacE: Atlantis To Launch On Hubble Servicing Mission

Atlantis To Launch On Hubble Servicing Mission May 11
 
Top NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the STS-125 mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope during Thursday’s executive-level Flight Readiness Review at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and determined the shuttle’s equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight.  
“We had [...]

SpacE: In Search of knowledge…..

Modern science tells us that stars are balls of burning gas, located light-years away from the Earth and held in their courses by the force of gravity. But the question of how they got there is one that Professor Arif Babul, an Ismaili cosmologist, researcher, and professor, seeks to understand.
“How did all the stars get [...]

HealtH: Parkinson’s disease will double by 2030

The number of people in the world with Parkinson’s disease will double by 2030, according to Dr Sarwar Siddiqui, Consultant Neurologist, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). Though the cause of the disease is still not known, remarkable progress has been made to answer questions about this disorder of the central
nervous system. What research has shown [...]