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Telescope

Compact galaxies in early universe pack a big punch


ESA/Hubble Information Centre
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:51 UTC


compact galaxies
©Credit: NASA, ESA, P. van Dokkum (Yale University), M. Franx (Leiden University, The Netherlands), and G. Illingworth (University of California and Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz)
These images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show nine compact, ultra-dense galaxies as they appeared 11 billion years ago. The galaxies are only 5,000 light-years across and yet are 200 billion times more massive than the Sun.

Imagine receiving an announcement touting the birth of a baby 50 centimetres long and weighing 80 kilograms. After reading this puzzling message, you would immediately think the baby's weight was a misprint.

Astronomers looking at galaxies in the Universe's distant past received a similar perplexing announcement when they found nine young, compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun. The galaxies, each only 5,000 light-years across, are a fraction of the size of today's grownup galaxies but contain approximately the same number of stars. Each galaxy could fit inside the central hub of our Milky Way Galaxy.
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Display

Beating The Codebreakers With Quantum Cryptography


Science Daily
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:53 UTC
Quantum cryptography may be essentially solved, but getting the funky physics to work on disciplined computer networks is a whole new headache.

Cryptography is an arms race, but the finish line may be fast approaching. Up to now, each time the codemakers made a better mousetrap, codebreakers breed a better mouse. But quantum cryptography theoretically could outpace the codebreakers and win the race. Forever.

Already the current state of the art in classical encryption, 128-bit RSA, can be cracked with enough raw, brute force computing power available to organisations like the US National Security Agency. And the advent of quantum computing will make it even simpler. The gold standard for secret communication will be truly dead.

SECOQC bank transfer demostration
©SECOQC
SECOQC bank transfer demonstration.
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Bulb

Russia inches towards mission to Mars with breathable gas mixture


Russia Today
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:46 UTC
Air is crucial to human life, and the absence of a breathable atmosphere is one of the main obstacles to discovering other planets. Russian scientists have reproduced a gas mixture that human beings may breathe on the way to Mars and when on the Red Planet.

Staff at the Moscow Biomedical Problems Institute have constructed an experimental capsule and reproduced within it the conditions that might be encountered during a mission to Mars.

capsule
©Unknown
Experimental capsule (computer graphics)
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Bug

Scientists succeed in mimicking the way spiders spin their super-strength webs

Steve Connor
The Independent
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:10 UTC


Spiders Web
©Alamy
Spiders store silk proteins in a watery solution and are able to convert them into solid fibres within a fraction of a second

The dream of producing spider silk in industrial quantities has come a step closer to reality after scientists managed to mimic the way silk protein is spun naturally into fibres that are potentially stronger than steel.

Researchers have been trying to make artificial spider silk for decades because of its unusual and potentially lucrative properties. In addition to its extreme tensile strength, spider silk is highly elastic, and has the added advantage of being biodegradable. In the past, engineers have suggested a variety of potential uses of the silk, from bullet-proof vests and lightweight material for parachutes, to extremely strong ropes and fishing nets that will decompose quickly if lost at sea.
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Telescope

Hubble telescope reveals clashing galaxies

Roger Highfield
Daily Telegraph
Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:30 UTC


Galatic collision
©Unknown
ARP 272 is a collision between two spiral galaxies, NGC 6050 and IC 1179, and is located in the constellation of Hercules.

This majestic image reveals the vast shockwaves, rings and long tails of stars that form when galaxies collide, dance or tear each other apart.
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Magnify

Human line 'nearly split in two'

Paul Rincon
BBC News
Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:19 UTC
Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study suggests.

The genetic split in Africa resulted in distinct populations that lived in isolation for as much as 100,000 years, the scientists say. This could have been caused by arid conditions driving a wedge between humans in eastern and southern Africa.

Details have been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
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Bulb

Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows

Sara Goudarzi
National Geographic News
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:04 UTC


Neandertal skull
©Kenneth Garrett/NGS
A file photo shows the skull of a Neandertal woman dubbed Krapina 3 for the cave in the Balkans where her bones were unearthed. A new analysis of Neandertal remains found in a cave in Iraq provide the first direct evidence that the human ancestors ate plants, researchers say.

Seeds and other material found in the teeth of a Neandertal skeleton unearthed in Iraq provide the first direct evidence that the human ancestors ate plants, researchers say.

Little is known about diet of Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals), although it's widely assumed that they ate more than just meat.
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Pharoah

Iraq Museum Reclaims 700 Stolen Artifacts

Bushra Juhi
Associated Press
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:52 UTC
Iraq's National Museum on Sunday welcomed the return of more than 700 antiquities stolen during the chaos that followed the U.S.-led invasion five years ago.

Golden necklaces, daggers, clay statues, pots, and other artifacts were displayed briefly during a ceremony attended by Syrian and Iraqi officials.

Syrian authorities seized the items from traffickers over the years and handed custody last week to an Iraqi delegation in Damascus.

Mohammad Abbas al-Oreibi, Iraq's acting state minister of tourism and archaeology who led the negotiations with Syria, said he plans to visit Jordan soon to persuade its authorities to turn over more than 150 items.
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Better Earth

'New' ancient Antarctic sediment reveals climate change history

Sherwood W. Wise, Jr.
Florida State University
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:47 UTC
Recent additions to the premier collection of Southern Ocean sediment cores at Florida State University's Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility will give international scientists a close-up look at fluctuations that occurred in Antarctica's ice sheet and marine and terrestrial life as the climate cooled considerably between 20 and 14 million years ago.
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Telescope

Northern Lights Glimmer With Unexpected Trait


sciencedaily.com
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:49 UTC
An international team of scientists has detected that some of the glow of Earth's aurora is polarized, an unexpected state for such emissions. Measurements of this newfound polarization in the Northern Lights may provide scientists with fresh insights into the composition of Earth's upper atmosphere, the configuration of its magnetic field, and the energies of particles from the Sun, the researchers say.

If observed on other planets, the phenomenon might also give clues to the shape of the Sun's magnetic field as it curls around other bodies in the solar system.

Northern Lights
©iStockphoto/Andrew Dawson
The glow of Earth's aurora is polarized, an unexpected state for such emissions. Measurements of this newfound polarization in the Northern Lights may provide scientists with fresh insights into the composition of Earth's upper atmosphere, the configuration of its magnetic field, and the energies of particles from the Sun.
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