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Einstein

Einstein Was Right, Astrophysicists Say


Science Daily
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:49 UTC
Researchers at McGill University's Department of Physics -- along with colleagues from several countries -- have confirmed a long-held prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, via observations of a binary-pulsar star system.

Their results will be published July 3 in the journal Science.

Pulsars are small, ultradense stellar objects left behind after massive stars die and explode as supernovae. They typically have a mass greater than that of our Sun, but compressed to the size of a city like Montreal. They spin at staggering speeds, generate huge gravity fields and emit powerful beams of radio waves along their magnetic poles.

Image
©Daniel Cantin, Darwin Dimensions. McGill University
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Telescope

UK: Astronomy projects hit by £80m cuts

Lewis Smith
The TimesOnline
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:32 UTC
An £80 million hole in funding for physics and astronomy was closed yesterday with the decision to cut or reduce involvement in a range of national and international projects.

The cuts were announced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) after months of controversy over which projects should pay the penalty for the shortfall.

Among the projects to lose their funding are Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network which observes the Sun, and Astrogrid, a virtual observatory. British involvement with BaBar, an American-based study into the differences between matter and antimatter, and Integral, a satellite with the most sensitive gamma ray observatory in space, will come to an end.

Several other projects have had their planned funding reduced including ExoMars, a European Space Agency scheme to land a probe to search for signs of life on Mars, and Minos, which investigates some of the world's tiniest particles.
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Telescope

Spacecraft MESSENGER settles debates and makes new discoveries about planet Mercury


ScienceDaily
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00 UTC
Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for more than 30 years. Now, analyses of data from the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that its magnetic field is actively produced in the planet's core.

Scientists additionally took their first look at the chemical composition of the planet's surface. The tiny craft probed the composition of Mercury's thin atmosphere, sampled charged particles (ions) near the planet, and demonstrated new links between both sets of observations and materials on Mercury's surface. The results are reported in a series of 11 papers published in a special section of Science magazine July 4.
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Magnify

Halifax rescue dog to be cloned: U.S. company


CBC News
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:31 UTC
A Canadian search-and-rescue dog that helped recover the last survivor from the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001, is set to be cloned after winning a contest to be considered the world's "most clone-worthy" dog.
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Telescope

Strange Asteroid Shapes Explained

Lee Pullen
Live Science
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:47 UTC
The asteroids that pepper our solar system come in all shapes, sizes and ages. What causes such a variety among space rocks has been something of a mystery, until now.

Researchers have been using a vast database to study a staggering 11,735 asteroids. They have discovered that asteroids change shape over time, and they think they know the reason why.

main belt is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
©Diagram: Minor Planet Center, Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
The main belt is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and contains countless asteroids.

Gyula Szabó from the University of Szeged [Hungary] is the lead author of the study, which was published in the July edition of Icarus. He explains, "There are several hundred thousand asteroids in our solar system. They orbit the sun, but because they are small their surface gravity is low. This means that many have strange, irregular shapes."

Scientists like Gyula think that about one third of known asteroids belong to groups called "families." These clusters probably formed from piles of debris after larger objects collided.
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Info

Merger of US earth sciences agencies is proposed

Randolph E. Schmid
Associated Press
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:41 UTC
WASHINGTON --From climate change to volcanoes and earthquakes, the world's growing challenges have leaders in earth science proposing a merger of agencies that study the planet.

Creation of a new Earth Systems Science Agency is urged in this week's edition of the journal Science, by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Included in the group making the proposal are former heads of both agencies as well as others who have held science policy positions in government.

"The United States faces unprecedented environmental and economic challenges in the decades ahead. Foremost among them will be climate change, sea-level rise, altered weather patterns, declines in freshwater availability and quality and loss of biodiversity," the group warned.
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Star

US: Planets Align for the 4th of July

Dr. Tony Phillips
Science.NASA.gov
Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:27 UTC
On 4th of July weekend, NASA forecasts lights in the sky. No, not those lights. Look beyond the fireworks. Almost halfway up the western sky, just above the twilight glow of sunset, a trio of worlds is gathering: Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon.

The show gets going on Friday, July 4th. Red Mars and ringed Saturn converge just to the left of the bright star Regulus. The three lights make a pretty 1st-magnitude line in the heavens: sky map.

But that is just the beginning. On Saturday, July 5th, with weekend fireworks at fever pitch, a lovely crescent Moon joins the show. Saturn, Mars, and the Moon trace an even brighter line than the night before: sky map.

Scan a small telescope along the line. You'll see Saturn's rings, the little red disk of Mars, a grand sweep of lunar mountains and craters, and just maybe - flash! - a manmade incendiary. How often do you see fireworks through a telescope?
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Telescope

Gravity Probe B - Results to Date - Does It Show Solar System Motion Consistent with a Binary Twin?


Binary Research Institute
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:04 UTC
It was recently reported by NewScientist that Gravity Probe B received an "F" from the U.S. Government and the project would receive no more funding.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Here's why:
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Info

New DNA Weapon Against Avian Flu Identified


Science Daily
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:57 UTC
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a potential new way to vaccinate against avian flu. By delivering vaccine via DNA constructed to build antigens against flu, along with a minute electric pulse, researchers have immunized experimental animals against various strains of the virus.

This approach could allow for the build up of vaccine reserves that could be easily and effectively dispensed in case of an epidemic.

"This is the first study to show that a single DNA vaccine can induce protection against strains of pandemic flu in many animal models, including primates," says David B. Weiner, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. "With this type of vaccine, we can generate a single construct of a pandemic flu vaccine that will give much broader protection."

Traditional vaccines expose a formulation of a specific strain of flu to the body so it can create immune responses against that specific strain. Conversely, a DNA vaccine becomes part of the cell, giving it the blueprint it needs to build antigens that can induce responses that target diverse strains of pandemic flu.

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Pharoah

Researchers open secret cave under Mexican pyramid

Miguel Angel Gutierrez
Reuters
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:42 UTC
MEXICO CITY - Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization's largest cities.

The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the ancient Aztecs around 1500 AD, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.

Image
©Reuters/Henry Romero
A general view shows the Pyramid of the Sun at the Teotihuacan archaeological site in the outskirts of Mexico City February 2, 2008.

But little is known about the civilization that built the immense city, with its ceremonial architecture and geometric temples, and then torched and abandoned it around 700 AD.

Archeologists are now revisiting a cave system that is buried 20 feet beneath the towering Pyramid of the Sun and extends into a tunnel stretching for some 295 feet (90 meters) with a height of 8 feet.

They say new excavations begun this month could be the key to unlocking information about the sacred rituals of the people who inhabited the city, later dubbed "The Place Where Men Become Gods" by the Aztecs who believed it was a divine site.
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