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Telescope

Gamma Ray Burst Captured In Early Stages


Science Daily
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:01 UTC
gamma ray burst
© NASA
Illustration of GRB.

UK astronomers, using a telescope aboard the NASA Swift Satellite, have captured information from the early stages of a gamma ray burst - the most violent and luminous explosions occurring in the Universe since the Big Bang.

Swift is able to both locate and point at gamma ray bursts (GRBs) far quicker than any other telescope, so by using its Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) the astronomers were able to obtain an ultraviolet spectrum of a GRB just 251 seconds after its onset - the earliest ever captured. Further use of the instrument in this way will allow them to calculate the distance and brightness of GRBs within a few hundred seconds of their initial outburst, and gather new information about the causes of bursts and the galaxies they originate from.

It is currently thought that some GRBs are caused by immense explosions following the collapse of the core of a rapidly rotating, high-mass star into a black hole, but there are still many mysteries surrounding them.
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Telescope

Lunar probe's crash was likely not well observed

Rachel Courtland
New Scientist
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:48 UTC
Observers seem to have had little or no warning that China's Chang'e 1 lunar orbiter was going to crash into the Moon on Sunday, meaning little scientific data was likely gleaned from the impact. The lack of information has been a hallmark of the mission, which launched in October 2007.

Chang'e 1 crashed into the Moon on Sunday in a planned decommissioning, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

In doing so, Chang'e 1 joined the ranks of the European Space Agency's SMART-1, which was sent crashing into the Moon in 2006 after the craft began running low on fuel. The crash was an opportunity to study the physics of lunar impacts, a rare occasion when something of known mass and velocity ploughed into the lunar surface.

SMART-1's demise was well documented. Plans were broadcast in advance, and ground telescopes were able to catch the flash of its impact and monitor the spread of debris.
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Frog

Lizard she-males get ahead


Australian National University
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:44 UTC
Image
© Martin Whiting, WITS
Augrabies Flat Lizard 'she-males' can
survive longer by avoiding competition from
older men.
The Augrabies Flat Lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi), a star of Sir David Attenborough's recent series Life in Cold Blood, adds another twist to its tale. A team of South African and Australian researchers have discovered that some males of this dramatically coloured lizard mimic females during early maturity and thereby avoid the costs of broadcasting their masculinity.
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Ark

US: Oldest fossilized brain found in fish from Midwest


Associated Press
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:21 UTC
Washington - A 300-million-year-old fossilized brain has been discovered by researchers studying a type of fish that once lived in what is now Kansas and Oklahoma.

"Fossilized brains are unusual, and this is by far the oldest known example," said John Maisey, curator in the division of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
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Evil Rays

Developing countries drive explosion in global mobile phone use

Chris Tryhorn
The Guardian
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:04 UTC
More than half the world's population now pay to use a mobile phone and nearly a quarter use the internet, as developing countries rapidly adopt new communications technologies.

By the end of last year there were an estimated 4.1bn mobile subscriptions, up from 1bn in 2002, according to a report published today by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an agency of the UN.

That represents six-in-ten of the world's population, with developing countries accounting for about two-thirds of the mobile phones in use, compared with less than half of subscriptions in 2002. Over the same period, fixed-line subscriptions rose more modestly, from 1bn to 1.27bn, indicating that many people in the developing world are bypassing the older technology altogether.
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Display

Facebook users suffer viral surge

Mark Ward
British Broadcasting Corporation
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:40 UTC
Image

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg ruled out policing applications
Facebook has been targeted by malicious hackers seeking to steal valuable data from members.

The social network site has been hit by five separate security problems in the last seven days, say security experts.

By creating fake messages padded with details of Facebook members the thieves are capitalising on the trust and social links that drive the network.

Security firms warn that the popularity of social networking sites makes them a tempting target for hi-tech thieves.
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Laptop

Notebooks may offer hackers private data gateway

Kelvin Soh
Reuters
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:32 UTC
Taipei - Netbook web surfers beware. That low-cost netbook you're using could be a high-speed gateway into your life, bank accounts, passwords and other personal data.

Netbooks have made headlines since their 2007 launch, making PCs accessible to millions of non-traditional users. But their cheap cost could also carry a steep price tag due to lax security that makes them easier prey for viruses and hackers.

Since their introduction less than two years ago by Taiwan's Asustek, nearly all major PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo, have jumped on the netbook bandwagon.
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Telescope

Scientists Find Asteroids Are Missing in The Asteroid Belt, and Possibly Why

Lori Stiles
The University of Arizona
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:22 UTC
University of Arizona scientists have uncovered a curious case of missing asteroids.

The main asteroid belt is a zone containing millions of rocky objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The scientists find that there ought to be more asteroids there than researchers observe. The missing asteroids may be evidence of an event that took place about 4 billion years ago, when the solar system's giant planets migrated to their present locations.

UA planetary sciences graduate student David A. Minton and UA planetary sciences professor Renu Malhotra say missing asteroids is an important piece of evidence to support an idea that the early solar system underwent a violent episode of giant planet migration that might possibly be responsible for a heavy asteroidal bombardment of the inner planets.
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Telescope

Scientists Look to Solve Mysterious Moon Flashes

Richard Lovett
National Geographic News
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:14 UTC
Image
© Arlin Crotts
Astronomer Arlin Crotts is trying to solve a 400-year-old puzzle.

Ever since the invention of the telescope, said the Columbia University astrophysicist, observers around the world have occasionally watched small areas of the moon brighten or "turn fuzzy." Sometimes they even turn reddish.

Because the bright patches are ephemeral, lasting only last a few minutes, these events have come to be known as transient lunar phenomena, or TLPs. "About 1,500 of these have been reported," Crotts said.
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Sherlock

Do These Mysterious Stones Mark the Site of the Garden of Eden?

Tom Cox
Daily Mail
Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:10 UTC
Stone 1
© Unknown
The site has been described as 'extraordinary' and 'the most important' site in the world.
For the old Kurdish shepherd, it was just another burning hot day in the rolling plains of eastern Turkey. Following his flock over the arid hillsides, he passed the single mulberry tree, which the locals regarded as 'sacred'. The bells on his sheep tinkled in the stillness. Then he spotted something. Crouching down, he brushed away the dust, and exposed a strange, large, oblong stone.

The man looked left and right: there were similar stone rectangles, peeping from the sands. Calling his dog to heel, the shepherd resolved to inform someone of his finds when he got back to the village. Maybe the stones were important.

They certainly were important. The solitary Kurdish man, on that summer's day in 1994, had made the greatest archaeological discovery in 50 years. Others would say he'd made the greatest archaeological discovery ever: a site that has revolutionised the way we look at human history, the origin of religion - and perhaps even the truth behind the Garden of Eden.
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