Science & TechnologyS


Sherlock

Researchers: Molecular Forklifts Overcome Obstacle To 'Smart Dust'


PhysOrg
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:15 UTC
Algae is a livid green giveaway of nutrient pollution in a lake. Scientists would love to reproduce that action in tiny particles that would turn different colors if exposed to biological weapons, food spoilage or signs of poor health in the blood.

Now, University of Florida engineering researchers have tapped the working parts of cells to clear a major hurdle to creating such "smart dust."

The feat, which signifies a new approach to technology known as the "lab on a chip," is to be reported Sunday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"Instead of just changing one part of an existing system, we have a new and different way of doing things," said Henry Hess, a UF assistant professor of materials science and engineering and the senior author of the paper. "And we can do it this way because of building blocks from bionanotechnology, and that's what makes it very exciting."
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Telescope

Lulin comet can be sighted with moderate telescopes


Meri News
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:12 UTC
space debris
© Unknown
In February, the Earth will have a visitor. The Comet Lulin is going to cut through the planet's orbit by the end of next month. The comet will be seen to naked eyes in the East and South-East of the morning sky. The comet was discovered in 2007.

Comet Lulin is already visible before dawn between the constellations Scorpio and Libra and can be sighted in the East to South-East morning sky with telescopes.

Comet Lulin, with two tails, is said to be a visual phenomenon when it cuts across Earth's orbital plane in late February.

Amateur astronomers claim to have spotted the comet through their mid-sized telescopes despite it's being faint at the moment.
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Magnify

Researchers Find Moors Built with Powdered Bones

Ciaran Giles
The Associated Press/PhysOrg
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:15 UTC
A chance discovery of a medieval clay oven has revealed that Moorish architects used powdered animal bones to protect the walls of fortresses close to the Alhambra Palace in southern Spain.

The finding represents the first evidence of powdered bones being used in protective coats, or patinas, in Moorish architecture, said Granada University geologist Carolina Cardell, who headed a yearlong scientific research project at the site.

"We know this method was used in Greek, Roman and Celtic structures, but this is the first report of it in a Moorish building," Cardell told The Associated Press.

Cardell's team's findings were published Wednesday in the U.S. journal Analytical Chemistry.
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Laptop

Royal Navy warships lose email in virus infection


The Register
Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:57 UTC
Windows for Warships™ combat kit unaffected, says MoD

The Ministry of Defence confirmed today that it has suffered virus infections which have shut down "a small number" of MoD systems, most notably including admin networks aboard Royal Navy warships.

The Navy computers infected are the NavyStar (N*) system, based on a server cabinet and cable-networked PCs on each warship and used for purposes such as storekeeping, email and similar support functions. N* ship nets connect to wider networks by shore connection when vessels are in harbour and using satcomms when at sea.

The system is supplied by Fujitsu, with most of the Navy's fleet being equipped in the early years of the century. N* is intended to stay in service, coming under the Defence Information Infrastructure now being rolled out.
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Meteor

New Lunar Meteorite Found In Antarctica


Science Daily
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:39 UTC
lunar meteorite
© Case Western Reserve UniversityThe new meteorite specimen in the Antarctic Meteorite Processing Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The meteorite was broken open for initial characterization, revealing a pinkish-tan interior and a granular texture unusual in meteorites. The cube in the images is 1 cm on a side and is used to establish a consistent frame of reference for the geometry of the specimen; labeling the top, bottom, sides, etc.

Although last year's inclement weather resulted in fewer Antarctic meteorite recoveries than usual, scientists have recently discovered that one of the specimens is a rare breed -- a type of lunar meteorite seen only once before.

The new specimen was found by a field party from the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) headquartered at Case Western Reserve University. The meteorite was discovered on Dec. 11, 2005, on an icefield in the Miller Range of the Transantarctic Mountains, roughly 750 km from the South Pole.

This 142.2 g black rock, slightly larger than a golfball and officially designated MIL 05035, was one of 238 meteorites collected by ANSMET during the 2005-2006 austral summer. Heavy snows limited search efforts during much of the remainder of the six-week field season, making this meteorite, discovered just 600 m from camp, a particularly welcome find.
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Info

Did dark energy give us our cosmos?

Jessica Griggs
New Scientist
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:00 UTC
Image
© Stock.xchngThanks to dark energy, the universe may have grown from the ashes of a previous one.

Our universe may have arisen from seeds preserved in a universe that existed before the big bang - all thanks to dark energy.

One of the models put forward to explain how the universe began proposes that it is just the latest phase in a never-ending cycle. Proposed in 2002 by Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and Neil Turok from the University of Cambridge, the model argues that our universe exists on a 3D region called a "brane" separated from similar branes by a fourth spatial dimension. Under the right conditions, these branes collide, triggering a big-bang-like event. After the collision, the branes bounce apart, before another collision occurs many billions of years later.

This model initially struggled to explain the ripples in the temperature and density of the universe that can be seen in the cosmic microwave background radiation left over from the big bang. The only way to make calculations based on the cyclic model produce the observed pattern of ripples is to add extra dimensions, as predicted by string theory, on top of the four spatial dimensions that the initial scenario envisaged.
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Laptop

UK: Virus 'sends RAF e-mails to Russia'

Michael Smith
The Sunday Times
Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:05 UTC
The Ministry of Defence is investigating a major breach in security amid claims that all e-mail traffic from a number of RAF stations has been sent to a Russian internet server. The e-mails were allegedly diverted to the Russian sender by a worm virus that entered the MoD systems 12 days ago bringing down computers and blocking e-mail communications across the military.

The allegations have been relayed to Mark Pritchard, a Conservative MP, by an official who is concerned that the MoD is failing to take cybersecurity seriously. Pritchard said the official "told me he could not say whether there was any evidence of active Russian involvement but that e-mail traffic from some RAF stations was sent to a Russian internet server".
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Attention

Downadup virus exposes millions of PCs to hijack

Barry Neild
CNN
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:59 UTC
lap top
© AFP/GettyExperts say a single infected laptop could expose an entire network to the worm.
A new sleeper virus that could allow hackers to steal financial and personal information has now spread to more than eight million computers in what industry analysts say is one of the most serious infections they have ever seen.

The Downadup or Conficker worm exploits a bug in Microsoft Windows to infect mainly corporate networks, where -- although it has yet to cause any harm -- it potentially exposes infected PCs to hijack.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at anti-virus firm F-Secure, says while the purpose of the worm is unclear, its unique "phone home" design, linking back to its point of origin, means it can receive further orders to wreak havoc.
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People

Asymmetrical brain gives up its secrets

Kate Melville
ScienceAGoGo.com
Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:00 UTC
brain
Two newly identified proteins are responsible for the tug-of-war between the two sides of the developing human brain that causes it to become asymmetrical, a property that is critical in allowing the two brain hemispheres to specialize and operate more efficiently. Left-right asymmetry is present in the brains of most animals, but until now scientists did not understand the mechanisms that brought it about. Now, in a new study, researchers have shown that a competition between the two sides causes this asymmetry.

By studying brain development in zebrafish, University College London researcher Jenny Regan and colleagues have shown that a protein known as Fgf8 acts as a magnet to attract nerve cells to one side of the brain. "Fgf8 is found in both sides of the brain, leading to a 'tug-of-war' competition between the two sides to attract the migrating group of nerve cells," explains Regan. "This isn't a fair fight, however - Fgf8 on the left-hand side has an ally to help it win the battle."
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Magnify

How Protein Receptors On Cells Switch On And Off


PhysOrg
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:00 UTC
Protein
© UnknownCornell researchers report on how so-called ESCRT machinery on a cell's surface uses a ring-like filament as part of its transport function. This illustration shows HIV budding from the surface of a host cell. The ESCRT ring helps HIV deform the membrane and thereby bud out of the cell forming the free virus that can then go on to infect healthy cells in AIDS patients.
Cornell researchers have provided new insight into the molecular mechanism underlying an essential cellular system. They have discovered how receptors on cell surfaces turn off signals from the cell's environment, a function that is vital for cell functions such as growth, division and death.

The findings, reported in the Jan. 9 issue of the journal Cell (136:1), have important implications for better understanding cancer, AIDS, neurodegenerative disorders and other illnesses, because such diseases can result when receptors go awry by failing to turn off, a function known as down-regulation.

A wide variety of receptors, which are composed of proteins, at the cell surface control interactions between cells and their environment. The machinery responsible for down-regulating the cell surface receptors is called ESCRT (for endosomal sorting complex required for transport). This machinery packages receptors into temporary transport structures called multivesicular bodies (MVBs) that control the down-regulation and, ultimately, the degradation of the receptors.
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