Science & TechnologyS


Robot

Phoenix Mars Lander has short-circuit problem

Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press
Sat, 31 May 2008 10:04 UTC
Scientists for the Phoenix Mars Lander are wrestling with an intermittent short circuit on the spacecraft.

The problem is in a device that will analyze ice and soil dug from the planet's surface, the scientists said Friday. The short circuit was found during testing done before the mission's experiments get under way.

The short circuit isn't considered critical, said William Boyton of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Boynton is in charge of the device that will heat and analyze samples scooped up by the lander's robotic arm.

Image
©AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
The Surface Stereo Imager Right on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander acquired the individual images that are combined into this one view, provided by NASA, Thursday, May 29, 2008. The spacecraft successfully freed its 8-foot robotic arm from the restraints that kept it folded up and protected from vibrations during the launch and landing, scientists said Thursday. Preparations are now under way to partially flex the arm.
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Sherlock

New findings at Stonehenge show burials as early as 3000 B.C.


eitb24
Sat, 31 May 2008 07:38 UTC
New dating of cremated remains shows burials occurred as early as 3000 B.C. when the first ditches around the monument were being built.
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Einstein

Computers 'decode' the human brain

Guy Dixon
VNUnet
Fri, 30 May 2008 23:07 UTC
Scientists have come up with a computer-based system which can predict activity patterns in the human brain when prompted by certain words.

The results of a study published today in the journal Science show how scientists can use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to monitor blood flow patterns in the brain.

This has allowed them to forecast the response to around 60 nouns associated with senses, including sight, touch, taste or smell.
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Telescope

What is the Fastest Spinning Object in the Solar System? Near-Earth Asteroid 2008 HJ

Ian O'Neill
Universe Today
Wed, 28 May 2008 17:56 UTC
A British astronomer has discovered a strange spinning object. The fact that it is spinning in itself is not strange, but the speed it is doing so has raised some eyebrows. The near-Earth asteroid 2008 HJ has been spotted spinning at a rate of one rotation every 42.7 seconds, breaking the record for the fastest rotating natural object in the Solar System. It is so fast that it has been designated as a "super-fast rotator". What makes this discovery even more interesting was that it was spotted by an amateur astronomer when using the Australian Faulkes Telescope South observatory, operating it remotely over the Internet, in his Dorset home in the south of the UK...
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Telescope

See the Ghosts of Dead Stars

Alan Boyle
MSNBC/Cosmic Log
Thu, 29 May 2008 16:49 UTC
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope bears witness this week to two stellar hauntings - bizarre and beautiful phenomena sparked by dead giant stars.

First, Spitzer trained its infrared eye on the pulsing, undead corpse of a strongly magnetic star called SGR 1900+14 - revealing a bizarre ring of dusty material that couldn't be seen in visible wavelengths. Then, just today, Spitzer's scientists reported on the ghostly echoes of light emanating from Cassiopeia A, a supernova that blew up 300 years ago.

Click for video: Msnbc.com's Keva Andersen reports.

Cassiopeia A
©NASA / JPL-Caltech / MPIA
Cassiopeia A: Infrared imagery from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals "echoes" from a supernova
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Wine

Cyprus researches millenia-old wine jars in wreck

Michele Kambas
Reuters
Fri, 30 May 2008 15:07 UTC
Nicosia - Archaeologists have started research into what they believe may be the oldest known ancient shipwreck off Cyprus which sank with hundreds of jars of wine on board 2,350 years ago.

In what could be described as a super-tanker of ancient times, Cypriot marine archaeologists say it appears to be one of the best preserved wrecks in the region, carrying hundreds of jars of wine dating from the mid-fourth century BC.
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Telescope

Strange Ring Found Circling Dead Star


Science Daily
Thu, 29 May 2008 15:54 UTC
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted to smithereens.

The stellar corpse, called SGR 1900+14, belongs to a class of objects known as magnetars. These are the cores of massive stars that blew up in supernova explosions, but unlike other dead stars, they slowly pulsate with X-rays and have tremendously strong magnetic fields.

corpse of a massive star
©NASA/JPL-Caltech
This image shows a ghostly ring extending seven light-years across around the corpse of a massive star.
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Info

Who needs sex when you can steal DNA?

Maggie Fox
News Daily
Thu, 29 May 2008 15:44 UTC
Tiny freshwater organisms that have amazed scientists because of their sex-free lifestyle may have survived so well because they steal genes from other creatures, scientists reported on Thursday.

They found genes from bacteria, fungi and even plants incorporated into the DNA of bdelloid rotifers -- minuscule animals that appear to have given up sex 40 million years ago.
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Recycle

Shuttle's crucial mission: Deliver toilet


The Seattle Times
Thu, 29 May 2008 15:25 UTC
The rush is on to fix the flush in space.

That's because three astronauts are orbiting Earth in the international space station with a balky toilet.

So folks on the ground in Florida are putting together a repair kit to send up Saturday, when seven astronauts blast off to deliver a large module, part of the Japanese space laboratory, Kibo.

The Russian-built toilet has been acting up for the past week. The three male residents have temporarily bypassed the problem, which involves urine collection, not solid waste.

The pump that astronauts plan to replace isn't something that can be picked up at the local home-repair store.
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Magnify

The Structure of XPD Sheds Light on Cancer and Aging

Paul Preuss
Berkeley Lab News Release
Thu, 29 May 2008 14:25 UTC
The protein XPD is one component of an essential repair mechanism that maintains the integrity of DNA. XPD is unique, however, in that pinpoint mutations of this single protein are responsible for three different human diseases: in xeroderma pigmentosum, extreme sensitivity to sunlight promotes cancer; Cockayne syndrome involves stunted growth and premature aging; trichothiodystrophy, characterized by brittle hair and scaly skin, is another form of greatly accelerated aging.

Unknown
©Unknown
The four domains of XPD: the helicases HD2 (green) and HD1 (blue), the iron-sulfur complex 4FeS (rust), and the Arch (purple). Sites of mutations that cause xeroderma pigmentosum are shown in red, those causing both xeroderma pigmentosum and Cockayne syndrome in gold, and those of trichothiodystrophy in purple. A strand of unwound DNA is shown passing under the arch.
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