Science & TechnologyS

Telescope

Milky Way Seen to be a Galactic Cannibal

A stream of debris across the sky is the result of intergalactic cannibalism, researchers from The Australian National University conclude, and it is the not the first time our galaxy has had one of its neighbours for breakfast.

Binoculars

Turkcell Monitors Turkey from a Single Center

The coordination center established after the earthquake in Adana was completed in 10 years. The center, which is worth $30 million, monitors 13,500 stations.

Bulb

"Astro Comb" May Boost Hunt for Earthlike Planets



Mount Hopkins Observatory
©MMTO staff member Howard Lester
Sunlight colors the horizon behind the MMT Observatory on Mount Hopkins in Arizona in an undated image. Researchers who developed technology called an astro-comb for enhancing the search for Earthlike worlds plan to test their device at MMT in the summer of 2008.

The scientific equivalent of a fine-toothed comb may soon sweep across the skies looking for Earthlike planets outside our solar system.

Dubbed the astro-comb, the technology improves on a highly successful planet-hunting technique called the radial velocity - or wobble - method, which looks for small shifts in the wavelengths of a star's light caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet.

Better Earth

Ancient Imbalances Sent Earth's Continents "Wandering"



Imbalanced Earth
©Bernhard Steinberger
An illustration shows what Earth's continents looked like 110 million to 100 million years ago and their rotation based on magnetic signatures in ancient rocks. A new study suggests that the motion represents a phenomenon called true polar wander, in which Earth's landmasses become imbalanced compared to its spin axis and then move rapidly to right themselves.

A new study lends weight to the controversial theory that Earth became massively imbalanced in the distant past, sending its tectonic plates on a mad dash to even things out.

Bernhard Steinberger and Trond Torsvik, of the Geological Survey of Norway, analyzed rock samples dating back 320 million years to hunt for clues in Earth's magnetic field about the history of plate motions.

Ark

Ancient Tools Unearthed in Australia

Sydney, Australia - Tools dating back at least 35,000 years have been unearthed in a rock shelter in Australia's remote northwest, making it one of the oldest archaeological finds in that part of the country, archaeologists said Monday.

stone tool
©AP Photo/Australian Cultural Heritage Management, Clive Taylor, HO
In this undated photo provided by Australian Cultural Heritage Management, a stone tool called a chert knife uncovered in an iron ore mine site is seen at Hope Downs, 950 kms (590 miles) north east of Perth, Australia. Archaeologists have unearthed a large number of stone tools dating back at least 35,000 years.

Einstein

The Not-So-Digital Future of Digital Signal Processing

Fungi processing audio signals. E. Coli storing images. DNA acting as logic circuits.

It's possible, and in some cases, it's already happened. In any event, performing digital signal processing using organic and chemical materials without electrical currents could be the wave of the future - or so argue Sotirios Tsaftaris, research professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and Aggelos Katsaggelos, Ameritech Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, in their recently published "point of view" piece in the March 2008 edition of Proceedings of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.)

Hourglass

Iran: Archeologists excavate Sialk Mound

A team of Iranian and European archeologists has started their first phase of Sialk Mound excavations in the central city of Kashan.

Sialk Mound
©Unknown
Sialk Mound, Kashan, Iran

Evil Rays

Europe clears mobiles on aircraft

Mobile phone calls will be allowed on planes flying in European airspace under new European Commission rules. The decision means that mobiles could be used once a plane has reached an altitude of 3,000m or more.

Better Earth

Solar System's 'look-alike' found

Astronomers have discovered a planetary system orbiting a distant star which looks much like our own.

They found two planets that were close matches for Jupiter and Saturn orbiting a star about half the size of our Sun.

Martin Dominik, from St Andrews University in the UK, said the finding suggested systems like our own could be much more common than we thought.

Crusader

Adultress, trollop and liar: meet the real Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was an "adultress and liar" who plotted to kill her husband in order to marry her lover, a study by modern gynaecologists has suggested.

An intriguing new medical analysis claims that Mary, the cousin of Elizabeth I, concocted a story of kidnap and alleged rape to justify her marriage to her third husband - potentially shedding light on a 400-year-old royal murder mystery.

Far from being the saintly and wronged Roman Catholic monarch portrayed in portraits and films, Mary was actually a "moral loose cannon", whose striking beauty and sex appeal gave Elizabeth other reasons to imprison and execute her, the researchers suggest.

Image
©Unknown
Mary, Queen of Scots, was a captivating beauty and seen as a threat by Elizabeth 1. Mary was executed for treason after a 19 year stay in the Tower