Science & TechnologyS


Info

Hot Springs Microbes Hold Key To Dating Sedimentary Rocks


terradaily.com
Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:24 UTC
Scientists studying microbial communities and the growth of sedimentary rock at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park have made a surprising discovery about the geological record of life and the environment. Their discovery could affect how certain sequences of sedimentary rock are dated, and how scientists might search for evidence of life on other planets.

"We found microbes change the rate at which calcium carbonate precipitates, and that rate controls the chemistry and shape of calcium carbonate crystals," said Bruce Fouke, a professor of geology and of molecular and cellular biology at the University of Illinois.

©Unknown
The extent to which microorganisms influence calcium carbonate precipitation has been one of the most controversial issues in the field of carbonate sedimentology and geochemistry. Separating biologically precipitated calcium carbonate from non-biologically precipitated calcium carbonate is difficult.
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Bulb

Cellular memory hints at the origins of intelligence

Philip Ball
Nature
Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:11 UTC
Learning and memory - abilities associated with a brain or, at the very least, neuronal activity - have been observed in protoplasmic slime, a unicellular organism with multiple nuclei.

©EYE OF SCIENCE/SPL
Slime moulds demonstrate primitive learning and memory.
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Star

Stardust comet dust resembles asteroid materials


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:09 UTC
Contrary to expectations for a small icy body, much of the comet dust returned by the Stardust mission formed very close to the young sun and was altered from the solar system's early materials.

When the Stardust mission returned to Earth with samples from the comet Wild 2 in 2006, scientists knew the material would provide new clues about the formation of our solar system, but they didn't know exactly how.

©NASA/JPL
Combined long- and short-exposure images captured during the Stardust flyby of the comet Wild 2.
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Telescope

Arecibo astronomers prepare to obtain close images of a near-Earth asteroid


Cornell University Communications
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:57 UTC
The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico will observe a newly discovered asteroid on Jan. 27-28, as the object called 2007 TU24 passes within 1.4 lunar distances, or 334,000 miles, from Earth.

The asteroid, estimated at between 150 and 600 meters in diameter - about 500 feet to 1,900 feet, or the size of a football field, at 360 feet, to the size of Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower, at 1,454 feet - was discovered by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey in October 2007. It poses no threat to Earth, but its near approach gives Arecibo astronomers a golden opportunity to learn more about potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.

"We don't yet know anything about this asteroid," said Mike Nolan, head of radar astronomy at the Puerto Rico observatory. Such objects pass near Earth with relative frequency, he said - approximately one every five years or so - but it's rare that astronomers have enough advance notice to plan for rigorous observing.
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Evil Rays

Israel developing autonomous "digital general"

Evan Blass
engadget.com
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:36 UTC
Israel is reportedly developing a sophisticated piece of software meant to help troops make quick decisions during battle and, under the right conditions, autonomously manipulate the nation's defense systems.

Comment: Unfortunately the worst case scenario is where we are heading and this gadget gives the psychopaths in power a way to make sure that soldiers endowed with conscience won't get in the way of their murderous rampage.

Coincidence that it is being developed by Israel?

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Health

Scientists create gene map for synthetic life

Maggie Fox
Reuters
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:22 UTC
Washington - Researchers have assembled the entire genome of a living organism -- a bacterium -- in what they hope is an important step to creating artificial life.

The bug, Mycoplasma genitalium, has the smallest known genome of any truly living organism, with 485 working genes. Viruses are smaller, but they are not considered completely alive as they cannot replicate by themselves.

Bacteria can and do, and the team at the non-profit J. Craig Venter Institute in Maryland has been working for years to try to build M. genitalium from scratch.
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Telescope

Claim of alien cells in rain may fit historical accounts: study


World Science
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:28 UTC
A con­tro­ver­sial the­o­ry, that strange red rains in In­dia six years ago might have con­tained mi­crobes from out­er space, has­n't died.

In fact, things might be get­ting even weirder.

A new study sug­gests the claimed con­nec­tion be­tween scar­let rain and ti­ny ce­les­tial vis­i­tors may be con­sist­ent with his­tor­i­cal ac­counts link­ing col­ored rain to me­te­or pass­ings. These would seem to ech­o the In­dia case, in which or­gan­isms are pro­posed to have fall­en out of a break­ing me­te­or.
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Star

The mystery of Jupiter's jets uncovered


Basque Research
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:18 UTC
At the end of March 2007, scientists all over the world observed with surprise and awe a rare change in the atmosphere of Jupiter. A giant perturbation occurred amongst its clouds and two extremely bright storms erupted in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, where its most intense jet stream - reaching speeds of 600 kilometers per hour - resides. Research into these unusual storms (previous ones had been seen in 1975 and 1990) and the reaction of the jet to them, undertaken by an international team coordinated by Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, from the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), gives a more precise idea about the origin of these current flows and likewise can help to gain a better understanding of terrestrial meteorology. The work, entitled "Depth of a strong Jovian jet from a planetary-scale disturbance driven by storms', is the cover of the 24 of January issue of the journal Nature.
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Clock

Excavation and Survey Project Finds Early Activity Atop Arcadia's Famous Mountain


Penn Museum
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:14 UTC
The Greek traveler, Pausanias, living in the second century, CE, would probably recognize the spectacular site of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion, and particularly the altar of Zeus. At 4,500 feet above sea level, atop the altar provides a breathtaking, panoramic vista of Arcadia.

"On the highest point of the mountain is a mound of earth, forming an altar of Zeus Lykaios, and from it most of the Peloponnesos can be seen," wrote Pausanias, in his famous, well-respected multi-volume Description of Greece. "Before the altar on the east stand two pillars, on which there were of old gilded eagles. On this altar they sacrifice in secret to Lykaion Zeus. I was reluctant to pry into the details of the sacrifice; let them be as they are and were from the beginning."

©Unknown
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Bulb

New MIT tool probes brain circuits


Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:10 UTC
Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Jan. 24 online edition of Science that they have created a way to see, for the first time, the effect of blocking and unblocking a single neural circuit in a living animal.

This revolutionary method allowed Susumu Tonegawa, Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, and colleagues to see how bypassing a major memory-forming circuit in the brain affected learning and memory in mice.

"Our data strongly suggest that the hippocampal neural pathway called the tri-synaptic pathway, or TSP, plays a crucial role in quickly forming memories when encountering new events and episodes in day-to-day life," Tonegawa said. "Our results indicate that the decline of these abilities, such as that which accompanies neurodegenerative diseases and normal aging in humans, is likely to be due, at least in part, to the malfunctioning of this circuit."
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