Science & TechnologyS


Robot

Humanoid robot teaches dentists to feel people's pain


Agence France-Presse/YahooNews
Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:28 UTC
Tokyo - Japan's future dentists may soon be able to better appreciate patients' pain by training on a humanoid robot that can mumble "ouch" when the drill hits a nerve.

©AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno
Japan's Nippon Dental University Hospital staff member Yuko Uchida demonstrates the workings of "Simroid", a humanoid robot dental therapy simulator for dentists and students. The robot, resembling an attractive young woman with long black hair and a pink sweater, can mumble "ouch" when the dentist hits a nerve.
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Discovery of gene for black coat color in dogs has broad implications


Media Newswire
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:22 UTC
The gene produces a type of protein previously thought to play an important role in the immune system. However, the new findings suggest that these proteins, known as defensins, may be involved in regulating other important processes in the body, including pigmentation, energy balance, and production of glucocorticoid hormones.
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Robot

Amputees 'regain sense of touch'


BBC News
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:55 UTC
Scientists have managed to restore a sense of touch to two patients with prosthetic arms, in what is seen as a step towards creating sensitive limbs.
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Cloud Lightning

Venus has frequent bursts of lightning

Seth Borenstein
Associated Press
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:08 UTC
Nearby Venus is looking a bit more Earth-like with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.

For nearly three decades, astronomers have said Venus probably had lightning - ever since a 1978 NASA probe showed signs of electrical activity in its atmosphere. But experts weren't sure because of signal interference.
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Israeli Archaeologist Claims Elusive Biblical Wall Found

Regan E. Doherty
Associated Press
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:56 UTC
A wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says.

A team of archaeologists discovered the wall in Jerusalem's ancient City of David during a rescue attempt on a tower that was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.
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A new Polish comet

Jan Pomierny
SOHO
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:44 UTC
Michal Kusiak, a student of astronomy at Jagiellonian University in Krakow and an editor of Astronomia.pl has discovered a new comet. This young astronomy enthusiast found the object in images sent back to Earth by the SOHO Solar Observatory. Information on the discovery has been already published on a Web Site of the British Astronomical Association.

©SOHO
Comet belonging to the Kreutz family
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Telescope

Scientists find hole in the universe in which to pour vast sums of research money

Marcus Chown
New Scientist
Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:04 UTC
IN AUGUST, radio astronomers announced that they had found an enormous hole in the universe. Nearly a billion light years across, the void lies in the constellation Eridanus and has far fewer stars, gas and galaxies than usual. It is bigger than anyone imagined possible and is beyond the present understanding of cosmology. What could cause such a gaping hole? One team of physicists has a breathtaking explanation: "It is the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own," says Laura Mersini-Houghton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cosmic Microwave Background

Comment: The whole article can be summarized as follows: we have found an enormous hole in the Universe and we have no idea how to deal with it. Anyway we hope that due to this discovery everybody will get more money for whatever they are doing.

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Clock

Sanctuary of Rome's 'Founder' Revealed

Ariel David
Associated Press
Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:07 UTC
Rome - Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

©AP Photo/Italian Culture Ministry, HO
This photo made available by the Italian Culture Ministry during a press conference in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007, shows an underground grotto believed to have been worshipped by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus. Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary lies buried 16 meters (52 feet) inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome.
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Telescope

Evolution of Comet 17P Holmes

Krzysztof Czart
Astronomia.pl
Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:41 UTC


©Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
Sequence of images of Comet 17P/Holmes obtained with the TSC 60/90 telescope in the V filter. They show the increase in the comet's envelope size. The colours are chosen here in order to best show the cometary nucleus (the bright point in the centre) and matter moving away from the nucleus (to the right of the nucleus).

Comet 17P/Holmes has been intriguing astronomers since the end of October, when its sudden outburst in brightness, the biggest in the history of comet research, was observed. Scientists from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun in Poland have published a series of images illustrating the evolution of the comet.
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Telescope

China acclaims moon images, mission deemed a success


Reuters
Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:08 UTC
China's leaders celebrated the first images sent from the country's first lunar satellite on Monday, saying they showed their nation had thrust itself into the front ranks of global technological powers.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, visiting the scientists who have guided the lunar probe Chang'e 1 into space and around the moon, proclaimed the mission a success after it began to send back images, according to Xinhua news agency.
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