Science & TechnologyS


Camcorder

Google erases British bases in Iraq

Lester Haines
The register
Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:12 UTC
It appears Google has replaced recent satellite imagery of British military bases in Basra with pre-war snaps following Army claims that terrorists were using Google Earth to plan attacks on its facilities.

According to a recent report in the Telegraph, "documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google". The images showed in detail "the buildings inside the bases and vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks, and where lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked".
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Bizarro Earth

Dwarf planet 'becoming a comet'

Paul Rincon
BBC News online
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:10 UTC
An unusual dwarf planet discovered in the outer Solar System could be en route to becoming the brightest comet ever known.
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Bizarro Earth

Brightest comet in 40 years in Australian skies


News.com.au
Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:54 UTC
THE brightest comet in Australia's skies for more than 40 years will be visible from Jan 15th, astronomers have said.

Dr James Biggs, director of the Perth Observatory, said the McNaught Comet is currently at its closest approach around the Sun and will be visible to West Australians from Monday 15th for about a week.

"It should be easy to locate. Find a vantage point with an unobstructed view and look low on the horizon near where the Sun has set, in the direction of south-west, around 9pm (WDT)," Dr Biggs said.
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Recycle

Ancient Weapons Found in Ruins in Syria

TARA BURGHART
Associated Press
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:15 UTC
CHICAGO -- It was the ancient version of a last stand: Twelve clay bullets lined up and ready to be shot from slings in a desperate attempt to stop fierce invaders who soon would reduce much of the city to rubble.

The discovery was made in the ruins of Hamoukar, an ancient settlement in northeastern Syria located just miles from the border with Iraq.
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Better Earth

Find adds 5,000 years to humans' time in Europe

James Randerson, science correspondent
The Guardian
Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:27 UTC
Scientists have found the oldest evidence for modern humans in Europe at a site in Russia. The location, which includes evidence of ivory carving and the use of traps to catch small mammals such as hares, reinforces the view that stone age humans used technology and innovation to expand into new areas.

The find dates the European leg of our ancestors' journey out of Africa at between 42,000 and 45,000 years ago. Scientists had previously thought that modern humans spread across western and central Europe between 40,000 and 42,000 years ago.
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Magic Wand

Comet McNaught likely to outshine planet Venus


IT Wire
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:40 UTC
Cometary experts have calculated that the orbit of Comet McNaught should come as near as 15.8 million miles (25.4 million kilometers) from the Sun (what is called perihelion) on January 12, 2007. Thus, its brightness should peak on that date. At that time, it could be tens of times brighter than the planet Venus.
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Eye 1

UK Regulator To Consult With Public On Human-Animal Hybrid Embryos

Catharine Paddock
Medical News Today
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:05 UTC
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has decided to open the question of whether to allow animal-human hybrid embryos to be developed for research purposes to public debate. The HFEA licenses and monitors IVF and donor insemination clinics, and research centres that use embryos. They also regulate the storage of embryos, eggs and sperm.

The HFEA has received two requests from scientists who want to use human cells and animal eggs to produce stem cells for research.
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Cloud Lightning

Seismologists Predict Katrina-like Conditions After 'the Big One'


InsuranceNewsNet
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:09 UTC
LOS ANGELES - A major earthquake along the San Andreas fault could bring Hurricane Katrina-scale devastation and disruption to Southern California, earthquake scientists and government officials warned Tuesday as they kicked off a yearlong campaign to ratchet up emergency planning and encourage residents to prepare for the inevitability of a powerful quake.
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Better Earth

Moment 600 years ago that terror came to Mummies of the Amazon


ThisIsLondon
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:32 UTC
Hands over her eyes and her face gripped with terror, the woman's fear of death is all too obvious.

The remarkable mummy was found in a hidden burial vault in the Amazon.

It is at least 600 years old and has survived thanks to the embalming skills of her tribe, the Chachapoyas or cloud warriors.

©Signs of the Times
The horror: This woman is thought to have lived 600 years ago
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Magic Wand

A Bright Comet Is Coming


SOHO
Wed, 10 Jan 2007 16:55 UTC
If you watch the morning or evening sky these days and have a clear view of the horizon, you will be able to spot a bright object with a prominent tail. That object is comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught). It was discovered on August 7th, 2006 by the hugely successful comet discoverer Rob McNaught (Siding Spring Survey). At time of discovery, the comet was a very faint object, but the predicted perihelion distance (closest distance to the sun) of just 0.17 astronomical units indicated that the object has the potential to become very bright indeed.
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