Science & TechnologyS


Star

Building blocks of early Solar System came from nearby dying star

Kerensa McElroy
Cosmos Online
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:59 UTC
protoplanetary disk
© Gabriel Pérez Díaz, Servicio MultiMedia, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, SpainArtist’s impression of the protoplanetary disk (right) during the dawn of our Solar System. A nearby dying star (on the left) sheds material into space (reddish gas).
Strong winds from a nearby dying star may have injected radioactive material into the early Solar System, according to a new model of star death.

The findings challenge the theory that radioactive isotopes trapped in meteorites from the dawn of our Solar System originated in a supernova. They also shed light on the origins of water on Earth, says a study in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, and may help astronomers predict how common water is on other planets.

"In the past, most people have been convinced that the radioactive isotopes present in the young Solar System must have come from a supernova," said co-author Maria Lugaro, an astrophysicist from Monash University in Melbourne.
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Syringe

Chinese Experts Grow Live Mice from Skin Cells

Tan Ee Lyn
Reuters
Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:42 UTC
Hong Kong- Chinese researchers have managed to create powerful stem cells from mouse skin and used these to generate fertile live mouse pups.

They used induced pluripotent skin cells, or iPS cells -- cells that have been reprogrammed to look and act like embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, taken from days-old embryos, have the power to morph into any cell type and, in mice, can be implanted into a mother's womb to create living mouse pups.

Their experiment, published in Nature, means that it is theoretically possible to clone someone using ordinary connective tissue cells found on the person's skin, but the experts were quick to distance themselves from such controversy.
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Telescope

Huge telescope opens in Spain's Canary Islands

Carlos Moreno
Associated Press
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:35 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Carlos Moreno
One of the world's most powerful telescopes opened its shutters for the first time Friday to begin exploring faint light from distant parts of the universe.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias, a euro130 million ($185 million) telescope featuring a 34-foot (10.4-meter) reflecting mirror, sits atop an extinct volcano. Its location above cloud cover takes advantage of the pristine skies in the Atlantic Ocean.

Planning for the telescope began in 1987 and has involved more than 1,000 people from 100 companies. It was inaugurated Friday by King Juan Carlos. The observatory is located at 2,400 meters (7,870 feet) above sea-level where prevailing winds keep the atmosphere stable and transparent, the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute said.
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Cow Skull

Taiwan digs up its oldest civilization

Ralph Jennings
Reuters
Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:14 UTC
Researchers in Taiwan have discovered what they believe is the island's oldest civilization, dating back about 20,000 years and belonging to a pygmy-like people that came from China, Southeast Asia or beyond, the team leader said on Friday.

Taiwan's government-run Academia Sinica, which found more than 200 stone tools at the Ba Hsien Cave excavation site on the island's east coast, will return next year to seek clues on who was living there, leader Tsang Chen-hua said.

The civilization was probably a dark-skinned people similar to Negritos, a term that covers several ethnic groups of short stature in isolated parts of Southeast Asia, Tsang said. Their exact origin and migration route in Asia remain a mystery.
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Footprints

DNA confirms coastal trek to Australia

Nicky Phillips
ABC Science
Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:56 UTC
DNA
© ReutersResearchers studied mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down the female line
DNA evidence linking Indian tribes to Australian Aboriginal people supports the theory humans arrived in Australia from Africa via a southern coastal route through India, say researchers.

The research, lead by Dr Raghavendra Rao from the Anthropological Survey of India, is published in the current edition of BMC Evolutionary Biology.

One theory is that modern humans arrived in Australia via an inland route through central Asia but Rao says most scientists believe modern humans arrived via the coast of South Asia.

But he says there has never been any evidence to confirm a stop-off in India until now.
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Info

Altar to Mysterious Deity Found at Roman Fort

Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News
Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:15 UTC
Image
© Adam Sanford Aerial-Cam 2009Shrine to a Mysterious God
This 1.5-ton, four-foot high carved stone relic shows a god-like figure standing on the back of a bull, with a thunderbolt in one hand and a battle axe in the other. It is a representation of the Anatolian god Juppiter of Doliche, which was believed to be a favorite deity among Roman soldiers, although there is no literary reference of the god.
A massive altar dedicated to an eastern cult deity has emerged during excavations of a Roman fort in northern England.

Weighing 1.5 tons, the four-foot high ornately carved stone relic, was unearthed at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, which was built by order of the Emperor Hadrian between 122-30 A.D.

The Romans built the defensive wall across the north of Britain from Carlisle to Newcastle-on-Tyne, to keep out invading armies from what is now Scotland.
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Monkey Wrench

Large Hadron Collider delayed again by vacuum leaks

Tom Espiner
ZDNet News
Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:17 UTC
LHC
© UnknownAn engineer works on closing up LHC sectors
The restart of the Large Hadron Collider has been pushed back further, following the discovery of vacuum leaks in two sectors of the experiment.

The world's largest particle collider is now unlikely to restart before mid-November, according to a Cern press statement. The project had been expected to start again in October.

To repair the leaks, which are from the helium circuit into the insulating vacuum, sectors 8-1 and 2-3 will have to be warmed from 80K to room temperature. Adjacent sub-sectors will act as 'floats', while the remainder of the surrounding sectors will be kept at 80K, Cern said in the statement. The repair work will not have an impact on the vacuum in the beam pipe.
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Hourglass

Human Stabbed a Neanderthal, Evidence Suggests

Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience.com
Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:02 UTC
Newly analyzed remains suggest that a modern human killed a Neanderthal man in what is now Iraq between 50,000 and 75,000 years ago. The finding is scant but tantalizing evidence for a theory that modern humans helped to kill off the Neanderthals.

The probable weapon of choice: A thrown spear.

The evidence: A lethal wound on the remains of a Neanderthal skeleton.

The victim: A 40- to 50-year-old male, now called Shanidar 3, with signs of arthritis and a sharp, deep slice in his left ninth rib.
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Meteor

Smashing days! New bright spot observed on Venus

Dr Emily Baldwin
Astronomy Now
Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:05 UTC
Image
An intense bright spot has appeared in the clouds of Venus. Could it be associated with volcanic activity on the surface?

The Solar System is breaking out in spots. First Jupiter took a smack from a passing asteroid or comet, manifesting as a dark scar in the Jovian atmosphere, and now Venus is sporting a brilliant white spot in its southern polar region.

In an alert to fellow amateur astronomers, Venus observer Frank Melillo reports on his images captured on 19 July: "I have seen bright spots before but this one is an exceptional bright and quite intense area."

Comment: Volcanic eruptions? Somebody knows what's really going on . . .

Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified

Nothing to see here folks, please move along . . .

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Magnify

Ancient Mammal Tracks Found at National Monument


PhysOrg
Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:15 UTC
Footprint
© AP Photo/ Dinosaur National MonumentShows a small fossil mammal footprint, no bigger than a dime, on the Utah-Colorado border. Hundreds of tiny footprints left by mammals some 190 million years ago have been found on a canyon wall in a remote part of Dinosaur National Monument
Hundreds of tiny footprints left by mammals some 190 million years ago have been found on a canyon wall in a remote part of Dinosaur National Monument, park officials said Thursday.

The tracks are a rare find, mostly because they were left at a time when the area was a hostile, vast Sahara-like desert where towering sand dunes seldom preserved signs of animal life.

"It's just astonishing," Dan Chure, a paleontologist at the monument, said Thursday. "We were giggling like kids."

He and paleontologist George Engelmann of the University of Nebraska at Omaha spotted the tracks July 8 while scouring the area for fossils and other evidence from the early Jurassic period. Dinosaur National Monument, founded because of its rich and plentiful supply of dinosaur bones, straddles the Utah-Colorado border.
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