Could extraterrestrial life be made of corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust? Intriguing new evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space are revealed today in the New Journal of Physics.
The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not necessarily use carbon-based molecules as its building blocks. They also point to a possible new explanation for the origin of life on earth.
Science & Technology
Researchers at the University of Warwick's Physics Department's Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics have found a powerful technique that could be used to detect precisely when ordered patterns form in everything from plasma in the solar wind and fusion reactors, to crowds of people, or flocks of birds. The technique could even be used to find unusual patterns in stock market behaviour.
The researchers began their work in a research group interested in plasmas. These are difficult to study at the best of times because the opportunities to view plasma in the solar wind are limited by the small number of satellites observing such things and plasmas in nuclear fusion reactions are obviously not easily accessible.
The researchers began their work in a research group interested in plasmas. These are difficult to study at the best of times because the opportunities to view plasma in the solar wind are limited by the small number of satellites observing such things and plasmas in nuclear fusion reactions are obviously not easily accessible.
Explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell has had close encounters with vampire bats and angry bees, but his latest brush has been with a rather odd dog.
He spotted a rare breed of Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound, which has two noses, on a recent trip to Bolivia.
The chairman of the Scientific Exploration Society said the dog, named Xingu, was "not terribly handsome".
He spotted a rare breed of Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound, which has two noses, on a recent trip to Bolivia.
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| ©BBC |
| Xingu is said to be intelligent and fond of salty biscuits. |
The chairman of the Scientific Exploration Society said the dog, named Xingu, was "not terribly handsome".
An amateur paleontologist in Switzerland may have unearthed Europe's largest dinosaur mass grave after he dug up the remains of two Plateosaurus.
The dinosaurs' bones came to light during house-building in the village of Frick, near the German border.
"A hobby paleontologist looked at a construction site for a house and happened to discover the bones," said Monica Ruembeli from the Frick dinosaur museum.
The finds show that an area known for Plateosaurus finds for decades may be much larger than originally thought.
The dinosaurs' bones came to light during house-building in the village of Frick, near the German border.
"A hobby paleontologist looked at a construction site for a house and happened to discover the bones," said Monica Ruembeli from the Frick dinosaur museum.
The finds show that an area known for Plateosaurus finds for decades may be much larger than originally thought.
Excavation works in the area of the central Bosnian town of Visoko, which are to mark the continuation of a search for alleged pyramids after a break of several months, will resume with the open financial support of the government of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity, the Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Archeology Park: Bosnian Sun Pyramid Foundation has announced.
Two University of Utah geologists have completed research that challenges the popular understanding of how humans evolved.
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| ©Brill Atlanta |
| Photo from cover of Nature March 2002 |
An Indian origin led team of astronomers, has for the first time, spotted a black hole belching out a burst of gamma rays after gulping down part of a nearby star.
At first the phenomenon looked like another ordinary long Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) in a distant galaxy. GRBs are thought to be the death cries of massive stars collapsing to form black holes.
But this GRB, named GRB 070610 after the date of its discovery by NASA's Swift satellite on June 10, 2007, seemed to have a different origin altogether, said Mansi Kasliwal of Caltech in Pasadena, US.
At first the phenomenon looked like another ordinary long Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) in a distant galaxy. GRBs are thought to be the death cries of massive stars collapsing to form black holes.
But this GRB, named GRB 070610 after the date of its discovery by NASA's Swift satellite on June 10, 2007, seemed to have a different origin altogether, said Mansi Kasliwal of Caltech in Pasadena, US.
Hearing and balance experts at Johns Hopkins report successful testing in animals of an electrical device that partly restores a damaged or impaired sense of balance.
Though human testing of the so-called multichannel vestibular prosthesis remains a few years away, the scientists say such a device, which is partially implanted in the inner ear, could aid the 30,000 Americans the experts' own estimates show are coping with profound loss of inner ear balance. These people often suffer from unsteadiness, disequilibrium or wobbly vision. Problems with vestibular sensation can be inherited at birth or result from use of antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, Ménière's disease, viral infection, stroke or head trauma.
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| ©Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions |
| Della Santina holding multichannel vestibular prosthesis. |
Though human testing of the so-called multichannel vestibular prosthesis remains a few years away, the scientists say such a device, which is partially implanted in the inner ear, could aid the 30,000 Americans the experts' own estimates show are coping with profound loss of inner ear balance. These people often suffer from unsteadiness, disequilibrium or wobbly vision. Problems with vestibular sensation can be inherited at birth or result from use of antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, Ménière's disease, viral infection, stroke or head trauma.
A rare meteor shower predicted to hit Earth on 1 September should give astronomers only their second chance to study an ancient comet's crust. It could also help them develop a warning system against an otherwise insidious threat - a comet aimed at Earth from the dark fringes of the solar system.
The afternoon Negev sun shone brightly on the solar panels at the National Center for Solar Energy near Sde Boker. The center's director, physicist Prof. David Feiman, squinted into the light. "After 30 years of research on solar energy, my life's work of experiments in how to produce electricity from the sun, I can say this year that I know how to manufacture solar energy that will compete with conventional energy," he says.
Comment: For more information on the Iturralde Crater read: The Search for the Missing Amazon Meteor