Science & TechnologyS


Telescope

Two college students find asteroid


United Press International
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:01 UTC
Fort Worth, Texas -- Two Texas college students discovered an asteroid while examining images of space on a computer, a report said.

Tarrant County College students Ryan Gallagher and Robbyn Kindle, 40, were recommended by their former physics professor, Raymond Benge, to be part of an international program to examine images of space for asteroids, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported.

Comment: It appears that it is not so rare for students to dscover asteroids:
More students find asteroids
US: High School Students Discover Asteroid
Polish students discover two asteroids
Undergraduates Discover More than 1,300 Asteroids

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Question

Reality Check: Do identical twins have identical DNA?

Anahad O'Connor
The New York Times
Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:24 UTC


twins
©Leif Parsons
THE CLAIM: Identical twins have identical DNA.

THE FACTS: It is a basic tenet of human biology, taught in grade schools everywhere: Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg and, thus, share identical genetic profiles.

But according to new research, though identical twins share very similar genes, identical they are not. The discovery opens a new understanding of why two people who hail from the same embryo can differ in phenotype, as biologists refer to a person's physical manifestation.
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Arrow Down

Flashback June: Wear a hard hat this month - Look out, look out, there are meteorites about

Philip Bagnall
New Scientist
Sat, 05 Jun 1993 17:48 UTC
You probably didn't realise it, but June is quite a dangerous month. Statistically, more meteorites fall in June than at any other time of the year - and 30 June is a particularly hazardous day. Since records began, 116 meteorites have plunged to Earth in June - their high season - compared with only 57 in March - their low season. At least 17 people are said to have been killed by meteorite impact.

Meteorites are pieces of rock - usually stone, sometimes metal and, occasionally, a mixture of both - which find their way to Earth from the asteroid belt, Mars, the Moon and, possibly, a few comets. They typically weigh a couple of kilograms (though this can vary tremendously) and strike the Earth with velocities usually in the range of 100 to 250 metres per second. The Middlesbrough meteorite, for example, which landed on 14 March 1881, had a terminal velocity of 126 metres per second and weighed about 1.6 kilograms. Fortunately, it did little damage but had anyone been unfortunate enough to get in its way they would not have lived to tell the tale.
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Telescope

Novel Spots Found On Jupiter


spacedaily.com
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:27 UTC
Scientists have observed unexpected luminous spots on Jupiter caused by its moon Io. Besides displaying the most spectacular volcanic activity in the solar system, Io causes auroras on its mother planet that are similar to the Northern Lights on Earth. The auroral emissions linked to the volcanic moon are called the Io footprint.

northern pole of Jupiter
©LPAP/Universite de Liege
Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet image of the northern pole of Jupiter. Among many other auroral structures, the Io footprint is the most equator-ward feature close to the centre of the image. This spot is always located close to the feet of the magnetic field lines connected to the satellite Io.
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Bizarro Earth

NASA satellite measures pollution from east Asia to North America

Lynn Chandler
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:14 UTC
In a new NASA study, researchers taking advantage of improvements in satellite sensor capabilities offer the first measurement-based estimate of the amount of pollution from East Asian forest fires, urban exhaust, and industrial production that makes its way to western North America.
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Snowman

Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick

James Owen
National Geographic
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:37 UTC
During St. Patrick's Day next week, most revelers won't remember the patron saint of Ireland for his role as a snake killer.

But legend holds that the Christian missionary rid the slithering reptiles from Ireland's shores as he converted its peoples from paganism during the fifth century A.D.

St. Patrick supposedly chased the snakes into the sea after they began attacking him during a 40-day fast he undertook on top of a hill.

An unlikely tale, perhaps - yet Ireland is unusual for its absence of native snakes.

It's one of only a handful of places worldwide - including New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica - where Indiana Jones and other snake-averse humans can visit without fear.

Image
©ohn Cancalosi/NGS
This grass snake swimming in duckweed belongs to one of only three snake species native to Britain.

After the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, swollen seas prevented snakes from migrating throughout parts of northern Europe - and none made it to Ireland.

Even still, the legend that St. Patrick banished snakes from the Emerald Isle in the fifth century A.D. lives on in popular culture.
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Bulb

Depleted uranium turns earthworms into glowworms

Jasper Hamill
Sunday Herald
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:55 UTC
Earthworms were pushed into the firing line last week after a resumption of the testing of depleted uranium shells at Dundrennan.

Significant levels of radioactive uranium isotopes were found in the flesh of worms at the Ministry of Defence's Dumfries weapons range last year. Despite concerns from environmentalists and the international community, the MoD last week started a series of tests of depleted uranium (DU) shells, supposed "safety checks".

A report published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring found that worms in the Dumfries testing ground had significant traces of poisonous uranium isotopes in their bodies.

Comment: And despite the horrifying and destructive effects of DU on human beings and all organic life on the planet, the US and Israel continue to use it in their genocidal wars.

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Star

Mars Express reveals the Red Planet's volcanic past


ESA
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:31 UTC
A new analysis of impact cratering data from Mars reveals that the planet has undergone a series of global volcanic upheavals. These violent episodes spewed lava and water onto the surface, sculpting the landscape that ESA's Mars Express looks down on today.

Using images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express, Gerhard Neukum, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, and colleagues are discovering the history of the Red Planet's geological activity. "We can now determine the ages of large regions and resurfacing events on the planet," says Neukum. Resurfacing occurs when volcanic eruptions spread lava across the planet's surface.

Image
©ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
This is an image of Daedalia Planum, located 1000 km south of Arsia Mons, a southern volcano of the Tharsis Montes. The image was taken on 19 July 2005, from a distance of 302 km from the surface.

The image is centred at 235.4° east and 26.2° south. The scene spans a width of 100 km and the ground resolution is 25 m/pixel.
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Bulb

Mathematicians find new solutions to an ancient puzzle


University of Arizona
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:28 UTC
Many people find complex math puzzling, including some mathematicians.

Recently, mathematician Daniel J. Madden and retired physicist, Lee W. Jacobi, found solutions to a puzzle that has been around for centuries.

Jacobi and Madden have found a way to generate an infinite number of solutions for a puzzle known as 'Euler's Equation of degree four.'

The equation is part of a branch of mathematics called number theory. Number theory deals with the properties of numbers and the way they relate to each other. It is filled with problems that can be likened to numerical puzzles.
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Info

Post Brain Injury: New Nerve Cells Originate From Neural Stem Cells


sciencedaily.com
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:04 UTC
Most cells in the human brain are not nerve cells, but supporting cells (glial cells). They serve as a framework for nerve cells and play an important role in the wound reaction that occurs with injuries to the brain. However, what these 'reactive glial cells' in the brains of mice and men originate from, and which cells they evolve into was unknown until now.

Prof. Magdalena Goetz.
©German Research Center for Environmental Health
Prof. Magdalena Goetz
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