Science & TechnologyS


Info

Fermilab 'closing in' on the God particle

Ivan Semeniuk
New Scientist
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:30 UTC
Scientists with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Illinois, home of the Tevatron particle accelerator, say their ageing machine now stands at least a 50% chance of spotting the elusive Higgs boson by the end of next year.

The estimate is based on the accelerator's efficiency at producing high energy particle collisions, now running at an all-time high, and the chances that the Higgs' mass falls within a range detectable at Fermilab.

With CERN's malfunctioning Large Hadron Collider (LHC) more than six months away from restarting, and another year or more from releasing data, it looks increasingly likely that the Tevatron will have a clear run at being the first to spot the Higgs.
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Meteor

Mass Extinctions May Follow One - Two Punch

Michael Reilly
Discovery News
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:51 UTC
Eruption
© Getty ImagesAn illustration of a large-scale volcanic eruption.
As agents of extinction, comet and asteroid impacts may be losing their punch.

According to a new theory about how mass dyings work, cosmic collisions generally aren't enough to cause a major extinction event. To be truly devastating, they must be accompanied by another event that inflicts long-term suffering, like runaway climate change due to massive volcanic eruptions.

In other words, a comet couldn't have killed the dinosaurs by itself -- unless they were already endangered species.
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Magnify

Malaria Parasite Zeroes In on Molecule to Enhance Its Survival


PhysOrg
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:24 UTC
A team of researchers from Princeton University and the Drexel University College of Medicine has found that the parasite that causes malaria breaks down an important amino acid in its quest to adapt and thrive within the human body. By depleting this substance called arginine, the parasite may trigger a more critical and deadlier phase of the disease.

The scientists believe that shedding light on this poorly understood aspect of malaria metabolism has given them new insights on the interactions between the parasite and its human hosts. The work also may point the way to better treatments.

"The more we know about the parasite's metabolic network, the more intelligent we can be about targeting therapies that will cure malaria," said Kellen Olszewski, a graduate student at Princeton University and first author of the Feb. 18 Cell Host & Microbe paper describing the work. The project was led by Manuel Llinás, an assistant professor of molecular biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton.
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Satellite

Expert: Satellite collision shows need for more regulation of 'space debris'


Physorg.com
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:31 UTC
Last week's collision between U.S. and Russian space satellites has prompted questions over who is at fault while highlighting the need for stronger international regulation of space debris, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and internationally renowned space law expert said.

Frans von der Dunk said international agreements dictate that if a space object causes damage to the earth or to another spacecraft, the country that launched the object is liable. But the collision that took place Feb. 10 is the first known instance that two full-fledged space objects from different countries have crashed into one another in space.

The collision was between a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite. The two objects slammed into each other over northern Siberia and created a cloud of wreckage -- "space debris" -- that officials worry could threaten other unmanned spacecraft.
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Meteor

Lulin: Comet Making One-Time Only Visit Next Week

Seth Borenstein
The Huffington Post
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:27 UTC
Comet Lulin
© Jack Newton

An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system. The comet is called Lulin, and there's a chance it can be seen with the naked eye - far from city lights, astronomers say. But you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it.

The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula.
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Control Panel

Tom Hanks to switch on repaired Large Hadron Collider in June

Alastair Jamieson
The Telegraph
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:13 UTC
Large Hadron Collider
© PALarge Hadron Collider
Tom Hanks, the actor and star of Forrest Gump, will turn on the Large Hadron Collider, designed to recreate the 'Big Bang', when it is finally repaired.

The giant underground machine, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, suffered a catastrophic malfunction soon after being switched on amid a fanfare of publicity last September.

A faulty electrical connection led to a leak of super-cold helium causing damage estimated at £20 million to the device, operated by Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.
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Satellite

First liquid water may have been spotted on Mars

David Shiga
New Scientist
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:25 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck InstituteClumps on one of Phoenix's legs were observed to grow over time (see next image for side-by-side pictures).

NASA's Phoenix lander may have captured the first images of liquid water on Mars - droplets that apparently splashed onto the spacecraft's leg during landing, according to some members of the Phoenix team.

The controversial observation could be explained by the mission's previous discovery of perchlorate salts in the soil, since the salts can keep water liquid at sub-zero temperatures. Researchers say this antifreeze effect makes it possible for liquid water to be widespread just below the surface of Mars, but point out that even if it is there, it may be too salty to support life as we know it.

A few days after Phoenix landed on 25 May 2008, it sent back an image showing mysterious splotches of material attached to one of its legs. Strangely, the splotches grew in size over the next few weeks, and Phoenix scientists have been debating the origin of the objects ever since.
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Info

Natural antifreeze may keep Mars running with water

David Shiga
New Scientist
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:17 UTC
Image
© UnknownA history of Martian water

There's nothing like a little antifreeze to thaw out a frozen planet. Thanks to chemicals called perchlorates, liquid water may play a bigger role on Mars than expected, which is good news for the search for life.

Last year, NASA's Phoenix lander team announced the unexpected discovery on Mars of perchlorates - compounds containing an atom of chlorine bound to four oxygen atoms. Relatively sparse on Earth, they turn out to be abundant on Mars, forming 1 per cent of the soil tasted by Phoenix.

The initial excitement focused on whether Martian microorganisms could use perchlorates as food, as some Earth microbes do. That remains possible, but now it's emerging that perchlorates could have far-reaching consequences on Mars for another reason: their ability to keep water liquid far below 0 °C.
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Telescope

'Primordial' gas ring gives birth to baby galaxies

Rachel Courtland
New Scientist
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:10 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPLThe Leo Ring (illustrated in blue) is a vast loop of gas that orbits two galaxies about 35 million light years from Earth.

In a cosmic case of delayed development, dwarf galaxies have been found growing in a ring of gas that seems to be left over from the early universe. Strangely, the new galaxies appear to lack dark matter, suggesting a fraction of the universe's first galaxies might have been born from gas alone.

The new dwarf galaxies are forming in a giant stream of hydrogen and helium gas called the Leo Ring. The ring surrounds two older galaxies some 35 million light years away from Earth.

The Leo Ring was discovered more than 25 years ago, but until now, no one had seen evidence that it was forming stars. That's because light scattered off dust particles in our solar system obscured the stars from view by optical telescopes.
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Telescope

Europa trumps Titan in bid for outer planet mission

Rachel Courtland
New Scientist
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:02 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPLNASA and ESA plan to send two orbiters to study Jupiter in 2020. The probes will eventually settle into orbit around the moons Ganymede (bottom left) and Europa (top right).

NASA has decided to pursue a plan to send two probes to study Jupiter and its four largest moons in the next big mission to the outer planets, the agency announced today. The mission beat out a competing plan to send an orbiter, balloon and lander to Saturn's moon Titan.

The multi-billion dollar mission, a joint endeavour of NASA and the European Space Agency, would launch two probes in 2020. The pair would reach Jupiter in 2026 and spend at least three years studying the system.

The prime target of NASA's orbiter is Jupiter's moon Europa, which is thought to have an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy shell.
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