January 27, 2012
3:22 pm
by: administrator

This virus evolves and mutates

This virus evolves and mutatesNews from TG Daily:
Researchers at Michigan State University have successfully demonstrated how a new virus is capable of evolving and mutating.
In the current issue of Science, the researchers showed – for the first time – how a virus known as “Lambda” evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, which ultimately took four mutations to accomplish.



This virus infects bacteria, specifically, the common E. coli bacterium. Although Lambda isn’t dangerous to humans, the new research highlights how viruses are capable of evolving complex and potentially deadly new traits.


“We were surprised at first to see [...] Continue Reading…

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January 26, 2012
7:17 pm
by: administrator

NASA mission piles on the planets

NASA mission piles on the planetsNews from msnbc.com:

NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting mission has confirmed the existence of 26 more planets beyond our solar system. Msnbc.com’s Alan Boyle explains how the confirmations were made.

By Alan Boyle

The science team for NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting mission nearly doubled their list of confirmed planets beyond our solar system in one fell swoop today, announcing the discovery of 26 planets spread among 11 star systems. Their sizes range from just a little bit bigger than Earth to super-Jupiter-size, but they’re all closer to their parent stars than Venus is to our own sun.
The accelerating pace of [...] Continue Reading…

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January 25, 2012
11:12 pm
by: administrator

Tanzania’s Hadza group sheds light on ancient social networks

Tanzania’s Hadza group sheds light on ancient social networksNews from Los Angeles Times:
Long before Facebook made it possible to share photos of your breakfast with hundreds of friends and let them know just how you feel about your latest parking ticket, humans were forming social networks with essentially the same structure people use today.
A team of researchers has mapped out the relationships among a remote group of 205 hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who live as humans did about 10,000 years ago and found that their social networks are very much like ours, even in the absence of the complicating factors [...] Continue Reading…

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January 25, 2012
3:31 am
by: administrator

Largest Solar Radiation Storm Since 2003

Largest Solar Radiation Storm Since 2003News from Discovery News:

As the Earth’s magnetic field begins to calm after several days of intense geomagnetic activity, the NOAA has announced that we experienced the largest solar radiation storm since 2003.
“Earlier, it was stated that the current Solar Radiation Storm was the largest since May 2005,” said Tuesday’s announcement on the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center’s Facebook page. “After the arrival of the CME earlier today … this is now the largest Solar Radiation Storm since October 2003 (The Halloween Storms).”
Although this solar storm is subsiding, there’s little doubt that more will come.
WATCH [...] Continue Reading…

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January 24, 2012
7:15 am
by: administrator

Magic mushrooms could treat depression

Magic mushrooms could treat depressionNews from TG Daily:
Brain scans of people under the influence of psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – show that brain activity is suppressed by the drug.
And, says the Imperial College London team, it enhances personal memories, meaning it could one day be used alongside psychotherapy to treat depression.
“Psychedelics are thought of as ‘mind-expanding’ drugs, so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity, but surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas,” says Professor David Nutt, [...] Continue Reading…

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January 23, 2012
11:24 am
by: administrator

These semiconductors are cooled with laser light

These semiconductors are cooled with laser lightNews from TG Daily:
Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have managed to successfully combine two worlds: quantum physics and nano physics.


The joining of two very distinct universes has already led to the discovery of a new method for laser cooling semiconductor membranes. 


As you probably already know, semiconductors are vital components in solar cells, LEDs and many other electronic devices.  As such, the efficient cooling of components is critical for the design of future quantum computers and ultrasensitive sensors. 


So how does the new cooling method work?
Quite paradoxically – by actually heating the [...] Continue Reading…

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January 22, 2012
3:12 pm
by: administrator

China Reports 2nd Bird Flu Death in Month

China Reports 2nd Bird Flu Death in MonthNews from New York Times:
BEIJING — A man died in southern China on Sunday from the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Health Ministry reported. It was China’s second such death in less than a month.

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Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines.

The latest victim, an unidentified 39-year-old, fell ill on Jan. 6 and was admitted to a hospital in Guizhou Province the same day, the Health Ministry said in a statement reported by Xinhua, the official news agency.
A 39-year-old bus driver in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong Province [...] Continue Reading…

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January 21, 2012
7:17 pm
by: administrator

NASA Searches for Loot That Traveled From Space to Another Void

NASA Searches for Loot That Traveled From Space to Another VoidNews from New York Times:Michael Stravato for The New York Times
An office at Johnson Space Center maintains NASA’s collection of 163,000 astromaterial samples, including these lunar rocks.

HOUSTON — West Virginia lost one, until it turned up one June day on a bookshelf in the basement of a retired dentist. New York has one in a vault at a museum in Albany, but another one given to the state for safekeeping was not kept very safe, because it appears to be missing, though the attorney general’s office has started looking [...] Continue Reading…

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January 20, 2012
11:30 pm
by: administrator

Scientists find monkey long believed extinct in Indonesian jungles

Scientists find monkey long believed extinct in Indonesian junglesNews from Washington Post:
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have “rediscovered” a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.
They were all the more baffled to find the Miller’s Grizzled Langur — its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar — in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.

The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo island in June, hoping to captures images of clouded leopards, orangutans and other [...] Continue Reading…

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January 20, 2012
3:14 am
by: administrator

Hold on a sec

Hold on a secNews from leap seconds granted a last-minute reprieve – Register:
A decision to kill leap seconds and permanently change how time is measured has been deferred until 2015 by the International Telecommunication Union.
A meeting of ITU Radiocommunication Assembly reps on Thursday was unable to reach a decision on whether to stop adding leap seconds to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it in check with our world’s uneven rotation.

The ITU will now spend the next three years conducting further studies “to ensure that all the technical options have been fully addressed” and to hold further discussions with [...] Continue Reading…

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