חדשות המדע - עדכון 6.7

[sherlock1212]

astrospace news

*Matter is Incinerated When it Falls into a Black Hole*

Apr 15, 2005 - Here's a relief. Instead of being painfully stretched (aka spaghettified) by the immense tidal forces around a black hole, you'd probably just be incinerated by the intense heat. Professor Andrew Hamilton at the University of Colorado predicts that only the smallest black holes would actually stretch you out like this. All the larger, supermassive black holes are already choking on enough material, that their surrounding environment is a superhot plasma heated to millions of degrees and blasting out intense radiation. Contrary to established scientific thinking, you'd be roasted and not "spaghettified" if you stumbled into a supermassive black hole. New research being presented at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick will take a new look at the diet of the universe's most intriguing object, black holes

*Early Universe Swarmed with Mini Black Holes*

Apr 15, 2005 - Famed astronomer Sir Martin Rees, and a team of astronomers from Cambridge in UK believe that the early universe swarmed with miniature black holes. They believe that these smaller objects formed early and then merged together over time to create the supermassive black holes that now lurk at the centres of galaxies. Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation shows that the Universe warmed up when the it was 400,000 years old, which could have been because of matter heating up around these mini black holes. A research group at Cambridge think that the universe might once have been packed full of tiny black holes. Dr Martin Haehnelt, a researcher in the group led by Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, will present new evidence to support this controversial idea at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick.

*Expedition 11 Blasts Off for the Station *

Apr 15, 2005 - The 11th crew to man the International Space Station blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday. The Soyuz TMA capsule carrying Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Astronaut John Phillips, and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy reached orbit a few minutes after launch. Krikalev and Phillips will replace the current crew, while Vittori will only remain on the station for a week and then return with Expedition 10. The Soyuz will dock on Saturday. Phillips, whose 54th birthday is Friday, said he's not overwhelmed by the rigors of space flight at his age and that others in their 50s and 60s shouldn't be either. "I actually think I'm a pretty young man," he said. Krikalev, 46, is one of the most experienced space flyers, having made missions both to the ISS and the Russian space station Mir. At the end of the new mission, he will have spent more time in space than any human, more than 800 days.

*Researches find ideal spot for moon base *

Apr 13, 2005 - Researchers have identified what may be the perfect place for a Moon base, a crater rim near the lunar north pole that's in near-constant sunlight yet not far from suspected stores of water ice. Permanently sunlit areas would provide Crucial solar energy for any future Moon settlement, a goal for NASA outlined last year by President George W. Bush. Such sites would also have resort-like temperatures compared with other lunar locations that fluctuate between blistering heat and unfathomable cold. Equally important, in the permanently shadowed depths of craters around the lunar north pole, water ice may lurk, according to previous but unconfirmed observations.

*Strange Extrasolar Planet Orbits Explained *

Apr 14, 2005 - When astronomers discovered that the planets around Upsilon Andromedae had very strange orbits, they weren't sure what could have caused it. Researchers from Berkeley and Northwestern have developed a simulation that shows how an additional planet could have given the other planets the orbital kick they needed to explain their current eccentricities. If a similar planet had passed through our own Solar System early on, all our planets could be in wildly different orbits around the Sun. The peculiar orbits of three planets looping around a faraway star can be explained only if an unseen fourth planet blundered through and knocked them out of their circular orbits, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University.

*Binary Wolf Rayat Stars *

Apr 11, 2005 - Wolf Rayat stars are some of the most massive and dangerous stars in the Universe, living out the final days before they explode as supernovae. And astronomers have found two of them orbiting one another at distances varying as close as the Sun is to Mars and as far as the Sun to Neptune. One star is 20 times the mass of the Sun, and the other 50 times the mass of the Sun, and they only take 7.9 years to complete their orbital cycle. Wolf Rayat stars are big, violent and living on borrowed time. Put two of these stars destined to explode as supernovae in a binary system, and you've got an Extreme environment, to say the least. Sean Dougherty, an astronomer at the Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics in Canada has used the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope to track a binary Wolf Rayat system. The two stars are blasting each other with ferocious stellar winds. This is one fight we're going to stay well away from.

*New Method Could Detect Alien Space Stations *

Apr 11, 2005 - Since the beginning of astronomical observation, science has been viewing light on a curve. In a Galaxy filled with thousands of eclipsing binary stars, we've refined our skills by measuring the brightness or intensity of so-called variable star as a function of time. The result is known as a "light curve". Through this type of study, we've discovered size, distance and orbital speed of stellar bodies and refined our ability to detect planetary bodies orbiting distant suns. Here on Earth, most of the time it's impossible for us to resolve such small objects even with the most powerful of telescopes, because their size is less than one Pixel in the detector. But new research should let us determine the shape of an object... like a ringed planet, or an orbiting alien space station.

*Universal Constant Might Not Be Constant *

Apr 11, 2005 - An international researchers has found evidence that a universal constant in nature which governs the strength of the molecular bonds between atoms - called "alpha" - might have changed over time. The strength of alpha is very important, and life couldn't exist if it was much different from its current value. The team examined the light from distant quasars billions of light-years away, and measured the unique fingerprint of its light being absorbed by clouds of gas. They compared this fingerprint to known values here on Earth to measure the difference. Physical constants are one of the cornerstones of physics ג sacred numbers which we know to be fixed ג but what if some of these constants are changing? Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005, Dr Michael Murphy of Cambridge University will discuss the "fine structure constant" ג one of the critical numbers in the universe which seems to be precisely tuned for life to exist ג and suggest that it might not be constant after all.

*Really Big Telescopes are Coming *

Apr 8, 2005 - If you think current telescopes are powerful, just you wait. A new class of observatories are in the works that could sport mirrors as large as 100 metres (328 feet) across, and have 40 times the observing power of the Hubble Space Telescope. A new study developed by a commission of European astronomers proposes that instruments this large could be built for approximately 1 billion Euros and take 10-15 years to construct.

*In The Stars: Galactic Pile-Ups*

Apr 12, 2005 -Space-time, as the condition of the known and expanding universe is called, is probably somewhere on the order of 29 billion to 30 billion light-years across. That is approximately the size the three available dimensions of space have grown - outward in all directions at once - since the Big Bang occurred about 14.7 billion years ago. It also presumes an indefinite period when space expanded briefly at several hundred-thousand times the speed of light. Along with our own Milky Way, hundreds of billions of galaxies occupy this universe, but most of them are separated by millions of light-years and most are moving apart from one another at an increasingly rapid rate, courtesy of the mysterious force known as dark energy.

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[sherlock1212]

technosience news

*And then there were two *

Apr 15, 2005 - The Belle collaboration at the KEK laboratory in Japan has reported the most accurate measurement to date of the angle ?¸3 in the "unitarity triangle" that describes the difference between matter and anti-matter in the Standard Model. The team used a technique known as Dalitz plot analysis to analyze the decays of charged B-mesons and their antiparticle equivalents (K Abe et al. 2005 arXiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0504013). By measuring all the angles in the unitarity triangle, and also the lengths of the sides, physicists hope to understand more about the violation of charge-parity (CP) symmetry in nature and why the universe does not contain equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. CP violation is responsible for the difference between matter and antimatter in the Standard Model. CP violation means that the laws of physics change slightly when a particle is replaced by its antiparticle and all three directions in space are reversed. CP violation was first detected in kaons in 1964. However, it was not observed in another system until Belle and a similar experiment at Stanford called BaBar observed it in B-meson decays in 2001.

*Researchers Grow Self-Assembling Carbon Nanotubes Cheaply And Quickly *

Apr 14, 2005 - A Case Western Reserve University engineer has created the "seeds" that can grow into today's and tomorrow's computer and phone chips. In a development that could lead to smaller but more powerful computers and electronic communication devices, Massood Tabib-Azar, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Case, and engineering graduate student Yan Xie are growing carbon nanotube bridges in their lab that automatically attach themselves to other components without the help of an applied electrical current. Carbon nanotubes, discovered just 14 years ago, are stronger than steel and as flexible as plastic, conduct energy better than almost any material ever discovered and can be made from ordinary raw materials such as methane gas.

Engineers Study Whether 'Light On A Wire' Is Wave Of Future For Circuitry

Apr 14, 2005 - If data drove itself around in cars, photonics would be a roomy minivan and electronics would be a nimble coupe. Photonic components such as fiber optic cables can carry a lot of data but are bulky compared to electronic circuits. Electronic components such as wires and transistors carry less data but can be incredibly small. A problem holding back the progress of computing is that with mismatched capacities and sizes, the two technologies are hard to combine in a circuit. Researchers can cobble them together, but a single technology that has the capacity of photonics and the smallness of electronics would be the best bridge of all. Surface plasmons are density waves of electrons-picture bunches of electrons passing a point regularly-along the Surface of a metal.

*New Gas Sensors Patterned With Conducting Polymer *

Apr 13, 2005 - An improved method for depositing nanoporous, conducting polymer films on miniaturized device features has been demonstrated by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Described in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society,* the method may be useful as a general technique for reproducibly fabricating microdevices such as sensors for detecting toxic chemicals. Unlike most polymers, conducting polymers have the electrical and optical properties of metals or semiconductors. These materials are of increasing interest in microelectronics because they are inexpensive, flexible and easy to synthesize.

*Molecular Breakthrough For Plastic Electronics*

Apr 12, 2005 - The potential applications for flexible plastic electronics are enormous - from electronic books to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to electronics for cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers - but certain technological hurdles must be overcome before we see such widespread use. Now a Northwestern University team of materials chemists report a breakthrough in the race to find the right materials for producing cost-effective, high-performance plastic electronics. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

*Nano For Quantum Computers *

Apr 12, 2005 - The best route to create advanced quantum computers, which in theory can run more calculations in an instant than there are atoms in the universe, could be nanotechnologies, experts told UPI's Nano World. The possibilities for making a nanotech quantum computer are many, including such exotic creations as quivering nanotubes, superconducting nanocircuits and quantum dots. "Nanoscale devices are the best case to observe quantum mechanical phenomena in the compromise between something small enough to be quantum mechanical, but still large enough to be controllable and accessible," said physicist Franco Nori of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the Frontier Research System of RIKEN near Tokyo.

*New transistor breaks speed record *

Apr 14, 2005 - A pair of physicists in the US has built the fastest ever transistor: one that can operate at a frequency of over 600 gigahertz. Developed by Walid Hafez and Milton Feng at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the device is made from the semiconductors indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide (Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 152101). The work demonstrates the feasibility of making transistors that can operate at frequencies of several terahertz, which could be used in ultrafast communications, high-speed computing, medical imaging and sensors.

*Nickel nuclei yield magic finding *

Apr 12, 2005 - Physicists in the US and Germany have measured the half-life of the "doubly-magic" nucleus nickel-78 for the first time and have found that it is shorter than expected (Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 112501). Nickel-78 is thought to produce about half the elements heavier than iron in the universe. The finding, obtained by Paul Hosmer of Michigan State University and colleagues, could mean that supernova explosions produce gold and other heavy elements much faster than previously thought. With 50 neutrons and 28 protons nickel-78 has an extremely large neutron excess compared to naturally occuring nickel isotopes. Nickel-78 is said to be a "doubly-magic" nucleus because it has closed shells of both protons and neutrons. It is one of only ten such nucleides that can be formed in nature. It is also very difficult to produce experimentally. Although physicists at the GSI lab in Darmstadt, Germany, had produced three nickel-78 nuclei before, they were not able to measure their properties.

*Photonic crystals come under the microscope*

Apr 08, 2005 - Physicists have measured the photonic band structure of a photonic material for the first time (H Gersen et al. 2005 Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 123901). Laurens Kuipers of the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) and colleagues in the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland developed a near-field optical microscope that can measure both the amplitude and phase of a light pulse as it travels through a photonic crystal.

*Cockroaches Inspire Robot Antenna Design *

Apr 08, 2005 - To most of us, cockroaches are a nasty nuisance. But to a team of engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, the pesky critters are excellent role models. So when the scientists set out to build an antenna for a robot, they turned to cockroach biology. The sensor-laden antenna they built resembles a cockroach's navigational appendage. The antenna sends signals to the robot's electronic brain, enabling the machine to scurry along walls, turn corners, and avoid obstacles, just like a cockroach. The technology could provide an important navigational alternative for robots that are dispatched into dangerous locations, such as collapsed buildings. Most robotic vehicles rely on artificial vision or sonar systems for their navigation. However, robotic eyes don't operate well in low light, and sonar systems can be confused by polished surfaces.

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[sherlock1212]

biomedical news

*Nanoshells Simultaneously Detect And Destroy Cancerous Cells *

Apr 14, 2005 - Researchers at Rice University in Texas have developed a new approach to fighting cancer, based on nanoscale particles that can both detect and destroy cancerous cells. The report appears in the April 13 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Nano Letters. Current molecular imaging approaches only detect the cancer but don't offer a method of treatment, according to the study's lead authors, Rebekah Drezek, Ph.D., and Jennifer West, Ph.D., both professors in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice. "You can look for a molecular marker that may indicate a significant clinical problem, but you can't do anything about it (just through imaging)," says Drezek.

*Remote Control Insects *

Apr 11, 2005 - Yale University School of Medicine researchers have found a way to exercise a little mind control over fruit flies, making the flies jump, beat their wings, and fly on command by triggering genetic "remote controls" that the scientists designed and installed in the insects' central nervous systems, according to a new report in the 8 April issue of the journal Cell. Susana Lima and Gero Miesenbock hope that the remote control system will provide a valuable way to study how nerve-cell activity and connections are related to specific behaviors, from simple movements to more complex behaviors like learning, aggression, and even abstract thought. The ability to control specific groups of neurons without implanting electrodes in the brain or using similarly invasive techniques "would represent a significant step in moving neuroscience from passive observation to active and predictive manipulation of behavior," the Cell authors write.

*A Deficiency of D? *

Apr 05, 2005 - A new national study finds that most adults, especially those over 50, fall short on recommended daily levels of vitamin D, an essential nutrient long known to preserve bones and now increasingly tied to protection against ailments from cancer to rheumatoid arthritis. And no, just drinking more vitamin-D fortified milk or juice may not make up the deficit, many experts say, although it can help. Spending 10 to 15 minutes in the sun, done with proper care, might. The study is based on data drawn from a large, federally funded national health survey and analyzed by a team of scientists from Boston University and private industry. Presented yesterday at the Experimental Biology annual meeting in San Diego, the study found that vitamin D intakes peak during childhood and teenage years and then decline.

*'Eat Right' Enzyme Directs Healthy Eatin *

Apr 14, 2005 - We shouldn't need our mothers to tell us to finish our vegetables ג research shows our bodies are wired to let us know. Neuroscientists working separately at the University of California at Davis and at New York University School of Medicine have revealed an ancient "switch" in some mammals that signals the appetite to seek foods with perfect nutritional balance. The mechanism has been found in rats, mice, slugs, even yeast and, the researchers say, there's every reason to believe it also exists in people. "It's a very simple mechanism that's present in very simple organisms," said David Ron of the New York University School of Medicine. "When you see that in biology it usually means it's an important mechanism that's present in all species, including humans."

*Study Links Free Radicals to the Spectrum of Autism*

Apr 14, 2005 - A metabolic flaw may account partly for the range in severity shown in children with the developmental disorder, scientists report. Many autistic children share a chronic flaw in the body's natural defenses against oxygen free radicals ג corrosive molecules in the body that can severely damage developing brain cells, scientists said Saturday in San Diego. The molecular havoc caused by free radicals ג natural byproducts of metabolism ג is believed to be a major factor in the cell damage that underlies aging. Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock found that a single breakdown in the body's metabolism might underlie many of the puzzling symptoms of autism, a complex developmental disability with a spectrum of behaviors. "This is a very promising thing to look at because it gets at the actual metabolic processes in the brain," said UCLA neurologist George Bartzokis, who did not participate in the research. "The brain is especially vulnerable to damage from free radicals."

*1,098 genes decoded, meet the amazing Ms. X *

Mar 17, 2005 - Mapping of the female chromosome, revealed Wednesday, will shed new light on disease and differences in the sexes. An international team of researchers announced Wednesday that they have cataloged all the genes on the female X chromosome, a technical feat expected to enable fresh insights into women's health and add a genetic component to the debate over differences between the sexes.

Described by the head of the Human Genome Project as "a monumental achievement for biology and medicine," the genetic map should help scientists better understand more than 300 X-linked diseases--such as hemophilia, Fragile X Syndrome and Duchenne muscular dystrophy--that mothers pass on to their sons.

*DNA project to trace human steps *

Mar 13, 2005 - A project spanning five continents is aiming to map the history of human migration via DNA. The Genographic Project will collect DNA samples from over 100,000 people worldwide to help piece together a picture of how the Earth was colonised. Samples gathered from indigenous people and the general public will be subjected to lab and computer analysis to extract the valuable genetic data. Team leader Dr Spencer Wells calls the plan "the Moon shot of anthropology". Participating in the five-year study are some of the world's top population geneticists, as well as leading experts in the fields of ancient DNA, linguistics and archaeology.

*Clouds May Harbor Nanobacteria *

Apr 11, 2005 - Tiny particles linked to a number of painful and sometimes deadly diseases may spread across the globe by hitching a ride in clouds, claim researchers in a recent issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. The particles, known as nanobacteria, are 100 times smaller than typical bacteria and have been found in kidney stones, arterial plaques and ovarian cancers. But scientists have yet to agree whether the particles actually cause the diseases or how they infect humans. Also unknown is whether the particles are life forms or an unknown type of crystal -- a rift that has sparked one of the biggest controversies in modern microbiology. Now, a new theory by Andrei Sommer, of the University of Ulm, Germany, and N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, attempts to show how nanobacteria moves from humans to the environment and back.

*Brass jugs polish off disease *

Apr 11, 2005 - Brass water containers could combat many water-borne diseases, according to microbiologists. The discovery suggests that these vessels should be used in developing countries, where people typically view cheaper plastic containers as the better option. Water-borne diseases remain a serious threat in many poor regions of the world, with around 2 million children dying each year from diarrhoea. Efforts to provide safe drinking water have had difficulty reaching remote areas. Even in places with basic water-purification systems, people often opt for riskier wells under trees because the water is cooler, says Rob Reed, who led the brass study. On a recent trip to India, Reed, a microbiologist at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, witnessed villagers doing exactly this.

*Is Chromium in Your Mineral Supplement? *

Apr 16, 2005 - Chromium is a mineral that's been gaining some hard-won respect, primarily for its demonstrated ability to normalize blood-sugar concentrations (SN: 5/1/04, p. 282). It can help people exhibiting prediabetic symptoms and those with full-blown type 2 diabetes, the non-insulin-dependent form of the disease. Because chromium concentrations in most foods are far too low to have much of an effect on blood sugar, health practitioners typically recommend that people augment their diets with mineral supplements. However, two new studies indicate that the quantity of chromium in any supplement may not be nearly as important as the mineral's chemical form. At the Experimental Biology 2005 meeting in San Diego last week, Robert DiSilvestro and Emily Dy of Ohio State University reported data indicating that only the picolinate form of chromiumגone of the four kinds in most commercially available supplementsגis absorbed well by the body. About 40 percent of this form was absorbed by people taking chromium supplements in one experiment. In contrast, absorption of other forms of the mineral in supplements ran as low as 1 percent. Only some 10 percent of any form of chromium in foods is typically absorbed, DiSilvestro adds.

*Treatment breakthrough for גsmokerגs lungג *

Apr 05, 2005 - Researchers are starting clinical trials in humans of what they hope may be the first effective treatment for גsmokerגs lungג - the UKגs fourth biggest killer - after the therapy showed success in mice. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition describing a range of severe inflammatory diseases of the lungs including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. More than 90% of cases are caused by cigarette smoking, and even when a smoker quits the habit, the disease continues, becoming progressively worse ג often until the patient dies from respiratory failure. COPD currently kills more than 30,000 people in the UK every year and is predicted to kill over six million worldwide by 2020, becoming the worldגs third biggest killer. To date, it has only been possible to ease the symptoms of COPD. Researchers have failed to understand why steroids ג an effective treatment for asthma-related lung inflammation ג have proved ineffective in treating COPD. Now, scientists at Imperial College London, UK, have taken the first step towards a cure for the fatal disease by discovering why it is resistant to steroid treatment.

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[sherlock1212]

environmental news

*At Least Part Of Climate Change Is Man-Made *

Apr 14, 2005 - A Bonn study shows that since 1880 climate gases have caused just under half of global warming. In the last 120 years the average global temperature has risen by 0.7 degrees. Over the same period the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere increased from 0.28 to 0.37 per cent. Carbon dioxide is one of the so-called 'greenhouse gases'; methane, which is produced as part of the process of cattle-rearing, for example, is also a greenhouse gas. Its concentration in the atmosphere has risen since 1750 two and a half times. Climatologists regard it as likely that man-made greenhouse gases have contributed to global warming.

*Currents Could Disrupt Ocean Food Chain *

Apr 13, 2005 - If increased precipitation and sea Surface heating from global warming disrupts the Atlantic Conveyer current ג as some scientists predict ג the effect on the ocean food chain in the Atlantic and other oceans could be severe, according to a new study just published in Nature. In a worst case scenario, global productivity of phytoplankton could decrease by as much as 20 percent and in some areas, such as the North Atlantic, the loss could hit 50 percent. The study was conducted by Andreas Schmittner, an assistant professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. In his sophisticated computer model, Schmittner does not predict that the Atlantic Conveyer current, which drags warm water from the southern tropics into the North Atlantic and warms Europe, will be disrupted.

*The Oceanic CO2 Puzzle *

Apr 11, 2005 - For years, climate scientists and oceanographers have been struggling to figure out the relationship of carbon dioxide in the oceans to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. There is a definite connection, but to date no one has been able to discover what it is. The only thing for sure is concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide have fluctuated naturally by about 80 to 100 parts per million between glacial and interglacial periods during Earth's recent geological history. "The overall conclusion is that CO2 has changed in the past, and at glacial periods it was roughly 30 to 35 percent lower than it was in pre-industrial times," Karen Kohfeld, assistant professor of earth and environmental science at Queens College of the City University of New York, told UPI's Climate.

*Thousands flee in panic as Indonesian volcano spews into life*

Apr 12, 2005 - A volcano spewed into life Tuesday on Indonesia's disaster-blighted Sumatra island, spreading new panic after the recent tsunami and earthquakes and driving thousands from their homes. Mount Talang, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Sumatra's coastal Padang city began pumping out volcanic ash shortly before dawn, prompting scientists to urge people to move away from the fall-out zone. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated from the volcano's slope, the Antara news agency quoted local official Bustamar saying. It said the volcano's status had been raised to "beware", one rung below full-blown eruption.

*Australia's most unwelcome guest *

Apr 12, 2005 - TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA ג It seemed like a good idea at the time. In 1935, two types of beetles were chewing through Queensland's sugar-cane fields. In desperation, growers turned to cane toads to battle the insects. They'd heard glowing reports about the warty, fist-sized amphibians from growers at a conference in the Caribbean two years earlier, and successfully lobbied to import them. Instead of concentrating on beetles, the voracious toads began munching on almost everything in site: insects, bird eggs, and even pet food. Their poison killed predators - even pets - who tried to eat them. And instead of staying put in cane fields, they began to spread along a broad swath of the country.In recent years, the cane toad has become a poster child for the problem of invasive species here, forcing the government to embark on a multimillion-dollar campaign to stop them.Australia would come to rue that day.

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[sherlock1212]

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[sherlock1212]

other news

*Scientists find eggs in dinosaur mom *

Apr 15, 2005 - A chance to work on a historic dinosaur discovery seems a fitting reward for a paleontologist who first said the word tyrannosaurus at age 3. In the journal Science, Tamaki Sato describes the discovery of two shelled eggs found inside a dinosaur that died before laying them. A geologist found the fossilized remains in China's Jiangxi province and sold them to a museum. "The museum that purchased it did not know there were any eggs inside," said Sato, a paleontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. "They thought it was just a skeleton."

*Science's Doomsday Team vs. the Asteroids *

Apr 09, 2005 - Astronomer David Tholen spotted it last year in the early evening of June 19, using the University of Arizona's Bok telescope. It was a new "near-Earth object," a fugitive asteroid wandering through space to pass close to Earth. Tholen's team took three pictures that night and three the next night, but storm clouds and the moon blocked further observations. They reported their fixes to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., and moved on. Six months later, Tholen's object was spotted again in Australia as asteroid "2004 MN4." In the space of five days straddling Christmas, startled astronomers refined their calculations as the probability of the 1,000-foot-wide stone missile hitting Earth rose from one chance in 170 to one in 38. They had never measured anything as potentially dangerous to Earth. Impact would come on Friday the 13th in April 2029.

*More Evidence of Skull's Link to Humans *

Apr 07, 2005 - Scientists who three years ago discovered a nearly complete 7 million-year-old skull in central Africa have dug up additional evidence supporting the conclusion that the skull belonged to the earliest known human ancestor. The new findings -- two jaw bones and an upper premolar tooth -- lend credence to the proposition that the creature was probably among the first hominid, or human-like, primates to live after humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other a little more than 7 million years ago. Researchers said the new fossils, along with a sophisticated computer reconstruction of the previously discovered skull, solidify the remains' stature as among the most important paleological finds of the past several decades. Together they paint a picture of an ancestral primate with a chimpanzee-sized body and brain but a face and teeth more like those of modern humans.

*Do it yourself *

Apr 05, 2005 - When people are given free rein, they create extraordinary things. That's what Neil Gershenfeld discovered when he gave them access to the right tools. From students to farmers to film stars, they have made milk analysers, computer interfaces for parrots and artificial jellyfish. In his new book, Fab, Gershenfeld describes how he and his colleagues developed the desktop 'personal fabrication' laboratories (fablabs) needed to turn dreams into reality. Gershenfeld, a member of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, reckons fablabs will usher in a technological revolution that will rival or even surpass that in personal computing. In 10 or 20 years time, he predicts, your computer and printer will be accompanied by a personal fabricator that makes whatever you want, assembled using the same digital logic that the computer uses.

*The Role of Dreams in the Evolution of the Human Mind *

Apr 05, 2005 - This paper presents an evolutionary argument for the role of dreams in the development of human cognitive processes. While a theory by Revonsuo (2000) proposes that dreams allow for threat rehearsal and therefore provide an evolutionary advantage, the goal of this paper is to extend this argument by commenting on other fitness-enhancing aspects of dreams. Rather than a simple threat rehearsal mechanism, it is argued that dreams reflect a more general virtual rehearsal mechanism that is likely to play an important role in the development of human cognitive capacities. This paper draws on current work in cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind in developing the argument. Although Freud (1900) proposed that dreaming and, specifically, the meaningful content of dreams are related to mental functioning, the tenuous and misunderstood nature of dreams has made the proposition of empirically providing support for, or falsifying, this claim very problematic. The inability to study the effects of dreams on mental functioning has forced many researchers to view dreams as the result of random neural activity (e.g., the activation-synthesis hypothesis; Hobson and McCarley, 1977).

*Shaping the Future *

Apr , 2005 - Last year a high-profile panel of expertsknown as the Copenhagen Consensus ranked the world's most pressing environmental, health and social problems in a prioritized list. Assembled by the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute under its then director, Bj?¨rn Lomborg, the panel used cost-benefit analysis to evaluate where a limited amount of money would do the most good. It concluded that the highest priority should go to immediate concerns with relatively well understood cures, such as control of malaria. Long-term challenges such as climate change, where the path forward and even the scope of the threat remain unclear, ranked lower. Usually each of these problems is treated in isolation, as though humanity had the luxury of dealing with its problems one by one. The Copenhagen Consensus used state-of-the-art techniques to try to bring a broader perspective. In so doing, however, it revealed how the state of the art fails to grapple with a simple fact: the future is uncertain.

*Navigating Celestial Currents *

Apr 05, 2005 - Last April, the Genesis spacecraft began its journey home. It had been parked out in space collecting solar particles for 2 years. Yet even though its job was done, Genesis didn't head straight home. Instead, it took a 3-million-mile detour, swinging past Earth to do a loop de loop around a distant point before flying back to Earth. This circuitous route was no accident. The spacecraft had hopped aboard the interplanetary superhighway, a network of tubes crisscrossing through the solar system. By jumping from one tube to another at the solar system's version of highway interchanges, a spacecraft can travel vast distances using practically no fuel. "Genesis was the most efficient space mission ever flown," says Jerrold Marsden, a mathematician at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena who studies spacecraft trajectories.

*Captcha the Puzzle *

Apr 05, 2005 - Computers can do all sorts of amazing things, from searching the Web at an incredible rate to playing chess at a grandmaster level. Yet some tasks that are easy for people to perform remain remarkably difficult for computers. For example, computer programs have a hard time reading distorted text or deciphering images. In the last few years, computer scientists have worked out an ingenious security scheme that takes advantage of such a mismatch. The scheme relies on computer programs that can, without further human intervention, automatically generate and grade tests that the computer programs themselves can't easily pass. Yet most people generally have no difficulty passing the same tests.

[Libby]

It might take me 3 days to read all this... a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!

(of what i've read until now)

[sherlock1212]

thank you

[BreezeNET]

:o :o :o

יקח לי שבוע לקרוא את כל זה !

[sherlock1212]

תתחיל עכשיו(אם יש לך כוח) עוד שבוע אני יביא עוד

[topgun]

שרלוק - כל הכבוד על היוזמה.

כמו שאמרתי לך בפרטי, נראה לי שעדיף לפרסם את החדשות הבאות בצורת לינקים, כדי שיהיה יותר נוח לקרוא.

לשאר חברי הפורום - מה דעתכם שנהפוך את הת'רד הזה לת'רד חדשות מדע?

גולשים נוספים הנתקלים בחדשות או ידיעות, מוזמנים לקשר אותן לכאן.

[MoRtZkInG]

נראה מעניין.

רק שתי בקשות לי אליכם.

1. תנו קרדיט מלא למקור שלכם - מגיע לו!

2. קשרו בלינק למקור החדשה - גם זה מגיע להם!

[sherlock1212]

בקשר לבקשה הראשונה אני יכול להגיד רק שהוא המור?ה שלי.

והבקשה השניה אני לא יכול להגיד מה המקור כי אני צמצמתי את החדשות (הם ארוכות מדי כדי לשלוח אותם בהודעה אחת)אבל אני יכול לשים את כל המקורות בהודעה אחת אחרי החדשות.

[sherlock1212]

אני לא יודע אם משהו באמת קורא את זה אבל בכל מקרה....

astrospace news

*Glimpse at the Envelope of a Young Star*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/glimpse_envelope_star.html?214200

http://www.naoj.org/Pressrelease/2005/04/20/index.htm

*Spitzer Sees an Alien Asteroid Belt*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/alien_asteroid_belt.html?204200

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2005-10/release.shtml

*Ghostly Supernova Remnant*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/chandra_g21.html?194200

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/g21/

*Messenger Out Of The Bottle*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mercury-05b.html

*Scientists Determine Core Target List Of Stars For TPF Mission*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/extrasolar-05u.html

*Bigger 'Birthmarks' In The Sky May Deflate Theory Of Cosmic Inflation*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cosmology-05s.html

technosience news

*Perfect Liquid Hints at Early Universe*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/early_universe_liquid.html?2042005

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/physics-05s.htm

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/liquid.html

*Is It Or Isn't It? Pentaquark Debate Heats Up*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/physics-05t.html

*HAPPEx Results Hint At Strangely Magnetic Proton*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/physics-05u.html

*New Particle Detector Helps Probe The First Matter In The Primordial Universe*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/physics-05r.html

*Nanomagnets Bend The Rules*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nanotech-05zm.html

*Spontaneous Ignition Discovery Has ORNL Researcher Fired Up*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/energy-tech-05zj.html

*New Isotope Gives A glimpse Of The Origins Of Precious Metals*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/stellar-chemistry-05o.html

*Smart Plastics Change Shape With Light*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/materials-05q.html

*CT Scan for Molecules - Producing 3-d images of electron orbitals*

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=5&articleID=000973A0-37DF-1237-B62883414B7F0000

*Superlens breakthrough*

http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/4/12

Ultra-fast X-ray pulses reveal how a solid melts into a liquid

http://www.physorg.com/news3828.html

Evidence Suggests a Possible New Phase of Ice

http://www.physorg.com/news3770.html

biomedical news

*Food Pyramid Gets New Look*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A693-

2005Apr19.html?referrer=email

*Establishing Proof*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64052-2005Apr18.html?referrer=email

*Happy moments 'protect the heart'*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4449199.stm

*'Nano-bumps' could help repair clogged blood vessels*

http://www.physorg.com/news3807.html

Scientists Develop New Technology To Detect Cancer**

http://www.physorg.com/news3799.html

*'Robotic' dental drill to be tested on humans*

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7288

environmental news

*Low Oxygen Accelerated the Great Dying*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/low_oxygen_great_dying.html?1942005

http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=9592

*Iceberg Smashes Off a Chunk of Antarctica*

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/b15_smashes_icetongue.html?1842005

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMEGLW797E_index_0.html

*Hundreds Of Antarctic Glaciers In Retreat, Says Study*

http://www.terradaily.com/news/iceage-05l.html

*The Sea Level-Climate Connection*

http://www.terradaily.com/news/climate-05zt.html

other news

*Getting Space Exploration Right*

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacetravel-05v.html

Intelligent bacteria?

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/050418_bactfrm.htm

Scientist Urges Dormant Eggs to Life to Test Evolution

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/story?id=666435&page=1

The mathematics of love

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gottman05/gottman05_index.html

[Libby]

**תאי גזע הושתלו בקרניות של עיוורים ועיניהם השתקמו:

שיטת ניתוח חדשנית עשויה להחזיר לאנשים את מאור עיניהם. הצוות הבריטי מקווה ליישם את השיטה גם לחידוש איברים אחרים.

לינק: http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/18/709576 

אגב, ראיתי פעולה דומה שנעשתה בצפרדעים.עיניי הראשנים הוצאו ממקומן וגידלו בצלחת פטרי עיניים חדשות בעזרת טכנולוגיה מבוססת תאי גזע. העניים הושתלו בצפרדעים שהתבגרו והן החלו לראות.

מדהים בהחלט.

**מכשיר שמיעה חדש מאפשר לעיוורים לראות באמצעות צליל:

מדובר במצלמה זעירה, שניתן להסתיר מאחורי זוג משקפי שמש. המצלמה קולטת את הסביבה ומשדרת את מה שהיא קלטה לתוכנת מחשב, אשר מתרגמת את התמונה לצליל. באמצעות האזנה לצלילים המשתנים, יכול האדם העיוור "לראות" סביבתו, בדומה לעטלף או דולפין.

לינק: http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/4/708832

**התגלה מין לא מוכר של דינוזאור:

מדענים מארה"ב חשפו מאובן של גולגולת דינוזאור צמחוני בעל קרניים. חשיפתו מוכיחה כי מינים חדשים המשיכו להתפתח גם כשהיו על סף הכחדה

לינק: http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/5/711447

ולינק אחרון שחובה להציץ בו:

http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/viewEntry.asp?EntryId=353082