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News | Archive (August 2007)
Weird engine of the reef revealed
— 31 Aug 2007 | EnvironmentA team of coral researchers has taken a major stride towards revealing the workings of the mysterious 'engine' that drives Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and corals the world over. The science has critical importance in understanding why coral reefs bleach and die, how they respond to climate change - and how that might affect humanity, they say…
Disease resistance may be genetic
— 31 Aug 2007 | BiologyAccording to a study in Evolution, resistance to certain infectious diseases may be passed genetically from parent to child. The genetic resistance may be beneficial to families as those with the gene are both unlikely to suffer from disease and unlikely to carry the disease home. Paul Schliekelman, author of the study, says the research was inspired by personal experience after catching stomach flus from his daughter three times over a six-month period…
Elusive waves in the solar corona observed for the first time
— 30 Aug 2007 | AstronomyScientists for the first time have observed elusive oscillations in the solar corona, known as Alfven waves, that transport energy outward from the surface of the Sun. The discovery is expected to give researchers more insight into the fundamental behaviour of solar magnetic fields, eventually leading to a fuller understanding of how the Sun affects Earth and the solar system. The research, led by Steve Tomczyk of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), is being published this week in Science…
Mars rovers continue to persevere in hard conditions
— 30 Aug 2007 | AstronomyThe NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to persevere in hard conditions. It is clearly visible in images of the sun they are sending. The images show how opaque the Martian atmosphere has been in the face of a very active, two-month dust storm. To understand the gravity of the storm, engineers and astronomers monitored the situation by examining the images and measuring the amount of dust or the opacity of the atmosphere…
Supersonic rain falls on newborn star: Forming solar system deluged with oceans of water
— 29 Aug 2007 | AstronomyAstronomers at the University of Rochester have discovered five Earth-oceans' worth of water that has recently fallen into the planet-forming region around an extremely young, developing star. Dan Watson, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, believes he and his colleagues are the first to see a short-lived stage of protoplanetary disk formation, and the manner in which a planetary system's supply of water arrives from the natal envelope within which its parent star originally formed…
Mars rovers begin atmospheric observations
— 29 Aug 2007 | AstronomyMars rover scientists have launched a new long-term study on the Martian atmosphere with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, an instrument that was originally developed at the University of Chicago. Thanasis Economou, Senior Scientist at Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute, suggested the new study after observing that the APXS instruments aboard NASA's twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, had recorded fluctuations in the argon composition of the Martian atmosphere. 'The amount of argon in the atmosphere is changing constantly,' Economou said…
NASA study will help stop stowaways to Mars
— 29 Aug 2007 | AstronomyGene sequencing uncovers many more bacteria in super-clean facilities than previous monitoring methods, including newly discovered species. NASA clean rooms, where scientists and engineers assemble spacecraft, have joined hot springs, ice caves, and deep mines as unlikely places where scientists have discovered ultra-hardy organisms collectively known as 'extremophiles.' Some species of bacteria uncovered in a recent NASA study have never been detected anywhere else…
One of the most curious objects in the sky delights astronomers again
— 29 Aug 2007 | AstronomyEdwin Hubble once called IC 10 'one of the most curious objects in the sky.' It is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. New observations of the extremely faint, lightweight dwarf galaxy are giving scientists new clues about how populations of stars are born. Though the properties of stars is one of the most well-studied topics in astronomy, scientists still don't fully understand all the mechanisms involved in star formation and evolution, particularly in galaxies with low levels of oxygen, nitrogen and other heavy elements. But scientists studying the IC 10 galaxy may soon understand how stars might have looked like in the distant past, when the universe was in a younger, more pristine form…
The most famous fossil Lucy debuts in Houston
— 28 Aug 2007 | Geology and palaeontologyEthiopia is the cradle of mankind, the birthplace of coffee, the purported resting place of the Ark of the Covenant - and home to legions of Bob Marley fans. Discover five million years of this country's diverse history and culture in the world premiere exhibition 'Lucy's legacy: The hidden treasures of Ethiopia,' on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science from 31 August 2007 - 20 April 2008. The exhibition will include the original fossilised remains of the 3.2 million-year-old hominid known as Lucy. With 40 percent of her skeleton intact, Lucy remains the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil…
New golden frog discovered in remote region of Colombia
— 28 Aug 2007 | BiologyA new poisonous frog was recently discovered in a remote mountainous region in Colombia by a team of young scientists supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP). The new frog, which is almost two centimetres in length, was given the name the 'golden frog of Supata.' Originally, the young scientists thought the frog was similar to several other common species in the area. However, after scientific analysis of the frog's characteristics, and review of their findings by experts at Conservation International, it was determined that the golden frog of Supata is unique and only found within a 20 hectare area in Colombia's Cundinamarca region…
Physics and guitars collide to make a big bang in schools
Telescope project receives $30 million from Charles Simonyi, Bill Gates