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November 27, 2009
November 25, 2009
LHC Restarts operations at CERN
8:28 AM
Antoine
Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions.
With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in up to two places in the ring.
From early in the afternoon, the beams were made to cross at points 1 and 5, home to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, both of which were on the look out for collisions.
Later, beams crossed at points 2 and 8, ALICE and LHCb.
“It’s a great achievement to have come this far in so short a time,” said CERN1Director General Rolf Heuer. “But we need to keep a sense of perspective...
November 17, 2009
The Oracle at Delphi - Not Just Hot Air
9:51 AM
Beena
Most people are acquainted with the myths of ancient Greece. We've heard of Hercules and Zeus, Aphrodite and Era, Achilles and possibly Ulysses. But what about the oracle of Delphi? This was a mystic place where the gods, who knew everything and saw everything, communicated with the wretched humans and revealed to them the path to glory. Unlike the mythical heroes, however, this place really existed, and now new scientific research has demonstrated how the legend began - and it's all thanks to the peculiar geological setting of the area – a combination of active faults, seismic activity and a layer of coal! Indeed it seems that two thousands years of wars and battles may have have been won or lost thanks to the advice of women whose senses...
Self-Renewal of Specialized Cells
9:31 AM
Beena
Is the indefinite expansion of adult cells possible without recourse to stem cell intermediates?
The team led by Michael Sieweke at the Centre d'immunologie de Marseille Luminy (Université Aix-Marseille 2 / CNRS / INSERM) has shown that this is the case by achieving the ex vivo regeneration of macrophages, specialized cells in the immune system, over several months.
Published in Science on November 6, 2009, this discovery could be applied to other cell types. This research enables a clearer understanding of the mechanisms underlying cell differentiation, but above all raises many hopes for potential therapeutic applications.
The regenerative medicine of the future will be based on replacing damaged cells and repairing deficient organs,...
Are Earth's Oceans Made Of Extraterrestrial Material?
9:21 AM
Beena
Contrary to preconceived notions, the atmosphere and the oceans were perhaps not formed from vapors emitted during intense volcanism at the dawning of our planet.
Francis Albarède of the Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre (CNRS / ENS Lyon / Université Claude Bernard) suggests that water was not part of the Earth's initial inventory but stems from the turbulence caused in the outer Solar System by giant planets.
Ice-covered asteroids thus reached the Earth around one hundred million years after the birth of the planets.
The Earth's water could therefore be extraterrestrial, have arrived late in its accretion history, and its presence could have facilitated plate tectonics even before life appeared.
The conclusions of the...
November 14, 2009
Australian scientists to start 'breast regrowth' trial
10:08 AM
Beena
It is hoped that if successful, the experimental stem cell breast-growing technique - called Neopec - could replace breast reconstructions and implants within three years. Dr Phillip Marzella from the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery in Melbourne, said a prototype trial of five to six women would start in the next three to six months "to demonstrate that the body can regrow its own fat supply in the breast".During the world-first trial surgeons will implant a chamber containing a sample of the woman's fat tissue into the chest, which will act a "scaffolding" into which new breast tissue will grow. "What we are hoping to do in the next two years is develop a biodegradable chamber so that the fat can grow...
LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon
5:37 AM
Antoine
The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.
Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike.
NASA today opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon’s south pole.
The impact created by the LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket created a two-part plume of material from the bottom of the crater. The first part was a high angle plume of vapor and fine dust and the second...
November 10, 2009
How can someone die from drinking too much water?
8:42 PM
Beena
In January 2007, hours after competing in a radio station contest to win a Nintendo Wii, 28-year-old Jennifer Strange was found dead in her California home. The station's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" challenge awarded the game system to the contestant who could drink the most water without having to take a trip to the bathroom. According to preliminary autopsy reports, Ms. Strange apparently died from drinking too much water too quickly, resulting in a condition called water intoxication.At its most basic, water intoxication occurs when a person drinks so much water that the other nutrients in the body become diluted to the point that they can no longer do their jobs. You've probably heard the term electrolyte before, whether in reference to sports...
Curvy women may be a clever bet
8:27 PM
Beena
Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests. Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children. The bigger the difference between a woman's waist and hips the better. Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips. In this area, the fat is likely to be the much touted Omega-3, which could improve the woman's own mental abilities...
November 7, 2009
Even Babies Have "Accents," Crying Study Finds
5:59 PM
Beena
Newborn babies start learning language in the womb—and are born with what you might call accents, a new study of crying babies says.That fetuses hear and become accustomed to language is nothing new. Several studies have shown that, when exposed to different languages shortly after birth, a baby will typically indicate a preference for the language closest to the one he or she would've heard during gestation.
But recognizing a language and being able to speak it—or cry it—are two different things.Listening to Babies Cry—By ChoiceFor the new study, a team led by Kathleen Wermke at the Center for Prespeech Development and Developmental Disorders at Würzburg University in Germany studied the cry "melodies" of 60 healthy newborns—30 French and...
From a Distant Comet, a Clue to Life
2:52 PM
Beena
For the first time, a building block of proteins — and hence of life as we know it — has been found in a comet.
That adds to the prevailing notion that many of the ingredients for the origin of life showered down on the early Earth when asteroids (interplanetary rocks orbiting the inner solar system) and comets (dirty ice balls that generally congregate in the outer solar system beyond Neptune) made impact with the planet.
In the new research, scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., detected the amino acid glycine in comet bits brought back in 2006 by the NASA space probe Stardust.
“It tells us more about the inventory of organics in the early solar system,” said Jamie Elsila, an astrochemist at Goddard who led...
Study: Fiddler crabs exchange sex for survival
12:06 PM
Beena
SYDNEY --In the world of fiddler crabs, the best form of protection for females is, apparently, having sex with the neighbors, according to an Australian study published Wednesday.
Researchers from The Australian National University in Canberra found male fiddler crabs will happily defend a nearby female against intruders -- partly because the females will dole out sex in return.
"The fact that the neighbor comes over and helps to defend another territorial individual is pretty unusual," said Michael Jennions, who helped conduct the study, the results of which were published in the journal Biology Letters.
"This study shows, for the first time, that in exchange for sex and other benefits, males protect their female neighbors from territory-seeking...
November 5, 2009
How Can a Pregnant Woman Get Pregnant Again?
7:45 PM
Beena
An Indonesian woman gave birth to a 19-lb. 2-oz. baby behemoth on Sept. 24, but that was only the second weirdest pregnancy tale of the month. The strangest belongs to Julia Grovenburg, a 31-year-old Arkansas woman who has a double pregnancy. No, not twins — Grovenburg became pregnant twice, two weeks apart. Isn't that supposed to be impossible?
Almost. There have been only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation. In Grovenburg's case, she became pregnant first with a girl (whom she has decided to name Jillian) and then two weeks later with a boy (Hudson). The babies have separate due dates — Jillian on Dec. 24, Hudson on Jan. 10. (See pictures of pregnant-belly art.)
Dr. Robert Atlas, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology...
