SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: October 2004
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CERN to probe life, the universe and everything
(Oct 19, 2004)
It has revolutionized physics, made Nobel Prize winners and given
birth to the World Wide Web – now its successor looks set to
answer some of the natural world's most fundamental questions. CERN,
the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has made many formidable
discoveries since its launch 50 years ago, but these achievements
could be dwarfed by findings from a 17-mile accelerator, or particle-smasher,
being assembled outside Geneva. From 2007 it will be firing particles
at speeds nearing that of light, before smashing them together to
re-create the conditions scientists believe existed less than one
billionth of a second after the Big Bang - the birth of the cosmos
some 14 billion years ago.
Read
more. Source: Reuters/MSNBC |
Is a 90-day Mars round trip possible via
new propulsion?
(Oct 18, 2004)
A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at the University
of Washington could dramatically cut the time needed for astronauts
to travel to and from Mars and could make humans a permanent fixture
in space. In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam,
quick trips to distant parts of the solar system could become routine,
said Robert Winglee, a UW Earth and space sciences professor who is
leading the project.
Read
more. Source: University of Washington |
Newfound star cluster may be final Milky
Way 'fossil'
(Oct 16, 2004)
Just when astronomers thought they might have dug up the last of our
galaxy's "fossils," they've discovered a new one in the galactic equivalent
of our own backyard. Called globular clusters, these ancient bundles
of stars date back to the birth of our Milky Way galaxy, 13 or so
billion years ago. They are sprinkled around the center of the galaxy
like seeds in a pumpkin. Astronomers use clusters as tools for studying
the Milky Way's age and formation. New infrared images from NASA's
Spitzer Space Telescope and the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory
reveal a never-before-seen globular cluster within the dusty confines
of the Milky Way.
Read
more. Source: Caltech / Spitzer Telescope |
Paralysed man sends e-mail by thought
(Oct 15, 2004)
A pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail
and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into
a hundred neurons (such as the one illustrated here) at a time, and
is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far. Many
paralysed people control computers with their eyes or tongue. But
muscle function limits these techniques, and they require a lot of
training. For over a decade researchers have been trying to find a
way to tap directly into thoughts.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Giant virus qualifies as 'living organism'
(Oct 15, 2004)
Roll up, roll up, to meet Mimi, the biggest virus in the world. This
monster has just had its genome sequenced, and scientists say that,
unlike its fellow viruses, it may truly be called 'alive'. The virus's
genetic sequence also holds clues that may explain the evolution of
the very first cells possessing a nucleus of DNA.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Drilling for Africa's climate history
(Oct 14, 2004)
The still waters of Lake Bosumtwi impose a sense of deep calm on those
who visit the sub-Saharan African nation of Ghana. But the silence,
punctuated by occasional frogs' croaks and bird calls, belies a violent
origin. "A million years ago, this was the site of an enormous catastrophe,"
explains Christian Koeberl, a geologist from Vienna University, Austria.
"We had a lush rainforest, filled with animals minding their own business,
when a kilometre-sized rock came hurtling down from space, at enormous
velocity, and crashed into the ground here.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Anniversary launch for 'nanosats'
(Oct 13, 2004)
Fifty mini-satellites are to be sent into space to celebrate the launch
of the first such object, Sputnik 1. The "nanosats", each weighing
1kg, will blast into orbit on board an Ariane rocket in 2007, said
Arianespace. Each satellite will represent a nation, and will do small-scale
research experiments during two years in orbit. The former Soviet
Union's Sputnik 1 was the size of a basketball and became the first
artificial satellite of the Earth on 4 October, 1957.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Radio astronomers remove the blindfold
(Oct 12, 2004)
UK astronomers at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, working with colleagues
from Europe and the USA, have demonstrated a new technique that will
revolutionise the way they observe. To create the very best quality
images of the sky, they routinely combine data from multiple telescopes
around the world - a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry
(VLBI). They have now combined this with the resources of dedicated
internet resources to send data from all the telescopes to a special
computer, to combine the observations in real-time (e-VLBI).
Read
more. Source: PPARC |
Lost in space: the killer screwdriver
(Oct 11, 2004)
Bolts, old screwdrivers, plastic bags, paint, broken pens, bent CDs
- they are the kind of objects you would expect to find in a list
of rubbish. Except that this collection of litter is not to be found
in the bin at the end of the front garden, but whizzing about in space,
threatening to collide with astronauts. Astronomers working for the
European Space Agency (ESA) warned yesterday that space is so full
of rubbish that it has become a danger to the people and satellites
in it. A team from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics predicted
that it will have detected around 100,000 fragments of space rubbish
by the time it has finished a definitive catalogue.
Read
more. Source: Guardian |
Black holes haunt ghost particle theory
(Oct 11, 2004)
The theory that claims to solve cosmology’s major mysteries by proposing
that empty space is filled with a fluid of ghostly particles may,
literally, be going down the cosmic drain. According to the test calculations,
the universe’s black holes would be slurping up any such fluid. The
ghost condensate theory, proposed last year, is a modified form of
Einstein’s general theory of relativity. It posits an all-pervading
fluid of massless particles that exhibits a repulsive gravity, making
it behave like an elastic band that stores more and more energy as
it stretches out.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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