January 27, 2005

• James Gunn
  James E. Gunn
  James Edward Gunn is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University. Gunn's early theoretical work in astronomy has helped establish the current understanding of how galaxies form, and the properties of the space between galaxies...
  
  , James Peebles, and Martin Rees are awarded the 2005 Crafoord Prize
  Crafoord Prize
  The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord...
  
   for their work on the large-scale structure of the Universe
  Universe
  The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
  
  . (Science)

January 26, 2005

• Sun Microsystems
  Sun Microsystems
  Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
  
   released more than 1,600 patent
  Patent
  A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
  
  s to the open-source community, following the release of the source code
  Source code
  In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
  
   to Solaris 10. (EcommerceTimes)

January 25, 2005

• Scientists at the University of Manchester
  University of Manchester
  The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
  
   have developed a printer able to produce human skin to help wound
  Wound
  A wound is a type of injury in which skin is torn, cut or punctured , or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion . In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.-Open:...
  
  s heal. (ManchesterOnline)

January 20, 2005

• Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
   rover
  Mars Rover
  A Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle which propels itself across the surface of the planet Mars after landing.Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to...
  
   Opportunity uses its spectrometer
  Spectrometer
  A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization...
  
  s to prove that Heat Shield Rock
  Heat Shield Rock
  Heat Shield Rock is a basketball-sized iron-nickel meteorite found on Mars by the Mars rover Opportunity in January 2005. The meteorite was formally named Meridiani Planum meteorite by the Meteoritical Society in October, 2005 .-Discovery:Opportunity encountered the meteorite entirely by chance,...
  
   is a meteorite
  Meteorite
  A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
  
  , the first to be found on another planet. (BBC) (Space.com)

January 17, 2005

• The Swift
  Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission
  The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission consists of a robotic spacecraft called Swift, which was launched into orbit on 20 November 2004, 17:16:00 UTC on a Delta II 7320-10C expendable launch vehicle. Swift is managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and was developed by an international...
  
   observatory images the first ongoing GRB
  Gamma ray burst
  Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical...
  
   with its X-ray
  X-ray
  X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
  
   telescope, after it automatically pointed itself towards the direction of the burst. (Spaceflightnow)

January 14, 2005

• The Cassini–Huygens mission delivers the Huygens probe
  Huygens probe
  The Huygens probe was an atmospheric entry probe carried to Saturn's moon Titan as part of the Cassini–Huygens mission. The probe was supplied by the European Space Agency and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens....
  
   to Saturn
  Saturn
  Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
  
  's moon Titan
  Titan (moon)
  Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
  
   successfully. Radio signals received on Earth indicate that the probe survived the touchdown onto the surface of the moon. Data relayed by the Cassini orbiter has arrived on Earth and is currently being analyzed. (BBC)

January 13, 2005

• NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
  's MER-B Opportunity rover on Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
   spots what appears to be a metallic meteorite on the surface of Meridiani Planum
  Meridiani Planum
  Meridiani Planum is a plain located 2 degrees south of Mars' equator , in the westernmost portion of Terra Meridiani. It hosts a rare occurrence of gray crystalline hematite...
  
  . More investigation will be carried out to determine the object's nature. (Space.com)

January 12, 2005

• NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
  's Deep Impact mission, which plans to crash a projectile into Comet Tempel 1, is launched from Cape Canaveral
  Cape Canaveral
  Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
  
   at 18:47 UTC. The projectile released by the spacecraft
  Spacecraft
  A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
  
   is scheduled to hit the comet on July 4. (BBC).
• European researchers at the National Institute for Medical Research in London have discovered that a small change in a single gene (Trim-5alpha) prevents HIV-1 from replicating in monkeys. This suggests a new method of gene therapy
  Gene therapy
  Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. It is a technique for correcting defective genes that are responsible for disease development...
  
   for AIDS
  AIDS
  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
  
  . (Abstract, Curr Bio) (NIMR Press Release) (EarthTimes)
• Lowell Observatory
  Lowell Observatory
  Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965....
  
   announces the discovery of the three largest, though not heaviest, star
  Star
  A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
  
  s to date. Each is 1500 times larger than our sun. However, since they are red giant
  Red giant
  A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower...
  
  s at the end of their life, they are not very dense and are only 25 times heavier than our sun. (Lowell Observatory Press Release) [ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/massey/RSGMW.pdf (Preprint PDF file)] (BBC)
• Rat
  Rat
  Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
  
  s can distinguish between languages with very different intonation
  Intonation (linguistics)
  In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody...
  
   patterns. Spanish neuroscientists trained rats to distinguish between Dutch
  Dutch language
  Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
  
   and Japanese
  Japanese language
  is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
  
   speech. They are the third mammal, after humans and Tamarin monkeys, that has been shown to be able to do this. NYT APA Press Release
• Palaeontologists unearth a new species of Mesozoic
  Mesozoic
  The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
  
   mammal
  Mammal
  Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
  
   Repenomamus giganticus in China. R. giganticus would resemble a large badger
  Badger
  Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
  
   and fossilized stomach contents show that it ate small dinosaur
  Dinosaur
  Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
  
  s. (Nature)

January 11, 2005

• IBM
  IBM
  International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
  
   announces that it's donating 500 technology patent
  Patent
  A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
  
  s to open-source groups. (Boston Herald)

January 10, 2005

• According to a study published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, people in love are terrible at judging whether others are in love. (Oregon State University Press Release)

January 3, 2005

• Wildlife
  Wildlife
  Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
  
   officials in Sri Lanka
  Sri Lanka
  Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
  
   have reported that, despite the loss of human life in the Asian disaster, there have been no recorded animal deaths. (BBC).
• The devastating earthquake
  Earthquake
  An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
  
   that struck the Indian Ocean
  Indian Ocean
  The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
  
   probably caused some islands to move by several metres. (BBC).
• The silicon
  Silicon
  Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
  
   chip
  Integrated circuit
  An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
  
   is the most significant invention developed during the past 50 years, according to a poll
  Opinion poll
  An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
  
   of CNN
  CNN
  Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
  
  .com users. (CNN).
• NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
   celebrates the first anniversary of the Spirit rover's landing on Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
  . (Xinhua) (National Geographic).