These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show the southern part of Valles Marineris, called Eos Chasma.
The images were taken during orbit 533 in June 2004, and are centred at Mars longitude 322° East and latitude 11° South. The image resolution is approximately 80 metres per pixel.
Between surrounding plains and the smooth valley floor, a height difference of about 5000 metres has been measured. The plain to the sout
Bone marrow derived stem cells can give rise to heart muscle cells. This plasticity concept – the ability of bone marrow cell to transdifferentiate into heart muscle cell – is supported by experimental and clinical data. Another possibility is to replace the missing function by causing transdifferentiation of existing cells. Transdifferentiation means converting one sort of cell, e.g. fibroblast, into another, e.g. muscle cell. There is real hope that we may be able to control this unique phenomenon
Development phase completion of the European-built observation module, or “cupola”, for the International Space Station will be marked by a ceremony at the Alenia Spazio facility in Turin, Italy on Monday 6 September.
The cupola, currently scheduled for launch in January 2009, is an observation and control tower for the ISS, with windows that will provide a panoramic view for observing and guiding operations on the outside of the station.
The pressurised module will accommod
Conservationists follow six-weeks old wild tigers for first time
Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Sikhote-Alin Reserve have fitted three wild Siberian tiger cubs under six weeks old with tiny radio-collars, marking the youngest wild tigers to be tracked by scientists. The collars-made with an elastic designed to expand and eventually break and fall off of the growing cubs-weigh just over five ounces and would fit well on a
A few NASA satellites designed to study heights of Earth’s ocean surfaces are now also coming in handy for tracking water levels of inland lakes and reservoirs.
When analysts at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) learned that NASA satellites could be used for measuring lake water heights, they saw a chance to get vital information for managing irrigation and forecasting crop production in out-of-the way places.
Since early
“Our research shows that the concept of time is easier to write off than is money,” said Erica Okada, a University of Washington assistant professor of marketing who co-authored the study with Stephen Hoch, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “People are relatively certain about how much their money is worth, but when it comes to their time, people are less certain about its value.”
Unlike previous research that focused almost exclusively
Canadian researchers identify new player in breast cancer
Canadian researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, QC) and McMaster University (Hamilton, ON) have identified a new player in breast cancer. This gene, beta1-integrin, has been shown to be critical in the initiation of tumour growth and development in a mouse model of cancer.
“We are the first to demonstrate the requirement for beta1-integrin in the induction breast can
ESO HARPS Instrument Discovers Smallest Ever Extra-Solar Planet
A European team of astronomers [1] has discovered the lightest known planet orbiting a star other than the sun (an “exoplanet”).
The new exoplanet orbits the bright star mu Arae located in the southern constellation of the Altar. It is the second planet discovered around this star and completes a full revolution in 9.5 days.
With a mass of only 14 times the mass of the Earth, the new planet lies at th
Nature Immunology commentary highlights promising advances in the field Recent discoveries about the way that HIV infects cells are propelling the development of a broad spectrum of promising new antiviral drugs, according to an invited commentary on the topic in the current issue of Nature Immunology (August 27, 2004).
The assessment is made by Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) Director Warner Greene, MD, PhD, who also serves as professor of medicine, microbiol
Austrian-German research team demonstrates for the first time an attosecond “oscilloscope” rendering the hyper-fast field oscillations of visible light
The human eye can detect changes in the intensity of light, not however the wavelength because light oscillates too fast (approximately 1000 trillion times per second). An international collaboration led by Ferenc Krausz and made up of researchers from the Vienna University of Technology, the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Opt
Does estrogen help cognition? Many women ponder that question as a quality-of-life issue while deciding on estrogen therapy since it has been linked to potential disease complications. Now, a new study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that the stress of any given task at least partially determines if hormones will help the mind.
Reporting in the August issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, four researchers show the introduction of a single stressor — water temp
People taking “ephedra-free” weight loss products that contain the herb Citrus aurantium, or Seville orange, may be doing more harm to their body than good, according to a new review published by Georgetown University Medical Center researchers.
The review, published in the September issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, found that no reliable scientific evidence supports the use of C. aurantium for losing weight. More importantly, high doses of the herb, which contains syne
University of Chicago scientists have solved a 20-year-old puzzle in particle physics using data from an experiment conducted for an entirely different purpose.
Physicists had long known that something was amiss regarding their understanding of how some quarks interact in the beta decay of particles, a common form of radioactivity. Either dozens of experiments conducted over a period of more than three decades were wrong, or the scientists’ theories were. Now, in a set of four
Kids with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) should spend some quality after-school hours and weekend time outdoors enjoying nature, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The payoff for this “treatment” of children, 5 to 18 years old, who participated in a nationwide study, was a significant reduction of symptoms. The study appears in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health. “The advantage for green outdoor activities wa
More than 20,000 Western lowland gorillas could die within months if outbreak confirmed
Scientists fear that emerging evidence may suggest a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, which, in addition to threatening human lives, would threaten tens of thousands of great apes – in this case gorillas and chimpanzees – in the Republic of Congo. The announcement was made by the International Primatological Society (IPS) and Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) at the IPS’s 20th Congress, being
An enzyme found in nearly all animal and human cells acts as a natural brake to prevent potentially deadly runaway inflammation, UCSF scientists have discovered. The discovery in research with mice suggests a promising target for treating a range of inflammatory diseases in which the body’s immune reaction to bacterial invasion spirals out of control, the researchers report.
The enzyme, known as A20, controls the first step in the series of signals that unleash immune system sold
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