You need to have thought of almost every eventuality when landing on a distant moon in a remote corner of the Solar System. You must have tested your spacecraft to its limits to be sure it will withstand the extreme conditions expected on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
Moreover, you have to gather in advance as much information as you can about the way your instruments will work in those conditions. It is only when the scientific instruments work properly that you can say your mission has been suc
In B science fiction movies, a terrible force often pushes the Earth off its axis and spells disaster for all life on Earth. In reality, life would still be possible on Earth and any Earth-like planets if the axis tilt were greater than it is now, according to Penn State researchers.
“We do not currently have observations of extrasolar planets, but I imagine that in the near future, we will uncover some of these small planets,” says Dr. Darren M. Williams, assistant professor of physics and
Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel method of detecting molecules with a conventional compact disk player that provides scientists with an inexpensive way to screen for molecular interactions and a potentially cheaper alternative to medical diagnostic tests.
A paper detailing their development will appear this week in an advance on-line edition of the Journal of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry and in the printed journal’s September 21st issue.
The year 2040 could see many people working from home several days a week staying in touch with colleagues through videophone and internet connections. When planning a holiday, people will be limited to a certain number of air miles per year, although additional air miles may be purchased from others at auctions. This will reflect the true environmental cost of air travel.
This is one possible vision of people who participated in research at the University of Surrey’s Psychology Department,
Our earliest ancestors probably behaved in a much more “human” way than most scientists have previously thought, according to a recent study that looked at early hominid fossils from Ethiopia
Previously skeptical, an Ohio State University anthropologist now supports the idea that the minimal size differences between male and female pre-hominids suggest that they lived in a more cooperative and less competitive society.
The evidence centers on the extent of sexual dimorphism – differ
High-level delegates from 30 countries and 22 international organisations agreed at the Earth Observation Summit held last Thursday in Washington to improve cooperation on Earth observation and to remove barriers to the exchange of information between countries and organisations.
ESA already carries out its Earth observation programmes in cooperation with other agencies or countries through mechanisms such as CEOS, the Committee of Earth Observation Satellites and IGOS-P, the Integrated Glo
It lacks the warm bedside manner of Marcus Welby or Dr. Kildare, but a high-tech robot being tested at The Johns Hopkins Hospital could be used to link patients with their physicians in a whole new way.
Vaguely resembling a human torso, in a Star Wars R2D2 sort of way, the robot sports a computer screen for a head, a video camera for eyes and a speaker for a mouth. It walks, in a manner of speaking, on three balls, talks, and most importantly, listens. “That´s because the robot is directly
A bold paper which has highly impressed some of the world´s top physicists and been published in the August issue of Foundations of Physics Letters, seems set to change the way we think about the nature of time and its relationship to motion and classical and quantum mechanics. Much to the science world´s astonishment, the work also appears to provide solutions to Zeno of Elea´s famous motion paradoxes, almost 2500 years after they were originally conceived by the ancient Greek philosopher. In doi
The UK Analytical Partnership (UKAP), now in its third year, has announced five prime areas for analytical innovation: biomimetic analysis, health sensors, managing the chemical environment, real-time analysis/factory of the future and analysis in design. UKAP will be staging a number of events in the autumn to enable input from parties interested in involvement with these projects.
Richard Bahu of the Oxis Partnership, co-author of this foresight study for UKAP´s Innovation Network w
From 16 to 31 July, 32 international student teams of researchers will gather in Bordeaux, France, to fly their experiments in zero-gravity on board a specially adapted Airbus A-300.
This year’s Student Parabolic Flight Campaign, organised by ESA’s Education Office, will see experiments performed in a variety scientific areas including physics, human biology, material science and robotics, some using objects as diverse as jelly and moths.
Four flights in two
Working from their university labs in two different corners of the world, U.S. and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings, “the semi-living artist” – a picture-drawing robot in Perth, Australia whose movements are controlled by the brain signals of cultured rat cells in Atlanta.
Gripping three colored markers positioned above a white canvas, the robotic drawing arm operates based on the neural activity of a few thousand rat neurons placed in a spec
A team of scientists from the USA in collaboration with staff at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Schotte et al) have managed to film a protein at work in unprecedented detail. The protein is the oxygen-storing molecule myoglobin, which plays a central role in the production of energy in muscles. The motion of the protein was recorded using ultra-short flashes of X-ray light from the synchrotron. The new insight in the functionality of myoglobin has led to a deeper understanding of the m
Biodegradable scaffold significantly increases the rate of bone healing
University of Toronto scientists have developed a biodegradable scaffold, similar in structure to a dish sponge, that significantly speeds the rate of bone healing.
The material, developed by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in engineering, biology, chemistry and dentistry, provides a building scaffold for bone growth. The scaffold, which eventually dissolves, increases healing rates and offers
National Insitute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientists are taking their knowledge of mechanical tensile strength tests in metals and composites and applying it to medical research problems. Doctors long have known that babies born with congenital heart defects at higher altitudes have an increased risk of developing complications, such as pulmonary hypertension. Could there be some way to trick the arterial walls so that they wouldn’t stiffen under increased blood pressure?
Wo
In experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found a way to tap into the telltale electrical signals that mark cell death, opening the door to the creation of a “canary on a chip” that can be used to sound the alarm of a biochemical attack or test drug toxicity on human tissue.
In a study appearing in the June 15 issue of Sensors and Actuators, researchers used a microchip to electrically determine cell viability by detecting changes in the electrica
In recent years, the solution to the problem of diseased or damaged organs has been to replace the old with the new. By taking tissue from either a patient or a donor, surgeons have transplanted this to the damaged area and given many people a new lease of life.
The method is not without limitations, however. Issues such as the availability of donor organs and the need to use drugs to prevent the immune system rejecting the “foreign” tissue have prompted research into alternative ways to d
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