From chemical fingerprints preserved in primitive meteorites, scientists at UCSD have determined that the collapsing gas cloud that eventually became our sun was glowing brightly during the formation of the first material in the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago.

Their discovery, detailed in a paper that appears in the August 12 issue of Science, provides the first conclusive evidence that this “protosun” played a major role in chemically shaping the solar system by em

VLT NACO Instrument Helps Discover First Triple Asteroid

One of the thousands of minor planets orbiting the Sun has been found to have its own mini planetary system. Astronomer Franck Marchis (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and his colleagues at the Observatoire de Paris (France) [1] have discovered the first triple asteroid system – two small asteroids orbiting a larger one known since 1866 as 87 Sylvia [2].

“Since double asteroids seem to be common, people hav

Our Galaxy could be a lot bigger than we thought. That’s the conclusion of team of astronomers that’s found whole new ‘suburbs’ of stars in another galaxy.

Like archaeologists unearthing a lost city, the Australian and US astronomers used the 8-m Gemini South telescope in Chile to reveal the faint ancient outer parts of the galaxy NGC 300, showing that that galaxy is at least twice as big as previously thought.

The finding implies that our own Galaxy too is probably much

A team of astronomers from The Netherlands and the UK has discovered a vast ‘jet-powered bubble’ formed in the gas around a black hole in the Milky Way. The discovery means that for decades scientists have been severely underestimating how much power black holes pump back into the universe instead of merely swallowing material across their event horizons.

Jets of energy and particles flowing outwards at close to the speed of light are a common feature of all accreting black holes,

Blazing hot temperatures welcomed ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft as it arrived at the Yubileiny airport of the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Sunday morning, 7 August.

The shipment, including the spacecraft and all the complex equipment needed for ground support to prepare for launch, was carried by an Antonov 124 cargo plane which left the airport of Toulouse, France, on Saturday 6 August.

On arrival the precious load was unloaded from the huge cargo bay of the pla

In fact a new scientific instrument has been brought on line at the ILL, with the capacity to test industrial-scale components. The neutrons generated at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have the capacity to penetrate far inside all sorts of matter and the new instrument SALSA can do more. With SALSA scientists and engineers can test materials in a non-destructive manner, without for example being obliged to cut up the parts they are checking. This means that whole turbine blades or cam shafts can

This morning an Ariane 5G launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. On board was the largest telecommunications satellite ever to be placed into geostationary transfer orbit.

The mission was initially delayed during the two-hour-long launch window to verify telemetry readings from Ariane 5’s mobile launch table, and the countdown subsequently resumed for an early morning takeoff from the ELA-3 launch zone.

The heavyweight THAICOM 4 (IPSTAR) satel

The Beginnings of a New Phase in Medical Imaging? Phase-Contrast Imaging Device Provides 3-Dimensional Views of Hard-to-Image Biological Objects

In a development that could help usher in a new kind of medical imaging for clinics and hospitals, researchers have demonstrated a practical x-ray device that provides 2- and 3-dimensional images of features in soft biological tissue that are ordinarily hard to discern with conventional x-ray imaging. Performed by researchers at the Paul

Since the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) in 1986 by Nobel laureate Gerd Binnig, the tool has been employed to advance the science of materials in many ways, from nanopatterning (dip-pen nanolithography) to the imaging of surfaces and nano-objects such as carbon nanotubes, DNA, proteins and cells. In all these applications, the quality and integrity of the tip used to obtain the images or interrogate materials is paramount.

A common problem in atomic force microscopy is

Testing of “substances”, transplanted cells and dressings for wound treatmentFurther Information: PDF TuTech Innovation GmbH (TuTech)Phone: +49 (0)40/76629-6541

The invention relates to a manufacturing technique for a material that can be used to replace the hard substance of the tooth in the treatment of dental…

Airline pilots have an increased risk of nuclear cataracts [common type of cataract, associated with aging] compared with non-pilots, and that risk is associated with cumulative exposure to cosmic radiation, according to a study in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Commercial airline pilots are reported to be at an increased risk for some cancers, but studies on the biological effects of their exposure to cosmic radiation have been l

Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a new technique for cooling atoms and molecules that will allow them to study quantum physics more effectively with a greater variety of particles.

The researchers have found a way to use lasers to form walls that allow atoms and molecules to pass through in one direction, but do not allow them to return.

The technique could lead to advances in atomic clocks, which are used to standardize time worldwide.

A new strategy for the therapy of AD describes that moderate enhancement of the α-secretase ADAM10 completely inhibits amyloid plaque deposition and enhances…

The invention discloses a novel method for the fast functional characterisation of genes on one hand and for the transient re-programming of cells for clinical…

In the past world wars production of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) lead to considerable contamination of soil and ground water with TNT and its chemical…