Archive for January, 2008
Arecibo telescope finds critical ingredients for the soup of life in a galaxy far, far away
This is just tomato soup, not the “soup of life.” Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide – two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids – in a galaxy some 250 million light years away. “Just add water!” said Robert [...]
Body weight influenced by thousands of genes
Maybe it’s not just the cheese puffs. Reporting in the online journal BMC Genetics, researchers from the Monell Center have for the first time attempted to count the number of genes that contribute to obesity and body weight. The findings suggest that over 6,000 genes – about 25 percent of the genome – help determine [...]
Supercomputer could throw light on ‘mysterious’ dark energy
Looks pretty cool, eh? Cosmologists have run a series of huge computer simulations of the Universe that could ultimately help solve the mystery of dark energy. Results of the simulations, carried out by Durham University’s world-leading Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), tell researchers how to measure dark energy – a repulsive force that counteracts gravity. [...]
Worms help Penn researchers explain the evolution of sleep
Hopefully they didn’t use gummies for the study. The roundworm C. elegans, a staple of laboratory research, may be key in unlocking one of the central biological mysteries: why we sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report in this week’s advanced online edition of Nature that the round worm has a [...]
Distant star sheds light on the birth of planets
Astronomers poring over a young star 180 light years from Earth have found evidence that stellar birth can lead to the formation of a planet only millions of years later, a mere blink on the cosmic timescale.
Two explosions may have shaped early multicellular life
The Ediacara fossil: Fractofusus andersoni Scientists have known for some time that most major groups of complex animals appeared in the fossils record during the Cambrian Explosion, a seemingly rapid evolutionary event that occurred 542 million years ago. Now Virginia Tech paleontologists, using rigorous analytical methods, have identified another explosive evolutionary event that occurred about [...]
Las Vegas to Build World’s First 30 Story Vertical Farm
30 stories… Las Vegas the tourist mecca of the World is set to begin development of the World’s first vertical farm. The $200 million dollar project is designed to be a functional and profitable working farm growing enough food to feed 72,000 people for a year and provide another tourist attraction to the city that [...]
Scientists find missing evolutionary link using tiny fungus crystal
The crystal structure of an RNA molecule bound to a protein. The crystal structure of a molecule from a primitive fungus has served as a time machine to show researchers more about the evolution of life from the simple to the complex, as outlined in this recent study. By studying the three-dimensional version of the [...]
Frogs may be on the brink of extinction
This frog needs your help. The year of 2008 has now been named among conservationists, the Year of the Frog in response to the impending doom in store for frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians across the planet. According to this article at Telegraph.co.uk, this is going to be the biggest mass extinction since the [...]
Happy New Year 2008
The year is now 2008, but you probably already knew that…I hope.
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