Science Calls On The Ultrasmall To Understand The Universe

Will the universe expand outward for all of eternity and end in a vast, dark, cold, sterile, diffuse nothingness? Or will the "Big Bang" - the gargantuan explosion that formed the universe 14 billion years ago - end in the "Big Crunch?"

Planets, stars and galaxies all hurtle inward and collapse into an incredibly hot, dense mass a billion times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. And then ... KA-BOOOOM!!! Another Big Bang and another universe forms and hurtles outward, eventually leading to new iterations of the Sun, the Earth, and you?

A special three-day symposium focusing on the weird subatomic particles that could help answer those compelling questions. Titled "The Chemistry and Physics of Neutrino Experiments," it will include almost two dozen reports on experiments to understand what Nobel Laureate Frederick Reines once termed "the most tiny quantity of reality ever imagined by a human being."

Neutrinos ("small neutral ones") are among the subatomic, or elementary, particles that make up all matter. They have no electric charge, virtually no mass, and pass through ordinary matter without causing any disruption.

Most neutrinos traveling through Earth come from the Sun, and trillions of solarelectron neutrinos pass through every person each second. Although those properties make neutrinos difficult to detect, detecting and understanding them are key scientific pursuits, partly because of the implications for cosmology.

"The neutrino has the smallest observed mass for any elementary particle, but they appear in such astonishing numbers in the universe that they are a large portion of its mass," said Steven Elliott, Ph.D. He is a physicist at Los Alamos NationalLaboratory in New Mexico. "At the moment, neutrinos may be massive enough to account for more mass in the universe than all stars combined."

Many of the ACS presentations focus on experiments to investigate these particles. Scientists are turning to huge devices - the MiniBooNE detector, the Super Kamiokande, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, the Borexino solar neutrino detector and the IceCube detector - that detect neutrinos using large volumes of liquids, like mineral oil, water or even the ice cap at the South Pole.

In the devices, scientists record the radiation of neutrinos generated from particle decay. The science and engineering laboratories must work deep underground to avoid cosmic rays and other ordinary background radiation, which would harm the experiments' results.

"Neutrino experiments are complicated undertakings that take years to design and construct and even longer to operate," says Richard Hahn, Ph.D., co-organizer of the ACS symposium and a scientist with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, N.Y. "The results tell us about fundamental physics, but developing the experiments is multidisciplinary, requiring expertise in physics but also other areas like organic, inorganic and nuclear chemistry."

Traveling near the speed of light, these tiny particles come in three varieties or "flavors," and they all routinely change from one type to another, a phenomenon known as oscillation. Because of their feeble interaction with all matter, understanding neutrinos and their effects on a universal scale has posed a challenge to nuclear chemists and physicists for decades.

Using these large detectors, scientists are looking to uncover some of the neutrino's basics. Elliott, for example, hopes to determine its mass using a technique called double beta decay. Previous research has determined a 'relative mass scale' of the neutrino, but a precise measurement is necessary to better understand the universe's development of structure, Elliott says.

Scientists are also trying to resolve the question of the universe's asymmetry - one of the greatest unsolved issues in physics, says Minfang Yeh, Ph.D., co-organizer of the ACS symposium and a scientist with Hahn at BNL.

Almost everything observable from Earth seems to be made of matter, but based on experimental particle interactions, physicists believe that The Big Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter. Yeh imagines the apparent disappearance of antimatter could involve discrepancies in how neutrinos and anti-neutrino oscillate, or change flavors.

"Scientists think maybe the conversion mechanism could lead us to the understanding of the imbalance," Yeh said. "If there's a difference between a neutrino and an antineutrino, maybe theoretically that's one source of the asymmetry between matter and anti-matter in the universe."

Yeh adds that neutrinos could be a solution to another mystery - dark matter, an energy that makes up almost one-quarter of the universe's mass. Like neutrinos, non-baryonic dark matter has virtually no interaction with ordinary matter. Unlike neutrinos, its existence hasn't been proven but is inferred by measuring the effects of its gravity.

One device that could probe the mystery of asymmetry is a proposed 500 kT Water Cherenkov detector. The massive detector will investigate differences between neutrinos and antineutrinos from 4,850-feet underground in South Dakota. Weighing 500 kilotons, it will detect neutrinos from a beam of particles sent from Fermilab's proton accelerator in Illinois.

Another device, Fermilab's MiniBooNE detector, records neutrino oscillations and consists of a 40-foot diameter spherical tank holding 800 tons of mineral oil. It is covered on the inside by 1,520 8-inch phototubes.

Super Planetary Nebulae

A team of scientists in Australia and the United States, led by Associate Professor Miroslav Filipovic from the University of Western Sydney, have discovered a new class of object which they call "Super Planetary Nebulae." They report their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Planetary nebulae are shells of gas and dust expelled by stars near the end of their lives and are typically seen around stars comparable or smaller in size than the Sun.

The team surveyed the Magellanic Clouds, the two companion galaxies to the Milky Way, with radio telescopes of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia Telescope National Facility. They noticed that 15 radio objects in the Clouds match with well known planetary nebulae observed by optical telescopes.

The new class of objects are unusually strong radio sources. Whereas the existing population of planetary nebulae is found around small stars comparable in size to our Sun, the new population may be the long predicted class of similar shells around heavier stars.

Filipovic's team argues that the detections of these new objects may help to solve the so called "missing mass problem" - the absence of planetary nebulae around central stars that were originally 1 to 8 times the mass of the Sun.

Up to now most known planetary nebulae have central stars and surrounding nebulae with respectively only about 0.6 and 0.3 times the mass of the Sun but none have been detected around more massive stars.

The new Super Planetary Nebulae are associated with larger original stars (progenitors), up to 8 times the mass of the Sun. And the nebular material around each star may have as much as 2.6 times the mass of the Sun.

"This came as a shock to us", says Filipovic, "as no one expected to detect these object at radio wavelengths and with the present generation of radio telescopes. We have been holding up our findings for some 3 years until we were 100% sure that they are indeed Planetary Nebulae".

An optical image from the 0.6-m University of Michigan/CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope of the brightest Radio Planetary Nebula in the Small Magellanic Cloud, JD 04. The inset box shows a portion of this image overlaid with radio contours from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The planetary nebula is a glowing record of the final death throes of the star. (Optical images are courtesy of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS) team)

Some of the 15 newly discovered planetary nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds are 3 times more luminous then any of their Milky Way cousins. But to see them in greater detail astronomers will need the power of a coming radio telescope - the Square Kilometre Array planned for the deserts of Western Australia.

Karnataka comes up with anti-viral drop for swine flu

Bangalore, Aug 23 (ANI): Karnataka State Government has launched anti-viral drop-U Viral to prevent HINI from spreading in the state.

Speaking to news men here on Saturday Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said every possible step would be take to prevent the spreading of swine flu in the state.

"The government has asked the Deputy Commissioner's to closely interact with the districts health authorities to control the menace. District Hospitals have been told to ensure proper availability of Tami flu tablets and clinical materials to test throat swabs," he said.

State Health Secretary I.R. Perrumal said the U viral drop is safe enough to be administered even to babies.

"It (anti- viral drop) can be given safely to the children and pregnant ladies, patients suffering from the blood pressure or who are already on any drug. There is no side affect or adverse affect of this medicine and in case if we cannot apply directly to the nose of a baby it can be applied to the pillows and it can be either taken with the warm water or hot tea, coffee even it can be taken with grounded beetle leaf and one drop can be given to the baby and remaining betel leaf can be had by the elder," said Perrumal.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has termed H1N1 swine flu as unstoppable because many countries are not keeping a track and precise count of the virus cases. (ANI)

Swine flu: Providing care to a sick person

With the deadly HINI virus all over the neighbourhood, if someone you know getsswine flu, here are some tips on how to care for the sick person, yourself, your home and other members in the family.

When providing care to a household member who is sick with influenza, the most important ways to protect yourself and others who are not sick are to:

• Keep the sick person away from other people as much as possible
• Remind the sick person to cover their coughs, and clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often, especially after coughing or sneezing.
• Have everyone in the household clean their hands often, using soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub

Caring the swineflu-affected person

• Keep the sick person in a room separate from the common areas of the house. (For example, a spare bedroom with its own bathroom, if that`s possible.) Keep the sickroom door closed.
• Unless necessary for medical care, persons with the flu should not leave the home when
• they have a fever or during the time that they are most likely to spread their infection to others
• If persons with the flu need to leave the home (for example, for medical care), they should cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing and wear a loose-fitting (surgical) mask if available.
• Have the sick person wear a surgical mask if they need to be in a common area of the house near other persons.
• If possible, sick persons should use a separate bathroom. This bathroom should be cleaned daily with household disinfectant

Care for other members at home:

• The sick person should not have visitors other than caregivers. A phone call is safer than a visit.
• If possible, have only one adult in the home take care of the sick person.
• Avoid having pregnant women care for the sick person. (Pregnant women are at increased risk of influenza-related complications and immunity can be suppressed during pregnancy).
• All persons in the household should clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub frequently, including after every contact with the sick person or the person’s room or bathroom.
• Use paper towels for drying hands after hand washing or dedicate cloth towels to each person in the household. For example, have different colored towels for each person.
• If possible, consideration should be given to maintaining good ventilation in shared household areas (e.g., keeping windows open in restrooms, kitchen, bathroom, etc.).

If you are the caregiver:

• Avoid being face-to-face with the sick person.
• When holding small children who are sick, place their chin on your shoulder so that they will not cough in your face.
• Clean your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub after you touch the sick person or handle used tissues, or laundry.
• Talk to your Doctor about taking antiviral medication to prevent the caregiver from getting the flu.
• Monitor yourself and household members for flu symptoms and the local H1N1 Command Center if the symptoms occur.

Household cleaning, laundry, and waste disposal:

• Throw away tissues and other disposable items used by the sick person in the trash. Wash your hands after touching used tissues and similar waste.
• Keep surfaces (especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, and toys for children) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant according to directions on the product label.
• Linens, eating utensils, and dishes belonging to those who are sick do not need to be cleaned separately, but importantly these items should not be shared without washing thoroughly first.
• Wash linens (such as bed sheets and towels) by using household laundry soap and tumble dry on a hot setting. ·Avoid hugging laundry prior to washing it to prevent contaminating yourself. Clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub right after handling dirty laundry.
• Eating utensils should be washed either in a dishwasher or by hand with water and soap.

For more information log onto www.swinefluindia.com

ISRO Takes On Google

If ambition is good, ISRO's taking on Google Earth with Bhuvan, as was reported in The Indian Express, is good. And we approve of ambition. In promising 3D satellite images of India matching anything Google Earth can offer, ISRO is not taking on a minor challenge.

The US-based web giant has popularised free access to satellite images of the world's surface. Whether you are trying to snag the best room for a vacation hotel or reach a refugee shelter, it's hard to top Google Maps and Google Earth. An open-source interface means that everyone from archaeologists to geologists can effortlessly access imagery that would otherwise cost them a fortune, and also upload information for others to pursue.

Google Earth has, however, raised national hackles in India and elsewhere. Most famously, the gunmen involved in the recent Mumbai terror attacks used it to familiarise themselves with their targets. British troops found insurgents in Basra printing out detailed Google Earth images of military bases in the UK. The service has also exposed Chinese military establishments along the Sino-Indian border.

In each case, Google's defence has been that: a) its imagery is derived from public sources, and b) this freely available imagery can be used for vital purposes like providing relief in natural disasters. On balance, Google is right. In taking stock of the ISRO initiative, we also address two key questions: the role of governments in technological breakthroughs and the role of satellites in tackling today's problems.

The Internet itself originated in 1960s' US military research, but its popularisation only took place in the wake of the commercialisation of the 1990s. Similarly, the Human Genome Project initiated by the US National Institutes of Health completed the first mapping of the human genetic code at the cost of $2.7 billion in 2003, but entrepreneurial spirits have since brought the cost down to $50,000.

What's clear is that it's independent entrepreneurs who usually deliver consumer empowerment via mass customisation. Whether governments can deliver to scale is questionable. But the role of satellites in tackling today's concerns is certain.

This week, two important satellite-based studies on India were reported. One was a domestic state of the environment report that found at least 45% of India's land degraded. Another relied on Nasa findings to say that groundwater stocks are being lowered in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana by about 17.7 cubic kilometres a year, as compared to the water resources ministry estimates of 13.2 cubic kilometres a year.

Clearly satellites can supply more useful data to direct development in the country. Equally clearly, private initiative is necessary to best disseminate this data. Kudos to ISRO on promising better maps of India, but we will be evaluating how it opens up access to these maps.

Clearly satellites can supply more useful data to direct development in the country. Equally clearly, private initiative is necessary to best disseminate this data. Kudos to ISRO on promising better maps of India, but we will be evaluating how it opens up access to these maps.

Tiny Flares Responsible For Outsized Heat Of Sun's Atmosphere

"Why is the sun's corona so darned hot?" asks James Klimchuk, an astrophysicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center's Solar Physics Laboratory in Greenbelt, Md.

The mystery of why temperatures in the solar corona, the sun's outer atmosphere, soar to several million degrees Kelvin (K) -much hotter than temperatures nearer the sun's surface-has puzzled scientists for decades. New observations made with instruments aboard Japan's Hinode satellite reveal the culprit to be nanoflares.

Coronal heating is a dynamic process. The brightness of the observed X-ray and ultraviolet emission is strongly dependent on the density of the coronal plasma. Where there's low density, there isn't much brightness. Where there's high density, there's a lot of brightness. The corona is mostly bright at about 1 million degrees K.

Nanoflares are small, sudden bursts of heat and energy. "They occur within tiny strands that are bundled together to form a magnetic tube called a coronal loop," says Klimchuk. Coronal loops are the fundamental building blocks of the thin, translucent gas known as the sun's corona.

Scientists previously thought steady heating explained the corona's million degree temperatures. The steady heating model indicates that a coronal loop of a given length and temperature should have a specific density. However, observations showed that coronal loops have much higher density than the steady heating model predicts.

Newer models based on nanoflares can explain the observed density. But no direct evidence of the nanoflares existed until now.

Observations from the NASA-funded X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) instruments aboard Hinode reveal that ultra-hot plasma is widespread in solar active regions. The XRT measured plasma at 10 million degrees K, and the EIS measured plasma at 5 million degrees K.

"These temperatures can only be produced by impulsive energy bursts,"says Klimchuk, who presented the findings on August 6 at the International Astronomical Union General Assembly meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"Coronal loops are bundles of unresolved strands that are heated by storms of nanoflares."

Coronal heating is a dynamic process. The brightness of the observed X-ray and ultraviolet emission is strongly dependent on the density of the coronal plasma. Where there's low density, there isn't much brightness. Where there's high density, there's a lot of brightness. The corona is mostly bright at about 1 million degrees K.

Klimchuk and colleagues constructed a theoretical model to explain how plasma evolves within these coronal tubes and what causes temperatures to skyrocket. "We simulate a burst of heating and see how the corona responds," says Klimchuk. "Then we make predictions about how much emission we should see from plasma of different temperatures."

Klimchuk surmises that when a nanoflare suddenly releases its energy, the plasma in the low-temperature, low-density strands becomes very hot-around 10 million degrees K-very quickly. The density remains low, however, so the emission, or brightness, remains faint. Heat flows from up in the strand, where it's hot, down to the base of the coronal loop, where it's not as hot.

This heats up the dense plasma at the loop's base. Because it is so dense at the base, the temperature only reaches about 1 million degrees K. This dense plasma expands up into the strand. Thus, a coronal loop is a collection of 5-10 million degree K faint strands and 1 million degree K bright strands.

"What we see is 1 million degree K plasma that has received its energy from the heat flowing down from the superhot plasma," says Klimchuk. "For the first time, we have detected this 10 million degree plasma, which can only be produced by the impulsive energy bursts of nanoflares."

The Hinode observations and the scientists' analysis verify that nanoflares are occurring on the sun and that they explain much and perhaps most coronal heating. The observations also confirm "there is some nanoflare activity everywhere" in the sun's active regions, says Klimchuk.

Nanoflares are responsible for changes in the X-ray and ultraviolet (UV) radiation that happen as an active region evolves. X-ray and UV get absorbed by Earth's upper atmosphere, which heats up and expands. Changes in the upper atmosphere can affect the orbits of satellites and space debris by slowing them down, an effect known as "drag."

It is important to know the changing orbits so that maneuvers can be made to avoid space collisions. The X-ray and UV also affect the propagation of radio signals and thereby adversely affect communication and navigation systems.

The discovery that nanoflares play an important and perhaps dominant role in coronal heating paves the way to understanding how the sun affects Earth, our place in the universe.

Honeybee aggression genes studied

U.S. and Mexican scientists have linked gene expression in honeybees' brains in the response to threats with long-term and evolutionary aggression differences.

The study involved scientists from the University of Illinois, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Fyssen Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Illinois Sociogenomics Initiative, Purdue University, the University of Guelph and the National Program of Epidemiology in Mexico. It utilized microarray analysis to measure changes in gene expression in the brains of European honeybees and much more aggressive Africanized honeybees.

Even more striking, the scientists said, was the finding of a very similar pattern of brain gene expression in Africanized honeybees. They said in terms of brain gene expression, Africanized bees "look" as if they were just exposed to an alarm pheromone, even though they weren't.

By comparing microarrays of bees in different environmental and social conditions, the researchers found changes occurring in the brain of a honeybee after it is exposed to alarm pheromones appear similar to the more gradual changes that occur over the bee's lifetime.

Even more striking, the scientists said, was the finding of a very similar pattern of brain gene expression in Africanized honeybees. They said in terms of brain gene expression, Africanized bees "look" as if they were just exposed to an alarm pheromone, even though they weren't.

"Some of the same genes associated with aggression that vary due to heredity also vary due to environment," said University of Illinois Professor Gene Robinson.

The findings, which might begin to explain how the evolutionary diversity of behavioral traits is achieved, appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hundreds Of New Species Discovered In Fragile Eastern Himalayas

Over 350 new species including the world's second smallest deer, a "flying frog" and a 100 million-year old gecko have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, a biological treasure trove now threatened by climate change.

A decade of research carried out by scientists in remote mountain areas endangered by rising global temperatures brought exciting discoveries such as a bright green frog that uses its red and long webbed feet to glide in the air.

Impatiens namchabarwensis. Named after the canyon where it was found, an area of Tibet which started to be explored as recently as the mid-1990s. This rare plant can grow 60cm tall and flowers year-round. The color of the flower seems to change with temperature and exposure. They sometimes appear truly blue when in a cool climate and change to purple when the temperature rises. This is a characteristic unique for this species among impatiens. Photo courtesy Elayne Takemoto / WWF Nepal

One of the most significant findings was not exactly "new" in the classic sense. A 100-million year-old gecko, the oldest fossil gecko species known to science, was discovered in an amber mine in the Hukawng Valley in the northern Myanmar.

The WWF report The Eastern Himalayas - Where Worlds Collide details discoveries made by scientists from various organizations between 1998 and 2008 in a region reaching across Bhutan and north-east India to the far north of Myanmar as well as Nepal and southern parts of Tibet Autonomus Region (China).

"The good news of this explosion in species discoveries is tempered by the increasing threats to the Himalayas' cultural and biological diversity," said Jon Miceler, Director of WWF's Eastern Himalayas Program. "This rugged and remarkable landscape is already seeing direct, measurable impacts from climate change and risks being lost forever."

In December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to reach an agreement on a new climate deal, which will replace the existing Kyoto Protocol.

The Eastern Himalayas- Where Worlds Collide describes more than 350 new species discovered - including 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, 2 birds, 2 mammals and at least 60 new invertebrates.

The report mentions the miniature muntjac, also called the "leaf deer," which is the world's oldest and second smallest deer species. Scientists initially believed the small creature found in the world's largest mountain range was a juvenile of another species but DNA tests confirmed the light brown animal with innocent dark eyes was a distinct and new species.

The Eastern Himalayas harbor a staggering 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 types of freshwater fish. The region also has the highest density of Bengal tigers in the world and is the last bastion of the charismatic greater one-horned rhino.

WWF is working to conserve the habitat of endangered species such as snow leopards, Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, red pandas, takin, golden langurs, Gangetic dolphins and one-horned rhinos.

Historically, the rugged and largely inaccessible landscape of the Eastern Himalayas has made biological surveys in the region extremely difficult. As a result, wildlife has remained poorly surveyed and there are large areas that are still biologically unexplored.

Today further species continue to be unearthed and many more species of amphibians, reptiles and fish are currently in the process of being officially named by scientists.

China's panda could be extinct in 2-3 generations: report

China's giant panda could be extinct in just two to three generations as rapid economic development is infringing on its way of life, state media said Monday, citing an expert at conservation group WWF.

The problem is that the pandas' habitat is being split up into ever smaller patches, preventing the animals from roaming freely for mating partners and in turn endangering their gene pool, the Global Times reported.

"If the panda cannot mate with those from other habitats, it may face extinction within two to three generations," said Fan Zhiyong, Beijing-based species programme director for WWF. "We have to act now."

The risk of inbreeding is increasing, threatening to reduce the panda's resistance to diseases and lowering its ability to reproduce, the paper said.

Fan said that highways pose major restrictions on the panda's free movement.

"We may have to give up building some infrastructure," Fan said. "I don't know the solution to this problem."

There are about 1,590 pandas living in the wild around China, mostly in southwestern Sichuan, northern Shaanxi and northwestern Gansu provinces. A total of 180 have been bred in captivity, according to earlier reports.

In addition to environmental constraints, the animals' notoriously low libidos have frustrated efforts to boost their numbers.

Kenya losing 100 lions every year: conservation group Kenya's lion population has been dropping by an average 100 lions each year since 2002, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced Monday, warning that the big cats could be extinct in the next two decades. Cattle herders who kill the lions in retaliation for attacks on their stock have been blamed for much of the decline, the organisation's spokesman Paul Udoto told AFP. Habitat destruction, disease and the rising human population also played a role in the drop from 2,749 lions seven years ago to the current 2,000, Udoto said. "We need to take measures to stabilise that number at 2,000 or increase it," he explained. "Communities are the largest threat to the lions and other cats." Udoto added that educating people on the behavior and importance of the cats to tourism is a priority among other efforts to save them. Tourism, which relies on Kenya's renowned wildlife safaris and sun-drenched Indian Ocean beaches, is a key foreign exchange earner.

Breeders have resorted to tactics such as showing them "panda porn" videos of other pandas mating, and putting males through "sexercises" aimed at training up their pelvic and leg muscles for the rigours of copulation.

India kicks off fighter jet trials

India on Monday began the trials of fighter jets being hawked by the world's six top aerospace giants vying for a 12-billion-dollar military contract, officials said.

The sale of 126 combat planes to the technology-starved Indian Air Force will be the world's most lucrative fighter jet contract in more than a decade.

Military air traffic controllers said Boeing kicked off the trials with a display of its F-18 "Superhornet" jets in Bangalore, hub of India's aeronautical and space industry.

Military air traffic controllers said Boeing kicked off the trials with a display of its F-18 "Superhornet" jets in Bangalore, hub of India's aeronautical and space industry.

"Two F-18s carried out two sorties of 45 minutes each," a controller said as military aviation experts watched the exercise.

The assessment is due to continue for almost a year before New Delhi makes its choice from the six companies, defence ministry officials in New Delhi said.

Lockheed Martin of the US and Europe's EADS will be among the other five firms descending on Bangalore.

India is on a spending spree to update its largely Soviet-era weapons system.

After Boeing, Lockheed Martin is next in line to showcase its F-16 to the technology-hungry Indian Air Force, the officials said.

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) will offer its Typhoon Eurofighter, while Russia is seeking to sell the MiG-35 and MiG-29.

French Dassault, which constructs the Mirage, has put forward its Rafale aircraft as a contender.

The line-up is completed by Gripen, part of Sweden's Saab.

Industry sources have said Lockheed Martin and Boeing have emerged as frontrunners.

Contract stipulations prevent the contending firms from unveiling any detail of the contract, which includes the outright purchase of 18 fighter jets by 2012 and another 108 to be built in India.

India also has an option to buy 64 more jets.

The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth-largest, is also spending 1.6 billion dollars to buy 40 Russian Sukhoi fighter planes by 2010 and is shopping for hundreds of helicopters and transport planes.

The top 100 most dangerous websites for your PC enlisted

Melbourne, Aug 20 (ANI): Internet security company Norton Symantec has come up with a list of Top 100 Dirtiest sites, which could infect your computer with malware.

Malware is a software that can damage or compromise a computer system without the owner's consent.

Natalie Connor, spokeswoman of the anti-virus company, said that even visiting any of the named websites could expose a computer to infection and put the personal information into the hands of unwanted people.

"What people don't realise is when you type in a website, you're bringing down information on a page and with it could be malware," News.com.au quoted her as saying.

The list was compiled with the help of global data collected on Norton Safe Web, a site that analysed websites' security risks.

The infected sites had on average 18,000 threats and 40 per cent of the sites had more than 20,000 threats, while 75 per cent of websites on the list were found to be spreading malware for over six months.

According to Connor, most websites in the list had adult content with unprintable names, suggesting they contained hardcore pornography.

Some others sites include those on ice skating, deer hunting, catering and legal services.

Hackers can apparently obtain personal information using keystroke-logging software from both PCs and Mac computers.he reps said that hackers are a force to reckon with as cyber crime is increasing rapidly.

She added: "The last thing we want to do is scare people, we want to educate them so they know how to protect themselves.

"It's not about the fame any more of creating viruses and getting in the media. They're making money."

Norton released a sample of the dirtiest websites:

17ebook.com

aladel.net

bpwhamburgorchardpark.org

clicnews.com

dfwdiesel.net

divineenterprises.net

fantasticfilms.ru

gardensrestaurantandcatering.com

ginedis.com

gncr.org

hdvideoforums.org

hihanin.com

kingfamilyphotoalbum.com

likaraoke.com

mactep.org

magic4you.nu

marbling.pe.kr

nacjalneg.info

pronline.ru

purplehoodie.com

qsng.cn

seksburada.net

sportsmansclub.net

stock888.cn

tathli.com

teamclouds.com

texaswhitetailfever.com

wadefamilytree.org

xnescat.info

yt118.com (ANI)

Mystery virus kills 137 in Uttar Pradesh, experts clueless

NEW DELHI: It's a virus that has already claimed over 100 lives but Indian and American scientists seem to have no clue about what it is. While the entire country is busy dealing with H1N1 influenza, a mystery virus is causing havoc in Uttar Pradesh.

Since January, the state has recorded 665 cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) -- a severe neurological condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Around 137 people have already succumbed to the viral infection.

Lab investigations have revealed that only 34 of the cases and four of the deaths were caused by Japanese Encephalitis -- a known scourge in the state. However, scientists have no clue what caused the rest of the 133 encephalitis deaths and 631 cases.

According to officials, this mystery virus has been causing brain fever and killing people in UP since last year but no breakthrough has been made regarding the virus's identity and nature.

Experts from Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta had picked up 150 samples from UP to help identify the virus. But they too have failed to make any headway.

Speaking to TOI, director of National Institute of Virology (Gorakhpur) Dr Milind Gore said, "We are working on identifying the virus and its origin. At present we don't know what's causing these cases of AES and deaths. We suspect it could be a type of enterovirus."

Dr Gore added, "It is clear that JE alone isn't causing AES. We recently checked 450 stool swabs and found that 68% of them were positive for enteroviruses. However, we don't know exactly which one from this family of viruses is the dominant one behind the deaths. Even CDC experts haven't figured it out."

Officials said the search for the "real culprit" behind the AES cases had taken a beating in the last few months with scientists in NIV Pune drowned with H1N1 samples.

"H1N1 has proved to be a setback for the work on encephalitis in UP. Improved methods of diagnosis and new primers were to be tested against the unknown virus. But everybody at NIV Pune is busy with H1N1," an official said.

AES is characterised by inflammation of the brain, seizures and convulsions among children.

International NGO PATH's senior programme officer for JE Dr Pritu Dhalaria told TOI, "Usually, around four to five enteroviruses work in tandem, in clusters in particular areas. It is therefore difficult to identify exactly which virus is the deadly one. By this time last year, UP had recorded 435 AES cases of which only 15 were caused by JE. This year, the cases have increased, and we don't know which virus is behind it."

Non-polio enteroviruses are very common across the globe. They are second only to the common cold viruses, the rhinoviruses, as the most common viral infectious agents in humans.

Although infection often has no symptoms and goes unnoticed, these viruses are also associated with occasional outbreaks in which a larger-than-usual number of patients develop clinical disease, sometimes with fatal consequences.

Transmission of enterovirus infections is increased by poor hygiene and overcrowded living conditions. Measures that can be taken to avoid getting infected with enteroviruses include frequent hand washing.

Enteroviruses can be found in the respiratory secretions and stool of an infected person. Other persons may become infected by direct contact with secretions from an infected person or by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects.

According to some experts, UP has seen a nearly 40% increase in AES cases this year, majority of them not belonging to the enterovirus category.

Correct Way of Eating Fruits

EATING FRUIT - Guide



We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think It's important to know how and when to eat..

What is the correct way of eating fruits?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! - FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD - Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian (fruit from Asia with a foul smell yet delicious flavor) my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes - all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.

There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.

You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.


APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoid which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.



STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.



ORANGE: Sweetest medicine, eating 2 to 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.



WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.



GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.



Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can you believe this??



For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.

It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this...It could save your life!

Deadly Malaria Jumped To Humans From Wild Chimps

An international research team led by evolutionary geneticist Stephen M. Rich of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered that the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the deadliest form of malaria, jumped from wild chimpanzees to humans via bites by mosquitoes (the vector) in equatorial Africa perhaps as recently as 10,000 years ago. It's an unsuspected origin much more recent than previously thought possible.

Genetic detective work by Rich and colleagues is described in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The researchers used blood samples from wild and wild-born captive African chimpanzees to discover that malaria is apparently a zoonotic disease, that is, one that jumps from animals to infect humans.

In DNA studies at his UMass Amherst laboratory, Rich determined that these chimpanzee parasites are not only the closest known relative of our malaria parasites, but also that human malaria derives from a transfer of parasites from the chimp lineage into our human ancestors.

A similar story has been proposed for how HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) arose from a chimpanzee counterpart SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus). Other zoonoses such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease, while still threats to humans, remain primarily in wild animals.

Rich and colleagues reveal the true evolutionary history of two closely related parasites-P. reichenowi found in chimps, and P. falciparum which is so deadly to humans-and refute a widely held view that the two species derived from parasites of the human and chimpanzee common ancestor some 5 to 7 million years ago.

Rich says this breakthrough on the recent evolutionary origin of P. falciparum will allow his group to determine exactly what makes it so extremely virulent (quickly multiplying) and pathogenic (rapidly fatal) compared to the other three malaria types that infect humans. As many as 3 million people die each year of malaria, mostly children, while hundreds of millions suffer debilitating illness.

"Our discovery of the origin of malignant malaria derived from a chimpanzee is a watershed. It's akin to finding a living Neanderthal and getting the opportunity to study his biology and behaviors," says Rich.

This new study caps more than a decade of investigation by Rich and a co-author, evolutionary biologist Francisco Ayala at UC Irvine, who together wrote a ground-breaking 1998 paper proposing that human malaria parasites shared common ancestry as recently as 10,000 years ago, not 5 to 7 million as always assumed. Rich recalls, "Before our study in 1998, very little was known about genetic diversity among malaria parasites.

When we proposed that all malaria parasites were originated from a very recent common ancestor, our colleagues thought we were surely mistaken," he adds, because at the time it was well known that genes controlling the parasites' ability to infect hosts and evade the immune systems were very diverse.

But Rich and Ayala's work showed these genes were so diverse because they evolved by previously unknown mechanisms at rates that were not thought possible. From this, they proposed their Malaria's Eve hypothesis about malaria's foremother, which was later further supported by several independent research groups. Since the 1998 study, debate has persisted as to the exact age of Malaria's Eve, with estimates ranging from a few thousand to a couple of hundred thousand years. "I didn't participate much in this debate, because I knew that there was a missing piece of the puzzle," says Rich.

He knew the key to understanding human malaria's Eve depended on more thorough study of its chimpanzee counterpart. At the time, only one known isolate of chimpanzee malaria existed, from the 1960s. So Rich initiated a collaboration with current co-authors Fabian Leendertz of the Robert Koch Institute and Christoph Boesch of the Max Planck Institute, who were looking for new viral pathogens in chimps.

Using genetic tools, Rich screened blood samples from 10 chimps that had died of natural causes and found that two were infected with chimpanzee malaria parasites. As a follow-up, he collaborated with Nathan Wolfe of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, also a current co-author, and acquired 94 more blood samples from wild and wild-born captive chimpanzees in wildlife sanctuaries in Cameroon.

In DNA studies at his UMass Amherst laboratory, Rich determined that these chimpanzee parasites are not only the closest known relative of our malaria parasites, but also that human malaria derives from a transfer of parasites from the chimp lineage into our human ancestors.

So why did P. falciparum develop such a deadly potency for killing humans while the closely-related chimpanzee disease does not appear to do nearly so much damage? Rich speculates that the answer lies in a key change in human society 8,000 to 10,000 years ago?from nomadic hunter-gathering to settled agrarian societies.

When humans began to stay for long periods in a single place, and they started to irrigate fields and live in huts rather than travel daily, the change selected for what Rich calls "vectorial promiscuity." That is, a highly anthropophilic (human-loving) Anopheles mosquito got very good at spreading huge numbers of parasites by biting as many people sleeping in the same hut as quickly as possible. Our closest relative, chimpanzees, made no such behavior change, and the P. reichenowi parasite never encountered a situation that would allow selection of a strain with increased virulence.

Rich says all the genetic material that has accumulated in the P. falciparum parasite since its divergence from P. reichenowi now becomes the investigation ground for parasitologists. With new knowledge, they may be able to learn how to control and subdue one of the most deadly organisms ever to make a human sick.

Rich is the lead author of this study, conducted in collaboration with investigators from the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, San Francisco; University of California Irvine, Stanford University, Max Planck Institute, Leipzig; Robert Koch Institute, Berlin; US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md. and the University of Yaounde, Cameroon.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH, the Google Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation.

Navigating In The Ocean Of Molecules

Tracking down new active agents for cancer or malaria treatment could soon become easier - thanks to a computer program with which researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund aim to facilitate the search for suitable pharmaceutical substances.

The program, which is called Scaffold Hunter, acts as a tool for navigating chemical space. It generates maps of chemically-related structures and links them to biological activity, that is, to their potential to bind to proteins, in particular medically relevant proteins.

The search for active agents in the tree of structures: Basic chemical scaffolds are linked initially on the basis of their structural similarity. Compounds that influence the enzyme pyruvate kinase are shown in blue, the virtual scaffolds in grey. Variants of the virtual scaffold shaded in red (top right) were tested for their biological potency and pointed to other active substances (bottom right)). Image: MPI of Molecular Physiology

With the help of this new tool, the Max Planck scientists, together with colleagues from the universities of Frankfurt, Eindhoven and New Mexico, have identified substances that could provide possible candidates for the development of active agents for use in cancer treatment and malaria.

The dimensions of the chemical space, which contains the total number of all conceivable chemical structures, are unimaginable: it is estimated to contain up to 10160 different molecules. Written out in full, this figure would fill two lines of closely-spaced numbers on a typed page.

However, only some of these - 1060 molecules according to the estimates - are potential active agents. Identifying these islands of biological activity in the ocean of all potential compounds is not an easy task.

"Organic synthesis cannot gauge the chemical space in its entirety," explains Stefan Wetzel, a researcher from Herbert Waldmann's group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund. Chemists cannot cook up all possible compounds to test them. Therefore, the researchers have developed this navigation system to help them steer their way through this sea of possibilities.

The program Scaffold Hunter generates a map of the chemical space based on structural criteria and uses it to identify biologically active compounds, e.g. natural substances. The program can also be used to predict new candidate agents that do not occur in nature.

The scientists focus on the medically relevant section of the chemical space, in which molecules contain ring-shaped structures. To do this, they reduce the molecules to their characteristic scaffolds. Scaffold Hunter then orders these structures in a kind of family tree based on their similarities: the program assigns smaller 'parent' scaffolds to each scaffold by gradually removing rings from the original 'child' scaffold.

This generates innumerable parent-child relationships - structurally related molecules of varying complexity. The advantage lies in the fact that chemically similar compounds are very likely to display similar biological activity.

"These structurally-based lineages form the branches of the tree," explains Stefan Wetzel: "With the help of Scaffold Hunter we move along the branches from complex to increasingly simple structures which may be similar in their effect."

Thus, the researchers identify structurally simple scaffolds with promising characteristics as the starting point in the quest for new active agents: chemists can then vary the scaffolds with different appendages to synthesize the optimal active agent.

Scaffold Hunter can also be used to predict bioactive molecules that do not arise in nature but are very likely to display similar activity to related natural molecules, as the program also creates and visualizes virtual scaffolds. The researchers immediately demonstrated how efficiently the program works by discovering new inhibitors of pyruvate kinase. The inhibition of this enzyme is seen as a promising approach to the treatment of cancer and malaria.

An even more detailed search can be carried out if the scientist can enter information about biological activity - if available - at the beginning of the navigation process. In this case, Scaffold Hunter only links the scaffolds that are known to display the same biological activity to the branches.

As a result, these branches are very likely to bear fruit: active substances are probably also located in the branches between the substances whose biological activity is already known.

"In this way, we tracked down new inhibitors for 2-lipoxygenase and the oestrogen receptor alpha," says Steffen Renner, a former researcher at the Max Planck Institute and now an employee of the Novartis pharmaceutical concern. 5-lipoxygenase is a target protein in the treatment of inflammation and bladder cancer, while the oestrogen receptor alpha is an important starting point in the treatment of breast cancer.

"Scaffold Hunter is a key technological tool with innumerable possible applications," says Stefan Wetzel.

"The program was consciously designed in a very user-friendly way so that non-experts can use it to analyse their data themselves," he adds. The researchers have made Scaffold Hunter available free of charge on the Internet. The source code can also be obtained: advanced users can thus adapt the program to their requirements and embark on more targeted explorations of the chemical space.

Top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2008

Scientists had plenty of reasons to celebrate in 2008.

The Large Hadron Collider fired up for the first time, a temple of science opened its doors, several companies promised cheap genome sequencing and President-elect Obama hired a fantastic team of science advisers.

After decades of work, researchers made rat stem cells, built the first memristorand watched a language evolve like an organism. But none of those accomplishments impressed us as much as the breakthroughs on this list.

10. Troubleshooting stem cell therapy

In 2007, scientists learned how to reprogram skin cells into stem cells, without cloning or destroying embryos. It seemed too good to be true, and it was. The tissues grown from those cells had a nasty tendency to become cancerous, which made them useless for regenerative medicine — the science of building and fixing body parts. In 2008, several research groups figured out what was going wrong and solved the problem.

Researchers had used an an adenovirus to slip four genes into each cell, but the microbe was causing lots of collateral damage. By switching to a different kind of virus, scientists at The Whitehead Institute andMassachusetts General Hospital were able to make the procedure safe.

9. Turning water into fuel

Companies like Nanosolar and Solyndra slashed the cost of solar energy, but scientists are still looking for a clean way to store all that juice. Daniel Nocera of MIT has an elegant solution:
Use electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen, store it in separate tanks, then recombine the gases in a fuel cell when you need power.

Anyone can do this. Just hook a 9-volt battery to electrodes and dunk them into a jar of water. The problem is that it takes a lot of energy to do this. If you want to fill tanks with those gases, and use them to run a fuel cell, you’ll need to do it very efficiently. Nocera, and his team at MIT, found a catalyst that makes the task of splitting H₂O remarkably easy. It could store the energy harvested by solar cells and wind farms.

Top image: Tom White, MIT

8. Marking greenhouse gas levels — 800,000-year high

The numbers on Wall Street were dismal in 2008, but even more frightening figures came from Antarctica. When scientists traveled to the frozen continent and analyzed ancient pockets of air trapped deep in the ice, they learned that our atmosphere has 28 percent more carbon dioxide now than at any other time in the past 800,000 years. Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern provided some of the most compelling evidence to date that we are irreversibly warming our planet. He showed that the rise and fall of CO₂concentrations in the atmosphere matched the melting and thawing of the polar ice caps, and identified a period in which the greenhouse gas was at an all time low. Another team, led by Jerome Chappellaz of Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, drew the same conclusions by measuring methane levels in ice core. They remarked that another greenhouse gas, CH₄, has not risen above 800 parts per billion in the past 650 millenia, and currently it is at over twice that level.

7. Building loudspeakers from carbon nanotubes

Scientists have been tinkering with carbon nanotubes for decades, and this year the work has paid off. Chinese scientists have used the nanotubes to make transparent audio speakers and sheets of paper stronger than steel. The speakers work by a thermoacoustic effect: They vibrate and make noise when heated by an electrical current. The scientists demonstrated in YouTube videos that their prototype could blast a scratchy but understandable version of the Moldovan pop song "Dragostea din tei" while it was taped to the side of a waving flag.

Another team at Florida State University made paper that is far lighter and stronger than steel by pressing sheets of carbon nanotubes together. Those composite materials, developed by Ben Wang and his team, could make aircraft parts and body armor.

In a perfect sheet of the material, all of the carbon nanotubes should be pointing in the same direction. Wang figured out how to align the tiny cylinders with magnetic fields. Thanks to that discovery, and other advances, buckypaper could be on the market within a year.

6. Sequencing entire genome of a cancer patient, including tumor

For the first time, doctors sequenced the entire genome of a cancer patient, and also read the genetic code of her diseased cells. That allowed them to pinpoint the exact mutations responsible for the illness.

In the short run, that data will give cancer researchers a much better understanding of the disease, but their real triumph is bringing the medical community a step closer to offering personalized health care.

Cancer is hard to fight because nearly every case is different, and yet doctors use a somewhat one-size-fits-all approach to treating patients. As new medications like gene therapy and RNA interference become widespread, oncologists will be able to tailor treatments for patients because of what’s wrong with their genetic code. In the meantime, some physicians are using simple genetic tests to predict which medications will work well on their patients.

5. Breaking the petaflop barrier

The latest generation of supercomputers can perform more than a quadrillion operations per second, and that remarkable capability will revolutionize the way scientists do research.
It will allow them to identify meaningful patterns in unfathomably large mounds of data, and perform simulations with unprecedented accuracy. Meteorologists could know exactly where a hurricane will strike days before it makes landfall. Neuroscientists may be able to emulate a simple brain. So far, two machines have broken the petaflop barrier, and as more follow we’ll see monumental advances in every field of science.

Photo: Cray XT5 Jaguar courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

4. Curing HIV in Germany

Some people are remarkably resistant to HIV, and scientists have found two ways to give that immunity to others. In the first case, Berlin doctor Gero Huetter transplanted bone marrow from a virus-resistant donor to a man who had both HIV and leukemia. By doing that, he cured both diseases with one treatment. It sounds great, but Huetter had to kill off his patient’s immune system with drugs and radiation before replacing it with a better one.

Because that tactic is tremendously harsh and risky, it is unlikely that the miraculous procedure will catch on. Instead, his victory provided solid evidence that gene editing might offer a viable solution. Every virus-resistant person has two mutant copies of a gene called CCR5, and a new biotech tool called zinc finger nucleases can give anyone that mutation. Instead of transferring bone marrow from another person, doctors could take a few cells from a patient, modify them to be HIV-resistant and then put them back in.

3. Finding another building block of life in our galaxy

This has been a very big year for astrobiology. Several teams of researchers have found the building blocks of life outside our solar system and others have spotted dozens of planets that aren’t much bigger than earth.

When astronomers in France pointed the IRAM radio telescope at a region of the Milky Way filled with newborn stars, they found signs of a sugar molecule called glycolaldehyde. It is an ingredient of RNA, the substance that may have played a key role in the dawn of life. Until then, the organic chemical had only been spotted at the chaotic core of our galaxy. Using the Hubble telescope, another group of researchersfound the first evidence of water and carbon dioxide on a planet outside our solar system.

2. Growing a new organ from a patient’s own stem cells

Thanks to stem cell research, people with failing organs may not need to wait for a donor or take harsh medications that prevent their immune systems from rejecting transplanted tissue. One of the greatest examples of regenerative medicine — the science of building or fixing body parts — took place this year, when doctors removed some cells from a 30-year-old woman with tuberculosis and used them to grow a new trachea, replacing a segment that was destroyed by the bacterium.

They took stem cells from her bone marrow, layered them onto a decellularized trachea from a deceased donor, and surgically implanted it in the woman. Four months later, Claudia Castillo could breathe well and showed no signs of the side-effects that patients have when they receive an organ from someone else.

1. Finding ice on Mars

After a seven-month journey through space, the Phoenix lander touched down on Martian soil, and soon after discovered ice.

On May 31, two days after the lander’s robotic arm went to work, its camera caught a glimpse of something shiny under the craft. Lead researcher Peter Smith speculated that the landing rockets had blown a thin layer of soil away, exposing buried ice.

The big announcement came on Jun. 19, after scientists compared two photos of a ditch called Dodo-Goldilocks. In the first image, several bright nuggets were visible, and four days later the chunks had disappeared. Taking the temperature and atmospheric pressure into account, the specks had to be ice that sublimated after being uncovered by the mechanical claw.

The red planet may have an inhospitable climate, but at least it has water, and that will be tremendously useful when the first group of explorers lands there.

Image: Frost in the Dodo-Goldilocks trench / University of Arizona, NASA