Monday, September 13, 2010

SCIENCE OF SEPTEMBER 2010

Cocoa farmers from West Africa. Scientists decoded Cocoa Tree Genome on 19th September. Picture Courtesy: http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/

September 1: Officials at the Indian Space Research Organization finally announced the instruments for the next lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2. Some of the instruments and suites experts recommend for the orbiter include the Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) and the Solar X-ray monitor (XSM). Both of these payloads are meant to give the orbiter the ability to map out the most interesting elements of the lunar surface in great detail. As far as the experts are concerned, the orbiter could include only two scientific payloads.

September 2: The majestic animal,long perceived as an icon of India,is facing a severe threat from human-animal conflict,lack of movement corridors and trade in ivory,among others. To tackle this problem,the elephant task force constituted by the ministry of environment and forests recommended to the Centre that it be declared a national heritage animal. It also recommended the setting up of a new body called the National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) on the lines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

September 3: The fossil of a stocky new dinosaur with two sets of claws on its feet unearthed in Romania has given researchers a window into what European predators looked like in the final years of the Age of Dinosaurs. It prowled Romania during the Late Cretaceous period -- about 90 to 65 million years ago- when warm temperatures and high sea levels fragmented Europe into small islands. The new dinosaur was described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

September 4: The latest chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians has revealed that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. This is the strongest evidence that even if the penicillin was invented in 1928, the art of making antibiotics was no secret 2,000 years ago. The research led by Emory University anthropologist George Armelagos and medicinal chemist Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

September 5: Today is the 25th anniversary of buckyball. A molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere called buckyball. The discovery of buckyball helped lot to understand the chemistry and technological applications in material sciences, electronics and nanotechnologies. The invention of buckyball was made in 1985 and was named buckminsterfullerene after Richard Buckminster Fuller.On this occasion, the search engine giant Google has converted its famous doodle into a buckyball.

September 5: God no longer has any place in theories on the creation of the universe due to a series of developments in physics, according to a new book by Stephen Hawking.
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists,why we exist," he writes in The Grand Design. The publisher is Bantam Books. Website: http://bantam-dell.atrandom.com/  

September 6: People have been using antibiotics for nearly 2000 years, suggests a new study, which found large doses of tetracycline embedded in the bones of ancient African mummies. What's more, they probably got it through beer, and just about everyone appears to have drank it consistently throughout their lifetimes, beginning early in childhood. Thestudy was conducted by biological anthropologists at Emory University in Atlanta.The team reported their results in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.                                                                                                 
September 7:  The first entire genome of an Irish individual has been sequenced. The sequence is reported in BioMed Central's open access journal, Genome Biology and provides insight into the evolutionary history of this distinct lineage. The research team from UCD Conway Institute in conjunction with collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI), Beaumont hospital, the MRC Human Genetics Unit and University of Edinburgh.

September 8: Global software major Microsoft has designed a computer programme that allows you to scan the universe and zoom into outer space through its Windows. Touted as a worldwide telescope, the programme enables students and scholars to conduct astronomical research, promote science education and create entertainment. The data from sky, planets, solar system and the earth are categorised to access information easily. Website: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

September 9: An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, publishing it in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology next week. The research team hopes that the turkey genome will provide a model for creating gene- and chromosome-level assemblies. The complete genome sequence, rapidly acquired using 'next-generation' sequencing technology, promises new data for avian researchers and, ultimately  for turkey producers and consumers.

September 10: Six months after a failed test, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted the second static testing of its liquid core stage (L110) of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk -III), according to a press release. The test lasted 200 seconds at ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) test facility at Mahendragiri today (September 8, 2010) at 15:50 hrs. L110 is one of the heaviest earth storable liquid stages ever developed by ISRO.

September 11: China is on track to launch its second lunar satellite by year's end, as the country pursues its plans for a manned mission to the moon by 2020. Preparations for the launch of the Chang'e-2 probe, which will go into orbit within 15 kilometres of the moon, are going smoothly as per media.  The lunar probe will test soft-landing and other technologies in preparation for the launch of the Chang'e-3, which is slated for launch in 2013 and aims to be China's first unmanned landing on the moon.

September 12: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may soon approve Genetically Modified Salmon for humans to eat, against consumer advocates who consider the fish a threat to both health and the environment. The panel of experts call it "as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon." The Genetically Modified Salmon is called  AquAdvantage Salmon and is developed by AquaBounty Technologies. The FDA is scheduled to hold public hearings on the issue from Sept. 19 to 21.

September 13: A team from University College Dublin successfully sequenced the entire genetic code of an Irish person for the first time in history. They used sophisticated sequencing technology to map 3.1 billion sub-units of DNA that comprise the human genome. Specifically, it is hoped that experts may finally be able to understand why the Irish are more susceptible to diseases such as cystic fibrosis than other European nationals. The landmark study is published in the journal Genome Biology.

September 14 Scientists at University of California, Berkeley have engineered electronic skin that can sense touch, in a major step towards next-generation robotics and prosthetic limbs. The lab-tested material responds to almost the same pressures as human skin and with the same speed, they reported in the British journal Nature Materials. The "e-skin" comprises a matrix of nanowires made of Germanium and Silicon rolled onto a sticky polyimide film can respond to chemicals, biological agents and temperature.

September 15: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, (BARC) is developing mutants lines of wheat and getting ready for testing in the fields of Kenya in Africa, to check if these will be resistant to the virulent strain of wheat stem rust 'Ug99'. The evolving pathogen Ug99 may pose even greater threat to global wheat production than the original Ug99 (identified first in Uganda in 1999), according to Food and Agricultural Organisation. If BARC succeeds it will be a significant development as wheat scientists all over the world

September 16: ISRO is gearing up to launch eight spacecrafts annually to increase revenue and meet global demand, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director P.S. Veeraraghavan said on Tuesday. PSLV will carry three satellites and GSLV will carry INSAT 5C, he said. Chandrayaan-2 mission would be launched by GLSV instead of PSLV. In Chandrayaan-2 there would be an orbiter, lander and a rover.

September 17: Scientists developed the world's first artificial ovary. The study is  published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, could help thousands of cancer sufferers who become infertile through treatment. The scientists from Brown University on Rhode Island, also said the artificial organs could be used to help discover why some women find it difficult to conceive. The breakthroughs also raise the prospect that women will one day use the techniques to side-step the menopause.

September 18: The protective ozone layer in the Earth's upper atmosphere has stopped thinning and should largely be restored by mid-century thanks to a ban on harmful chemicals, say UN scientists. The Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2010 report says a 1987 international treaty that phased out Chloro Fluoro Carbons (CFC) - substances used in refrigerators, aerosol sprays and some packing foams - has been successful. Ozone provides a natural protective filter against harmful ultra-violet rays from the Sun.

September 19: Scientists have sequenced the genetic code of the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao), which they say could triple the yield of the disease-prone crop and transform the lives of millions of poor farmers in Africa and around the developing world who rely on it for their livelihood. The US chocolate firm Mars, working with the computer firm IBM and the US Department of Agriculture, took two years and two months to unlock the genetic code of the tree. Web: http://www.cacaogenomedb.org/

September 20: Scientists have discovered some of world's biggest, strongest spider webs, as wide as 82 feet (25 meters)-about as long as two city buses in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in Madagascar. Made of the world's strongest known biological material, the web is the product of a new species, the Darwin's Bark Spider, which makes the world's largest webs of any single spider, according to new studies. The findings appear in the Journal of Arachnology and PLoS ONE.

September 21: The timetable for China's first manned moon landing, as well as the launch of a space station, lab and probes to explore Mars and Venus, was announced by scientists over the weekend.China will launch its first manned moon landing in 2025, a probe to Mars by 2013 and to Venus by 2015. China plans to launch the country's first unmanned space laboratory, Tiangong-1, next year, which is expected to accomplish the country's first unmanned docking with Shenzhen-8, a step toward building a space station.

September 22: Scientists have discovered a new species of ape living in the treetops of the rugged mountains along the Vietnamese, Laos and Cambodian borders. The "Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon" has been given the name Nomascus annamensis. It is is the seventh Nomascus species to be identified. Van Ngoc Thinh at German Primate Centre which is part of central Germany's Goettingen University, observed the gibbons and wrote up the findings in the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology.

September 23: The United Nations launched the 'Year of the Bat' (2011-2012) hoping a bit of positive publicity can foster better understanding of the role the mammals play in pollination and dispersal of seeds.
From insect-eating bats in Europe that provide important pest control to seed-dispersing bats in the tropics that help sustain rainforests, bats deliver vital ecosystem services. An estimated 134 plants that yield products used by humans depend on bats for seed dispersal or pollination. Website: http://www.yearofthebat.org/

September 24: Scientists said they've discovered fossils in the southern Utah desert of two new dinosaur species closely related to the Triceratops, including one with 15 horns on its large head. The discovery of the new plant-eating species — including Kosmoceratops richardsoni, considered the most ornate-headed dinosaur known to man — was reported  in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE. The other dinosaur, which has five horns and is the larger of the two, was dubbed Utahceratops gettyi.

September 25: Centuries after Leonardo Da Vinci sketched designs of a giant bat-shaped craft that used a pilot's arms and legs to power the wings, Canadian engineering students say they have flown an engineless aircraft that stays aloft by flapping its wings like a bird. International aviation officials are expected to certify next month that "The Snowbird" has made the world's first successful, sustained flight of a human-powered ornithopter. It sustained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, in an 2 August test flight near Toronto.

September 26: Nine scientists were on sunday chosen for the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2010 for their achievement in the field of science and technology, with three of the awardees being women for the first time. The awards were announced at a function to mark the foundation day of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The CSIR also said its award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development 2009 will go to Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's Research and Development Centre in Faridabad.

September 27: Subhra Chakraborty and her team from the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi, India, have "successfully" combined genes from the amaranth plant with those of the common potato, a feat which the team says increases potato protein content by up to 60 percent. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study explains that it helps potatoes to develop high amino acid and protein levels. And they claim that the genetically modified crop is safe for consumption.

September 28Solar cells that mimic "green leaf" have been created at North Carolina State University where water-gel-based artificial leaves containing chlorophyll produce electricity. The light-sensitive molecules get "excited" by the sun's rays to produce electricity, similar to plant molecules that get excited to synthesize sugars in order to grow, explains Velev, whose work has been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

September 29: ‘Project Aadhar’, which is seen as the symbol of modern India by the government, was launched by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh as ten adivasis from the tribal area of Tembhli village in Maharashtra received their Unique Identification Number. Four-year-old Hitesh Sonawane became the youngest member to receive the UID card from the Prime Minister. 12 digit numbers will be given to the person as his identity which will be kind of link to all demographic details and bank accounts.

September 30: A decline in pollinating insects in India is resulting in reduced vegetable yields and could limit people's access to a nutritional diet, a study warns. The loss of the natural service could have a long-term impact on the farming sector, which accounts for almost a fifth of the nation's GDP. Globally, pollination is estimated to be worth £141bn ($224bn) each year. The findings were presented at a recent British Ecological Society meeting, held at the University of Leeds.












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