Science News – Newsletter for February 4, 2011

US teen’s ’solar death ray’ can melt anything from metal to concrete

SYDNEY – An aspiring teenage scientist in the US has created a solar death ray, out of thousands of mirrors, that can melt anything from metal to concrete.

Eric Jacqmain, 19, from Indiana, demonstrated the 90-dollar contraption in a YouTube clip and claims it offers the “power of …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : US teen’s ’solar death ray’ can melt anything from metal to concrete.

Amazon droughts alarm scientists

LONDON – The 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region’s rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought that was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event.

Analyses of rainfall across 5.3 million square km of Amazonia during the 2010 dry season shows that the drought was more widespread and severe than …. Read the original article  : Amazon droughts alarm scientists.

Expectations accelerate conscious perception: Study

WASHINGTON – Until now, neuroscientists assumed that the processes leading to conscious perception were rather rigid and that the timing did not vary.

However, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt have now demonstrated that the timing of this process, far from being rigid, is in fact variable.

When the brain possesses … Read : Expectations accelerate conscious perception: Study.

Drinking vegetable juice ‘can help people meet key dietary guidelines’

WASHINGTON – New studies have suggested that drinking V8 100 percent vegetable juice may be a simple way for people to increase their vegetable intake and may help them manage their weight.

A study, conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis, found that adults who drank one, 8-ounce glass of vegetable juice each day, as … Read the original article on Gaea Times at : Drinking vegetable juice ‘can help people meet key dietary guidelines’.

Mechanism involved in breast cancer’s spread to bone uncovered

WASHINGTON – A team of Princeton University scientists has discovered a mechanism involved in breast cancer’s spread to bone, which may lead to a new treatment for the disease.

Cancer cells often travel throughout the body and cause new tumours in individuals with advanced breast cancer – a process called metastasis – commonly resulting in malignant …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Mechanism involved in breast cancer’s spread to bone uncovered.

‘Googleganger’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year

WELLINGTON – The term “googleganger”, which describes a person, who emerges among online search results for one’s own name, has been named as word of the year by the Macquarie Dictionary.

The term is a noun, meaning “a person with the same name as oneself, whose online references are mixed with one’s own among search results … Original source on Gaea Times at : ‘Googleganger’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year.

Drug-abusers find it difficult to identify negative emotions

WASHINGTON – Scientists at the University of Granada have found that drug-abusers have difficulty in identifying negative emotions by their facial expression: wrath, disgust, fear and sadness.

Further, regular abuse of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine usually affects abusers’ fluency and decision-making. Consuming cannabis and cocaine negatively affects work memory and reasoning. Similarly, cocaine abuse is associated …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Drug-abusers find it difficult to identify negative emotions.

Boosting body’s immune system may hold key to HIV cure

WASHINGTON – Scientists in Australia have shown that boosting the immune system in mice can rid them of HIV-like infection.

The research team, led by Dr Marc Pellegrini from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, showed that a cell signaling hormone called interleukin-7 (IL-7) reinvigorates the immune response to chronic viral infection, allowing the host to …. Source  : Boosting body’s immune system may hold key to HIV cure.

NASA Discovers New Solar System

SAN FRANCISCO (GaeaTimes.com)- For all those who have been thinking so far, that Solar System is the only terrestrial body, where one can find similar planets like earth and Mars, would now be proved wrong. The Kepler Mission of NASA, has recently discovered the very first Earth-size planet candidates, and that too in …. Source article  : NASA Discovers New Solar System.

Sand dunes in Northern Mars actively changing

WASHINGTON – An investigation led by a Planetary Science Institute researcher has revealed that the avalanche faces of huge Martian sand dunes, long thought to be frozen in time on the distant planet, are being re-sculpted on a seasonal basis.

Candice Hansen, a senior scientist at PSI and lead author of a paper, said that …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Sand dunes in Northern Mars actively changing.

First stars in the universe weren’t as lonely as previously thought

WASHINGTON – Researchers from the Center of Astronomy at Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, and The University of Texas at Austin have found that the first stars to form in the universe were not as lonely as previously believed.

The astrophysicists used state-of-the-art computer simulations to model the birth of …. Source article  : First stars in the universe weren’t as lonely as previously thought.

How Neolithic farmers and hunter-gatherers fought for space

WASHINGTON – A new research details a physical model, which can potentially explain how the spreading of Neolithic farmers was slowed down by the population density of hunter-gatherers.

Agricultural – or Neolithic – economics replaced the Mesolithic social model of hunter-gathering in the Near East about 10,000 years ago.

One of the most important socioeconomic changes in … Read more >>>.

Now, a confession app on iPhones, iPads approved by Catholic Church

WELLINGTON – A US company has come up with a confession app that claims to be the first of its kind to be approved by the Catholic Church.

Patrick Leinen, of the three-man team Little iApps, a company “with a Roman Catholic twist”, said his team had wanted to engage Catholics with new media in response [..] Read the original article: here.

Coming soon: ‘Smart Fence’ that recognizes threatening footsteps!

WASHINGTON – A new sensor system modelled after the human brain can help make security smarter by being able to distinguish between potential threats and normal disturbances.

The system, called ‘Smart Fence’, consists of small, low-powered devices that can be placed in the ground or attached to a fence, sending an alert wirelessly to a command … Read more : Coming soon: ‘Smart Fence’ that recognizes threatening footsteps!.

Chandigarh to host Rose Festival

CHANDIGARH – A three-day rose festival will be held at the Rose Garden here Feb 25-27, it was announced Friday.

The 39th edition of the festival will also see concerts, musical nights, comedy shows, ‘antakshri’, food streets and various competitions.
“Live performances by singers Hans Raj Hans, Priyani Vani and Mohit Chauhan and comedian Uday … Read : Chandigarh to host Rose Festival.

Rembrandt ‘mixed flour with paints’ for a thicker painting stroke

WASHINGTON – A new study has found that 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt used wheat starch in some of his paint to achieve a thicker stroke.

Experts at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Brussels reveal new insights into the techniques that Rembrandt experimented with as he created his masterpieces.

“The most striking result is undoubtedly the …. Read the original article  : Rembrandt ‘mixed flour with paints’ for a thicker painting stroke.

100mn-yr-old ancestor of carnivorous insect fossil reveals evolution stasis

WASHINGTON – Researchers at the University of Illinois have found a 100 million-year-old fossil of the ancestor of a carnivorous, cricket-like insect that still live today in southern Asia, northern Indochina and Africa.

The discovery from a limestone fossil bed in north-eastern Brazil shows that the creature has undergone minimal evolutionary change since the Early Cretaceous …. Original article  : 100mn-yr-old ancestor of carnivorous insect fossil reveals evolution stasis.

Google Earth reveals almost 2000 ancient archaeo sites in Saudi Arabia

LONDON – Google Earth has revealed 1977 potential archaeological sites, including 1082 “pendants” – ancient tear-drop shaped tombs made of stone, in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s not the easiest country to break into,” New Scientist quoted David Kennedy from the University of Western Australia, who found the sites.

He compared the images with structures that Kennedy has seen …. Source  : Google Earth reveals almost 2000 ancient archaeo sites in Saudi Arabia.

Parrots ‘tend to be left handed’

LONDON – Just like humans, parrots too choose to use one side of their body more than the other – with more of them left handed, or left footed, according to Australian researchers.

They found that virtually all the parrots they studied prefer to use either their left eye and left foot, or right eye and … Original article on : Parrots ‘tend to be left handed’.

Thanks to ‘Goldilocks effect’, dinos left footprints at the perfect time

LONDON – A new study has found that thanks to something called a ‘Goldilocks effect,’ dinosaurs left lasting footprints only when conditions were just right.

“By using computer modelling, we were able to recreate the conditions involved when a 30-tonne animal makes a track,” the BBC quoted palaeontologist Dr Peter Falkingham at the University of Manchester, …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Thanks to ‘Goldilocks effect’, dinos left footprints at the perfect time.