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16th-century Korean mummy provides clue to hepatitis B virus genetic code - 0 views

  • discovery of a mummified Korean child with relatively preserved organs enabled an Israeli-South Korean scientific team to conduct a genetic analysis on a liver biopsy which revealed a unique hepatitis B virus
  • may be used as a model to study the evolution of chronic hepatitis B and help understand the spread of the virus,
  • may shed further light on the migratory pathway of hepatitis B in the Far East from China and Japan to Korea as well as to other regions in Asia and Australia where it is a major cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer
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  • Carbon 14 tests of the clothing of the mummy suggests that the boy lived around the 16th century during the Korean Joseon Dynasty
  • viral DNA sequences recovered from the liver biopsy enabled the scientists to map the entire ancient hepatitis B viral genome.
  • researchers compared the ancient DNA sequences with contemporary viral genomes disclosing distinct differences
  • changes in the genetic code are believed to result from spontaneous mutations and possibly environmental pressures during the virus evolutionary process
  • analysis suggests that the reconstructed mummy's hepatitis B virus DNA had its origin between 3,000 to 100,000 years ago.
  • In recent years, universal immunization of newborns against hepatitis B in Israel and in South Korea has lead to a massive decline in the incidence of infection.
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Teenagers play detectives on Interpol's new website - 0 views

  • Global police agency Interpol Tuesday launched a website to educate teenagers about crimes that can be committed over the Internet and tell them how they can protect themselves from the dangers
  • website also aims to teach teenagers about the 190-country-member organisation
  • focal point of the new site is a game "Interpol Junior Officer -- the Case of the Black Tattoo," in which players assume the role of an Interpol officer who travels worldwide, gathering clues to help local police track down an international gang involved in smuggling.
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  • launched in English and will eventually have Arabic, French and Spanish versions.
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Germany sets weekend record for solar power - 0 views

  • Solar power plants in Germany have set a new record. “Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity,"
  • plants peaked at 22 gigawatts of output for a few hours over the weekend, on Friday and Saturday
  • they yielded almost half the country's energy mid-day electricity needs
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  • 22 gigawatts is up from 14 GW a year ago. Also, this 22 gigawatts of output is equal to about 20 nuclear plants.
  • 2012 Environment Ministry report showed that German taxpayers pay an extra four billion euros per year on top of their electricity bills to support solar power
  • The new record-breaking figures from Germany, however, do not quiet some energy experts who stress that without good storage strategies for excess power, such record-breaking numbers are not meaningful. They say the real point is to get consistently large percentages of power from renewable sources.
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Greek experts find Roman wrecks nearly a mile deep - 0 views

  • Two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found in deep water off a western Greek island, challenging the conventional theory that ancient shipmasters stuck to coastal routes rather than risking the open sea, an official said Tuesday.
  • They lay between 1.2 and 1.4 kilometers (0.7-0.9 miles) deep in the sea between Corfu and Italy.
  • among the deepest known ancient wrecks in the Mediterranean, apart from remains found in 1999 of an older vessel some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) deep off Cyprus.
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  • A Greek oceanographic vessel using side-scan radar and robot submarines took footage of scattered cargo — storage jars, or amphorae, used to carry foodstuffs and wine — cooking utensils for the crew, anchors, ballast stones and what could be remains of the wooden ships.
  • deep wrecks are very important because they are almost always more intact than those found in shallow water
  • far more archaeological and historical information
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NASA lunar spacecraft GRAIL complete prime mission ahead of schedule - 0 views

  • The team of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, with twin probes named Ebb and Flow, is now preparing for extended science operations starting Aug. 30 and continuing through Dec. 3, 2012.
  • March 8, the spacecraft have operated around the clock for 89 days.
  • collected data covering the entire surface three times
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  • GRAIL delivered to Earth over 99.99 percent of the data that could have been collected
  • extended mission goal is to take an even closer look at the moon's gravity field. To achieve this, GRAIL mission planners will halve their current operating altitude to the lowest altitude that can be safely maintained.
  • Orbiting at an average altitude of 14 miles (23 kilometers)
  • clearing some of the moon's higher surface features by about 5 miles (8 kilometers),"
  • To date over 70,000 student images of the moon have been obtained.
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Wireless 'tooth tattoo' detects harmful bacteria - 0 views

  • Using silk strands pulled from cocoons and gold wires thinner than a spider's web, researchers at Princeton University have created a removable tattoo that adheres to dental enamel and could eventually monitor a patient's health with unprecedented sensitivity
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How to measure the universe - 0 views

  • The Royal Observatory Greenwich is giving free presentations of "Measuring the Universe: from the Transit of Venus to the Edge of the Cosmos" from now until September 1.
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Europe still has a rich reservoir of unknown species - 0 views

  • Europe is still has a multitude of unfamiliar species.
  • researchers have found that new species are being discovered at a record rate – four times faster than they were over two centuries ago.
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A Twisting Tale of Space Solar Power - 0 views

  • announced his team’s development of modular devices that could be used to gather solar energy in orbit, working atop an experimental “space web” structure developed by graduate students at the university’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
  • “By using either microwaves or lasers we would be able to beam the energy back down to earth, directly to specific areas. This would provide a reliable, quality source of energy and would remove the need for storing energy coming from renewable sources on ground as it would provide a constant delivery of solar energy.”
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SpaceX signs 1st customer for big new rocket - 0 views

  • Space Exploration Technologies says it has signed its first commercial contract for a new rocket that will be more powerful than the one that launched the company's Dragon capsule to the International Space Station last week.
  • loft a satellite for the communications services company Intelsat, using a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.
  • Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in the world and, historically, second only to the Saturn V rockets that launched the Apollo missions to the moon.
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Israelis develop 'cannabis without the high' - 0 views

  • Israeli scientists have cultivated a cannabis plant that doesn't get people stoned in a development that may help those smoking marijuana for medical purposes
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