SciByte

unless Phobos-Grunt not only can be contacted, but can be made to accept commands to boost its orbit, the spacecraft will reenter the atmosphere in early January.

it is possible that the vibrations and tumbling that will set in as the speeding craft begins interacting significantly with mesospheric air will dislodge the vehicle's most famous component — the return capsule that was to carry a 200-gram sample from the Phobosian surface back to Earth —  sparing it a fiery death

the capsule might make a survivable reentry trajectory, miss the oceans, and come down on land, just as it was designed to do

Submitters should introduce themselves and mention their location

just a few months after a different team of researchers announced the discovery of 50 newfound alien worlds

including one rocky planet that could be a good candidate for life

list of known alien planets is now well over 700 and climbing fast

researchers surveyed about 300 stars using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and instruments in Texas and Arizona

focused on so-called "retired" type A stars that are at least 1.5 times more massive than our own sun

just beyond the main stage of life — hence the name "retired"

ballooning out to become what's known as subgiant stars

scrutinized these stars, looking for slight wobbles caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets

revealed 18 new alien worlds

All 18 planets also orbit relatively far from their stars, at a distance of at least 0.7 times the span from Earth to the sun (about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers

the new finds lend support to one of two theories that attempt to explain the formation and evolution of planets

core accretion, posits that planets grow as gas and dust glom onto seed particles in a protoplanetary disk.

predicts that the characteristics of a planetary system — the number and size of planets, for example — depend strongly on the mass of the star

competing theory, called gravitational collapse, holds that planets form when big clouds of gas and dust in the disk spontaneously collapse into clumps that become planets

According to this idea, stellar mass should have little impact on planet size, number and other characteristics

it seems that stellar mass does in fact play an important role

goal was to find a star just before it ended its life

a binary star system located in M51 produced just the results they were looking fo

ne star dropped amplitude just a short period of time before the other exploded

Maybe stars give off a clear signal of impending doom, maybe they don’t

But we’ll learn something new about dying stars no matter the outcome

it was a binary star system being studied by the OSU team

consisted of both a blue and red star

At this point, the astronomers surmise the red star was the one that dimmed significantly over the three-year period while the blue one blew its top

reviewing the LBT data

when compared with Hubble images, the red star dimmed at about 10% over the final three-year period at an estimated 3% per previous years

researchers surmise the red star may have actually survived the supernova event

After the light from the explosion fades away, we should be able to see the companion that did not explode

human skin can stretch by a factor of 1.5

the wiring can stretch with the robots’ movements, such as twisting and turning, without losing its ability to transfer power and data.

the elastic cables could prove useful for minimizing cord clutter in homes and offices

made of an outer elastic shell with spiraled internal wiring that unspirals when pulled

Another application of the elastic cables could be wearable electronics - possibly for health-monitoring materials, wearable solar panels, and futuristic electronic clothing fashions

launch on January 19, 2006

speeding toward Pluto at around 34,500 mph (55,500 km/hr).

New Horizons will pass by Pluto and its moons on July 14, 2015

It will image Pluto’s surface in unprecedented detail, resolving features as small as 200 feet (60 meters) across

will not land or enter orbit around Pluto

instead quickly pass by and continue on into the Kuiper Belt

team is currently investigating further exploration targets should its mission be extended.

spanning latitudes from roughly 30°N to 50°N, the Phlegra Montes

gently rolling series of hills that have been probed by radar

surmised these low mountain ranges are not volcanic in origin, but created through tectonic forces and may conceal a copious supply of frozen water

high resolution stereo imaging from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, we’re able to detect a feature called ‘lobate debris aprons’.

it’s a normal feature for mountains found around these latitudes

Earlier studies of the debris aprons show the material has slid down the mountain slopes with time – a feature shared with Earth’s glaciers

scientists surmise this region may be a type of Martian glacier

also been confirmed by radar on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

lobate debris aprons could indeed signal the presence of ice – perhaps only 20 meter below the surface

, nearby impact craters also show signs of recent glaciation

ridges formed inside these ancient holes from snowfall, and then slid down the slopes

With time, it compacted to form a glacier structure

A one time, Mars’ polar axis was quite different than it is today

it created different climatic conditions and mid-latitude glaciers may have developed at different times over the last several hundred million years

those that didn’t or whether they’re accuracy held any deeper meaning

chimps that both threw more and were more likely to hit their targets showed heightened development in the motor cortex

more connections between it and the Broca’s area, which they say is an important part of speech in humans

Such findings led the term to suggest that the ability to throw is, or was, a precursor to speech development in human beings

those that could throw better also appeared to be better communicators within their group

better throwing chimps didn’t appear to posses any more physical prowess than other chimps

throwing didn’t develop as a means of hunting, but as a form of communication within groups

throwing stuff at someone else became a form of self expression

We can also use smell to see if therapies are working

Smell loss can be caused by a number of ailments

since the 1970s, it has been identified as an early sign of this disease

There is currently no effective treatment or cure for the disease

They found that just a tiny amount of amyloid beta – too little to be seen on today's brain scans - causes smell loss in mouse models

Amyloid beta plaque accumulated first in parts of the brain associated with smell, well before accumulating in areas associated with cognition and coordination

Despite spending more time sniffing, the mice failed to remember smells and became incapable of telling the difference between odors

While losses in the olfactory system occurred, the rest of the mouse model brain, including the hippocampus, which is a center for memory, continued to act normally early in the disease stage

Mice were given a synthetic liver x-receptor agonist, a drug that clears amyloid beta from the brain

After two weeks on the drug, the mice could process smells normally

After withdrawal of the drug for one week, impairments returned

team are now following-up on these discoveries to determine how amyloid spreads throughout the brain, to learn methods to slow disease progression

If any such asteroid candidate exists

return capsule back to Earth might be utilized to deliver a sample of the asteroid

Perth station heard a signal from Phobos-Grunt at about 2025 GMT (3:25 p.m. EST) Tuesday

There has been no contact with Phobos-Grunt since then

"no meaningful telemetry" was received from Phobos-Grunt

only an acquisition of a radio signal

November 23

Phobos-Grunt is likely functional and charging batteries through its solar panels

23 November