Topic: SCIENCE - on April 5, 2003 at 10:26:49 PM CEST
Six New Moons of Jupiter Discovered
Six more moons have been found orbiting Jupiter, pushing to 58 the total number of known natural satellites of the solar system's largest planet.
University of Hawaii's David Jewitt and Scott Sheppard, along with Jan Kleyna of Cambridge University, announced the discoveries Friday.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on April 2, 2003 at 2:32:26 PM CEST
Toxin threat to Inuit food
Researchers have for the first time documented "unacceptable levels" of man-made environmental toxins in the Inuit population of Greenland. There is little doubt the toxins originate from the traditional local diet of polar bears, seals and whales, a diet which so far has been considered one of the healthiest on the planet.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on April 2, 2003 at 1:22:52 PM CEST
Identity of killer pneumonia bug confirmed
Scientists have satisfied key tests that confirm that the virus causing the global outbreak of severe pneumonia is a new type of coronavirus. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has so far struck down more than 2300 people, and killed 78.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 30, 2003 at 9:34:20 AM CEST
Mine workers make a mammoth discovery
For the second time this year, workers at True North Mine have found what appear to be mammoth tusks.
The tusks were uncovered Tuesday in the loose, moist dirt of the mine's northcentral pit.
Shovel operator Bob Farra spotted and removed the tusks, including one seemingly complete tusk and two smaller pieces, said Lorna Shaw, a spokeswoman for mine owner Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 29, 2003 at 2:28:31 PM CET
Scientist who identified SARS dies of SARS
A WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) official who identified the outbreak of a killer respiratory illness, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, died of the disease today, the WHO said.
"Dr Carlo Urbani, an expert on communicable diseases, died today of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," the Geneva-based UN health agency said in a statement.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 28, 2003 at 11:26:27 PM CET
World's largest virus found
A giant virus that lurks inside amoebas and may cause pneumonia in humans has been spotted by scientists. "Mimivirus" is the biggest virus found so far, and was discovered in a sample taken from a water cooling tower in Bradford, UK, in 1992.
It has at least 900 genes, an enormous number for a virus, and its size is more like that of a bacterium.
It can be spotted through a good optical microscope - most viruses can only be visualised by electron microscopes.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 28, 2003 at 10:47:25 AM CET
Der richtige Riecher führt zum Ziel
Auf dem Weg zur weiblichen Eizelle scheinen sich Spermien auf eine ganz besondere Fähigkeit zu verlassen: ihren Geruchssinn. Die neue Entdeckung könnte Verhütungsmethoden erheblich verbessern. Die Strecke ist nicht lang, und dennoch wird sie meist vergeblich zurückgelegt: Von den Millionen Spermazellen, die sich durch den Eileiter in Richtung Eizelle quälen, kann letztlich nur eine das Ziel erreichen - die menschliche Befruchtung. Für Wissenschaftler ist sie noch immer ein Mysterium: Was führt das männliche Sperma ans Ziel? Und wie wird die siegreiche Samenzelle letztlich ausgewählt?
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 28, 2003 at 10:39:02 AM CET
Sperm May 'Smell' Their Way To Egg
Some mysteries about the birds and the bees will likely remain as such, but scientists say they may know how sperm find eggs. German and U.S. researchers said sperm have a type of odor receptor that allows them to "smell" their way directly toward their target.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 26, 2003 at 6:43:40 PM CET
The give and take of black holes
Scientists have found evidence of high-speed winds blowing away vast amounts of gas from the cores of two quasar galaxies. "The winds we measured imply that as much as a billion suns' worth of material is blown away over the course of a quasar's lifetime," says George Chartas, of the Penn State Astronomy and Astrophysics Department, US, who led the observations.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 25, 2003 at 9:28:40 PM CET
Diamonds may be key in detecting bio-weapons attacks
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Office of Naval Research, and Argonne National Laboratories have been working on making diamonds the heart of a new type of sensor to detect dangerous biological agents such as anthrax and smallpox.
As the threat of bio-terrorism has grown over the past two years, the U.S government has made concerted efforts to install bio-hazard detectors in some of the nation's airports and other public areas.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 21, 2003 at 7:52:21 PM CET
Most distant black hole weighed
The mass of the most distant black hole yet known has been determined. It weighs in at one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) times that of the Earth.
Put another way, it is the mass of three billion Suns.
This huge number is not unusual for a black hole but what is surprising is that such a massive structure formed so early in the history of the Universe.
It is 13 billion light-years away from Earth, so what we are seeing now gives a picture of the Universe when it was very youthful.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 19, 2003 at 10:12:35 AM CET
Doctors in Hong Kong identify deadly pneumonia virus
Doctors in Hong Kong have scored a major breakthrough in identifying a deadly pneumonia virus that has killed at least 11 people and left hundreds ill as it races around the world.
Medical experts said the discovery would make the disease easier to diagnose and opened the way for a vaccine to be developed. But they stressed more lab work had to be done to pin down the exact make-up of the virus and scientists had not ruled out that it might be a new strain.
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