New observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope strongly suggest that infrared light detected in a prior study originated from clumps of the very first objects of the universe. The recent data indicate this patchy light is splattered across the entire sky and comes from clusters of bright, monstrous objects more than 13 billion light-years away. Astronomers believe the objects are either the first stars – humongous stars more than 1.000 times the mass of our sun – or voracious black holes that are consuming gas and spilling out tons of energy. If the objects are stars, then the observed clusters might be the first mini-galaxies containing a mass of less than about one million suns.
https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2006-22-nasa-telescope-picks-up-glow-of-universes-first-objects
Solscape
Researchers Demonstrate Direct Brain Control Of Humanoid Robot
A classic science-fiction scene shows a person wearing a metal skullcap with electrodes sticking out to detect the person’s thoughts. Another sci-fi movie standard depicts robots doing humans‘ bidding. Now the two are combined, and in real life: University of Washington researchers can control the movement of a humanoid robot with signals from a human brain.
Venus Express Looks Right Down to the Surface
Looking down through Venus‘ thick cloud cover isn’t easy work. That’s why ESA’s Venus Express was equipped with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument. It allows the spacecraft to see infrared spectral windows that appear in the planet’s atmosphere. These allow heat radiated by the hot rocks on Venus‘ surface to reach space – and Venus Express‘ instruments. The VIRTIS team hopes to eventually use this technique to see mysterious hot spots on the surface of Venus that could be active volcanoes.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Hot_stuff_on_Venus%21_Venus_Express_sees_right_down_to_the_hell-hot_surface
Spacecraft Reads Layered Clues to Changes on Mars
Some of the first radar and imaging results from NASA’s newest Mars spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, show details in layers of ice-rich deposits near the poles. Observed variations in the layers‘ thickness and composition will yield information about recent climate cycles on the red planet.
https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/newsroom/pressreleases/20061213a.html
Stem Cells have Help to Renew Themselves
A small molecule makes stem cells able to reproduce and change. This simply structured molecule called SC1, which researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany, and their colleagues from California have discovered, encourages stem cells in the laboratory to renew themselves. As a result, the stem cells retain the ability to develop into many different types of cells.
MPI Press Release
Scientists Discover Early Key To Regeneration
Science may be one step closer to understanding how a limb can be grown or a spinal cord can be repaired. New research by scientists at The Forsyth Institute may provide insight into mechanisms necessary for therapeutic regeneration in humans, potentially addressing tissues that are lost, damaged or non-functional as a result of genetic syndromes, birth defects, cancer, degenerative diseases, accidents, aging and organ failure.
Nano-devices hold promise for early-stage cancer detection
They are miniature labs that can be swallowed like a pill, injected through a catheter, or woven into fabric. Their function is to screen for, detect, and potentially treat, cancer and other diseases when they are still at a single-cell size in early development stages. They will also detect harmful pathogens in food and water. Engineering researchers at McMaster University will be escalating efforts to develop these micro- and nanotechnology-based bio-sensors and imaging devices through the support of a recently announced grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The bio-sensors and imaging devices being explored are based on integrating dissimilar technologies such as DNA, semiconductors, nanowires and polymers into „smart systems“ on a small chip. The resulting micro-labs could contain miniaturized systems for fluid filtration, DNA extraction, cell processing, imaging, computing, wireless communications, and laser and radiation detection systems.
https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/nano-devices-hold-promise-for-early-stage-cancer-detection/
Mutant Mouse Provides Insights Into Breast Cancer
By discovering a mutant mouse that is highly susceptible to mammary tumors, Cornell researchers have found a novel potential link between genetic defects in DNA replication (copying) and breast cancer. The mouse contains a mutation in a gene essential for replicating DNA in both humans and mice that increases the rate of flawed copies of genetic material, leading to mouse breast cancers.
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2006/12/mutant-mouse-provides-insights-breast-cancer
Buried Craters Found on Mars
Scientists are finding an older, craggier face of Mars buried beneath the surface, thanks to pioneering sounding radar aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft. Radar echoes captured by the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding) instrument strongly suggest there are ancient impact basins buried beneath the lowland smooth plains of the Martian northern hemisphere.
Geologists Finding a Different Mars Underneath
Spacewalkers add truss segment to ISS
STS-116 astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang spent six and a half hours outside of the ISS Tuesday evening, attaching the P5 truss segment to the station. The spacewalkers also replaced a broken camera elsewhere on the truss and performed some get-ahead tasks for future spacewalks.
Source: NASA