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73 articles from SUNDAY 15.4.2012
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SUNDAY 15. APRIL, 2012
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23:30
Starwatch: Kepler's planetary quest extended
The search for extrasolar planets, those beyond our solar system, has been transformed in recent years by exploiting the transit method for their discovery. Looking for the minuscule dip in a star's light when a planet crosses in front of it promises to reveal small rocky worlds and even ones within the star's habitable zone where liquid water and possibly life might be found.
Foremost in the quest has been Nasa's Kepler spacecraft which stares at a region of sky between Deneb and Vega and monitors continuously the brightness of some 150,000 stars. It is now three years into a mission that was initially due end later this year but has just been prolonged until 2016.
The extension is good news for the army of citizen scientists who scan Kepler's data for the tell-tale dips in stellar brightness that might indicate or confirm a new planet – ones that might have been missed by Kepler's automated algorithms. Anyone can get involved in this venture by signing up at planethunters.org as did many thousands of others as a result of the BBC's Stargazing Live programmes in January.
Our artist's impression shows an imaginary view from the vicinity of Kepler-16b, the first planet known to orbit two stars. Announced last September, it has the unofficial name Tatooine after the double-sun planet in the Star Wars series. Though it orbits near the outer edge of the system's habitable zone, it is Saturn-sized, largely gaseous and may be a poor candidate for life.
Other Kepler finds are more promising, including Kepler-22b which is a super-Earth (2.4 times Earth's diameter) located comfortably within the habitable zone. Some have speculated that it has planet-wide oceans, but confirmation may be difficult even using the James Webb Space Telescope or the next generation of gigantic ground-based telescopes.
Kepler's extended mission greatly improves the chances of finding Earth-like planets. To verify that any planet exists, Kepler needs to detect at least three regularly-spaced dips in its star's brightness. In the case of a planet like the Earth, in a one-year orbit, that would take a minimum of two or three years.
The tally of confirmed extrasolar planets stood at 763 a week ago, of which 61 are credited to Kepler. However, Kepler has more than 2,300 candidate planets awaiting confirmation of which perhaps 9% may be similar in size to the Earth, with the rest larger. Estimates based on Kepler's findings suggest that our galaxy alone contains at least 50 billion planets, with at least 500 million within the habitable zone of their star.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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23:24
Scientists find how plants grow to escape shade
Mild mannered though they seem, plants are extremely competitive, especially when it comes to getting their fair share of sunlight. Whether a forest or a farm, where plants grow a battle wages for the sun's rays. -
22:00
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22:00
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21:24Fashion fans have one more reason to swap brick-and-mortar shops for online retailers: a company in tech-savvy Estonia has come up with a way to let you try on new clothes on your own computer.
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21:24Volunteers and Navy personnel returned a 12-tonne whale to the sea after it became stranded on a beach in the southwestern Mexican city of Oaxaca, officials said Saturday.
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21:24One of the world's biggest glacier regions has so far resisted global warming that has ravaged mountain ice elsewhere, scientists reported on Sunday.
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21:24The Internet Age is becoming as known for patent litigation as it is for online innovation.
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21:24(AP) -- Strange secrets hide in numbers. For instance, an orange used car is least likely to be a lemon. This particular unexpected finding came to light courtesy of a data jockey who goes by the Internet alias SirGuessalot, who in fact wasn't guessing at all. Instead, he and his partner, PlanetThanet, relied on the hard math skills that make them top contenders in a sport tailor-made for the 21st century: competitive number-crunching.
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21:24Sony has little chance of winning back its reputation as an innovator or vaulting ahead of stronger rivals with the "ordinary" turnaround plan its new chief unveiled last week, analysts said.
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21:24A 17-year-old boy appeared in court Saturday charged with two offences in a probe into hoax calls made to Britain's anti-terror hotline and the release of recorded conversations between staff.
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21:13
Blood type A may predispose to some rotavirus infections
Whether you become infected by some strains of rotavirus may depend on your blood type. Some strains of rotavirus find their way into the cells of the gastrointestinal tract by recognizing antigens associated with the type A blood group, a finding that represents a new paradigm in understanding how this gut pathogen infects humans, said researchers.
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21:13Scientists have advanced understanding of the genetic components of Alzheimer's disease and of brain development with two new studies. The first study has found that certain versions of four genes may speed shrinkage of a brain region involved in making new memories. The brain area, known as the hippocampus, normally shrinks with age, but if the process speeds up, it could increase vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease, the research suggests. The second article identifies two genes associated with intracranial volume -- the space within the skull occupied by the brain when the brain is fully developed in a person's lifespan, usually around age 20.
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21:13Like special-forces troops laser-tagging targets for a bomber pilot, tiny particles that can be imaged three different ways at once have enabled scientists to remove brain tumors from mice with unprecedented accuracy.
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21:13Thirty-two previously unidentified genetic regions associated with osteoporosis and fracture have now been identified. Variations in the DNA sequences in these regions confer either risk or protection from the bone-weakening disease.
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21:01The key to treating one of the most common types of human leukemia may lie within mutations in a gene called FLT3, according to new research. The work validates certain activating mutations in the FLT3 gene as targets for acute myeloid leukemia therapy -- a critically important finding for developing drugs.
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21:01A global team has mapped the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain’s resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer’s disease. The study also uncovered new genes that explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence.
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21:01Through a groundbreaking new gene sequencing technology, researchers have demonstrated that the gene FLT3 is a valid therapeutic target in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML, one of the most common types of leukemia. The discovery may help lead to the development of new drugs to treat AML.
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21:01An innovative X-ray technique has given researchers new insight into how organic polymers can be used in printable electronics such as transistors and solar cells.
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20:18
Specific Genes Linked to Big Brains and Intelligence
Brain size and smarts are, to some extent, genetic — and now, a team of more than 200 researchers has uncovered specific genes that are linked to both brain volume and IQ. -
20:09
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19:36
One of the world's biggest glacier regions has so far resisted global warming that has ravaged mountain ice elsewhere, scientists reported on Sunday.
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19:35
Asian glaciers 'putting on mass'
Some glaciers in the mighty Karakoram range are defying the global trend and getting slightly thicker, researchers find. -
19:31
An international team of scientists said Sunday the largest brain study of its kind had found a gene linked to intelligence, a small piece in the puzzle as to why some people are smarter than others.
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19:24In a paper published today in the journal Nature Methods, a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill demonstrates a simple, cost-effective technique for three-dimensional RNA structure prediction that will help scientists understand the structures, and ultimately the functions, of the RNA molecules that dictate almost every aspect of human cell behavior. When cell behavior goes wrong, diseases – including cancer and metabolic disorders – can be the result.
Naposledy aktualizované zdroje
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EurekAlert (dnes, 06:00)
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ScienceNOW (dnes, 01:26)
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Sci-Tech Today (23. 5, 23:14)
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NYT > Science (23. 5, 20:04)
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NASA (17. 5, 02:56)
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Discovery (7. 3, 18:11)
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TIME (27. 7, 08:30)
