Human egg makes accidental debut on camera

Human egg makes accidental debut on camera
11 June 2008, New Scientist Print Edition By Linda Geddes

Look closely: this is history in the making. These are the clearest pictures ever taken of what is the starting point of every human life: ovulation occurring inside a woman's body. See the photos

"The release of the oocyte from the ovary is a crucial event in human reproduction," says Jacques Donnez at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in Brussels, Belgium. "These pictures are clearly important to better understand the mechanism."

Observing ovulation in humans is extremely rare, and previous images have been fuzzy. Donnez captured the event by accident while preparing to carry out a partial hysterectomy on a 45-year-old woman. The release of an egg was considered a sudden, explosive event, but his pictures, to be published in Fertility and Sterility, show it taking place over a period of at least 15 minutes.

Shortly before the egg is released, enzymes break down the tissue in the mature follicle, a fluid-filled sac on the surface of the ovary that contains the egg. This prompts the formation of a reddish protrusion, and after a while a hole appears, from which the egg emerges, surrounded by support cells. It then enters a Fallopian tube, which carries it to the uterus.

While there are no immediate medical implications from the pictures, Darryl Russell, who researches reproductive health at the University of Adelaide in Australia, says they are remarkable: "In animals, even when we control hormone levels - allowing us to predict the time at which ovulation will occur - it is very rare to see it in progress."

Read more at: Human egg makes accidental debut on camera

Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data

Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data
A TeraDisc could hold up to 250,000 high-resolution pictures or 40 HD movies
by Lucas Mearian

At the upcoming CES conference in Las Vegas, one company plans to demonstrate the ability to store half a terabyte of data on a DVD disc that is made of a polymer similar to Plexiglas.

Israel-based Mempile Inc. said its TeraDisc DVDs will offer 1TB of storage for consumers in the next few years -- and corporations will be able to use the technology to permanently store data at a fraction of the price of spinning disk and tape, according to Dr. Beth Erez, Mempile's chief marketing officer. Today's high-definition DVDs hold a maximum of 50GB in formats such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

With 1TB capacity, a TeraDisc could hold up to 250,000 high-resolution photos or MP3s, or about 40 HD movies or 115 DVD movies. While that may seem like an unnecessary amount of capacity for anything but the largest professional needs, Tom Coughlin, a storage analyst at Coughlin Associates in Atascadero, Calif., said HD formats for movie distribution are already four times the current 1080-pixel resolution currently used for consumer HD retail movie distribution. Over the next 10 years, both studio and consumer HD products will multiply by 10 times the current resolution.

"If HD now is 25GB, you can easily have something that's 300GB or larger in the future. So I think we've not reached the limits of resolution that people want in their entertainment devices," Coughlin said.

Another company offering DVD storage is Cambridge, England-based Plasmon PLC, which relies on the same blue-laser technology used by Blu-ray and HD DVD. Plasmon's technology, called Ultra-Density Optical (UDO technology) can write up to 60GB on a proprietary DVD format platter for corporate data archive use. Plasmon sells automated libraries, which can store terabytes of data. Pricing varies, but Computerworld found a 60GB UDO platter for $60 on Pricegrabber.com. Plasmon's road map envisions 240GB discs, and it offers drives for use in automated libraries and stand-alone drives for desktops. The DVDs are available in both first-generation 30GB and second-generation 60GB models.

Similarly, TDK is working on next-generation Blu-ray Disc technology that will offer up to 200GB on a DVD platter.

Mempile's DVD drives will initially retail for between $3,000 and $4,000, and a 700GB platter -- the first model expected out around 2011 -- will sell for $30, according to a Mempile spokeswoman. Until now, Mempile had demonstrated writing and reading data on 100 layers within a .6mm thick substrate material that in total can hold 500GB. The company plans to begin retailing its product next year. Over the next three years, the company expects to increase the disc's thickness to the industry DVD standard of 1.2mm, which will allow it to record 5GB on each of 200 layers, spaced 5 microns apart, for a total of 1TB of capacity. According to a company white paper, the technology road map calls for a 5TB DVD "a few years down the road."

Unlike HD DVDs, which use blue lasers to record and read data off a reflective surface on top of a polymer substrate, Mempile's TeraDisc drives use more powerful red-laser technology to write and read. The Mempile drive has two lasers, one that tracks and one that reads and writes. The drive uses a CD-like system for tracking data in the substrate. Erez said his company's technology writes bits at the molecular level, changing the color of florescent molecules in the Plexiglas-like material to record the data.

Erez said traditional HD DVD technology, which reflects light back to an optical reader, causes signal deterioration and background noise, where writing and reading through a clear substrate offers a cleaner signal that is more efficient for data transfer. "We have no noise in looking at the 200th layer or the second layer or the 10th," Erez said.

Erez said the TeraDisc technology can also be used for network-based backup for archive purposes. Mempile is manufacturing the TeraDisc technology using polymers produced by chemical developer Arkema Inc., which also produces hoses and gaskets for cars and polyethylene packaging for foods, among other things.

Source Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data article on ComputerWorld.com

India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel

India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel
BS Reporter / New Delhi September 05, 2007

India still remains high on the list of manufacturing sites for Intel - the world's largest chip-maker.

"Manufacturing in India is important for Intel, but the government was slow in coming out with its semiconductor manufacturing proposal and missed the window. We had to commit ourselves to options like Vietnam and China," said Craig Barrett, chairman, Intel, who was here today.

"We don't have any plan to set up a plant here now. We have enough capacity in the current manufacturing plants, and do not need any new plant," he added.

In the absence of a well-documented plan for the semiconductor policy by the government when Intel began its discussions, the chip-maker announced its $2.5 billion investment to build a micro-chip plant in north-eastern China in March. This will be Intel's first semiconductor plant in Asia with the production of chipsets to begin in 2010.

The company is also in "serious talks" with the Indian government government and private companies for rolling out WiMAX infrastructure. "We are a major contributor to base technology, hence WiMAX is also of importance to us," said Barrett who has advised the government to "use the spectrum allocation with the best possible technology and not specific to any technology."

According to a report by research firms Maravedis and Tonse Telecom, India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012. French technology major Alcatel has already set up a research and development centre in Chennai to develop WiMAX technology, and trial runs have been on in Baramati, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore.

Barrett was in Delhi to announce the collaboration between Intel’s World Ahead Programme with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Intel has partnered with 16 organisations including NIIT, Educomp Solutions, Fortis Healthcare, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Apollo in India, to provide the progamme their expertise in connectivity, education and medical care.

Source : India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel article on Business-Standard.com

Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record

Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record
By Chris Bryant, FT.com, September 4 2007

Eurostar recorded a record time of just over two hours on its inaugural journey on a new high speed rail line carrying trains from Paris to the refurbished St Pancras station in London.

The train, travelling at speeds of up to 202mph, took two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds to complete the Paris-London route via the Channel Tunnel, a journey which normally takes two hours and 35 minutes.

It was the first time a train had run on High Speed One, a £5.8bn British high speed rail line, which from November 14 will cut the average journey time between London and Paris by 20 minutes.

Eurostar removed food service trolleys and ran only half-full in its atemtp break to compete journey in two hours, but was thwarted by a speed restriction on the line near Calais.

When regular services from St Pancras begin in November the journey will take a more sedate two hours and15 minutes at a maximum speed of 184mph.

Eurostar hopes the time-saving will help it increase passenger numbers from 8.3m this year to 10m by 2010 and from November passengers will be able to buy through-tickets from stations in northern Britain to the continent.

“Today marks Britain’s entry into the European high-speed rail club,” Richard Brown, Eurostar chief executive, said. “We can now run trains at high speed all the way from the Channel Tunnel to London, making journeys between cities quicker, more convenient – and far greener than flying.”

Eurostar trains currently trundle through south London into Waterloo station at speeds of between 60 and 90 mph.

The new 25-mile section of high speed track allows trains to reach 140mph in tunnels to the east of the City before it emerges at St Pancras in central London, north of the Thames.

“Now the French people can finally forget Waterloo,” Guillaume Pepy, chairman of Eurostar, joked.

London and Continental Railways, the company responsible for the new line, a new £100m station at Ebbsfleet and the refurbishment of St Pancras, hopes it will lead to £10bn of investment in deprived parts of East London.

High-speed domestic services will begin in 2009 cutting the journey time between Ebbsfleet and St Pancras to 17 minutes.

During the 2012 Olympic Games the line will carry high-speed shuttle services between St Pancras and a new station at the Olympic site in Stratford.

“This project is about much more than just transporting passengers from London to the continent,” Rob Holden, LCR chief executive, said. “Its about the creation of a piece of infrastructure that will be a catalyst for the regeneration some of the most deprived areas of Britain.

Source : Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record article on FT.com

All set for GSLV-F04 take-off on Sept. 2; countdown starts today

All set for GSLV-F04 take-off on Sept. 2; countdown starts today

Chennai, Aug. 31 (PTI): The countdown for the launch of a rocket from Sriharikota, about 100 km from here, carrying India's communication satellite INSAT-4CR, will start today.

"The countdown for the launch will start today afternoon," ISRO sources told PTI.

The 49-metre tall rocket will be launched at 4.21 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, they said.

The GSLV-F04, the fifth in the GSLV series, will put INSAT-4CR into a Geosynchronous Transfer orbit of 170 km perigee and 35,975 km apogee with an orbital inclination of 21.7 degrees, about 16 minutes and 40 seconds after lift off.

"The satellite will carry 12 high-powered KU-band transponders for DTH services, video picture transmission and Digital Satellite News Gathering," the sources said.

The satellite will subsequently be manoeuvred into geostationary orbit using its own propulsion system.

ISRO scientists have taken all efforts to ensure that the vehicle does not meet the same fate of its predecessor, the GSLV-F02, in July 2006, when it had strayed away from its path, forcing scientists to destroy it, 56 seconds after take off.

Source: All set for GSLV-F04 take-off on Sept. 2; countdown starts today appearing in The Hindu

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HUBBLE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HUBBLE
by Alan Boyle, April 24, 2007

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's "birth" in space, and in a reversal of the usual routine, it's traditional for the Hubble team to give a gift. This time, astronomers are offering a wide-angle panorama of the Carina Nebula - a blazing-hot cosmic cookery that may be much like the environment that gave rise to our own solar system.

"It's one of the biggest and brightest star-forming regions in the sky," Nathan Smith, an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley, told me Monday. "But this is the first time we've taken a large-scale view with the Hubble Space Telescope."

In fact, the Carina picture is one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras - more than 423 megapixels' worth, assembled from 48 frames taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The finished image shows a 50-light-year-wide inferno where ultraviolet radiation from monster stars carve into the landscape of cool gas and dust. About a dozen of the stars are thought to be at least 50 to 100 times as massive as our sun. One of those stars is Eta Carinae, a popular observational target that is in the last stages of its brief, explosive life. In this picture, Eta Carinae is just one bright blip toward the left edge of the frame. This annotated image helps you locate Eta Carinae and other major features in the panorama.

The winds of radiation from the brightest stars compress the surrounding shells of cold hydrogen gas, sparking a second wave of starbirth. How does this chain reaction work? To figure that out, astronomers color-coded the image, using additional data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red represents sulfur, green stands for hydrogen, and blue corresponds to oxygen emissions.

Smith, a leader of the research team behind the image, said the new image gave him a clearer picture of what's going on within the nebula. "With a 10 times sharper view, we have a much higher degree of certainty than before," Smith said.

For example, earlier pictures revealed bright linear features coming out of the darker regions of the nebula - and Hubble's sharper image confirmed exactly what those features were.

"We see them very clearly to be jets of ionized gas, coming out of globules of molecular gas and dust," Smith said. "What that signifies is that there's a star being born inside that dark cloud that's ejecting this material. ... It's proof that star formation is occurring there."

Studying the nebula, with Hubble as well as other telescopes, could tell astronomers whether planets are capable of forming amid the harsh conditions seen in places like the Carina Nebula. And the effort also could tell us something about the origins of our own solar system, 4.6 billion years ago.

"There's evidence that our own solar system was exposed to the death of a very massive star when it was young. ... Here we have a laboratory where we see young stars forming right now, right next to massive stars that are going to explode," Smith said. "That gives us a window to the environment where we think our own solar system might have formed."

Today's birthday portrait is just one of the nearly 500,000 pictures taken by Hubble since its launch aboard the shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The Hubble team calculates that the space telescope has made nearly 100,000 trips around Earth, racking up 2.4 billion frequent-flier miles in the process - the equivalent of a trip to Saturn and back.

More than 30 trillion bytes of data have been sent back to Earth over those 17 years. Each day, another 10 billion bytes come back to Earth, and 66 billion bytes of data are transmitted from Hubble's archives to astronomers throughout the world. Hubble's team says all those bytes have spawned nearly 7,000 scientific papers, making the telescope "one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built." This 6.5-megabyte PDF file hits Hubble's high points.

How long will Hubble last? NASA wants to upgrade the telescope one last time, and that final servicing mission is now scheduled to lift off in August or September of 2008. Mission planners figure that should keep Hubble in good shape until 2013. By that time, NASA hopes the James Webb Space Telescope will be ready for launch, with Hubble eased into retirement at the ripe old age of 23.

Who knows? Maybe even then, there'll be some life left in the old telescope. So here's wishing Hubble and its handlers a happy 17th birthday ... and many more to come. For more stunners from space, check out our Space Gallery, as well as the Hubble Web sites maintained by the Space Telescope Science Institute and the European Space Agency.

Source : HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HUBBLE article on MS NBC

The HP Mobile Innovations Tour

The HP Mobile Innovations Tour
by Bharti Adhikari, April 24, 2007

Hewlett-Packard (HP) today showcased a number of innovations revolving around the future of mobile communication in the country.

"HP Mobile Innovations Tour" was focused on the conceptual creations that represent a vision for the 2012 timeframe, where devices will be function-specific and will provide an 'always connected' experience.
With the new innovations, the company is creating and enabling experiences that allow users easy access to information and content when and where they want it, on simple devices.

According to Phil Devlin, Manager of Product Marketing, Mobile Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP Asia-Pacific and Japan, "HP's vision of the future of mobility is a world where simple devices inter-operate to deliver a cohesive, 'always connected' lifestyle. Anyone can make the simple complicated - true creativity lies in making the complicated simple."

The gadgets showcased at the "HP Mobile Innovations Tour" include a personal wireless gateway device - in a wearable watch-like form factor; a flexible, portable, personal size display mat; and a thin-client device in a tablet form factor.

The watch wireless gateway acts as the central hub containing the access technologies/radios to enable an 'always connected' experience. It can connect to various devices, including phones, PCs, laptops, etc.

The flexible, portable, personal size display mat is 'always on' and ready to connect to the wireless hub/watch. A larger mat can be used to access services such as games or content better suited for a larger display.

The thin-client device in a tablet form factor is capable of taking on the personality of the user, based on 'personal wireless gateway' information. It's a trend towards Web-based solutions to move content or applications to Internet, shifting devices away from traditional memory-based architecture. The devices resulting from this will be thinner and lighter with longer battery life.

Apart from these, the other innovations showcased include: a digital wallet that displays up-to-the-moment transactions for a wide variety of personal services such as checking credit cards, etc; a pen with multiple options for input; a smart shelf that allows display of information, and serves as a charger for the wireless gateway/watch etc; and a coffee table which when loaded with thin clients turns into a larger display that can be used for collaboration, and also acts as charger base for the device.

With laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, and digital cameras continuing to add more features, options, and wireless technologies, the current mobile environment is getting increasingly complex, and is a key strategic growth segment globally, and in Asia Pacific.

IDC forecasts that the APEJ mobile worker population will increase to 582.5 million or 31.1 percent of the workforce by 2009.

Source : The HP Mobile Innovations Tour article in TechTree.com

Astronomers may have found the first Earth 2

Astronomers may have found the first Earth 2
By Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service, Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Astronomers have spotted “the first habitable Earth-like planet” outside the solar system, a find so enticing that Canada’s space telescope is being redirected to take a closer look.

The “super-Earth” appears to be 50 per cent larger than Earth and orbiting around a star in a “habitable zone” where temperatures are so balmy that water — the elixir of life — would be liquid.

“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,” says Stephane Udry, of the Geneva Observatory, who leads the European team that reported the discovery Tuesday in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The planet, believed to be either rocky like Earth or covered with oceans, is seen as a promising target in the search for extraterrestrial life.

“On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X,” says team member Xavier Delfosse of Grenoble University.

Since the discovery in 1995 of the first “exoplanet” orbiting a star other than the sun, more than 200 planets have been found. Most are gas giants on extreme orbits around stars that make them either scorching hot or far too cold to maintain life as we know it.

The Europeans say the new planet is the smallest exoplanet and “most Earth-like” so far. They have deduced that it orbits its star in 13 days and is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun.

The scientists found the planet using a super-sensitive planet-hunting machine fitted onto a European telescope in Chile. It detects the tiny changes — or wobbles — produced as planets orbit around stars. The planet’s host star, a red dwarf called Gliese 581, is much smaller and colder than the sun, which means the planet can be close to its star but still be in the so-called “habitable zone,” the region around a star where water would be liquid.

Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, located 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. This means light takes 20.5 years to travel from Gliese 581 to Earth.

Canadian astronomer Jaymie Matthews of the University of British Columbia cautions there is no evidence so far showing the planet actually harbours water, let alone “extras from Star Trek.” All scientists can say for certain is that the planet appears to exist, and could have a solid surface and habitable temperatures.

But the European evidence is so exciting, Mr. Matthews says, that he and his colleagues have agreed to focus Canada’s suitcase-sized space telescope, known as MOST, on the alien solar system.

“We’re putting it on a stakeout,” says Mr. Matthews, who leads the MOST team and is currently in Vienna. (MOST stands for microvariabilty and oscillations of stars.)

He expects to have the planetary system in the microsatellite telescope’s sights by late next week. “We’ve been working on this for a few weeks,” he said in a phone interview.

Mr. Matthews says it will be possible to look for the “super-Earth” without too big an impact on other MOST projects.

“We’ll be squeezing it into to our regularly scheduled programming. That’s the beauty of having something like MOST. It’s almost like having your own private space telescope in the sense that it’s possible for us to take advantage of these targets of opportunity and adapt very, very quickly.”

With luck, Mr. Matthews says MOST, which has a much clearer view from its orbit above Earth, will be able to actually see the planet orbiting across the face of the star and confirm its existence.

The odds that MOST will be in the right vantage point to observe such a “transit” is about one in 20.
“It’s a long shot,” he says, but well worth taking because the results could be huge.

Source : Astronomers may have found the first Earth 2 article in Canada.com

'Kryptonite' discovered in mine

Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes.

A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.

According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.

The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.

"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News.

Rock heist

Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley when they could not match it with anything known previously to science.

Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral's chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in literature - albeit fictional literature.

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

The mineral is relatively hard but is very small grained. Each individual crystal is less than five microns (millionths of a metre) across.

Elementary clash

Identifying its atomic structure required sophisticated analytical facilities at Canada's National Research Council and the assistance and expertise of its researchers, Dr Pamela Whitfield and Dr Yvon Le Page.

"'Knowing a material's crystal structure means scientists can calculate other physical properties of the material, such as its elasticity or thermochemical properties," explained Dr Le Page.

"Being able to analyse all the properties of a mineral, both chemical and physical, brings us closer to confirming that it is indeed unique."

Finding out that the chemical composition of a material was an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite "was the coincidence of a lifetime," he added.

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

Power possibilities

Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

Jadar is the name of the place where the Serbian mine is located.

Dr Stanley said that if deposits occurred in sufficient quantity it could have some commercial value.

It contains boron and lithium - two valuable elements with many applications, he explained.

"Borosilicate glasses are used to encapsulate processed radioactive waste, and lithium is used in batteries and in the pharmaceutical industries."

Source : 'Kryptonite' discovered in mine article in bbc.co.uk