Sciotecha links you to interesting science and discovery articles from the best online sources. The Universe around us and our own planet Earth are truly wondrous; let's keep our minds open and learn.
"Scientists have identified a molecule that allows special cells from embryos, called stem cells, to multiply without limit. The UK researchers have dubbed the molecule Nanog, after the mythological Celtic land of the ever young."
"Scientists in the United States have announced the birth of the world's first cloned mule. The foal, called Idaho Gem, is nearly a month old and appears to be perfectly healthy, the researchers say. They suggest their work could lead to champion racehorses being routinely cloned in the future."
"Engineers for the first time today fired a large chunk of foam insulation at a Fiberglass wing leading edge panel, knocking a so-called T-seal out of place and leaving a long gap between two panels. Such a gap on a real shuttle wing leading edge would provide an entry point for deadly super-heated gas during the descent from orbit. Today's test results, assuming no problems are found, mark the first concrete evidence supporting the widely held theory that a foam impact during the shuttle Columbia's launch doomed the orbiter and its seven-person crew by creating a breach in the left wing's leading edge."
"For the first time, the planets orbiting a pulsar have been "weighed" by measuring precisely variations in the time it takes them to complete an orbit, according to a team of astronomers from the California Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University.
"Claims have re-emerged that the US space agency (Nasa) did find signs of life on Mars during the historic Viking landings of 1976. Dr Gil Levin, a former mission scientist, says he now has the evidence to prove it, just days before the US and Europe send new expeditions to the Red Planet."
"The local celestial neighborhood just got more crowded with a discovery of a star that may be the third closest to the Sun. The star, "SO25300.5+165258," is a faint red dwarf star estimated to be about 7.8 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Aries."
"Have you ever wondered what you would see if you were on Mars looking at Earth through a small telescope? Now you can find out, thanks to a unique view of our world recently captured by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft currently orbiting the red planet.
"NASA is already redesigning the space shuttle launch system to prevent foam falling from the external tanks during launch, it was revealed on Tuesday.
"Claims of "unexpected and stunning new physical phenomena" are rare in the abstract of a reputable scientific paper. But the latest report by photonics crystal pioneer John Joannopoulos and his group at MIT, soon to be published in Physical Review Letters, does not disappoint.
"The latest twist in the debate over how much DNA separates humans from chimpanzees suggests we are so closely related that chimps should not only be part of the same taxonomic family, but also the same genus.
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