Science & Technology Today

String theory describes one of the smallest things you can possibly imagine — six-dimensional geometric spaces that may be more than a trillion times smaller than an electron — that could be one of the defining features of our universe. The story of these spaces, can be explained by what physicists call “Calabi-Yau manifolds,” Superstring theory is a unified theory for all the forces of nature including quantum gravity. In superstring theory, the fundamental building block is an extended object, namely a string, whose vibrations would give rise to the particles encountered in nature. The constraints for the consistency of such a theory are extremely stringent. They require in particular that the theory takes place in a 10-dimensional space-time. To make contact with our 4-dimensional world, it is expected that the 10-dimensional space-time of string theory is locally the product M 4 ×X of a 4-dimensional Minkowski space M 3,1 with a 6-dimensional space X . The 6-dimensional space X ...

The answer to the mystery of why women tend to live longer than men was found in the mitochondrial DNA studies of fruit flies. Mitochondria are inherited only from mothers, never from fathers, so there is no way to weed out mutations that damage a male's prospects. But one ageing expert said there were many factors that explained the gender difference in life expectancy. It is not only in human, females outlive males in many other species. Mitochondria, which exist in almost all animal cells, convert food into the energy that powers the body. Group of scientists from Monash University found numerous mutations within mitochondrial DNA that affect how long males live, and the speed at which they age. Mitochondrial mutations they uncovered will generally cause faster male ageing across the animal kingdom. They suggested this is because there is no evolutionary reason for the faults that affect males to be picked up - because mitochondria are passed down by females.

Lot of news is pouring about Higgs Boson- the God particle after European Center for Nuclear Research says its teams have discovered a new particle that is consistent with the Higgs boson -- a subatomic particle considered so significant to the understanding of the universe that it has been called the God particle. So what's the Higgs boson? The Higgs particle, and its associated field, were hypothesized back in the 1960s by British physicist Peter Higgs and others to fill a weird gap in the Standard Model, one of physics' most successful theories. The model as it stood had no mechanism to explain why some particles are massless (such as the photon, which is the quantum bit for light and other types of electromagnetic radiation), while other particles have varying degrees of mass (such as the W and Z bosons, which play a part in the weak nuclear force). By rights, all particles should be without mass and zipping around freely. They suggested that all particles had no...

There is an asteroid called 2011 AG5, and if it follows the orbit scientists have plotted for it so far, there is a small, small chance that it could hit Earth in February 2040. Astronomers, who have been tracking the asteroid since January 2011, say it is in an elliptical orbit that could bring it somewhere near Earth in 2040. Earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter; the asteroid appears to be about 450 feet across. The problem is that having watched it for only about half an orbit around the Sun, the scientists cannot say for certain where it will be 28 years from now. So, for the moment, NASA's Near Earth Object Program says the odds are about one in 625 that it could hit us in that still-distant future. Scientists have discussed all sorts of far-out plans in case a future asteroid truly does turn out to be coming our way. If they have enough lead time, they might send a probe with thruster rockets, or even explosives, to nudge an asteroid into a slightly different orbit. A ver...

The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Generally the Magnus effect describes the laws of physics that make a curveball curve. A fastball travels through the air with backspin, which creates a higher pressure zone in the air ahead of and under the baseball. The baseball's raised seams augment the ball's ability to churn the air and create higher pressure zones. The effect of gravity is partially counteracted as the ball rides on and into energized air. Thus the fastball falls less than a ball thrown without spin (neglecting knuckleball effects) during the 60 feet 6 inches it travels to home plate. The Magnus effect is the phenomenon whereby a spinning object flying in a fluid creates a whirlpool of fluid around itself, and experiences a force perpendicular to the line of motion. The overall behaviour is similar ...

After more than two decades of drilling, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake in Antarctica that had been hidden under miles of ice for 20 million years, potentially holding life from the distant past and a clue to the search for life on other planets. Reaching Lake Vostok is a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world hoping that it may allow a glimpse into microbial life forms that existed before the Ice Age. It may also provide precious material that would help look for life on ice-crust moons of Jupiter and Saturn or under Mars' polar ice caps where conditions could be similar. The project, however, has drawn strong fears that 60 metric tons (66 tons) of lubricants and antifreeze used in the drilling may contaminate the pristine lake. The Russian researchers have insisted that the bore would only slightly touch the lake's surface and a surge in pressure will send the water rushing up the shaft where it will f...

NASA's Kepler space telescope has found a new planet -- the most Earth-like yet -- circling a yellow star similar to Earth's sun and 600 light-years away, according to the space agency. The most promising thing about this world, called Kepler-22b for now is that it's in the so-called Goldilocks zone around its host star. Its surface temperature is estimated at an average of 72 degrees, which means liquid water -- considered essential for life as we know it -- would be possible there. But just how realistic are the prospects for life on that distant world? Even in their excitement, the researchers caution that they have found no proof that we are not alone. The Kepler team has done a prodigious job of detection and mathematical calculation, but Kepler has not actually seen the planet or taken any chemical measurements. They know its host star is slightly smaller and cooler than the sun, and they found that its light dims ever so slightly once every 290 Earth days. Tha...

An international team of scientists in Italy studying the same neutrino particles colleagues say appear to have travelled faster than light rejected the startling finding this weekend, saying their tests had shown it must be wrong. The September announcement of the finding, backed up last week after new studies, caused a furor in the scientific world as it seemed to suggest Albert Einstein's ideas on relativity, and much of modern physics, were based on a mistaken premise. The first team, members of the OPERA experiment at the Gran Sasso laboratory south of Rome, said they recorded neutrinos beamed to them from the CERN research center in Switzerland as arriving 60 nanoseconds before light would have done. But ICARUS, another experiment at Gran Sasso -- which is deep under mountains and run by Italy's National Institute of National Physics -- now argues that their measurements of the neutrinos energy on arrival contradict that reading. In a paper posted Saturday on the...

Russian scientists have developed a drug-free method of healing wounds that may prove as revolutionary as the discovery of penicillin. Antimicrobial sorption materials –VitaVallis is safe alternative to antibiotics and chemicals for healing wounds and wound infections, including antibiotic resistant ones. VitaVallis, created by researchers in Tomsk, Siberia, helps clean up wounds of all known types of toxic bacteria. It does not get stuck to the wound and heals burns, cuts and any septic and infected wounds two to three times faster than traditional methods do. The dressing stops bleeding, ends inflammation, eliminates swellings and stimulates skin regeneration. It also helps kill pain and remove foul wound odour. The new method was developed at the junction of physics and medicine. It is based on the long-known fact that pathological bacteria typically carry a negative electric charge. Siberian researchers figured that positively charged material should be able to extract bacteri...

Not too long ago, it was on the list of must-have gadgets of most tech enthusiasts. But Cisco has announced last week that it is shutting down production of the Flip Camcorder, a company that it acquired as recently as March 2009. The camcorder continues to be quite popular in the U.S. and in the few other markets that it has been present, its USP is its ease of use and “file transfer”. The third generation Flip camcorders that hit the stores last year were capable of shooting videos in HD, image stabilisation, and the advanced models even had options to plug in external microphones. Sadly the growth of Flip coincided with the growth and the growth of smart phones. With the camera functions of smart phones improving vastly, Cisco just did not see reason in continuing with a stand-alone camcorder.

Our universe is full of massive empty spaces and if all emptiness in the universe were to be removed, the universe may become as big as our fist. This is a fascinating excursion. You could say that an atom is more empty than the solar system. The universe is quite empty. The interstellar space contains only about one atom hydrogen per cubic centimeter. In the intergalactic space, this is one hundred thousand times smaller. Yet, it is enough to ensure that the universe is relatively stable and relatively flat. Even our hydrogen atom is quite empty. The size of an atom is small but the size of the nucleus inside is a hundred thousand times smaller. A peculiar happening, but this is the only way it works. The reason is that the so-called empty space is nothing; it carries the influence of every thing around. Also, whatever is not present physically has a potential existence that can transition to reality of the kind we can touch and feel through a quantum fluctuation.

The world’s largest detector for high-energy neutrinos was completed December 18 2010, when scientists lowered the last of 5,160 sensors more than a mile beneath the ice of the Antarctic plateau. The electron neutrino (a lepton) was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli to explain why the electrons in beta decay were not emitted with the full reaction energy of the nuclear transition. The apparent violation of conservation of energy and momentum was most easily avoided by postulating another particle. Enrico Fermi called the particle a neutrino and developed a theory of beta decay based on it, but it was not experimentally observed until 1956. Wolfgang Pauli introduced the neutrino to the world of physics in 1930 with a famous letter to "Liebe Radioacktive Damen und Herren" (Dear radioactive ladies and gentlemen) at the Tubingen meeting of radioactivity researchers. Pauli's first public discussion of the neutrino was at the 7th Solvay Conference in Brussels in 1...

While searching for a 3D TV, I cam across this health warning about the possibly dangerous effects of watching 3D television that was released by Samsung.                    Photosensitive Seizure Warning and Other Health Risks •Some viewers may experience an epileptic seizure or stroke when exposed to certain flashing images or lights contained in certain television pictures or video games. If you or any of your family has a history of epilepsy or stroke, please consult with a medical specialist before using the 3D function. •If you experience any of the following symptoms, immediately stop watching 3D pictures and consult a medical specialist: (1) altered vision; (2) lightheadedness; (3) dizziness; (4) involuntary movements such as eye or muscle twitching; (5) confusion; (6) nausea; (7) loss of awareness; (8) convulsions; (9) cramps; and/or (10) disorientation. Parents should monitor and ask ...

On Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST, the moon was at its closest point to the Earth in 2011: a distance of 221,565 miles away. At its peak, the supermoon of March was 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons (when the moon is at its farthest from Earth). But to the casual observer, it may be hard to tell the difference. The moon has not been in a position to appear this large since March 1993. In December 2008, there was a near-supermoon when the moon turned full four hours away from its perigee – the point in its orbit that is closest to Earth. But this month, the full moon and perigee are just under one hour apart, promising spectacular views, depending on local conditions. Although a full moon theoretically lasts just a moment, that moment is imperceptible to ordinary observation. During the day or so before and after, most will speak of seeing the nearly full moon as "full," with the actual shaded area of the lunar surface being so narro...

The Hydrogen Explosions at Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan was result of the effort to prevent the meltdown of the core. The core which contains fuel rods is inside a 6 inches thick stainless steel vessel. Water is being injected into the vessel to keep the temperature for rising to the level were it will melt down. This process results in generation for steam and hydrogen and in order to release the pressure inside the vessel it released in to atmosphere. The hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen resulting in big explosions. The blast actually lessened pressure building inside the troubled reactor, and officials said the all-important containment shell - thick concrete armor around the reactor - had not been damaged. In that case, the uranium core can melt through the outer containment shell, releasing radioactive byproducts like iodine and cesium. That endangers the environment and people nearby.

iPad 2 features an entirely new design that is 33% thinner and up to 15% lighter than the original iPad while maintaining the same 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. iPad 2 is available in black or white, and introduces the innovative iPad 2 Smart Cover in a range of vibrant polyurethane and rich leather colors. Thinner. Lighter. Faster. 10-hour battery Dual-core Apple A5 chip for faster performance Up to nine times the graphics horsepower   Two cameras for FaceTime video calling, HD recording, and PhotoBooth   Same great 10-hour battery life, with an even thinner and lighter design   Video Mirroring allows the iPad screen to be displayed on a TV, projector, or other HDMI device with the new Apple   Digital AV Adapter (sold separately) Key Features - iOS iPad 2 comes with iOS 4.3, the latest version of the world's most advanced mobile operating system, with new features, including faster Safari mobile browsing performance, iTunes Home Shari...

Recent floods in Australia has result in abundant proliferation of Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as the Sea Sparkle resulting some breath taking Bioluminescent spectacle. For a cluster of lakes in Australia's eastern Victoria, the combination of the fire and then the rain washed ash and nitrogen-rich soil into the water. The Gippsland Lakes experienced a rise in sea level. That caused the lakes to mix with sea water, which also raised the salinity. As you can see blow the bioluminescent brew has gaven the water a nocturnal glow. Courtecy:Phil Hart/ http://www.philhart.com/ Noctiluca scintillans  a species of algae , also called  Noctiluca miliaris, is a free-living non-parasitic marine-dwelling species of dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence. The bioluminescent characteristic of N. scintillans is produced by a luciferin-luciferase system located in thousands of spherically shaped organelles, or “microsources”, located throughout the cytoplasm of ...

One of the futuristic ways to achieve immortality may be to consider the prospect of ‘mind-uploading’, that is, the transfer of the mind’s information to a machine. Hence, even if the organic brain dies, the mind could continue to exist once it is uploaded in a silicon-based machine. Some scientists think that even if it were not possible to indefinitely suspend the body’s death, it would at least be possible to emulate the brain with artificial intelligence (Kurzweil, 1993; Moravec, 2003). Two crucial philosophical issues are raised by this prospect. First, the field of philosophy of artificial intelligence raises the question: could a machine ever really be conscious? Philosophers who adhere to a functionalist understanding of the mind would agree; but other philosophers would not (Consider Searle’s Chinese Room Argument in Searle, 1998). Even if we were to claim that a machine could in fact be conscious, the technological prospect of mind uploading raises a second philosophic...

If you don’t know it already, Stuxnet is a worm that could take control of industrial equipment. It is widely believed that its target was machinery used to enrich uranium. Stuxnet first came to light in July 2010. Nearly 60% of reported infections were inside Iran. The worm targets industrial control systems, known as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), made by Siemens. While PLCs are used to control a wide variety of automated systems, it is believed that it was those inside Iran's nuclear facilities that were the intended target. Analysts who have examined the Stuxnet code say it could have been used to damage centrifuges which play a crucial role in the process of enriching uranium for both nuclear power and weapons. In a recent report on Stuxnet, the security firm Symantec said that it would have taken a team of between five and 10 developers, six months to create the worm.

Motorola’s Xoom tablet computer went on sale   last Thursday and looks like this device is  the most powerful rival yet to Apple’s iPad. Though companies like Samsung and Dell have tried to respond with tablets of their own based on Google’s Android operating system, the Xoom is the first tablet to feature the latest Android version, Honeycomb, which is optimised for tablets as opposed to smartphones. The Xoom is roughly the same size as the iPad, and costs about the same for a similarly spec’d version, though buyers who opt for an iPad with limited memory and restricted to wi-fi connections can save hundreds of dollars. The Xoom has slightly higher screen resolution than the iPad, and boasts front and rear facing cameras for picture-taking and video conferencing. Powering the device is a dual core 1GHZ processed with 1GB of RAM, and battery life is assessed at 10 hours. This device seems to be  a worthy competitor to the iPad