May 2009

Solar Cycle Prediction: “None of Our Models Were Totally Correct”

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According to NOAA scientists sponsored by NASA, Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.

Falcon 9 Moves To Fall Launch

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Private company SpaceX's planned summer demonstration launch of the first Falcon 9 has slipped to the fall.

You are now leaving the Milky Way

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The star SDSS J090745.0+024507 may have been flung outwards at high speeds by the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy.

How ‘Junk DNA’ Can Impact Evolvability

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Repetitive non-coding sequences in a genome may be one of the faster acting mechanisms in altering gene activity with each cellular division.

Information Causality

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There is a possibility of thinking about quantum theory as the theory that in some sense maximally violates Bell inequalities among no-signaling theories, by replacing no-signaling by the more general principle of information causality.

Astrometry Bags a ‘Cold Jupiter’

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VB 10b becomes the first exoplanet found using astrometry, which detects the tiniest of changes in the positions of stars in the sky.

Lujo virus, a new hemorrhagic fever virus from Southern Africa

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A new member of the arenavirus family, Lujo virus, has been identified in patients who died during an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in late 2008.

Scientists "humanise" Foxp2 gene in mice to probe origins of human language

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Tweaking the FOXP2 gene, the so-called language gene, in mice resulted in subtle changes in their calls and brain.

Simulating déjà vu in the lab

A way to simulate the feeling of déjà vu in the laboratory may have been found using brief glimpses.

Many disturbed ecosystems recoverable?

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A meta-analysis of 240 studies indicates that most damaged ecosystems can recover in under 60 years.