Researchers Probe The Genetic Basis Of Memory

Montréal, August 29, 2005 – A group of Montreal researchers has discovered that GCN2, a protein in cells that inhibits the conversion of new information into long-term memory, may be a master regulator of the switch from short-term to long-term memory. Their paper Translational control of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory by the eIF2a kinase GCN2, which was published in the August 25th issue of the journal Nature, provides the first genetic evidence that protein synthesis is critical for the regulation of memory formation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050830070225.htm

Web inventor: Online life will produce more creative children

He laid the groundwork for the World Wide Web in 1980 when he wrote a program called "Enquire" to help him organize his computer files with links. He later built on the idea and created a network of linked information that would be available to everyone across the Internet.

Today, Berners-Lee directs the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT, an organization dedicated to standardizing Web guidelines and components.

In a recent e-mail interview with CNN.com's Lila King, the Briton, now Sir Berners-Lee, reflected on the impact of the online revolution and where he thinks it's headed.

Read full story at CNN News...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/30/tim.berners.lee/index.html

Telescope views death of galaxy

Two galaxies collide in the constellation of Pisces, some 100 million light-years away from Earth.
Astronomers say it gives a scary insight into what may happen to our own planet some 5 billion years from now. The Milky Way is expected to merge with the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy, swallowing up the Solar System.

Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4189278.stm

Domestic robot to debut in Japan

A robot that recognises up to 10 faces and understands 10,000 words is to be offered to Japanese consumers looking for a high-tech helper in the house. The one-metre tall humanoid Wakamaru robot is being marketed as a mechanical house-sitter and secretary. Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries expects the first robots to go on sale in September.

Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4196052.stm

20th century threatens a medieval Muslim jewel

MEDINA AZAHARA, SPAIN - To hear historians tell it, this buried city three miles west of Cordoba was the Versailles of the Middle Ages, a collection of estates and palaces teeming with treasures that dazzled the most jaded traveler.

"Travelers from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions in life, following various religions, princes, ambassadors, merchants, pilgrims, theologians, and poets all agreed that they had never seen in the course of their travels anything that could be compared to it," wrote the 19th-century historian Stanley Lane-Poole in his book The Story of the Moors in Spain .

Read full story at the Houston Chronicle...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3328102

Saturn moon delights and baffles

Space scientists say their discoveries about Saturn's moon Enceladus are stunning, if just a little baffling. Using the instrument-packed Cassini probe, they have confirmed that the 500km-wide world has an atmosphere. They have also seen a "hotspot" at the icy moon's south pole, which is riven with cracks dubbed "tiger stripes".

But the US and European scientists told a London meeting they could not yet explain fully the energetic processes driving all the activity on Enceladus.
Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4197686.stm

Asteroid's Path Could Put Earth in Its Sights

Astronomers are debating what to do about Earth's close encounter with an asteroid in 2029 and again in 2036 -- passages that might be too close for comfort.

Apophis, a 1,059-foot-wide asteroid, has excited astronomers since it was spotted last year. After observing it for a while, scientists concluded that it has only a 1-in-8,000 chance of ever smacking into Earth. But even that slim chance has them talking and NASA pondering how to keep track of it -- just in case.

Read full story at NewsFactor Network...
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Asteroid-Could-Put-Earth-in-Sights/story.xhtml?story_id=131005NQEF8Y

Researchers have developed a way to print DNA. As this ScienCentral News video explains, that might one day make genetic testing as cheap and as accessible as a blood test.

Cheap DNA Tests
Handy genetic tools, called microarrays, have allowed scientists to delve into the genetic material that makes each of us who we are. With the ability to run tens of thousands of genetic experiments in parallel on a small glass slide, DNA microarrays have offered better understanding of genetically-based illnesses, like Huntington's and cancer, identifying red flags for those diseases in our DNA, and finding clues to help fight them, including targets for new drugs.

Read full story at Science Central...
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392627

Under the Old Neighborhood: In Iraq, an Archaeologist's Paradise

ERBIL, Iraq - If a neighborhood is defined as a place where human beings move in and never leave, then the world's oldest could be here at the Citadel, an ancient and teeming city within a city girded by stone walls.

Resting on a layer cake of civilizations that have come and gone for an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 years, the Citadel looms over the apartment blocks of this otherwise rather gray metropolis in Iraqi Kurdistan. The settlement rivals Jericho and a handful of other famous towns for the title of the oldest continuously inhabited site in the world. The difference is that few people have heard of the Citadel outside Iraq. And political turmoil has prevented a full study of its archaeological treasures.

While there may be confirmed traces of more ancient settlements in Iraq, said McGuire Gibson, a Mesopotamian archaeologist at the University of Chicago, the people have all vanished from those places.

Read full story at New York Times...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/science/23arch.html

Temples' inscriptions a rich source of history

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has launched a drive to make people visiting religious places aware of their historical importance and make them conscious of preserving ancient inscriptions that are a source of history.

One often finds religious places being damaged or defaced with graffiti.
In Uthamallingeswarar temple, the inscriptions reveal that temples were used as a social centre such as bank, theatre and as an agricultural centre. But most of these inscriptions have been damaged.

People have been performing religious rituals in temples like since time immemorial. These temples were constructed and stone inscriptions were used by the rulers to remind the future generation about the contributions made by the rulers to society.

Read full story at Hindustan Times...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1473743,00470002.htm

Spirit reaches Martian hilltop

(SPACE.com) -- The Mars Spirit rover has reached a milestone moment in its exploration of the Red Planet. Spirit has wheeled into position atop Husband Hill -- a range the rover first observed on the distant horizon from its Gusev crater landing site in January 2004.

Images being transmitted by Spirit showed a breathtaking view as it ascended to the hilltop.
"The view is really opening up," said Larry Crumpler, a member of the Mars rover science team. Mars rover science teams are prepared to do a "full summit campaign" of observations, he said.

Read full story at BBC News...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/08/26/mars.summit/index.html

Boost to CO2 mass extinction idea

A computer simulation of the Earth's climate 250 million years ago suggests that global warming triggered the so-called "great dying". A dramatic rise in carbon dioxide caused temperatures to soar to 10 to 30 degrees Celsius higher than today, say US researchers.

The warming had a profound impact on the oceans, cutting off oxygen to the lower depths and extinguishing most lifeforms, they write in the latest issue of Geology.

Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4184110.stm

Researcher explores Spanish cave to find why early humans replaced Neanderthals in Europe

Pinto’s findings of the remains of a modern human culture stacked directly atop remnants of a Neanderthal dwelling in a Spanish cave are shedding light on the historical mystery and providing evidence for just how those species may have lived and interacted with their environment.

Read full article at Physorg...
http://www.physorg.com/news5995.html

5,000-year-old remains discovered

Students from Lancashire discovered 5,000-year-old human remains on an archaeological dig in south Wales. The remains of seven humans were found in a large pit in the mouth of a cave on the Goldsland Wood site, near Wenvoe, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Archaeology students from the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, had been digging there as part of their course.

Read full story at the BBC...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/4185966.stm

Beautiful mosaic unearthed in Sinai

An Egyptian-Polish excavation team working in Sinai has unearthed a multi-coloured mosaic floor 25km east of the Suez Canal, announced Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Zahi Hawass yesterday. Hawass said that the 9x15m discovery, constructed of glass, pottery, limestone and marble, is the most beautiful antiquity discovered in the area. It dates back to the second century.

Read full story at SIS...

http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o250825.htm

Earth's core runs ahead of crust

US scientists claim to have confirmed that the Earth's core is spinning faster than its outer layers. The team compared seismic waves being produced by pairs of earthquakes occurring at the same location on the planet, but at different times. Waves from these nearly identical quakes passed through the Earth's core, they explain in Science magazine.

The results show that the inner core is rotating faster than the rest of the planet by about 0.009 seconds per year.

Read full story at BBC News...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4184358.stm

Ancient faces brought to life

It has always been Nguyen Van Viet’s dream to recreate the faces, and lives, of ancient people. After years of study abroad and hard work, Viet and his colleagues finally have a place in the sun with the recent Dong Xa excavation, which revealed a tomb with 20 2,000-year-old skeletons from three different races. Le Huong reports.

Carefully laying a plastic mould over a skull fragment of a girl who lived 2,000 years ago, archaeologist Nguyen Van Viet is satisfied with the half-finished portrait of the primitive 17-year-old woman.

Read full story at VNS...

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SUN140805

Archeologists find royal jewellery

BULGARIAN archaeologists have unearthed more than 15,000 golden pieces of Thracian royal jewellery dating back to the third millennium BC, the director of the National Historical Museum, Bozhidar Dimitrov, said today."The golden objects unearthed near the village of Dabene in central Bulgaria are not just pieces of Thracian jewellery. They are objects of exquisite regal ornamentation," he said.

"In the whole of Europe and the Near East there is only one find that rivals these extremely well-crafted pieces - the golden treasures found in ancient Troy," Mr Dimitrov said.
"The large number of golden objects and the expert craftsmanship in their making lead us to question Troy's supremacy as the biggest ancient centre for goldsmiths," he said.

Read full article at The Australian...
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16300880%255E23109,00.html

Ice Age engravings found in Somerset

A series of rare engravings, believed to date from the Mesolithic period, 10,000 years ago, have been discovered in a cave in Somerset.

The three abstract squares, thought to have been made with stone tools, were found in Long Hole cave in Cheddar by the University of Bristol Speleological Society. The find follows the discover of ancient inscribed crosses at nearby Aveline's Hole cave in February this year.

Experts have not been able to determine the meaning of the engravings yet, but say they are extremely important and one of only three examples of this kind of art to be discovered in Britain.

Read the full article at Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1551121,00.html

Untying the knots of Incan codes

Quipus are the mysterious bundles of colored and knotted threads that served as the Inca empire's means of recording information. The code of the quipus has long since been forgotten, and the only major advance in understanding them was the insight, made in 1923, that the knots were used to represent numbers.

The quantity and positioning of the knots, at least in certain quipus, is agreed to represent a decimal system

Read the entire article at the Herald Tribune...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/18/features/INCA.php

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Completes First Task In Seven-Month Cruise

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on Aug. 12, has completed one of the first tasks of its seven-month cruise to Mars, a calibration activity for the spacecraft's Mars Color Imager instrument.

"We have transitioned from launch mode to cruise mode, and the spacecraft continues to perform extremely well," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
The first and largest of four trajectory correction maneuvers scheduled before the orbiter reaches Mars is planned for Aug. 27.

Read full story at Science Daily...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050819090943.htm

Next generation military drones researched

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The military's next generation of airborne drones will be able to silently dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses and land on apartment balconies.
At least, those are the goals University of Florida engineers say they are working toward.
Funded by the U.S. Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, aerospace engineers have built prototypes of 6-inch- to 2-foot-long drones capable of squeezing in and out of tight spots in cities, in a manner similar to tiny stunt planes.

Read full story at Science Daily...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050823-20202200-bc-us-drones.xml

5000-year-old Clay Collection Discovered in Halil Rud Basin

Tehran, 24 August 2005 (CHN) – During the construction project for an irrigation structure in Rudbar of Kerman province, experts discovered some 40 objects dating to the third millennium BC. The objects, which are made of clay, were found in a depth of 4.5 meters along a ravine in the area, explained director of the archaeology department of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) in Kerman province and head of the archaeology center of South East Iran, Nader Alidadi Soleymani. Water from the river has caused lots of damages to the objects, destroying them to a great extent; moreover, according to Soleymani, the machines working for the construction project have seriously damaged the ancient findings.

Read full story at CHN...
http://www.chn.ir/en/news/?id=5498&section=2

Gambling Monkeys Give Insight Into Neural Machinery Of Risk

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University Medical Center neurobiologists have pinpointed circuitry in the brains of monkeys that assesses the level of risk in a given action. Their findings -- gained from experiments in which they gave the monkeys a chance to gamble to receive juice rewards -- could give insights into why humans compulsively engage in risky behaviors, including gambling, unsafe sex, drug use and overeating.

Read full Story at Science Daily...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050823080657.htm

'Star Bar' in Milky Way Longer Than Initial Estimate

Slowly, scientists are putting together the emerging bits of knowledge about the spiraling galaxy we call home, the Milky Way. It is made up of as many as 100 billion stars. It's 100,000 light years across. It has rotated about 50 times during its lifetime. There most certainly is a super massive black hole at its center.

And now two Wisconsin scientists say they have revealing evidence on a long-suspected major feature of the Milky Way.

Read full story at Newsfactor.com...

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11300002JRUS

Peruvian pyramids rival the pharaohs'

RUINS on Peru’s desert coast dated to some 4,700 years ago suggest an earlier focus of civilisation than any so far identified in the New World. The site of Caral, in the Supe Valley north of Lima, covers 66 hectares (165 acres) and includes pyramids 21m (70ft) high arranged around a large plaza.
NI_MPU('middle');

“What really sets Caral apart is its age,” Roger Atwood reports in Archaeology. “Carbon dating has revealed that its pyramids are contemporary with those of Egypt and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.” These are among the earliest monumental architecture in the Old World. Surveys and excavations in neighbouring valleys, Atwood says, suggest that Caral “stood at the centre of the first society in the Americas to build cities and engage in trade on a large scale”.

Read full story at Times Online...


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-1742097,00.html

Prof finds insight into Egyptians in dead language

The writing's on the wall, in a dead cursive script. Northern Arizona University history professor Gene Cruz Uribe studies a language no longer written, but the marks of which can still be found in quarries, temples and tombs in Egypt. "You mostly find prayers or a culture related to prayers," Cruz Uribe said.

Read full article at the Arizona Daily Sun...
http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=113982

Synthesiser pioneer Dr Moog dies

Synthesiser pioneer Dr Robert Moog has died at his North Carolina home aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Born in the New York district of Queens, his instruments were used by The Beatles and The Doors among others.
Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument - a theremin - aged 14 and made the MiniMoog, "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser", in 1970.

Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4173510.stm

Hill peak in sight for Mars rover

The US space agency's robotic rover Spirit is approaching the summit of a hill it has been climbing on Mars since the end of last year.
It now has less than 70m to drive in order to reach the peak of "Husband Hill" on the Red Planet and should complete the climb this week.
When the rover gets there, it will take photos of what should be a spectacular view and scout for sites of interest.
The twin robots Spirit and Opportunity have been on Mars since January 2004.

Read full story at BBC News...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4172674.stm

First kittens for cloned wildcats

A conservation institute in the United States has produced wildcat kittens by cross-breeding cloned adults.
The Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species says this is the first time that clones of a wild species have bred. Eight kittens have been born in two litters over the last month, and all are apparently doing well.
The researchers say this development holds enormous potential for preserving a range of endangered species.

Full Story at BBC News...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4172688.stm

Mars Express Radar Collects First Surface Data

MARSIS, the sounding radar on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, is collecting the first data about the surface and the ionosphere of Mars.The radar started its science operations on 4 July 2005, after the first phase of its commissioning was concluded on the same day. Due to the late deployment of MARSIS, it was decided to split the commissioning, originally planned to last four weeks, into two phases, one of which has just ended and the second one to be started by December this year.

Read full story at Science Daily....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050805103913.htm

Moving Closer To The Grand Spiral

An international team of astronomers from Chile, Europe and North America [1] is announcing the most accurate distance yet measured to a galaxy beyond our Milky Way's close neighbours. The distance was determined using the brightness variation of a type of stars known as "Cepheid variables".

The team used the ISAAC near-infrared camera and spectrometer on ESO's 8.2-m VLT Antu telescope to obtain deep images in the near-infrared of three fields in the spiral galaxy NGC 300. Together these fields contain 16 long-period Cepheids. These stars had previously been discovered by the team in a wide-field imaging survey of this galaxy conducted with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera on the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope at La Silla.

Read more at Science Daily...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050814173016.htm

Out of the Jungle: New lemurs found in Madagascar's forests

The family of the world's smallest primate just got a little bigger. U.S. and Malagasy primatologists have discovered a new species of mouse lemur, an arboreal, fist-size animal on the African island of Madagascar, the home of all lemurs.

Read more at Science News...

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050813/fob3.asp

All roads lead east for web firms

The boss of eBay recently told analysts that China was a "must win" for all global internet businesses.
Meg Whitman's views are clearly shared by her rivals judging by the flurry of activity which has surrounded China's fledgling e-commerce market in recent days. Yahoo's $1bn (£556m) purchase of a 40% stake in Alibaba.com, which owns China's largest auction site, is the latest and most eye-watering in a series of deals involving Western firms.

Read full story at BBC News...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4141550.stm

'Silent aircraft' design launched

Plans for the world's first completely silent aircraft have been unveiled by Cambridge University engineers. Environmental campaigners and people living on flight paths have already welcomed the campaign to build the jet.

Now it could become a reality some time in the next decade and Luton Airport is be a partner in the venture. The main development is a new shape for the aircraft after engineers identified traditional designs caused much of the noise at landing and take-off.

Read full article at BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4158802.stm

Harvard to explore origins of life

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- Harvard University is joining the long-running debate over the theory of evolution by launching a research project to study how life began.
The team of researchers will receive $1 million in funding annually from Harvard over the next few years. The project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained.

"My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention," said David R. Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard.

Read full article at CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/08/15/harvard.evolution.ap/index.html

Strange fossil defies grouping

A strange fossil creature from the early Cambrian Period is baffling scientists because it does not fit neatly into any existing animal groups.

The 525 million-year-old soft-bodied animal might have belonged to a now extinct mollusc-like phylum, scientists from America and China say.

Other researchers have suggested the creature could represent an early annelid or arthropod.

Read full article at BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4156544.stm

Stone tool points to much earlier inhabitants

A Cango Caves archaeological find of a stone tool dating back 80 000 years has shaken off the long-held belief that only inhabitants from the last 12 000 to 15 000 years, during the later Stone Age, inhabited this bit of Oudtshoorn.The formal stone point instrument, which was probably used on the end of a spear as a blade or knife, is classed as a Still Bay point and its discovery is "quite significant", according to Cango Caves manager Hein Gerstner, as it is not just a flake or a chip.The scrapers and bladelets that were usually found from the later Stone Age were smaller tools than those of the middle Stone Age.He said it was not possible to know whether the user of the tool was an occupant of the cave or a hunter who had simply thrown it into the cave.

Read full article here...
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=vn20050815071506295C773244

First asteroid trio discovered

(SPACE.com) -- An asteroid known to astronomers for more than a century has now been found to harbor two small satellites. It is the first asteroid trio ever discovered.

And there may be more than three.

The main asteroid, named 87 Sylvia, is one of the largest known to orbit the Sun in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. It is potato-shaped, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) in diameter and 235 miles (380 kilometers) long. It was discovered in 1866. The first moon was found four years ago and the second one was announced today.

Read article at CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/08/11/asteroid.trio/index.html

Scientists make nerve stem cells

The world's first pure nerve stem cells made from human embryonic stem cells has been created by scientists at the University of Edinburgh. It is hoped the newly-created cells will eventually help scientists find new treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Read article from BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4155016.stm

Icy Greenland turns green

"Greenland's ice is melting rapidly. In some places, glacial levels have been falling by 10 metres a year and ultimately contributing to rising sea levels. Travelling to Greenland, Richard Hollingham sees the impact of climate change for himself.

The gleaming white executive jet taxied to a stop on the cracked concrete apron beside a couple of derelict hangars. Beyond the rusty barbed wire and crude prefabricated buildings surrounding the airport perimeter, cliffs of dark granite rose from the valley to blend with the equally ominous grey of the sky.

No trees, no colour, no signs of life. "

News Item at BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4145034.stm

Thin skin will help robots 'feel'

"Japanese researchers have developed a flexible artificial skin that could give robots a humanlike sense of touch. The team manufactured a type of "skin" capable of sensing pressure and another capable of sensing temperature. These are supple enough to wrap around robot fingers and relatively cheap to make, the researchers have claimed. The University of Tokyo team describe their work in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "

News Item at BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4154366.stm

Upcoming Guests at Astraea

We are pleased to announce 3 upcoming Guests at Astraea Magazine.

Michael White

Michael White will be joining us for a discussion about his recent book "The Pope and The Heretic". Michael's book examines the turbulent life, inquisition trial, and tragic death of the notorious Hermetic Philosopher Giordano Bruno.

Carol Kidwell

Distinguished scholar Carol Kidwell joins us to discuss her latest release: Pietro Bembo Lover, Linguist, Cardinal. Carol is the former Dean of the Faculty of the American University of Paris. She has recieved many distinguished commendations including one from Francis Yates.

Tom Harpur

Tom Harpur is making a repeat appearance to discuss the re-release of his bestseller "Life After Death" which examines life's greatest mystery from the historical, spiritual, and scientific point of view.

Watch for more announcements shortly....

Steve