March 2005 in science

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March 30, 2005

• Rutgers researchers have found a potential way to create hydrogen on demand for a fuel cell. Nano tuned metal iridium could extract the fuel from ammonia. EurekAlert!

March 29, 2005

• A study on Canadian fish farms, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, has found that incidence of sea lice in salmon are 30,000 times more likely in fish farms than in the wild. (Guardian)

March 28, 2005

• Ric Pashley of the Australian National University in Canberra found that oil and water do mix if the gas dissolved in the liquids is removed. This could lead to faster testing of new drugs; and simpler less expensive formulations with fewer side-effects of current drugs. (NewScientist)
• Luxtera has announced a new type of silicon chip which could blend the low-cost manufacturing prowess of the semiconductor with laser optical networking. By April 2006 Luxtera expect to have an inexpensive chip that can handle 10-gigabit office networks. (InfoWorld)
• Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology show that plant hemoglobins act like animal hemoglobin, removing oxygen and thus assisting in fixation of nitrogen in the root nodules of legumes. (EurekAlert!)

March 27, 2005

• Scientists have developed a new variety of Golden rice, Golden Rice 2, that produces 23 times more beta-carotene than the original variety. It is hoped that the new variety will provide sufficient provitamin A to supplement the diet of people at risk of vitamin A deficiency. (BBC)

March 25, 2005

• A new High-resolution Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography (HUTT) system made at the University of Southern California could offer resolutions of 0.4 mm for soft tissue scan. This is an order of magnitude better than the best X-Ray or MRI alternatives and it safe. (USC)
• Blue Gene/L the world's fastest supercomputer completed a trillion calculations a second, beating its own record. (BBC)

March 24, 2005

• Paleontologists from North Carolina State University announce the discovery of what appears to be soft tissue inside the fossilised bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex. (Science Magazine) (BBC).

March 23, 2005

• For the first time light from planets outside the solar system has been directly observed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Up until now all extrasolar planets have been found using the "wobble" and "transit" techniques. (PhysOrg)
• Researches show that the plant Arabidopsis can change the DNA sequences that were inherited from their parents, reverting to that of their grandparents. The findings challenge the understanding of inheritance first described by Mendel. (Nature)

March 22, 2005

• Researchers at Griffith University discover a source of stem cells in the human nose. (ABC)
• A group of cosmologists announce a new possible explanation for the observation of an accelerating universe, which does not involve dark energy but instead invokes after-effects of the "inflationary period" of the early Universe. The paper will be published in Physical Review Letters. (YahooNews)

March 17, 2005

• A simpler way to model plasmons is created by Mark Brongersma, at Stanford University. Plasmons in computer chips could operate at frequencies 100,000 times faster than Pentium chips. (NewScientist)
• The Cassini probe reveals that Saturn's moon Enceladus has an atmosphere. (BBC)

March 16, 2005

• Hitachi unveils its robot Emiew which will compete with the engineering prowess of Honda's ASIMO and Sony's QRIO robots. Emiew's use of wheels instead of feet makes it the fastest robot yet; and its focus is Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate. (BBC)
• The sequencing of the human X chromosome is published in Nature and there are matching segments in chromosomes of animals. This supports the theory that when genes are transferred from "non-sex" chromosomes, they stay there. (New Scientist)
• Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, California have developed an artificial fifth base for DNA. The fifth base is called 3-fluorobenzene (3FB), 3FB pairs with itself, and it is hoped that this new tool can be used to learn about DNA evolution. (Nature)

March 15, 2005

• Researchers at Stanford University have created a photonic crystal that slows light by a factor of 100. Possible applications include optical data switches and high power lasers. (PhysicsWeb)

March 14, 2005

• The 2003 winners of the National Medal of Science were announced. Eight medals were awarded honouring lifelong and individual achievements. (NSF)

March 12, 2005

• Mission members monitoring the Spirit rover on Mars report that a lucky encounter with a dust devil has cleaned the solar panels of that robot. Power levels have dramatically increased and daily science work is anticipated to be expanded. (space.com)

March 11, 2005

• Apple Computer backs the Blu-ray optical disc format in the next generation DVD format war. (Slashdot)

March 10, 2005

• The Inmarsat 4 was launched successfully today covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as the Indian Ocean. The first of three satellites that will be offering 3G (third-generation) compatible broadband (up to 432 kbit/s) data services to mobile users. (PC World)

March 8, 2005

• A very high plume of ash and steam is seen coming from the direction of active volcano Mount St. Helens in the United States state of Washington. The plume is visible as far away as Portland, Oregon. (Wikinews) (ABCnews)
• A CT scan of King Tutankhamun revealed that he may have died of complications from a broken leg. (BBC)
• Bone protein osteocalcin extracted from a Neanderthal from Shanidar Cave, Iraq dating to approximately 75,000 years old, was sequenced. This is the oldest fossil human protein ever sequenced. (EurekAlert!)

March 7, 2005

• The first superconducting dipole magnet for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was lowered into place at the CERN lab, near Geneva. Physicists hope to recreate the conditions that followed just after the big bang using the LHC. (BBC)

March 6, 2005

• Stanford University will create a chimera mouse with some brain cells derived from stem cells that are 100% human. If the mice show significant increases in cognitive ability the experiment will stop. (Telegraph)

March 5, 2005

• The world's oldest early bipedal human skeleton has been found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The skeleton is between 3.8 and 4 million years old, which means that it predates the fossil Lucy. (Voice of America) (ABC News)
• Scientists flock to an area about 300 miles off the coast of U.S. state of Washington to study what appears to be an ongoing undersea volcanic eruption. Accompanying earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 4.0 have numbered thousands per day. (Seattle Times)

March 4, 2005

• The Rosetta space probe executes its first Earth flyby of a total of three on its way to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This one comes closest to the Earth's surface with an altitude of 1954.7 km. (ESA)
• Hydrothermal vents in the mid-Atlantic, named Lost City, support different types of microorganisms than black-smoker vents. Black smoker vents release carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and metals that are metabolised by life-forms, the Lost City vents release methane and hydrogen. (EurekAlert!) (Nature)
• The smallest star to emit light has been discovered in the Carina constellation. The star named OGLE-TR-122B is the size of Jupiter. (BBC)

March 3, 2005

• Pilot Steve Fossett successfully landed the round-the-world jet aircraft GlobalFlyer, becoming the first person to fly solo, non-stop around the world, without refuelling. (BBC)
• A recreation of the brain cavity of Homo floresiensis the miniature human (or "hobbit") found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004 shows that the skeleton was not a pygmy or a microcephalic human. This analysis carried out at Florida State University provides more evidence that H. floresiensis is a new species. (BBC) (Nature)
• Scientists have recovered 100 000 atoms of solar wind from the crashed NASA spacecraft Genesis. (ABC News)

March 1, 2005

• Yahoo! celebrates its tenth Birthday. (BBC)