Chimpanzees are showing greater uptake in the attack on the people

"Santino", a male chimpanzee at the Zoo Furuvik in Sweden, is developing more and more complex plans for an attack on zoo visitors.

Initially, Santino has been known stone-throwing and other "shells" in the visitors, who irritated him. Now it improved their tactics, which requires immediate innovations for the future of deception. Researcher Mathias Osvet, lead author of the article about Santino in PLoS ONE, explains what a clever chimpanzee made:

"Immediately after the group left the visitors an overview of the region, Santino went to their main place to sleep and brought a big pile of hay, which he placed in front of the fence to the public. He then immediately placed under the pile of hay found the stones in advance," says Osvet.

"He's a precaution, placed behind a pile of shells, very invisibility of zoo visitors and staff. Then he sat down near the hay and waited patiently. When visitors returned, he waited until they drew level with a bunch of hay, and without any signs of anger or other emotions, he began to throw stones into the crowd. "

Calculating a sudden attack on the visitors shows only a very advanced way of thinking is usually associated only with humans. Osvet says, "It is interesting that he made these preparations, when the visitors were out of sight, and he also included the innovations in their behavior. And last but not least it is interesting that calculating the male chimps have not experienced any apparent feelings or emotions. It behave as either doing something more than once considered and tested in action. "

Researchers believe that the combination of previous experience with innovation "is a good indication of fairly sophisticated abilities of foresight in the chimpanzee."

After observing chimpanzees for many days, scientists also suspect that Santino is probably just "thinks it's fun" - annoying people. His attacks even seem to be intended for certain people who are likely to really act on his nerves. Attack the more successful, because Santino makes them completely in cold blood, behaving naturally - even a little sleepy - at the moment to throw a stone or other object.

Osvet further suggests that the phenomenon indicates a "one of the most difficult questions in science: as a question (in this case the brain) may be influenced by something that does not yet exist (prediction of the future). And it is not trivial."

It was first detected light reflected from the super-Earths outside the solar system

For the first time, NASA's space telescope, was discovered by the light from a distant "super-Earths" with dimensions that exceed the size of our own Earth in half. Astronomers call this historic achievement in space exploration.

NASA's Infrared Space Telescope - Spitzer, identified the light from alien planet 55 Cancri e, which revolves around its star at a distance of 40 light years from Earth. First extrasolar planet at this lasts only 18 hours. The planet 55 Cancri e was originally discovered in 2004 and was not considered habitable world. Instead, it was known as super-Earths because of its large size: the planet twice as wide as Earth and has about eight of the masses of our planet. But, until now, scientists have never been able to detect infrared light reflected from superzemnogo world.

"Spitzer strikes us again and again" - said the lead scientist of the program, Bill Spitzer Dench, of NASA headquarters in Washington, in a statement on 8 May. "Space is an unmanned spacecraft study of the atmospheres of distant planets, and paves the way for him next space telescope James Webb Space Telescope, which will have to apply more advanced methods of research on potentially habitable planets."

Worth $ 770 million, NASA's space telescope Spitzer, launched in 2003 and currently is in the long-term mission to study the universe in infrared light. During that long telescope mission engineers have changed some settings in the space observatory to optimize its vision of extrasolar planets suitable for life, NASA scientists say.

The next, equally important, an infrared space observatory NASA - James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018. On assurances of scientists, it is potentially able to show much more detail on the planet 55 Cancri e, and on other similar planets superzemnyh.

"When we first conceived Spitzer - more than 40 years ago - not even extrasolar planets have been discovered," said Michael Werner, Spitzer project coordinator of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Because Spitzer was designed very well, he was able to adapt to this new area of ​​research and to make historical discoveries such as this."

Astronomers discover new scientific methods to search for exoplanets

NASA's Space Telescope - Kepler, looking for planets outside the solar system, discovering in the dimming starlight caused by planets passing by their parent stars, relative to the point of view of Kepler. But there are other methods by which scientists can find a distant worlds that are similar to those which detects the telescope Kepler.

David Nesvorn of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and colleagues, working through the data sent by Kepler on Sun-like stars, defined as "Kepler Object of Interest 872," or simply - KOI-872, discovered something quite interesting - in a predetermined passage of the observed extrasolar planets have been late.

"This discovery showed great variation in time of passage of a planet around its star in excess of two hours' Nesvorn said in an interview with Discovery News. "At that time we were sure that there is something important in the solar system, what causes these changes."

It turns out the planet candidate, identified by Kepler team for the study, was in fact the two worlds the size of Saturn. One was held in orbit in the detection telescope Kepler, second world, at the same time, was hidden from the "eye" of scientists.

Changes in travel time along the orbit, or TTV, never previously used to detect the planet, says astrophysicist Norman Murray, University of Toronto. "Use of TTV, to detect unseen planets, although it was forecasted about seven years ago, but never led to actual discovery"?? Murray wrote in the online edition of the scientific journal Science on Thursday.

Another "invisible world" called Kepler-19c was detected by its gravitational interaction with ekzoplanetarnym brother in 2011. Thus, the opening of the new "invisible world» KOI-872, without a doubt, according to similar methods of detection.

Not so long ago, astronomers have found one more scientific method for the detection of hidden worlds.

"Radial velocity" - a method that searches for gravitational tug of planets orbiting in the optical spectrum of the star. The method as "transit", which uses a Kepler, planets finds that cross the surface of their parent stars, relative to the point of the telescope, thereby creating shaded areas on the background of stars.

SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace will join forces in the market of space services

companies - SpaceX, which creates the launch vehicles and spacecraft, and Bigelow Aerospace, which intends to create an orbiting space hotel for tourists - have agreed to join efforts in promoting their services on the international market, the report said SpaceX.

The companies intend to "one package" to offer customers flights into orbit aboard the spaceship Dragon, created by SpaceX, and Orbital hotel stay in BA 330, which plans to create a Bigelow Aerospace.

"Together we will provide unique services to States or corporations who wish for a long time have the opportunity to work their employees in Space" - the president of SpaceX Shotvell Gwynn (Gwynne Shotwell).

BA 330 space station will be an inflatable structure with a habitable volume of 330 cubic meters, which can live for up to six people. Bigelow Aerospace plans to join together two or more of the BA 330 module, and provide government agencies, universities and commercial firms to place for experiments in weightlessness.

In 2006 and 2007 by a Russian company with a conversion rocket "Dnepr" put into orbit two prototype inflatable module plant - Genesis I and Genesis II.

The company besides SpaceX Falcon launch vehicles creates spacecraft Dragon. Its cargo version is expected in late May, will make its first flight to the ISS. Manned version will deliver into orbit the crew of up to seven people.

Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX are going to begin his work with Asia. Representatives of both companies are planning to hold a meeting with officials of the Japanese government soon after the launch of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon, scheduled for May 19.

Solar-powered plane finally takes off

Solar Impulse - an aircraft that is equipped with solar panels, to make its first flight in May or early June 2012 on the route, Switzerland, Morocco. He is expected to be able to overcome the distance between the two countries in 48 hours.

We already know that a unique flight will operate pilots Andre Bertrand Piccard and Borshber. They will have to fly a distance of 2500 km. This flight has become the longest in the history of the aircraft with solar panels. The organizers, however, call it a rehearsal before the world tour, scheduled for later this year.

Solar Impulse - not the first solar-powered airplane, which is designed by man, but certainly he is the most successful. The fact that at any such aircraft is not able to hold 48 hours in the air with the pilot on board.

The length of the wings of this development is 80 meters. It weighs only 2 tons, in contrast to Airbus with a similar length of the wing, which weighed up to 560-ton! Aircraft wings are covered with "skin", which is made up of very thin solar cells encapsulated and flexible to withstand stress and strain.

The energy in lithium batteries housed in the wings, is going for the day. Engine power, which provides energy to the sun for 24-hour period, up to 12 horsepower.

Ants found the asymmetry of the brain

Recent research scientists have shown that ants are usually right-handed, which in turn helps them to communicate with each other. This conclusion was Russian scientists.

Plastic waste is beneficial to marine water striders

Skaters Halobates sericeus were laying eggs, not only on pieces of pumice stone, but on plastic debris, flooded the Pacific Ocean.

This insect can give an advantage and at the same time have a negative impact on the ecosystem as a whole. Read more »No comments so far: 0. You can add kommentariy.Svyazannye Environmentalists hit record on the Pacific "musorovorota" Scientists engaged in a huge "junk funnel" in the Pacific have found a plastic ability to rapidly degrade in the ocean pollution of the ocean underestimated Plastic trash vortex of ocean scientists stunned the scale

The active region on the Sun threatens the Earth with powerful magnetic storms

MOSCOW, May 10 - RIA Novosti. The giant active region formed on the Sun a few weeks ago, in the coming days will come into line with the Earth, in the case of high-power X-ray flares in this area can cause powerful magnetic storms on the planet, according to the Institute of Applied Geophysics (IPG) Hydromet.

"The development of the active region and its current position on the solar disk - and it is located near the central meridian and in the future, with the rotation of the sun will stay another week in the" geo "Gaza bombardment of the Earth - forces us to expect significant solar flares, some of which will perturbations in the Earth's magnetic field and, possibly, the appearance of proton fluxes, "- said in a statement.

Magnetic storms on Earth begin when the magnetosphere of the planet "hit" the Sun ejected plasmoids - coronal mass ejections that are associated with X-ray flares on the luminary. Charged particles cause geomagnetic disturbances when they reach a large force, it can lead to failures in electronic equipment, disruption of radio communications and power networks.

The sources of flares and coronal mass ejections are usually active regions - groups of sunspots, relatively dark areas, which extend to the surface of the field lines of a powerful magnetic field.

The active region 1476, which was formed about three weeks ago and gradually grew, and so far in her area there are now 35 separate spots. The previous evening and Thursday morning already "betrayed" the three M-class flares

Flares, depending on the power of X-rays are divided into five classes: A, B, C, M and X. Minimum class A0.0 corresponds to the power of radiation at the Earth's orbit at 10 nanowatts per square meter. In the transition to the next letter the power is increased tenfold.

According to the IPG, the active region will produce the new outbreak, with three or four days, this group will be spots on the central meridian. This would mean that emissions of the plasma on the Sun will be flying directly toward Earth. This threatens not only the magnetic storms, but also the so-called "proton event" - a sharp increase in proton flux in low Earth orbit, which could threaten the spacecraft electronics.

Antarctica lost more than half of the bottom waters

According to observations by Australian oceanographers, the amount of bottom cold waters in the Antarctic has decreased by 60 percent compared with 1970.

 

 
This was stated by the head of the research team, Steve Rintoul (Steve Rintoul), his words led Agence France-Presse. Data not yet been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Read more »No comments so far: 0. You can add entries kommentariy.Svyazannye U.S. sent an icebreaker to the Arctic to study the effects of warming in the Arctic found another source of methane Arctic sea ice has passed point of no return The Arctic began to melt away a hundred years ago expedition in the Arctic has received information about the shelf in the Beaufort Sea

What will be the aircraft of the future?

NASA's major aeronautical engineer asked the world to solve the most difficult problem of civil aviation: how to make air travel cleaner, quieter and cheaper. Prototypes, they have provided, can set a new standard for the next two decades for passenger air travel. Thus, we consider the most interesting projects.

BOX WING JET, LOCKHEED MARTIN

The expected term of the first flight: 2025

Modern passenger aircraft consume a lot of fuel, for example, Boeing 747 takes up to 10 liters of fuel per kilometer of flight, and with a constant upward trend in fuel prices, respectively, increases the price of airline tickets. According to science news, Lockheed Martin engineers have developed the concept of Box Wing, for the attainment of new ways to reduce the fuel requirements of future aircraft, without affecting the basic shape of the aircraft. Through the use of lightweight materials and design features of the wings of the ratio of lift to drag ratio of 16 per cent above that allow the aircraft to fly long distances and consume less fuel.

In developing the concept of Box Wing designers abandoned the conventional turbofan engines in favor of dual-turbofan, high-bypass ratio. Due to an increase of 40 per cent of the engine blades, in Box Wing increased by 22 percent efficiency at subsonic speeds. Add to this the cost-effective configuration of the wings and the plane will be 50 percent more efficient than the average modern airliner. Additional lift will also allow pilots to make steeper landings and takeoffs.

SUPERSONIC GREEN MACHINE, LOCKHEED MARTIN

The expected term of the first flight: 2030

The first era of commercial supersonic aircraft ended November 26, 2003, with the last flight of Concorde - a noisy, inefficient aircraft and a large polluter. But the dream of supersonic flight remained, and in 2010, Lockheed Martin engineers presented a Supersonic Green Machine. In this project, the efficiency increased by a motor-cycle AC, which replaces the conventional turbofan, if necessary, which could be used during takeoff and landing. The combustion chamber that is built into the engine, reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by 75 percent. The inverted V-shaped tail of the aircraft is almost completely eliminates the sound boom, because of which the land Concorde flights were banned.

SUGAR VOLT, BOEING

The expected term of the first flight: 2035

The best way to save jet fuel is that it does not use it. And this is possible with the use of alternative energy sources such as batteries and motors in a hybrid propulsion system Boeing SUGAR Volt. According mirnt.ru, the plane will take off with jet engines, and for the subsequent maintenance of the aircraft in the air, the pilot can use the electric motors. Boeing engineers also rethink and modified design of the wings, making them much more than modern counterparts. The wings can be folded to fit a plane to the standards of most airports. Taken together, improvements in the SUGAR Volt make it to 55 percent more efficient means of modern aircraft. Also, it will be disposed of into the environment by 60 per cent less carbon dioxide and 80 percent less nitrous oxide. And thanks to hybrid technology, it will be able to use the runways of smaller size, the Boeing 737 to be 1500 meters, and for the SUGAR Volt will have to be 1200 meters.

Micro Submarine Sea will be cleaned of oil

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We prove an ancient origin of the polar bears

Recent studies of mitochondrial DNA of different species of bears have shown that all living polar bears originate from a single population of brown bears that existed about 120,000 years ago in Alaska. This dating is too young to take it without objection.

A new study shows limitations of the method used and provides new estimates of the age of formation of polar bears - about 600,000 years ago.

Facebook bought a new mobile application for dating Glancee

The world's largest social networking site Facebook has bought a mobile application Glancee, designed to find new people to the site demonstrates the application developer. The amount of the transaction were not disclosed.

Currently, mobile application Glancee been removed from online stores Apple App Store and Android Play. Three co-founder of a startup Glancee will go to work on Facebook.

"They will join the team working on Facebook for products that help people explore new places and share them with friends," - say representatives of social networks.

Appendix Glancee designed to search for people nearby with whom the user has friends in common or similar interests. We used information from the Facebook-user account and the function of determining the location, accessible to the modern smartphones.

Less than a month ago, Facebook announced the purchase of the popular photo-sharing application Instagram for about $ 1 billion. According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram will remain a standalone application.

Social network Facebook was founded in 2004. Now there are more than 900 million users.

Astronomers have found a star with a belt of quartz dust, the rest of the world

Japanese scientists have discovered a star in the constellation Perseus with the "belt" of silica dust, which could be formed after the destruction of Earth-like planets, said in an article published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A team led by Hideaki Fujiwara (Hideaki Fujiwara) from the Japanese National Astronomical Observatory studied the star HD 15407A - a star of spectral class F, in the constellation Perseus, located at a distance of 180 light years from Earth. It is close to the sun shone on their luminosity and mass, although a few hot and heavier.

The astronomers analyzed data about this star, collected Japanese AKARI infrared telescope and NASA's infrared telescope, "Spitzer." As a result, they found that the star at a distance of one astronomical unit (mean distance from Earth to the Sun) is now a total of up to 100 trillion tons (or one ten-millionth of the mass of the Earth), composed of dust particles measuring about one micron.

Belt "calculated" tracked relatively high for a star of this type of infrared radiation (heat), which gave a particle, "reradiating" visible light of a star in the thermal range.

Scientists are using the spectrometric observations were able to determine the chemical composition of dust. As it turns out, are formed by particles of quartz, ie, silicon oxide SiO2. They are heated from 220 to 320 degrees Celsius.

Silica dust, as they note, is extremely rare in the universe, and the reasons for its presence in such numbers around the star HD 15407A is not yet clear. According to one theory, which suggests a high content of quartz in the crust, are crystal could be formed as a result of collisions of large planetesimals celestial bodies (planets, embryos) in orbit around a star. In other words, there could be a planet that was destroyed by a cosmic catastrophe like the one that led to the formation of Earth's Moon.

It is believed that terrestrial planets are formed from the clot gradually condensed cosmic dust orbiting young stars. The radiation from the star gives energy planetesimals, which in turn, begin to emit it in the infrared. Based on this theory, to observe the planet at an early stage of formation, the researchers directed the team Fujiwara looking for stars, surrounded by disks of dust.

This unusual property of the solar system, according to astronomers, may open new horizons for the study of the mineralogical nature of planets outside our solar system. The evolution of extrasolar planets is one of the fundamental trends in modern astronomy since 1995, when it was discovered the first planet outside the solar system - 51 Pegasi b. Now astronomers have discovered over 750 exoplanets.

U.S. authorities are investigating the death of microbiologist laboratory infection

U.S. authorities are investigating the circumstances of the sudden death of 25-year-old microbiologist, who less than a day died from the disease, due, perhaps, a bacterium, which he studied in his laboratory, the laboratory itself is closed during the investigation, the staff are under medical supervision, said the publication ScienceNOW.

Research Laboratory of the Medical Management Center of Veterans Affairs in San Francisco, 25-year-old Richard Dean (Richard Din) died April 28 from meningococcal disease. The night before his death, he felt a headache and nausea the next morning his condition worsened, friends took Dean to the hospital where he died - only 17 hours after onset of symptoms.

Head of department of infectious medical center Lampiris Harry (Harry Lampiris) reported that Dean was researching Neisseria meningitidis - bacteria, which causes annually in the United States about a thousand cases of meningitis and kills about 75 people. Save from infection may prompt use of antibiotics at the first symptoms.

The vaccine against several strains of this bacterium was established back in 1960, but the bacteria strain B, with whom he worked Dean, vaccines do not exist. The development of such vaccines has been the ultimate goal of research that Dean says Lampiris.

He said the tests confirmed the presence of meningococcal serotype B in the blood of a scientist. In addition, the medical center sent blood samples to the laboratory of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to conduct genetic analysis of bacteria and make sure that the cause of death of Dean was just laboratory infection.

Laboratory employees are wondering how Dean could become infected.

"We conducted an internal investigation and found no trace in the laboratory of bacterial contamination, equipment failure or problems with protective suits," - said Lampiris, noting that this laboratory for over 20 years with meningococcal bacteria.

Dean started working here six months ago. "His colleagues say that he worked very carefully and comply with all safety precautions. He did not tell them about any incidents," - said Lampiris.

Bacteria N. meningitidis are two levels of biological hazards, which means that any action with these organisms should be carried out in a sealed protective suits, which is fed purified air.

Head of the Laboratory Centre for Meningitis Disease Control and Prevention, Leonard Meyer (Leonard Mayer) notes that all employees of such laboratories should be vaccinated against meningitis, although it does not protect against strains of type B.

"Right now actively discussing the issue of raising the level of biological risk strain of B up to level 3," - says Meyer.

Lampiris reported that the laboratory where he worked for Dean, will remain closed until the completion of the investigation, which hold the power of the State of California and federal agencies. Colleagues and friends of Dean are under the supervision of doctors and take antibiotics as a preventive measure.

"All the staff of our center feel overwhelmed and exhausted," - says Lampiris.

American scientists have decided to find out what they think the dog

A team of American scientists from the University of Emery (Emery University) in Atlanta with the intention of magnetic resonance scanners to find out what they think of our four-legged friends, said on Tuesday the newspaper Los Angeles Times.

"We aspire to eventually understand the nature of the relationship between man and dog from a human point of view. Owners believe that the four-legged pets that love them. Soon we will figure out whether they like it or us food that we give them" - explained the task supervisor of the research team, Gregory Burns.

According to him, for the first time, biologists will be able to conduct research "thinking dog" because of the special training of quadrupeds, who volunteered to jump on the installation and can remain motionless for the required 10-15 seconds. Previously, to study the canine brain animals were administered general anesthesia, thereby suppressing the signals to the brain.

"The hardest part was to teach dogs not to react to mouse imager", - says Burns.

Scientists intend to find out how pupils learn their masters - in appearance or odor, whether they realize it, as well as check out the measure of their compassion rather unusual way: the owner of the photo will be on the dog's eyes pierce a sharp needle and follow-induced reaction.

The budget of this research is not called.

The spacecraft will study Jupiter's moons JUICE

To project JUICE (JUpiter ICy moon Explorer) launched the European Space Agency (ESA). Its purpose will be satellites of the planet Jupiter. Neighborhoods Callisto, Europa and Ganymede will visit the machine automatically, once on-orbit satellites, the last of these, he landed on his landing craft, which is tasked to produce scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

For scientists, these satellites are extremely interesting. Especially Ganymede and Europa, where there are oceans of salt water, as shown by previous studies. Serious astrobiologists do not exclude the possibility that some of them may be living organisms. According to some of them, Ganymede and Europa are more attractive in this respect than Mars.

Scientists are interested in the thickness of ice of Ganymede and depth of its ocean covers if the water reaches a depth of 900 km, the entire surface of the satellite, or there is dry land. It is considered that it is not there, but it may not be the case.

On the icy crusts and Europe, and Ganymede have a crack, from which sometimes acts as if the water. The shape of cracks is very bizarre, like pipelines. Nearby are some grooves and strange footprints resembling sleigh. Some craters lined up in straight lines.

JUICE project will have to figure out how to form gas giants and their moons, to help understand how they are suitable for life.

Home studies will have to wait a long time: the unit is scheduled for launch in 2020, the arrival of the Jupiter system - in 2030.