20/03/2008

How humans make up for an 'inborn' vitamin C deficiency

A new study appears to explain how humans, along with other higher primates, guinea pigs and fruit bats, get by with what some have called an “inborn metabolic error”: an inability to produce vitamin C from glucose.

Ancient reptile rises from Alberta oil sands

One of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils recovered in North America, and the oldest yet discovered from the Cretaceous Period, represents a new genus of the prehistoric aquatic predator according to University ...

Action replay of powerful stellar explosion

Astronomers have made the best ever determination of the power of a supernova explosion that was visible from Earth long ago. By observing the remnant of a supernova and a light echo from the initial outburst, they have ...

Time scale established for proton transfer

“In the past,” Masanari Nagasaka tells PhysOrg.com, “we only knew that proton transfer was a fast process. Now we are able to determine the speed of proton transfer. This is a step in understanding the mechanism of ...

Substantial improvement in essential cheap solar cell process

A cheap alternative to silicon solar cells can be found in dye-sensitised solar cells. This type of cell imitates the natural conversion of sunlight into energy by, for instance, plants and light-sensitive bacteria. Annemarie ...

Tiny buckyballs squeeze hydrogen like giant Jupiter

Hydrogen could be a clean, abundant energy source, but it's difficult to store in bulk. In new research, materials scientists at Rice University have made the surprising discovery that tiny carbon capsules called buckyballs ...

Death of massive star creates brightest burst ever seen

Gamma-Ray Bursts are the most powerful explosive events in the Universe. They occur in far-off galaxies and so are usually faint. But on the morning of March 19th 2008 the Swift satellite found a burst which was so bright ...

Science with the solar space observatory Hinode

The solar space observatory Hinode was launched in September 2006, with the name "Hinode" meaning sunrise in Japanese. The Hinode satellite carries a solar optical telescope (SOT), an X-ray telescope (XRT), and an EUV imaging ...

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