03/10/2006

Study finds shoelace tags better than gold

A British study finds the device that prevents shoelaces from fraying was more valuable than gold to indigenous Cubans who traded with Columbus's fleet.

NASA awards space operations contract

NASA has awarded a space program operations contract valued at $1.1 billion for the first six months of its term to United Space Alliance LLC, of Houston.

Planets Prefer Safe Neighborhoods

A star must live in a relatively tranquil cosmic neighborhood to foster planet formation, say astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. A team of scientists from the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, Tucson, ...

Uncovering DNA's 'sweet' secret

DNA's simple and elegant structure - the "twisted ladder," with sugar-phosphate chains making up the "rails" and oxygen- and nitrogen-containing chemical "rungs" tenuously uniting the two halves - seems to be the work of ...

Compound Eyes, Evolutionary Ties

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the presence of a key protein in the compound eyes of the fruit fly (which glow at center due to a fluorescent protein) allows the formation of distinct ...

Amazing Andromeda Galaxy

The many "personalities" of our great galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, are exposed in this new composite image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Less expensive fuel cell may be possible

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new class of hydrogen fuel-cell catalysts that exhibit promising activity and stability. The catalysts are made of low-cost nonprecious metals entrapped in something ...

Clemson researchers develop nanotechnology

Picture a spider web coated with sugar. But instead of luring in unsuspecting creatures, this spider web pulls in deadly anthrax spores, rendering them harmless.

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