Page-10 of Current Affairs - November, 2011

AP Columbae: Closest young star to the Earth

Recently, the planetary scientists have discovered the closest young star to Earth. The star, named AP Columbae, is the closest so-called “pre mainsequence” star. It is located in the constellation of Columba, which has been studied for the last 15 ..

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NASA’s GRAIL Mission

GRAIL refers to Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory. GRAIL is a discovery mission programme of NASA which is currently making final launch preparations for its Sept 8 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. GRAIL will use high-quality ..

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Tiangong-1: China’s First Spacelab

Tiangong-1 is the first space lab of China, scheduled to be launched in September 2011. It is prelude to a multiphase construction programme (Tiangong programme, or Project 921-2 ) aimed at building a large space station around 2020. The Tiangong-1 ..

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PSR J1719-1438 b: The Planet made of Diamond discovered

Recently, astronomers have claimed to have found a planet entirely made of diamonds. The planet PSR J1719-1438 b is an extra solar planet, discovered on August 25, 2011 in orbit around PSR J1719-1438, a millisecond pulsar. PSR J1719 -1438 is ..

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Juramaia sinensis: Great Grandmother of all placental mammals

Juramaia is an extinct genus of a eutherian mammal from late Middle Jurassic deposits of western Liaoning, China. Its well-preserved fossil, unearthed in the fossil-rich region of Liaoning Province, is believed to be the oldest ever found of a group ..

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Laser Enrichment Process

What is Laser Enrichment Process? In one of our science modules we have studied about the Uranium Enrichment Process by Centrifuges. The fundamental principle behind the Uranium Enrichment by centrifuges is that U-235 weighs slightly less than U-238. This difference ..

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Minimal Genome Project sorts can help in Colonization of Mars

We have read that in 2010, as part of the Minimal Genome Project, a team of the J. Craig Venter Institute synthesized a modified version of the 1,000,000 base pair Mycoplasma mycoides genome and implanted it into a DNA-free bacterial ..

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Microfossils at Strelley Pool hint at life on Mars

In Western Australia, there is a remote large, dry, thinly populated region called Pilbara, which is famous for its vast mineral deposits. In this Pilbara region, there is a site known as Strelley Pool, where in 2007, some of the ..

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Bisin: A Natural Preservative discovered

Researchers at the University of Minnesota discovered a natural preservative: “Bisin. The food-preservative properties of bisin could lead to food products that resist spoilage for years. It could spell the end of rotting food. The preservative can extend the food’s ..

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Origin of El Tor in the Bay of Bengal

El Tor is a particular strain of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera. It is also known as V. cholera biotype eltor, it has been the dominant strain in the seventh global pandemic. A recent study has ..

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