Blood test to help predict risk of heart disease

Scientists have developed a new way to calculate a person’s risk for heart disease over a 10-year period by analyzing their blood, a method with greater precision than the identification of traditional risk factors alone. When someone visits their general practitioner, they can get their blood analysed for cholesterol and triglycerides to get an idea about the risk of cardio-vascular disease. With additional information about BMI, smoking habits and blood pressure, this can be used to calculate their risk over a 10-year period, according to researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

2016 to be a second longer: US naval observatory

On December 31 this year, a “leap second” will be added to the world’s clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time, the US Naval Observatory has announced. This corresponds to 4:29:59 am IST, on January 1, 2017 when the extra second will be inserted at the US Naval Observatory’s (USNO) Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC. Since 1972, 26 additional leap seconds have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years, with the most recent being inserted on June 30, 2015.

New tree frog genus discovered in forest of north-eastern India

Professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, popularly known as the frogman of India, and his team of researchers discovered a new genus of tree hole-breeding frogs in the forests of India’s northeast and China. The team comprised PhD students of Biju and researchers from National Centre for Cell Science (Pune), University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and American Museum of Natural History (USA). The findings were published on 20 January 2016 in a paper titled Frankixalus, a new rhacophorid genus of tree hole-breeding frog with oophagous tadpoles in the international journal PLoS One. The genus has been named Frankixalus after Professor Franky Bossuyt of Vrije Universiteit Brussel for his contribution to amphibian research.

NASA equips Curiosity to fire laser on its own

For the first time, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover can fire its onboard laser all by itself, mission scientists say. New software is enabling ChemCam, the laser spectrometer on Curiosity, to select rock targets autonomously – the first time autonomous target selection is available for an instrument of this kind on any robotic planetary mission. The ChemCam aboard Curiosity “zaps” rocks on Mars and analyses their chemical make-up. While most targets are selected by scientists, the rover itself now chooses multiple targets per week. To select a target, the software uses adjustable criteria specified by scientists

Da Vinci's first record of laws of friction discovered

Scientists have identified a page of scribbles in a tiny notebook dating back to 1493 as the place where Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci first recorded the laws of friction. The detailed study of notes and sketches by Leonardo also shows that he went on to apply this knowledge repeatedly to mechanical problems for more than 20 years. The research by Ian Hutchings, professor at University of Cambridge in the UK, is the first detailed chronological study of Leonardo’s work on friction, and has also shown how he continued to apply his knowledge of the subject to wider woek on machines. It is widely known that Leonardo conducted the first systematic study of friction, which underpins the modern science of ‘tribology’, but exactly when and how he developed these ideas has been uncertain until now. Hutching has discovered that Leonardo’s first statement of the laws of friction is in a tiny notebook measuring just 92mm × 63mm. the book is now held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK, contains a statement scribbled quickly in Leonardo’s characteristic “mirror writing” from right to left.

Europe and Russia jointly launched ExoMars 2016

On 14 March 2016, Europe and Russia launched an unmanned spacecraft named ExoMars 2016, to smell Mars atmosphere for gassy evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet, or may still be. ExoMars 2016, the first of a two-phase Mars exploration, was hoisted from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Russian Proton rocket. With its suite of high-tech instruments, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) shall arrive at the Red Planet on 19 October 2016 after completing a seven month long journey of 496 million kilometers through space. A key goal of the mission is to analyse methane, a gas which on Earth is created in large part by living microbes, and traces of which were observed by previous Mars mission.

What is ExoMars?

                The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. The primary goal of the ExoMars programme is to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. This relates to its name, with the ‘exo’ referring to the study of exobiology – the possible existence of life beyond Earth (sometimes also referred to as astrobiology).

NASA's Juno probe entered orbit of Jupiter on 5th July.

NASA’s solar powered Juno spacecraft, launched five year ago, is set for a rendezvous with Jupiter, when it enters the orbit of the largest planer in our solar system on 5^th July. The spacecraft eill complete a burn if its main engine, placing it in Jupiter’s orbit, NASA said. During its mission, Juno will circle the Jovian world 37 times, soaring low over the planet’s cloud tops – as close as about 4,100 kilometers. The burn will impart a mean change in velocity of 542 metres per second on the spacecraft.

Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere. The progress will be monitored by the mission teams at NASA’s Jet propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in the US via signal reception by Deep Space Network antennas in California and Australia.

After the main engine burn, Juno will be in orbit around Jupiter. The spacecraft will spin down from 5 to 2 revolutions per minute, turn back toward sun, and ultimately transmit telemetry via its high gain antenna. Juno will start its tour of Jupiter in a 53.5 day orbit. The spacecraft saves fuel by executing a burn that places it in a capture orbit instead of going directly for the 14 day orbit that will occur during the mission’s primary science collection period. The 14 day orbit phase will begin after the final burn of the mission for Juno’s main engine on October 19.

“Jupiter is spectacular from afar and will be absolutely breathtaking from close up,” said Scott Bolton, principle investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, location in the US. Juno’s name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The mythical god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife – the goddess Juno – was able to peer through the clouds and unveil Jupiter’s true nature.