World Association of Young Scientists

	Giant's Causeway Along the coastal cliffs of Northern Ireland's coast is an unusual geological formation: Giant's Causeway.	From: NationalGeographic Views: 1141 55 ratings
	Time: 02:31	More in Travel & Events

See original: Giant's Causeway

The latest study on flu vaccine effectiveness in children has been well discussed in the MSM and the flu blogs, so I'll point you to those excellent pieces (Branswell, crof, Mike Coston at Avian Flu Diary) and just add some things not covered elsewhere. The full text of the article is available for free at JAMA and it's a pretty good read, so if you want to see for yourself what is involved I urge you to read it, too. First, let me back up a bit and connect this to the controversy about observational and randomized clinical trials we've been discussing here of late (before my grant writing interfered, anyway).

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Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Collective Imagination

See original: Flu vaccines, herd immunity and randomized trials [Effect Measure]

The European brown bear's love of electricity and telegraph poles is helping scientists gain new insights into its behaviour.

See original: In pictures: Bear power

11/2/2010 Guardian  Hundreds of animals and plants are threatened, according to a report by Natural England.More than two animals and plants a year are becoming extinct in England and
hundreds more are severely threatened, a report published today reveals.
Natural England, the government’s agency responsible for the countryside, said
the biggest national study of threats to biodiversity found nearly [...]

See original: More than two extinct species a year in England compared with 1 in 20 years before humans, report reveals

Introduction
The Penang International Conference for Young Chemists (ICYC 2010) is a biennial conference organized specifically for young chemists by the postgraduate students of the School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang.

Objectives
The main objectives of the conference are to:

Foster a strong communication medium for the exchange of ideas for local and international postgraduate chemistry researchers.

Provide opportunities for young chemists to establish research contacts and to find global partners for future collaborations.

Bring together, top international scientists and researchers presenting cutting-edge discoveries, developments and research.

REGISTRATION
Local student - RM 300

Local Lecturer / Researcher / Others - RM 500

Foreign Student - USD $ 100

Foreign Lecturer / Researcher / Others - USD $ 200

Closing Date for Registration and abstract submission: 15th April 2010

10/2/2010 BBC There’s little doubt, I think, that the forthcoming review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can make quite a lot of difference to the organisation itself.(This is the review that was demanded last month by ministers, and whose terms of reference and operating agency the UN has just announced, entrusting the [...]

See original: UN IPCC Climate review seeks detachment

يمكن لآلة تصوير مثبتة على حامل ثلاثي أن تسجل المسارات البديعة التي رسمت بواسطة النجوم أثناء دوران الأرض على محورها. لكن عند خطوط العرض العليا خلال شهري مارس/آذار و أبريل، يمكن لها أن تلتقط أيضا وميض الشفق القطبي في الليل. في الحقيقة، تعتبر الأسابيع المحيطة بالاعتدال، في كل من الربيع والخريف، الفصل المناسب بالنسبة لصائدي الشفق. يظهر هذا بوضوح في هذا المشهد المقمر الجميل المأخوذ من الشمال الغربي للأراضي الكندية يوكون. وقد التقط في الصباح الباكر من الفاتح مارس، قريبا من طريق كلوندايك السريع، حوالي 60 كيلومترا إلى الجنوب من مدينة داوسون. لتركيب الصورة، دمجت العديد من التعريضات القصيرة رقميا لإتباع أقواس مسارات النجوم متحدة المركز، متضمنة ستائر شفقية مخضرة و المعروفة كذلك بـالأضواء الشمالية.

See original: شفق قطبي في يوكون مع مسارات النجوم

	Aftermath in Santa Cruz Chile's February 27 earthquake caused an apartment building in this small city to collapse, killing 23.	From: NationalGeographic Views: 1458 54 ratings
	Time: 01:46	More in Science & Technology

See original: Aftermath in Santa Cruz

mrgunn: @drugmonkeyblog Baba yako alikuwa newt Mama yako na smelled ya Elderberries

See original: @drugmonkeyblog Baba yako alikuwa newt Mama yako na smelled ya Elderberries

17-Mile Drive Chinarock.JPG
from commons.wikimedia.org,
provided by Überraschungsbilder

See original: 17-Mile Drive Chinarock.JPG [POTD for March 11 from de.wikipedia.org]

What's happening on the surface of Saturn's moon Helene?

See original: Saturn's Moon Helene from Cassini

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See original: 2010 March 11

sandygautam: Mouse model reveals a cause of ADHD http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100227211115.htm

See original: Mouse model reveals a cause of ADHD http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100227211115.htm

21 Lutetia has puzzled astronomers since its discovery. Now they have made a daring set of predictions about what the Rosetta spacecraft will find when it flies past this mysterious asteroid in July

On 10 July, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will fly within a few thousand kilometres of 21 Lutetia, a main belt asteroid that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Lutetia is an unusual object. It is classified as an M-type asteroid, which are thought to be made mainly of nickel and iron. However, Lutetia's spectrum does not seem to show any evidence of metals. In fact, exactly what Lutetia is made of puzzles astronomers. That's partly why it was chosen for the fly by.

So come July, astronomers should know the answer to this conundrum. But in the run up, they're indulging in a little fun. The game they've invented is to see how good a prediction they can make about what Rosetta will find.

Today, Irina Belskaya at the Observatoire de Paris and a few friends take a stab. They make several detailed predictions about Lutetia based partly on observations dating back to the 1960s but mostly on data taken since 2004, when interest picked up after the asteroid was chosen as a flyby target.

So what do they think Rosetta will find?

Belskaya and co say that Lutetia will be 132x101x76 km in size (that's technically known as potato-shaped). They say its texture and mineral content will vary across its surface. At least part of Lutetia's surface will be covered by a layer of loose dust having a mean grain size less than 20 micrometres across. And Lutetia's surface will be made of stuff that has more in common with the carbonaceous chondrite meteorites found on Earth than the iron-nickel ones.

But they're most interesting prediction is that Lutetia will be "non-convex" in shape. That means a large crater will be visible on its surface. In fact its shape will be dominated by this crater.

Great fun to see a daring set of forecasts like this. And only four months until we find out how well they've done.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1003.1845: Puzzling Asteroid 21 Lutetia: Our Knowledge Prior To The Rosetta Fly-By

See original: The Puzzle of 21 Lutetia

sandygautam: @Palsule that reminds me, time to update my description of techsandy!

See original: @Palsule that reminds me, time to update my description of techsandy!