Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
International crew of three reaches orbiting space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule
carrying a multinational crew of three arrived at the
International Space Station on Friday, setting the stage for a
Canadian for the first time to take command of the orbital
research base. The spacecraft carrying Chris Hadfield from the
Canadian Space Agency, NASA's Tom Marshburn and Russian
cosmonaut Roman Romanenko blasted off from Kazakhstan's
Baikonur Cosmodrome on Wednesday and parked at the station's
Rassvet docking module at 9:09 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 255
miles above northern Kazakhstan.
NASA posts YouTube video debunking Maya "Armageddon"
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA is so sure there
will be a December 22, 2012, it has already posted a YouTube
video titled "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday." Scientists
say rumors on social media and the Internet of Earth's
premature demise have been prompted by a misunderstanding of
the ancient Maya calendar, which runs through December 21,
2012.
Scientists in Hong Kong map initial anti-aging formula
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Hong Kong appear to
have mapped out a formula that can delay the aging process in
mice, a discovery they hope to replicate in people. Their
finding, published in the December issue of Cell Metabolism,
builds on their work in 2005 which shed light on premature
aging, or progeria, a rare genetic disease that affects one in
four million babies.
Long-lived bats offer clues on diseases, aging
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The bat, a reservoir for viruses like
Ebola, SARS and Nipah, has for decades stumped scientists
trying to figure out how it is immune to many deadly bugs but a
recent study into its genes may finally shed some light,
scientists said on Friday. Studying the DNA of two distant bat
species, the scientists discovered how genes dealing with the
bats' immune system had undergone the most rapid change.
Scientists may make definitive Higgs boson announcement in
March
GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's CERN research
center said on Wednesday they may be able to definitively
announce at a conference next March that they had discovered
the elusive Higgs boson. But they dismissed suggestions
circulating widely on blogs and even in some science journals
that instead of just one type of the elementary particle they
might have found a pair.
Three-nation crew blasts off for space station
ALMATY (Reuters) - A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian,
an American and a Canadian blasted off on Wednesday to the
International Space Station (ISS), where the men are to spend
half a year in orbit. The Russian-built Soyuz TMA-07M lifted
off on time, at 1212 GMT, from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan.