Science and Technology Blog

Liquid water and any forms of life if there are hidden deep below the surface of planet Mars.

Satellite radar mapping of North Pole of the planet Mars has revealed ice cap age that was formed with 5 million years ago.

Using deep radar scanning the ice cap in some areas having a depth of 3 km. Low temperatures and hardness of rocks under the ice layer indicates that if there is liquid water lies deep below the surface.

The ice cap is made of fine layers separate by dust. Besides these fine layers, the researchers have identified four main sections that correspond most likely the major processes of planetary level.

Each layer corresponds according to scientists end of a period of 100,000 years, and a major period of approximately one million years.

Source: National Geographic, Image: Nasa

Scientists utilize 3-D ultrasound machinery to drive a robotic arm to independently perform surgeries

Duke University engineers believe they’ve completed a major step towards developing robotic surgeons that operate autonomously. The robot they used in their experiments were not performed on real people, uses 3-D ultrasound as its eyes, and an artificial intelligence AI program that processes the 3-D information it gathers to decide the robot’s next steps.

The robot has successfully performed some replicated actions directing catheters inside synthetic blood vessels, carrying out needle biopsies and even removing a false cyst. A small 3-D ultrasound transducer gathers the images, effectively providing the robot’s arm with a map of where it needs to go.

And while the long-term goal is to have some future version of their robot perform more complex tasks in animal models, the engineers also say that the 3-D ultrasound tech they use could prove to be a valuable tool to today’s surgeons.

Source: Popular Science

A controversial theory first presented in May 2007 suggests huge comet impacts wiped out North America’s large mammals nearly 13,000 years ago.

The hypothesis proposes that a comet blasts caused the mass extinction known as the Younger Dryas event and triggered a period of climatic cooling.

The theory has been debated widely since it was introduced, but it drew new analysis in March at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Vancouver, Canada.

Stuart Fiedel from the Louis Berger Group, a private archaeological firm in Richmond, Virginia, argued that the theory fails to address some major questions like how comet blasts could have wiped out woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats in North America, while leaving humans unscathed.

Source: National Geographic, Image: Bradshaw Foundation

A recently discovered type of young galaxy has astronomers echoing David Bowman’s legendary last words in the Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey: “My God, it’s full of stars“.

While these galaxies are small enough to fit within the central hub of our own Milky Way Galaxy, they each contain as many stars as bigger, older galaxies.

The light we see from the densely packed galaxies dates to a time when the universe was relatively young, less than three billion years old.

Previously observed tiny galaxies from this time period had correspondingly small numbers of stars.

Source: National Geographic

The unexpected eruption of Chilean volcano Chaitén started these days after 450 years of silence have been displaced more than 4,000 peoples in the area.

The image above cached at night shows the massive eruption covered by a huge thunderstorm.

More images on: terra.cl

Image: UPI