September 2008 in science

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September 30, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The Hubble Space Telescope repair mission is delayed as the data control unit fails, stopping all transmissions and forcing a significant change to the repair mission. (BBC)
• A new solar cell efficiency record of 40.8 percent is achieved measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. (ScienceDaily)
• Particles 10 nanometers or less may pass right through skin and accumulate in the lymphatic system. (Physorg)

September 29, 2008 (Monday)

• Two indicators of liquid water on Mars are found by Phoenix, also for the first time snow is detected in clouds. (AP)
• A possible major breakthrough in creating a commercially viable manufacturing process for carbon nanotubes at seven meters per minute. (Physorg)

September 28, 2008 (Sunday)

• Shenzhou 7 crew members return safely to Earth. (Reuters)

September 27, 2008 (Saturday)

• Researchers in Los Angeles develop and fast, inexpensive way of counting cells in a sample by using a digital camera and a simple algorithm to distinguish the shadows different types of cells have. (TechReview)

September 25, 2008 (Thursday)

• China launched the Shenzhou 7 space mission that will include the first space walk for China. (AP)
• Researchers have created pluripotent stem cells from adult skin cells with an adenovirus which avoids the cancerous pitfall of a retrovirus. (TechReview)

September 24, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A dark flow has been observed with galaxy clusters unexpectedly drifting towards a structure beyond the observable universe. (ScienceDaily)

September 23, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The MacArthur foundation announces the twenty-five $500,000 winners of the 2008 Genius awards. (MacFound)
• Google shows its first Android handset. (CNet)

September 22, 2008 (Monday)

• Gene therapy has restored the sight of two of three test patients with Leber's congenital amaurosis. (Wired)

September 20, 2008 (Saturday)

• As a result of a helium leak the Large Hadron Collider will be down for two months of repairs. (CNet)

September 19, 2008 (Friday)

• A quench occurred when liquid helium leaked at the Large Hadron Collider. This will further delay experiments until the damage is accessed and vacuum is restored. (BBC)
• The Space Shuttle Endeavour moves to the launch pad as a backup in case the Space Shuttle Atlantis crew needs to be rescued from their higher risk Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. (AP)
• Professor Stephen Hawking unveils the Corpus Clock, a 'terrifying' new way to read the time, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, England. (BBC News)
• The first lab grown heart starts to beat. (PopSci)

September 18, 2008 (Thursday)

• The Large Hadron Collider is down because of a faulty electrical transformer. (CNet)

September 17, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A new estimate concludes 44 metric gigatons (billion tons) of greenhouse gases could be offset if 100 of the largest cities replaced dark roofs with white shingles and asphalt roads with concrete. (Physorg)

September 15, 2008 (Monday)

• Scientists find a rare direct image of a likely extrasolar planet 500 light years away that is eight times the size of Jupiter and orbits a younger star similar to the Sun. (CBC)
• Mathematical biologists at Harvard University show that a form of natural selection likely played a role in a prebiotic environment, whereby self-assembly reactions that were short and fast would be favored over longer chains as they would use material faster and at the expense of slower reactions. (NewScientist)

September 12, 2008 (Friday)

• A low budget Discovery Channel demonstration of wireless power transmission between two Hawaiian islands 148 kilometers (92 mi) apart will be shown on Project Earth. It is a key technology to enable space solar power. (Wired) (NSS)
• A state anti-spam law is overturned in the Virginia Supreme Court as it infringes upon the First Amendment right to anonymous speech. (CNet)

September 11, 2008 (Thursday)

• Research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows a small deletion in a specific section of DNA can trigger a large number of cognitive problems. (TechReview)
• 3M unveils the first handheld projector the MPro110. (Popsci)

September 10, 2008 (Wednesday)

• The Large Hadron Collider went online circulating beams of protons around the 17-mile (27 km) track. (Reuters)
• A gamma ray burst originating from 7.5 billion light-years away in the constellation Boötes on March 19th became the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye. (Reuters)

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Researchers in France discover a virophage called Sputnik that infects another virus. (Ars Technica)

September 5, 2008 (Friday)

• Legal challenges are launched against Cern's Large Hadron Collider, as there are ongoing concerns it could destroy Earth by creating a stable black hole. (Telegraph)
• Sony recalls 438,000 Vaio laptops because of an overheating issue that may injure users.(CNet)

September 3, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A survey on DVR's shows they help the majority of relationships by permitting flexible time management and resolving television conflicts. (CNet)

September 2, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Canadian ice shelves have lost almost one-quarter of their area this summer, indicating significant and irreversible changes with the present climate. (CBC)
• China has developed a new generation of scalable processor code named Godson-3 that will simulate x86 architecture and be 80 percent as fast as an Intel equivalent. (TechReview)
• Google launches the beta of its browser Chrome that is anticipated to make a significant impact on what users can do through the internet. (Reuters)
• Gene variations for the vasopressin receptor could be a factor for fidelity. (ABC)

September 1, 2008 (Monday)

• Using computer simulations, North American scientists show that our solar system is likely not a typical planetary system. In most scenarios either no planets form or if they do they are brought close to the star and acquire elliptical orbits. (FutureOfThings)