The strongest evidence to date that the sun is not responsible for recent global warming has been set out by scientists.

The new study by Prof Michael Lockwood of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxfordshire, and Claus Fröhlich of the World Radiation Center in Davos, Switzerland, overturns claims by climate sceptics who say that the planet's climate has long fluctuated and that current warming is just part of that natural cycle - the result of variation in the sun's output and not greenhouse gas emissions. Their study appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

	A new study further enforces the view that the sun is not responsible for recent climate change

The study found that global warming since 1985 has been caused neither by an increase in solar radiation nor by a decrease in the flux of galactic cosmic rays.

Some researchers had also suggested that the latter might influence global warming because the rays trigger cloud formation.

Prof Lockwood said that the comprehensive study was a response to misleading media reports. He cited 'The Great Global Warming Swindle', a television programme shown in March by Channel 4, as a prime example.

"All the graphs they showed stopped in about 1980, and I knew why, because things diverged afterwards. You can't just ignore bits of data that you don't like," he said. "The key point of our paper is that since 1985 all the possible solar influences have been in the wrong direction to give warming," said Prof Lockwood.

Although some have tried to counter this by arguing that the response of the Earth's climate system lags behind changes in the sun, Prof Lockwood added that the only way for this to work would be by invoking a very large response lag of the order of 50 years which would overturn previous ideas of how the Sun influences the Earth.

"This paper is the final nail in the coffin for people who would like to make the sun responsible for present global warming," Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, told the journal Nature.

The new study compiled solar data for the past 100 years. The two researchers averaged out the 11-year solar cycles and looked for correlation between solar variation and global mean temperatures. Solar activity peaked between 1985 and 1987.

But mainstream scientists agree that the sun does have some influence on fluctuations in the Earth's temperature. As Prof Lockwood said: " I do firmly believe that there is a solar influence on pre-industrial climate and that may well have extended into the last century - up to about 1940 - but our results confirm that recent climate change is not caused by the sun. We do this with a simple and direct analysis of data and not using climate computer models - which are often a cause of scepticism."

A spokesman for the Royal Society said: "This is an important contribution to the scientific debate on climate change. At present there is a small minority which is seeking to deliberately confuse the public on the causes of climate change. They are often misrepresenting the science, when the reality is that the evidence is getting stronger every day. We have reached a point where a failure to take action to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions would be irresponsible and dangerous."

NASA’s MESSENGER and European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft will observe Venus together on June 6, helping the scientists to view close-up images of the brightest object after the Sun and the Moon in the sky from two vantage points.

Venus Express has been going around Venus since April 11, 2006, whereas Messenger will be flying by Venus while on its way to Mercury. Not only the planet, Venus will be seen through these two spacecraft, but also many Earth-based observatories and telescopes in orbit, around the Earth will witness the planet at the same time.

MESSENGER’s (MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry and Ranging mission) closest approach to Venus will be when it passes just 337 kilometres (210 miles) above its surface. At that point of time Venus Express will be behind Venus, but at the same time it will also be able to view many of the same regions imaged by MESSENGER. On the basis of these images scientists will compare the data gathered by the two spacecraft.

Venus Express, ESA’s first mission to Venus, was launched on Nov. 9, 2005 whereas NASA’s Messenger was launched on Aug. 3, 2004. MESSENGER will image Venus for 30 hours and then again it will focus on its final target, Mercury. It will reach Mercury in March, 2011.

According to a team of experts at NASA, Jupiter is changing its stripes, a process which can be due to the change of seasons on this giant planet.

These dramatic changes are being captured by the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The changes are due to the change in the color of the planet’s cloud bands which are turning brown from white. Scientists at the space center have also stated that this is not the first time that the planet is changing its rings.

According to these researchers Jupiter does not stay in the same color all the time and they are lucky to witness the belts and the bands change color at the same time.

Since Jupiter’s year is twelve times that as on Earth the climatic changes are also slow. The difference in the heat of the Sun as received by the planet is the main cause of this change on the surface of Jupiter and along its rings.

Since planets orbit in an elliptical orbit their distance from the sun keeps on changing which further changes the amount of heat and light received by the planets.

NASA is aiming to build an outpost on the moon by the end of 2020. The space research organization’s plan is commendable, but have they thought of all the astronauts who will have to spend months or even years on this sole natural satellite of Earth?

According to a recent study conducted by professor Chester Spell of Rutgers School of Business, the mental health of astronauts is at risk if they have to remain in solitude or a very small company of their fellow astronauts for long durations. The problem is serious since the nearest counseling session will be millions of miles from them. If we talk about the proposed manned mission to the red planet then the things seem to be much worse as there astronauts will not be able to even talk to their family members for years.

Are space agencies really prepared to tackle this problem…? I guess no because they are already busy developing technology that can be used to take humans to moon and Mars. The mental problems with astronauts is something that they should take a bit more seriously since the low gravity, extreme isolation and cramped conditions on moon will definitely show its toll on humans and if any member of the team feels down then the whole team will feel the same.

Managers at NASA and other space agencies who are planning to send humans in space for long durations should put an emphasis on social interaction among the team members and not allow anyone to remain silent or go dark, so that the missions can be cheerfully accomplished without making anyone ‘Space Sick’.

Yesterday I told you that a massive dust storm has hit the red planet and both Opportunity and Spirit are in danger. The conditions are much worse for Opportunity since the storm was approaching it at a fast pace.

To protect the rover NASA will now try and hide it in the giant Victoria crater. Opportunity will begin the descent early next month.

The descent is risky for both NASA and Opportunity and the decision to hide it can lead to disastrous results. Some scientists even fear that the crater can become the rover’s final resting place.

NASA too is aware of this risk. They fear that the rover once in might not be able to come out of the crater or might simply fail once it is inside the crater. Still the main reason for this is that the storm is so fierce that it will not die in days or weeks but can remain there for months.

Currently the rover is at “Duck Bay”, a point on the edge of the crater. According to NASA engineers this is the gentlest approach to the 800-meter-wide crater.

The rover will make descend in the first week of the next month a tentative date for the operation has not yet been decided. The rovers which are on the red planet since January 2004 are already aging. Their expected life span was a mere 90 days. But they have shown their caliber and have been doing all the good work from the last three and a half years.

During their service time they have suffered some damages. Spirit’s right front wheel stopped moving in March 2006, since then the rover just pushes itself across the dusty surface of Mars. This pushing has resulted in some breakthroughs as well as the rover continually digs soil while it moves.

NASA has been trying all ways to find life or even traces of it on the red planet. NASA has tried to find clues of life on Mars with its twin rovers that are currently operating on Mars. But unfortunately none of them has been able to find any traces of present or past life on the planet.

Now the space agency will try to find some life with its new envoy to the red planet. This Mars Lander is called Phoenix and is due to launch sometime between August 3 and August 24 from Florida. If all goes well then the Lander will reach the surface of Mars on May 25, 2008.

The three-month long mission will mainly try and find any clues of a possible microbial life on the planet. NASA wants to land the Lander at a site which is devoid of boulders and should be at a latitude equivalent to Northern Alaska on Earth. Considering the altitude and conditions on the planet, the Lander will have to complete its missions at a temperature of about minus 148 Fahrenheit or minus 100 Celsius.

This mission will now add to the latest mission of the space agency to seek a deeper understanding of Earth’s closest planet. This mission is expected to answer some questions that have been troubling astronomers for long.

If all goes according to the plan of NASA then the Lander will reach Mars in 2008 and will then wield a robotic arm 7.7 feet long. This arm can dig up to 3 feet to get a sample of the buried soil and frozen water that is thought to be present under the surface of Mars.

The Lander will then perform some experiments to let us know whether the conditions on Mars are favorable or were favorable for microbial life. Water is one of the main elements required for life and if we are able to get some samples of frozen water beneath the surface of Mars then its can help scientists determine whether the water on the planet was fit to harbor life or not.

The critical step of the whole mission is the landing of the mission on the surface of Mars. Earlier NASA used air bags to cushion the landing of Spirit and Opportunity so that they don’t suffer any damage in the landing process. However, this time the space agency will be using a “soft landing” approach, a feat that the space agency has not used in the past three decades.

The Lander will use a heat shield to slow its entry from space and then a parachute will be deployed, this will further reduce its speed to about 135 mph. The Lander will then free itself from the parachute and then fire rocket engines in the opposite direction to further slow it down to just 5.5 mph and then it will finally land on its three legs.

Storms on Mars have created all sorts of troubles for the twin rovers on the planet. These dust storms have obscured sunlight and have kept the twin rovers hungry for some power.

NASA wanted to move Opportunity into the giant Victoria Crater, a maneuver that was thought to be risky as the rover might not have made it back from the crater and would have died in the crated itself. However, the storm there was so wild that it prevented the space agency from moving the rover into the giant crater.

In just two weeks, the dust storms have covered more than 10 million square miles of the Martian Southern Hemisphere. The storm was initially troubling Opportunity more than Spirit, but things are fast reversing and now Spirit is in danger.

Storms are not the only climatic change on Mars, it also has seasons much like those on Earth because it also has an Earth-like tilt. The planet hosts clouds of ice and carbon dioxide, tornado-like dust devils, auroras and even complex jet streams. All this happens on the planet despite an atmosphere that is just 1 percent as dense as on Earth.

Mars has the same progression of season as on Earth that is summer, fall, winter and then spring. Its summers are hotter just like the tropical regions on Earth where the temperature soars to about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But its summer nights are bone-chilling since the temperature is about minus 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason for this drastic change in temperature is that the atmosphere on Mars is not as thick as on Earth and once night falls on the planet all the heat from the surface of Mars escapes back into space making the planet colder.

This extreme change in the temperature is a threat for all missions as it can easily weaken or even damage the solder joints in the rovers. According to researchers southern summers are the most likely period for the dust devils to strike because during this time the temperature change is the most extreme. Sun warms the cold ground in the morning and hot air rises and pulls in surrounding air and microscopic particles along with it. This is the reason for the dust storms which whips the ultra-fine dust at around 70 mph. The reason for this is that the planet does not have rains like Earth, which can settle the dust back on the ground.

Clouds also form on the red planet; however, they are not made of water vapor like on Earth but are icy clouds of carbon dioxide. These clouds are persistent above the poles where they are fed by carbon dioxide evaporating from the surface of ice caps made of the frozen gas. These clouds move around due to the changes in pressure just like Earth.

Other than being sunny and windy there are some other climatic changes on the planet which are quite similar to the changes we see on other. The only thing is that there is no water on the planet which can make things as beautiful as that on Earth. Studies have now shown that Mars once harbored oceans. So it might be possible that the planet was once as fit for life as Earth is today. We need be more lenient towards Earth because till now it is not possible for us to leave Earth and occupy some other planet, because the conditions here are the best for life and these conditions cannot be easily replicated elsewhere.

The European Space Agency in partnership with the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems has planned to send a crew of six on a 500 day simulated journey to mars in spring 2008. The entire experiment will be conducted in a 2,150 square-foot isolation facility in Moscow. The goal is to study how a long duration space journey would affect a human being psychologically and medically.

As part of the mission named Mars500, the participants will have to face simulated emergencies along with situations similar to those in a real space journey: namely, communication delays of around 20 minutes, frozen foods and medical emergencies.

In an interview, ESA scientist, Marc Heppener said:

“Our main interest is to look at the psychology of such a mission, knowing that you are enclosed for 500 days. As soon as there is a problem, the crew knows that they are on their own, and they have to solve it themselves. The only help available from the outside is through communications which may take up to 40 minutes.At the start of their mission the crew will be supplied with all the food they will have to live off for the duration of the study. They have to keep track of their consumables amongst themselves. This limited food supply could lead to additional tensions amongst the crew”.

In a statement, ESA announced:

“The goal of the experiment is to prepare “for future human exploration missions to Mars. We are currently looking for volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission. To go to Mars is still a dream and one of the last gigantic challenges.”

The participants will be selected among volunteers from the general public. The application for participating in the mission is available at the ESA’s Mars500 website. The applicants should be mentally tough and have a qualification in science, engineering and medicine. Good luck astronauts !

Researchers from the University of Berlin created the technology to write on HD-DVD Blu-ray drive or 500 gigabytes of data, reports The Register. Maximum capacity of conventional single disc density is 15 gigabytes for HD-DVD and 25-for History. Unlike standard method of recording on the surface, developed technology uses nanostructures disk, thus achieved a high density recording. Professor Suzanne Orlik, leadership development, reported that 500-gigabaytny disc contains 50 layers for storing information. Potentially, one disk can record up to terabytes of data, Orlick adde

Our universe is the "heir" to the other universe that existed before. This contradicts an earlier theory of the Big Bang.

The sensational conclusion of a kosmologa work from the University of Pennsylvania Martin Bodzhovolda. The execution of calculations based on a theory of quantum gravity suggest that our universe was not born in singularity, which is also called 'Big bang, as a result of the Greater spike caused by quantum processes and forces.

had been assumed that the time of the Big Bang that began the universe, preceded infinitely larger energy and deformity prostranstva-vremeni when all currently known laws of physics do not work. The current study suggests, however, that the level of energy and deformation space continuum were extremely high, but not be indefinitely high, but was the ultimate.

Some traces of the past, the universe may be in the present. The Bodzhovolda, they can be found in astronomical observations and models of the universe. However, the scientist, some knowledge of the past-the original universe, irretrievably lost. In particular, the current size of the universe completely exclude the possibility of determining how changes in the size of the universe, preceded Big explosion. This phenomenon scientist called "space bespamyatstvom."

The new hypothesis has not yet dropped to master the existing theory, but has generated great interest and is of great philosophical and ideological significance.

American Mission Mars rovers, Mars exploration rover, may end if not subside strong dust storm, now scene of the Red Planet.

The Martian storm strength comparable only with a very powerful storms occurring in 1971 and 2001, said managers of the mission, although the global level, it is far from reaching. But the bottom has already won : the greatest moments in attack storm, because raised in the atmosphere of giant clouds of sand and dust, access to the world solar cells decreased by 99%.

Shtormy, which began a couple of weeks ago, in the past few days have grown in size several times. Yes, scientists shared Martian storm two major storms, each of which in turn is a few neighbouring the regional dust storms. Together they have already cut a territory larger than the area the United States, Canada and Greenland together.

fact bottom now working at the remnants of energy in batteries, but as soon as drill not happen clearance, roboty-marsohody off : they simply freezing.

The American engineers discussing the possibility of issuing commands to disable much of the equipment bottom, to try to keep as long as the charge in the batteries. And just hope for a miracle.

recall since landing on Mars in January infection two Mars collected a vast amount of information, the importance of