Heavens

More than 500 extrasolar planets -- planets that orbit stars other than the sun -- have been discovered since 1995. But only in the last few years have astronomers observed that in some of these systems the star is spinning one way and the planet, a "hot Jupiter," is orbiting the star in the opposite direction.

According to two new policy briefs from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the majority of state residents likely to be eligible for federally mandated health insurance coverage initiatives in California in 2014 are also those who may be least likely to excessively use costly health services: men, singles and those of working age.

Two decades after Brazil's constitution recognized health as a citizen's right and a duty of the state, the country has vastly expanded health care coverage, improved the population's health, and reduced many health inequalities, but universal and equitable coverage remains elusive, experts from four major Brazilian universities and New York University have concluded.

High-tech tactics to carefully examine apples and other fresh produce items as they travel along packinghouse conveyor belts will help ensure the quality and safety of these good-for-you foods.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Beltsville, Md., have developed and patented an experimental, cutting-edge optical scanning system that would use two different kinds of lighting, a sophisticated camera and other pieces of equipment to scrutinize produce-section favorites while they are still at the packinghouse.

Marianne has constant pain in her right knee at the moment – she hurt it when she took a tumble skiing in the Swiss Alps. Everything happened so quickly: The searing pain, the helicopter ride to hospital, the operation the following day, and then a week later the return home with crutches to rest in a reclining chair. Her aim now is to mobilize the operated knee and regain full mobility of the joint – something she'll achieve by following a targeted machine-based training plan drawn up by a physiotherapist.

On September 11, 2001, the air was sizzling with anger—and the anger got hotter as the hours passed. That, anyway, was one finding of a 2010 analysis by Mitja Back, Albrecht Küfner, and Boris Egloff of 85,000 pager messages sent that day. The researchers employed a commonly used tool called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, or LIWC, which teases out information from the frequency of word usages in texts.

(WASHINGTON) -- The European Space Agency (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, home to the largest single mirror telescope in space, has detected massive amounts of molecular gas gusting at high velocities — in some cases in excess of 1000 kilometers per second — from the centers of a sample of merging galaxies. Herschel was built by a European-led, multi-national team, including U.S. contributions from researchers at NASA's JPL, Caltech, and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

UPTON, NY - In a step toward engineering ever-smaller electronic devices, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have assembled nanoscale pairings of particles that show promise as miniaturized power sources. Composed of light-absorbing, colloidal quantum dots linked to carbon-based fullerene nanoparticles, these tiny two-particle systems can convert light to electricity in a precisely controlled way.

Capsule systems for making coffee are convenient and practical and therefore very popular. In terms of their environmental friendliness, however, a large question mark hangs over them. Roland Hischier, Empa's ecobalance expert, has just finished investigating various capsule systems as well as fully automatic machines, filter and soluble coffee making techniques, and has prepared a simplified life cycle analysis. This shows that it is the content which matters most. "A well-informed choice of coffee is in any case the best option for the environment," according to Hischier.

Blacksburg, Va., May 10, 2011 - Virginia Tech released today the results of a new rating system of adult football helmets that is designed to reduce the risk of concussions. One currently manufactured helmet received the top "5 star" rating, and a total of five helmets received the very good "4-star" rating.

This biomechanical impact data study on football helmets represents the first time researchers have provided the public with comparative test results.

Boston, MA—A study by scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute shows that a bioptic telescope on one lens of a pair of glasses used to magnify traffic signs and lights may not prevent the wider view of the road with the second eye. The study results, which will be published in the May 2011 Archives of Ophthalmology, are the first evidence that--under more realistic viewing conditions than in earlier studies--the second eye can detect objects in the area obscured by the magnification effect of the telescope (called the ring scotoma).

Combination vaccines for young children are commonly used in industrialized nations because they provide protection for multiple diseases in one single injection. However, combination vaccines are prohibitively expensive for developing countries and may not available until several years later, or when market prices are more affordable.

As a result, the choice of vaccines used by developing and industrialized countries to immunize children against similar pediatric diseases is rapidly diverging.

ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory has detected raging winds of molecular gas streaming away from galaxies. Suspected for years, these outflows may have the power to strip galaxies of gas and halt star formation in its tracks.

The winds that Herschel has detected are extraordinary. The fastest is blowing at a speed of more than 1000 km/s, or about 10 000 times faster than the wind in a terrestrial hurricane.

In the May-June issue of the journal American Mineralogist, a team of scientists announced the discovery of the new mineral krotite, one of the earliest minerals formed in our solar system. It is the main component of an unusual inclusion embedded in a meteorite (NWA 1934), found in northwest Africa. These objects, known as refractory inclusions, are thought to be the first planetary materials formed in our solar system, dating back to before the formation of the Earth and the other planets.

Newly released images from ESA's Mars Express show Nili Fossae, a system of deep fractures around the giant Isidis impact basin. Some of these incisions into the martian crust are up to 500 m deep and probably formed at the same time as the basin.