Heavens

The use of medications that increase sensitivity to the sun, combined with exposure to sunlight, appears to be associated with the risk of age-related cataract, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Washington, D.C.—Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues, have discovered a much higher water content in the Moon's interior than previous studies. Their research suggests that the water was preserved from the hot magma that was present when the Moon began to form some 4.5 billion years ago, and that it is likely widespread in the Moon's interior. The research is published in the on-line early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of June 14.

GREENBELT, Md. -- The Solar X-Ray Imager instrument aboard the GOES-15 satellite has just provided its first light image of the sun, but it required a lot of experts to make it happen.

An area of low pressure referred to by meteorologists as "System 92L" in the Atlantic Ocean seems ripe for development and NASA infrared satellite imagery revealed areas in the low that have strong convection. Convection refers primarily to atmospheric motions in the vertical direction, or rising warm air that condenses and forms clouds.

A vast ocean likely covered one-third of the surface of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago, according to a new study conducted by University of Colorado at Boulder scientists.

A team has observed in unprecedented detail the processes giving rise to stars and planets in nascent solar systems and discovered a better understanding of the way hydrogen gas from the protoplanetary disk is incorporated into the star.

Many of the most well known comets, including Halley, Hale-Bopp and, most recently, McNaught, may have been born in orbit around other stars, according to a new theory by an international team of astronomers led by a scientist from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colo.

A team of researchers has developed a method to produce cells that kill tumour cells in the lab and prevent tumours forming in mouse models of cancer. Although the current work is in cells and mouse, if the research transfers to human biology, the new type of cell could be a new source for cell-based anticancer therapies.

The cells were produced by knocking out a single gene essential in the pathways of development of immune cells: the modified cells become a novel type, which the authors call Induced T to Natural Killer Cells (ITNK cells).

Many of the most well known comets in history, including Halley, Hale-Bopp and McNaught, may have been born in orbit around other stars and not the Sun, according to a new study by Queen's University astronomy professor Martin Duncan and an international team of astronomers.

"Anyone who has seen a long tail comet in the night sky may be looking at material from another star," says Professor Duncan.

A population-based study of 2,071 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors over 15 years has discovered that while many survivors had multiple X-rays and CT scans years after treatment was finished, they often did not receive recommended cancer screening tests.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been designated by Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra to accelerate the federal government's secure adoption of cloud computing by leading efforts to develop standards and guidelines in close consultation and collaboration with standards bodies, the private sector, and other stakeholders. Computer science researchers at NIST are working on two complementary efforts to speed the government's quick and secure adoption of cloud computing.

HOUSTON -- (June 10, 2010) – Most of the time, the body's blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells remain dormant, with just a few producing blood cells and maintaining a balance among the different types.

NASA has successfully completed a comprehensive pre-shipment review of the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, a small, microsatellite class spacecraft bus that will carry six experiment payloads to low-Earth orbit.