No dearth of Earths
There may be more life-supporting worlds close to home than we thought. As many as 60 per cent of sun-like stars in the Milky Way may boast rocky planets similar to Earth, according to dust observations by NASA鈥檚 Spitzer Space Telescope presented on Sunday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston.
Did bubbles down Boeing?
The British Airways Boeing 777 jet that crash-landed at London鈥檚 Heathrow Airport on 17 January may have lost engine power because of bubbles in its fuel. These bubbles could have created high-energy shock waves that damaged the fuel pumps, says the UK鈥檚 Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
Advertisement
Robots to liberate lab rats
Two of the world鈥檚 largest research organisations jointly vowed last week to use fewer animals for toxicity testing in future. Instead, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health will co-develop robotic toxicity-screening systems relying on human tissues and cells.
Salt leads to sugar
If you want to reduce the amount of sugary drinks consumed by children, work on what they eat. Those with a higher salt intake consume more sugary drinks. By halving the salt in their diet, they could end up drinking two cans fewer per week ().
Tiger trail
An uninterrupted 鈥済enetic corridor鈥� spanning 8000 kilometres and eight countries between Bhutan and Burma should be established to allow tigers to roam and breed more freely than at present. Proposed by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation, the plan鈥檚 aim is to help tigers avoid inbreeding and to boost their dwindling numbers.