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| News Capsules - May-June issue - Page 3 |
New Jet Pack Helps
People Fly Like Birds
A new invention is allowing people
to fly like birds. Called the
Gryphon and invented by a Swiss
pilot, the device consists of a rigid
5 foot 9-inch wing attached to the
flyer’s back and is powered by a
jet pack. Designed with the
military in mind, the Gryphon kicks
in a few moments after a
paratrooper is dropped from a
plane. So far, no winged jet pack
exists that would allow ground-to-
air flight.—Discover (February,
2008)
Car Runs on Air
French engineer, Guy Negre, has
promised that within a year he will
start selling a car that runs on
compressed air, producing no
emissions in city driving. For
longer trips, the compressed air
driving the pistons will be boosted
by a fuel burner that can use all
kinds of liquid fuel, getting up to
120 mpg. Called the OneCAT, it
will be a five-seater with a
fiberglass body. The tanks can be
filled with air from a compressor in
three minutes. At first, the car will
be sold only in India.—news.bbc.
co.uk (2/13/08)
Stealth Bomber Has
First Ever Crash
For the first time ever, a B-2
stealth bomber has crashed. The
aircraft crashed shortly after
taking off along with three others
from an air base in Guam. Both
pilots ejected safely. There were
no injuries on the ground or
damage to buildings but the
accident produced clouds of black
smoke. The crash is being
investigated by the Air Force. All
21 stealth bombers are based at
Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri.—www.cnn.com (2/23/08)
People Fly Like Birds
A new invention is allowing people
to fly like birds. Called the
Gryphon and invented by a Swiss
pilot, the device consists of a rigid
5 foot 9-inch wing attached to the
flyer’s back and is powered by a
jet pack. Designed with the
military in mind, the Gryphon kicks
in a few moments after a
paratrooper is dropped from a
plane. So far, no winged jet pack
exists that would allow ground-to-
air flight.—Discover (February,
2008)
Car Runs on Air
French engineer, Guy Negre, has
promised that within a year he will
start selling a car that runs on
compressed air, producing no
emissions in city driving. For
longer trips, the compressed air
driving the pistons will be boosted
by a fuel burner that can use all
kinds of liquid fuel, getting up to
120 mpg. Called the OneCAT, it
will be a five-seater with a
fiberglass body. The tanks can be
filled with air from a compressor in
three minutes. At first, the car will
be sold only in India.—news.bbc.
co.uk (2/13/08)
Stealth Bomber Has
First Ever Crash
For the first time ever, a B-2
stealth bomber has crashed. The
aircraft crashed shortly after
taking off along with three others
from an air base in Guam. Both
pilots ejected safely. There were
no injuries on the ground or
damage to buildings but the
accident produced clouds of black
smoke. The crash is being
investigated by the Air Force. All
21 stealth bombers are based at
Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri.—www.cnn.com (2/23/08)
Microbes Turn More
Deadly in Space
A recent experiment conducted on
the Atlantis space shuttle and
published in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences
warns that ordinary microbes
could become even more
dangerous in space. A
salmonella bacterium was found
to have become more virulent
after just 83 hours in space. The
microbes were seen encasing
themselves in a protective coating
that was resistant to antibiotics.—
Discover (February, 2008)
Find Sea Monster Fossil
A fossilized “sea monster”,
discovered on the Arctic island of
Spitspergen in 2006, is the largest
marine reptile ever found.
Nicknamed “The Monster,” the
pliosaur would have measured 50
feet from nose to tail. It could
have picked up a small car in its
jaws and bite it in half. It is 20%
larger than the previous record-
holder, a Kronosaurus found in
Australia.—news.bbc.co.uk
(2/27/08)
Kronosaurus
2000-Pound Rodent
Fossil Discovered
Scientists in Uruguay have found
the fossil remains of a 2000-
pound rodent, the largest ever
found. The new species of rodent
has a well preserved fossil skull,
small teeth, and weak jawbones.
The largest living rodent is the
South American carpincho or
capybara which can weigh in at
about 125 pounds.—news.yahoo.
com (1/16/08)
Deadly in Space
A recent experiment conducted on
the Atlantis space shuttle and
published in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences
warns that ordinary microbes
could become even more
dangerous in space. A
salmonella bacterium was found
to have become more virulent
after just 83 hours in space. The
microbes were seen encasing
themselves in a protective coating
that was resistant to antibiotics.—
Discover (February, 2008)
Find Sea Monster Fossil
A fossilized “sea monster”,
discovered on the Arctic island of
Spitspergen in 2006, is the largest
marine reptile ever found.
Nicknamed “The Monster,” the
pliosaur would have measured 50
feet from nose to tail. It could
have picked up a small car in its
jaws and bite it in half. It is 20%
larger than the previous record-
holder, a Kronosaurus found in
Australia.—news.bbc.co.uk
(2/27/08)
Kronosaurus
2000-Pound Rodent
Fossil Discovered
Scientists in Uruguay have found
the fossil remains of a 2000-
pound rodent, the largest ever
found. The new species of rodent
has a well preserved fossil skull,
small teeth, and weak jawbones.
The largest living rodent is the
South American carpincho or
capybara which can weigh in at
about 125 pounds.—news.yahoo.
com (1/16/08)
Crusaders Left Mark
Medieval crusaders left their mark
in the Middle East, in the form of
faint genetic traces. The
Genographic Project, a major
effort to track human migrations
through DNA, found some
Christian men in Lebanon
carrying a Western Europe DNA
signature. Thousands of
Europeans passed through
Lebanon between the 11th and
13th centuries as part of four
Crusades.—news.bbc.co.uk
(3/27/08)
More Little People
Fossils Discovered
A South African anthropologist
says he has discovered skulls and
bones of 26 small-bodied humans
in island caves in the South
Pacific. The people lived 1,000-
3,000 years ago in Palau he says.
If his findings indicate that
humans tend to dwarf in island
settings, this may support the idea
of some anthropologists that the
Indonesia “hobbit” was a dwarf
human and not a separate
species.—www.nature.com
(3/10/08)
A Siberia-America Link?
Native people in the Americas can
be genetically linked to people
indigenous to Siberia, new
research has found. The study
supports the theory that humans
first traveled to America over a
land bridge across the Bering
Strait. Scientists at Stanford U.
studied genes of 938 people from
51 places and looked at some
650,000 DNA locations in each
person. One important finding was
the genetic similarities between
the Yakut people in Siberia with
native populations in Mexico,
Central America, Colombia and
Brazil.—news.yahoo.com
(2/21/08) - from Reuters
Medieval crusaders left their mark
in the Middle East, in the form of
faint genetic traces. The
Genographic Project, a major
effort to track human migrations
through DNA, found some
Christian men in Lebanon
carrying a Western Europe DNA
signature. Thousands of
Europeans passed through
Lebanon between the 11th and
13th centuries as part of four
Crusades.—news.bbc.co.uk
(3/27/08)
More Little People
Fossils Discovered
A South African anthropologist
says he has discovered skulls and
bones of 26 small-bodied humans
in island caves in the South
Pacific. The people lived 1,000-
3,000 years ago in Palau he says.
If his findings indicate that
humans tend to dwarf in island
settings, this may support the idea
of some anthropologists that the
Indonesia “hobbit” was a dwarf
human and not a separate
species.—www.nature.com
(3/10/08)
A Siberia-America Link?
Native people in the Americas can
be genetically linked to people
indigenous to Siberia, new
research has found. The study
supports the theory that humans
first traveled to America over a
land bridge across the Bering
Strait. Scientists at Stanford U.
studied genes of 938 people from
51 places and looked at some
650,000 DNA locations in each
person. One important finding was
the genetic similarities between
the Yakut people in Siberia with
native populations in Mexico,
Central America, Colombia and
Brazil.—news.yahoo.com
(2/21/08) - from Reuters
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