Sci-tech
Life
is a Lottery
You
haven't inherited all your mother's genes have you? She's
quite different from you in some respects. Of course you've
only got half of her complete set of chromosomes - but which
half? It's a lottery that's drawn when the chromosome pairs
line up before division. The new egg cells could receive either
member of each chromosome pair and the selection is random.
That leads to a staggering 8, 388, 608 possible combinations
of the different chromosomes. You just don't know which of
mum's genes are coming your way. The shuffling of chromosomes
before they are halved in the egg production factory is only
half of the story in terms of the shuffling of genes that
goes on as they are handed down through families. Before chromosomes
are distributed into a sperm or an egg, genes are shuffled
between matching chromosome pairs in a process known as recombination.
Because of recombination, every chromosome in every sperm
and egg contains a unique mixture of genes.
Microsoft
Clock
Microsoft
has taken an idea straight from the pages of the Harry Potter
novels by inventing a "clock" that can pinpoint
the exact location of everyone in a household. The futuristic
device that uses satellite technology to track down people
and then transmits the information back to a wall clock has
words such as "home", "work" and "school"
on its face instead of numbers. The Microsoft gadget that
was unveiled at the Seattle-based Company's annual in-house
science show is not expected to be widely available for several
years. But the company said it could eventually be used by
parents to keep track of their children.
Short
Index Finger links to Aggression
The
length of a man's fingers can reveal how physically aggressive
he is, a new research has said. According to researchers at
the University of Alberta, if the index finger is shorter
than the ring finger, then the man will be more boisterous.
This is the conclusion scientists arrived at after studying
300 people's fingers. There is known to be a direct correlation
between finger lengths and the amount of male hormone testosterone
a baby is exposed to in the womb. Among women, the two fingers
are usually almost equal in length, as measured from the crease
nearest the palm to the fingertip while in men the ring finger
tends to be longer than the index. In the current study, scientist
Peter Hurd found men with the shortest index fingers scored
higher on measures of physical aggression than those with
longer index fingers. Hurd is now looking at male hockey players
to see if there is any correlation between finger lengths
and each player's penalty record for contact and fouling during
matches.
Scientists
May Have Found First Dark Galaxy
Radio
astronomers might have stumbled upon the first galaxy composed
of dark matter or still invisible matter that scientists believe
most of the universe is made of. The so-called "dark
galaxy" is located in the Virgo cluster about 50 million
light years away from the Earth and rotating in a way similar
to regular galaxies made of visible matter but it has no stars.
The discovery made by astronomers from Cardiff University
in collaboration with Italian scientists is to be published
next month. It was detected with the help of radio astronomy
techniques that have recently been used to observe complex
structures such as galaxies made of gas instead of stars.
The dark matter is named due to the fact that it absorbs rather
than emits radiation. The only proof of its existence is the
gravitational pull that it exerts on the visible matter. Astronomers
believe the universe contains about five percent visible matter,
25 percent dark matter and 70 percent dark energy.
Chicken
Learn Tricks while Pigs Cheat
Farm
animals may be dumb but they are definitely not stupid. While
the humble hen can master complex tricks, sheep have been
found to react to facial expressions and, like humans, seem
to prefer a smile to a grimace, research has said. Findings
offer compelling evidence that creatures caricatured as mindlessly
dumb can actually feel emotions usually associated with humans
- such as jealousy, love and loss. Scientists at the Babraham
Institute in Cambridge have discovered that sheep possess
a sharp sense of individuality and can remember the faces
of at least 10 people and 50 other sheep for at least two
years. Further studies, which involved tests, show that sheep
mourn absent individuals, reinforcing the notion that they
are more like humans than previously believed. Researchers
have found that pigs were found to have a cerebral capacity
beyond popular preconception. They were found to be masters
of deceit, deliberately misleading other pigs if it would
result in more food for them. Chicken, however, command an
extraordinary degree of self-control over food. They are willing
to delay gratification if they think a larger portion will
be offered in due course. Other research found that the chicken
boast a greater sense of spatial awareness than young children
and also proved that they could learn tricks such as opening
doors and navigating mazes with a speed usually seen in dogs
and horses. Similarly the cow, often viewed by modern society
as little more than a benign food source, has also shown to
be an astute animal capable of solving riddles with an intellect
traditionally more associated with an ape. The reputation
of parrots as purveyors of a broad vocabulary has been reinforced
with one study that saw a grey parrot mastering 1,000 words
and learnt to communicate in a manner that would shame some
British adults. Similarly, new evidence suggests that fish
earlier known to have a three-second memory, can be highly
manipulative and cultured. Elephants can make graves by breaking
branches to cover their dead colleagues. They also have a
large hippocampus, the part of the brain that stores mental
maps.
Source:
The BBC and Webindia/23
Compiled
by: Imran H. Khan
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2005
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