Physicists can now hear normally inaudible quantum vibrations/whistles, thanks to the work of scientists (Dr. Richard Packard, and grad. student Emile Hoskinson) at U. C. Berkley. Helium-4 at near absolute zero temperatures (less than 2 Kelvin) behaves like a superfluid. At this temperature, the liquid flows without friction, due to quantum effects, just like electricity loses all resistance in a superconductor.

Researchers with a cyrostat insert (Courtesy: Spacedaily)The scientists pushed this liquid through an array of apertures 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. As the velocity of the fluid reached a critical level, a strange phenomenon known as the microscopic quantum whirlpool dashed through the apertures, thus sapping some of the liquid's energy. This instantly slowed the flow. Thus the liquid would speed up and slow down in the narrow channels, creating vibrations that produced a whistling sound going from high to low. You can hear the whistling at this NASA link.
So what are the benefits of this work, other than the nice whistling sound?! It is possible that this research might lead to enhanced earthquake studies, and more accurate navigation system (such as GPS). Temperatures as low as 2K can be synthesized easily using off-the-shelf components, and small vibrations in the earth, or small changes in the orientation of a satellite, can be more accurately measured with this technology.

The Venus Fly trap plant (Dionaea Muscipula) is found in the southeastern USA. It is a carnivorous plant (eats insects and such) in addition to a plant-like metabolism (absorbing nutrients from the ground, and photosynthesis). Uptil now, the mechanism of its insect-trapping operation was not clear, since the plant does not have a nervous system or any muscles or tendons.
Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and colleagues (Yoël Forterre, Jan M. Skotheim, Jacques Dumais) have written a paper in Nature explaining how the Venus flytrap is able to snap shut almost instantaneously.
Since the plant lacks any kind of nervous system, it achieves this trapping feat through hardware. When the insect lands on one of the leaves, it excites the small hairs on its surface. This moves water inside the plant leaves, which changes the curvature of the leaves. This causes the leaves to gain some elastic energy, which they lose by closing on the hapless insect. It then takes hours for the leaves to open, by which time the insect is dead, and digested. The exoskeleton of the insect is not digested, and it falls away as the leaves reopen.
Mahadevan developed a mathematical model to describe the movements, and used a high-speed ultraviolet video to observe the movements of the leaves. He had to excite the same hair on the leaf twice within a time period of 10-15 seconds in order to get the leaves to close. This enables the plant to avoid a false alarm.

Last week, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico began a comprehensive survey (dubbed ALFALFA, for Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey) of all galaxies in a large area of the sky to a distance of 800 million light years. This search might very well discover some of the so-called dark galaxies, which have never been seen. Such galaxies (which exist only in theory) would compose of huge amounts of hydrogen and helium, but have never ignited to form stars (or the stars perhaps are hidden behind a dense fog of dark matter). Such cold matter would only be visible at radio-frequencies, whereas optical (such as Hubble) and x-ray (Chandra) telescopes will not be able to see them.

Arecibo dish(Courtesy: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center)The telescope is fitted with a new compound eye. Last year, its sensitivity was further boosted by the Arecibo L-Band Feed Array (ALFA): essentially a seven-pixel camera that will allow astronomers to collect data about seven times faster than before.
Such dark galaxies might be responsible for a large portion of the missing matter in the universe. Accounting for this matter will help us better understand the large scale structure of the universe, and also confirm/negate theoretical models/predictions regarding the creation and fate of our universe.

Scientists have found a 115 million old fossil of a jawbone (12 to 15 mm long) of a long extinct mammal (Teinolophos Trusleri; a monotreme like platypus). The fossil was found in a rock on the west coast of Victoria (Australia). The specimen suggests that monotremes split away from other mammals (placental/marsupial mammals) much earlier than previously thought (200 million years, instead of 140m).
It also looks like mammals developed the mechanisms of the inner ear (at least) twice!. Modern mammals have three bones (Malleus, Incus, Stapes) in their middle ear. These bones work together to transmit sound towards the skull. Birds and reptiles have only one bone (Image Courtesy: Nature). Up till now, scientists thought that the inner ear mechanism in mammals must have evolved in an ancestor common to both monotremes and other mammals. This ancient fossil is of a time later than when monotremes split from other mammals (115m years old, split at 200m years). However, its jawbone (and inner ear) has no signs of three inner-ear bones. Since modern monotremes have three bones, this structure must evolved independently of the structure in other mammals.
Such development is known as conversion evolution, when different animals evolve the same features to meet similar challenges. Scientists now have to compare the structures in monotremes and other mammals to see how close the two evolutionary processes were. Should be exciting!

10,000 year old engravings have been found in a Somerset cemetery. Researchers (Graham Mullan and Linda Wilson) from Bristol University's Speleological Society discovered the engravings in the local Mendip Hills cave. The engravings were in the shape of crosses, on the wall of Avelin Hole in Burrington Combe. The caves were used for burials after the end of the last Ice Age. The most interesting thing: the patterns are similar to finds from France, Germany and Denmark during the similar period.

Engravings (Courtesy: BBC)
The researchers have spent the last 10 years uncovering such Paleolithic art in Britain. More such discoveries are expected. The discoveries do suggest a commonality between the peoples living in Britain and mainland Europe 10,000 years ago, and that perhaps they had some common cultural streaks.

A typical man-made nuclear reactor requires a myriad number of skilled technicians and scientists to ensure safe operation. All the parameters of the reaction must be exactly controlled, and the hazardous post-reaction nuclear waste must be disposed off somehow. However, nature (as always) has found a clever, simpler way of doing it. It has been known for around 30 years that nature once did nuclear (fission) chain reactions. Researchers (Alexander Meshik, and colleagues) at Washington University in St. Louis have analyzed the isotopic structure of noble gases produced in fission in a sample from the only known natural nuclear chain reaction site in the world in Gabon, West Africa, and have found how she does the trick.

A handheld nuclear reactor! (Courtesy: Washington University)
In a fission reaction, an unstable (like Uranium) atom splits into two smaller (Barium and Krypton) atoms (U₂₃₅-->Ba₁₄₂+Kr₉₀). The subscript (e.g. 235 in U₂₃₅) is the number of nucleons (protons + neutrons) in the nucleus of the atom. This total number of nucleons (also known as Baryon Number) on the left and right of the nuclear reaction must be identical. In the above reaction, left has 235, and right has 232, and therefore, each such reaction also generates three free nucleons (in this case, neutrons). These neutrons, at high speed, collide with other uranium atoms, and thus triggering their breakup (a chain reaction, as in a fission bomb). In a typical nuclear reactor, these runaway neutrons are absorbed by a moderator (e.g. deuterium/heavy water, D₂O), and thus enabling a controlled reaction.
The researchers found that at the Gabon site, radioactive uranium converted into xenon and krypton, in the presence of a moderating mineral (an assembly of lanthanum, cerium, strontium, and calcium called alumophosphate). The alumophosphate also absorbed the waste material produced by the reaction. Ground water helped carry the runaway neutrons to other uranium atoms. As reaction proceeded, the rising temperature boiled off the ground water. With no water, the reaction stopped. After a while, as the temperature dropped, new influx of ground water would re-start the reaction. In this sense, the whole apparatus operated like a geyser, switching on for half-an-hour after every two-and-a-half hours.
This reactor operated some 2 billion years ago, for about 150 million years, with a power output of 100 kiloWatts. So why did it not blow up? Researchers found that the boiling water provided an elegant feedback mechanism. Increasing temperature boiled off the water, and thus cutting off the reaction. Also, a high concentration of moderating chemicals slowed down the reaction process.
A lot can perhaps be learnt from this natural reactor. Perhaps we can find a way to utilize nuclear reactions, and also solve issues such as waste disposal, and runaway meltdowns.

Coral Reefs might have the ability to regulate the temperature by creating their own clouds. First reported here, researchers (Graham Jones, Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, and colleagues) working on the Great Barrier Reef near the Australian coast discovered that the corals are full of Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS), which aerosolize in air. Water vapors condense on these aerosol particles, leading to cloud formation. This can have a large impact on the local climate. DMS is also produced by marine algae (especially Coccolithophorids), which gives the ocean its smell.

Great Barrier Reef (Courtesy: DoAustralia.com)An intriguing possibility is related to the Gaia hypothesis, which asserts that life on earth interacts with the environment in order to keep itself healthy. Under this hypothesis, the corals would maximize their well-being by regulating the temperature. In the long run, only those species that can coax the nature in this manner will be successful. Therefore, the evolutionary process is not only life adapting itself to its surroundings, but also nudging the environment to become more amenable to life's survival.