Dinosaurs were reptiles that dominated the Earth during the Mesozoic Era (250 to 65 mya, or million years ago). The initial dinosaurs were small (less than a meter to few meters in size) during the Triassic period (upto 202 mya), but they grew much larger during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when the fearsome T. Rex roamed the Earth.

Massospondylus carinatus (Embryo and Adult) (Courtesy: Sciam)
Scientists have discovered the oldest fossilized dinosaur embryos yet, which reveal tantalizing clues about dinosaur evolution. The embryos indicate that some of the prehistoric creatures started out on four legs before growing into bipedal behemoths. They also support the notion that newly hatched dinos did not fend for themselves and instead relied on their parents for nourishment:):).
Robert Reisz of the University of Toronto at Mississauga and his colleagues studied five fossilized embryos inside dinosaur eggs recovered from Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa. The eggs are about 190 million years old, which was the beginning of the Jurassic period, and illustrate the development of Massospondylus, a creature that grew to five meters in length.
Scientists were able to compare the fossils of fully grown Massospondylus with the embryos, and chart the growth of the animal. They suggest that Massospondylus's horizontal neck, heavy head and immature limb proportions would have led to it walking on all fours shortly after hatching. As it matured, its neck grew faster compared with its head and forelimbs, resulting in a body type more suited to bipedal locomotion:):).

Nano-Technology deals with the materials at size of a nanometer (10^-9 meter) and smaller. NanoTech, which allows the creation of devices a 1000-fold smaller than those possible today, is sure to transform the world within the next few decades:).
Physicists at the University of Pennsylvania have overcome a major hurdle in the race to create nanotube-based Electronics. The researchers (Alan Johnson and colleagues) have used Carbon NanoTubes to create functional electronic circuits.

NanoTube Substrate (Courtesy: PhysOrg)NanoTubes are so small, that the conventional procedure of etching the electronic components onto the substrate does not work anymore. The new method creates circuits by dipping semiconductor chips into liquid suspensions of carbon nanotubes, rather than growing the nanotubes directly on the circuit:):). The chips are pre-treated with a glue, on which the nanotubes stick when the chips are dipped into the suspension. The excess glue is then washed away using some solvent, and only the nanotube circuits remain!
The resulting circuits take advantage of unique electrical properties of nanotubes and can be produced in bulk. Since the researchers can create nanotubes via processes separate from the chips, this process allows for a better control of the quality and diameter.
Bulk creation and quality control are two essential ingredients that should lead to a wider application of this research to manufacturing of large-scale nano-electronic devices in the near future:). Such devices, for example, promise computers on a thumbnail running at 1000s of GHz speeds. The possibilities are infinite!

Since childhood, it has been drilled into our heads that there are nine planets in the Solar System. However, there is nothing magical about the number 9, and it has always been assumed that there might be more planets lurking out there. Now, 75 years after Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ninth planet Pluto, a tenth one has been found:):). Observed through the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, California, even though it is a typical member of the Kuiper Belt, it is possibly larger than Sedna (largest object beyond Neptune other than Pluto), has a moon, and thus is a planet in its own right.

Tenth Planet (Courtesy: CalTech)Tentatively named as 2003 EL61, the planet is about 97 times farther from the Sun than the Earth. It was first observed on October 31, 2003 and again observed in January of this year. In the last seven months, scientists have gathered enough data to make sure the size and orbit of the object, which conclusively pins it down as the tenth planet of the Solar System.
The size of the planet is limited by observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which has already proved its mettle in studying the heat of dim, faint, faraway objects such as the Kuiper-belt bodies. Because Spitzer is unable to detect the new planet, the overall diameter of the planet has to be less than 2,000 miles. A name for the new planet has been proposed by the discoverers (Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz) to the International Astronomical Union, and they are awaiting the decision of this body before announcing the name:):).

Evolution is normally a painstakingly slow process, by which organisms adapt to their surroundings through a slow but steady tinkering in their genes. As generations pass, the new traits are passed on to descendants, and only those that adapt the best, survive.
However, there are scenarios when evolution happens in a so-called 'blink of an eye'. Scientists have recently discovered that a new species of insect might have been created as a result of cross-species mating:). The process, called hybridisation, is common among plants (and indeed has been used to artificially create many interesting fruits). But this is the first time an animal species has evolved in nature, in this way.

Blueberry Maggot (Courtesy: USDA)The probable new species belongs to a group of flies known as fruit maggots – highly specialised fruit parasites in which each species infests its own particular plant species. Bruce McPheron and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State University found that a particular species, called the Honeysuckle maggots, looked like the result of hybridisation between two fruit maggot pests of native species, the Blueberry maggot and the Snowberry maggot:)). The honeysuckle maggots, it seems, contain a blend of genes found only in the blueberry and snowberry maggots.
The first hybrid generation of Snowberry and Blueberry offsprings would have exactly half the genes of each kind. The discovered Honeysuckle maggots have a wide variety of gene ratios, suggesting that they have been inter-breeding for at least a hundred generations or so!
If such hybridisations can lead to totally new insect morphology and behavior, this would mean a much faster evolution in insects than previously suspected. We therefore need to think if insects in the past have also indulged in such practices, and if yes, what modifications and re-evaluation it would bring to the currently accepted hierarchical classification of insects in the Animal Kingdom.

One of the biggest mysteries lies right beneath our feet. We have uncovered secrets of alien planets and galaxies, yet the secrets locked inside our own Earth is largely unknown. I am referring to the composition of the planet Earth. Part of the problem is that there is no direct way to sample the interior: so one has to resort to indirect means, such as seismology or mining. Until now:):).
Scientists have for the first time detected tiny particles called geoneutrinos coming from deep within the Earth. Neutrinos are nearly massless particles that are emitted as by-products of nuclear reactions, such as fusion reactions at the solar core, or radioactive decaying of metals such as Uranium and Thorium.

Inside the KamLAND Detector (Courtesy: PhysicsWeb)The decay of radioactive metals inside Earth result in a stream of neutrinos, called geoneutrinos. For the first time ever, these particles were detected by a Japanese apparatus called KamLAND:):).
The detector used in the new study is buried under a mountain, to shield it from other neutrinos that arrive from space. It consists of 2,000 specialized light sensors inside a 59-foot (18-meter) balloon filled with, in lay terms, baby oil, benzene and a fluorescent stuff. When a geoneutrino interacts with the cocktail, it emits little flash of light. Over the past two years, the setup spotted about one of the elusive geoneutrinos a month. Each geoneutrino carries a signature of its chemical origin.
By building larger detectors, more such neutrinos might be detected. That will give us a peek into the interior workings of the Earth, by allowing us to locate the layers where the decays are taking place, and whether this layer is stationary/moving, its temperature, age and so on:). It will not happen overnight, but within a few decades, this new technique might just revolutionize our understanding of our planet Earth:).

Move over Teraflops (1,000,000,000,000 flops), Petaflops is here:D:D. In the computer world, the word flops refers to FLoating point Operations Per Second, which is used as a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating point calculations. Currently, United States has the fastest supercomputer (IBM's Blue Gene/L), that runs at 136.8 teraflops. However, soon Japan might have the fastest one! According to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry of Japan, the planned supercomputer will operate at a maximum speed of 10 petaflops (10,000 teraflops!!).

Blue Gene/L Supercomputer (Courtesy: ITNews)The total amount for the project is likely to reach $716 million to $895 million by the time the project is completed in 2010, if all goes as planned.
Such high-speed computers are necessary for simulating experiments that are difficult to conduct or take too much time in real life. Researchers hope to use the computer to develop new drugs, to simulate the formation of galaxies and to predict the paths of typhoons and intense rainfall.
The Japanese supercomputer held the title of world's fastest until last September but as of June it had fallen to fourth place. USA is also planning a petaflop computer by 2010:):).

According to the theory of Evolution, the traits of living organisms change over generations to adapt to their surroundings. Members of the same species, living under different circumstances, evolve in different ways. Over time, the species splits into two (or more) branches. This process is known as Speciation.
For this speciation to occur, the branches must refrain from interbreeding. The most obvious way this can happen is through Geographical Isolation (the branches are separated by a river, mountain, etc.), but it can also happen even when the branches are living side-by-side! Why it could be so was a mystery, until now:).

Agrodiaetus iphigenia nonacriensis (Courtesy: Sommerfugle)Even when the branches are living together, they might choose not to interbreed, a process termed Reproductive Isolation. Researchers from Harvard University, while studying a family of butterflies, think they have witnessed a subtle process, which could be forcing a wedge between such newly formed branches/species.
They found that closely related butterfly species (of genus Agrodiaetus, in Asia) living in the same geographical space displayed unusually distinct wing markings. These wing colors apparently evolved so as to allow the butterflies to easily identify the species of a potential mate.
It seems that if closely related species of Agrodiaetus are geographically separate, they tend to look quite similar. But when they are living side-by-side, they look strikingly different! This has the effect of discouraging inter-species mating, thus encouraging genetic isolation and species divergence:):).
However, at least to me, it is not obvious what is cause and what is effect. It could very well be, that because the species has developed the distinct markings while living in close quarters, that speciation was able to happen, rather than the other way round! Perhaps more research is needed to pin that one down:):).