NASA to study clouds at edge of space
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., March 13 (UPI) -- NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft has arrived at Vandenberg, Calif., Air Force Base for launch aboard a Pegasus XL rocket.
The AIM spacecraft will include three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the mission's primary goal is to explain why such clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter, more numerous and appear at lower latitudes during recent years.
Scientists said they expect AIM's results to provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change.
AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April. Approximately one week later the payload fairing will be installed around the spacecraft.
Two days before the April 25 launch, the Pegasus rocket with the AIM spacecraft will be transported to the Vandenberg runway where it will be attached beneath a NASA L-1011 carrier aircraft.
Adolescent prefrontal cortex studied
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., March 13 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers have found adolescence is a time of change in the prefrontal cortex, a brain structure dedicated to higher functions.
University of Illinois scientists, in a study involving rats, found both males and females lose neurons in their ventral prefrontal cortex between adolescence and adulthood, with females losing about 13 percent more neurons than males.
The researchers said their study is the first to demonstrate the number of neurons in the prefrontal cortex decreases during adolescence and the first to document gender differences in the number of neurons in that area.
Earlier human studies found gradual reductions in the volume of the prefrontal cortex from adolescence to adulthood., said psychology professor and principal investigator Janice Juraska.
"But the finding that neurons are actually dying is completely new," said Juraska. "This indicates the brain reorganizes in a very fundamental way in adolescence."
The research by Juraska, graduate student Julie Markham and undergraduate student John Morris, appeared in the journal Neuroscience.
ESA places two satellites into orbit
PARIS, March 13 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency said an Ariane 5 rocket has placed two satellites into Earth orbit.
The first 2007 launch of an Arian 5 ECA rocket took place at Sunday evening at Europe's French Guiana spaceport. The satellites were placed into their correct orbits about 30 minutes later, the agency said.
The satellites are Skynet 5A, a secure telecommunications satellite for the British armed forces, and Insat 4B, which will provide fixed television and telecommunications services for the Indian subcontinent.
The Ariane 5 ECA rocket is designed to place payloads weighing up to 10 tons into geostationary transfer orbit.
Gene sequence dataset for rice developed
NEWARK, Del., March 13 (UPI) -- U.S. biologists have assembled a large dataset of gene sequences for rice -- the largest such dataset developed for any plant species.
The analysis is expected to lead to an increased understanding of how genes work in rice, which is an essential food for much of the world's population.
Plant biologist Blake Meyers of the University of Delaware and colleagues said their research was based on gene sequences representing nearly 47 million mRNA molecules and three million small RNAs.
The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is reported in the on-line issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
