World's largest space telescope ready to be launch in 2018

The world’s largest and most complex space telescope is finally ready after nearly two decades of construction.

Named after former NASA administrator James Webb, it will be far bigger and powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, it is set to replace.

When it is launched into space in 2018, it will be able to peer in time, teaching us more than ever before about the origins of the universe. It will also be tasked with looking for signs of life on other planets.

Senior NASA Astrophysicist at the Observational Cosmology Laboratory, John C. Mather told a gathering: “We have done two decades of innovation and hard work and this is the result. We are opening up a whole new territory of astronomy. So we will see things that we haven’t been able to see before because this telescope is much more powerful than even the great Hubble telescope.”

The Telescope is equipped with a mirror five times larger than Hubble’s.

Powered by the Sun, the space telescope will be able to spot faint light from the very first objects that illuminated the universe and study every phase in the history of our universe following the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago).

“We would like to know how did we get here from the Big Bang. I am hoping that we will find something that nobody knows is out there,” Mather said.

“So some little thing that happened in the early universe, that came before the galaxies, some way the black holes were formed, we don’t know where they came from. So that is a wide open topic for scientists and close to home, everything we know about planets out there has been a complete surprise. So I am expecting some more complete surprises about planets,” he added.

The Telescope’s greater power will also mean that it can see planets in greater detail, allowing scientists look for atmospheres, seasons and even weather or signs of life.

A cooperative venture between Nasa and its European and Canadian counterparts, the James Webb Space Telescope still has to go through a series of rigorous tests simulating the violent sound and vibrations it is expected to experience on its way out into space.

credit: africanews.com

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baby with three biological parents

It was only a matter of time before the first baby was born with DNA from three parents.

Abrahim's birth will raise the hopes of any family affected by devastating diseases of mitochondria, the powerhouses found in every cell.

The boy's mum was affected by a disease called Leigh syndrome, a neurological disorder that had already killed two of her babies. It is caused by a defective gene in the mitochondria.

But by taking the nucleus - the yolk, in effect - from her egg and transferring it into the egg from a donor containing just the 'white', which includes the mitochondria, the scientists were able to produce a healthy baby.

It's a technique that has been carefully developed by UK scientists in Newcastle. It has taken them several years, largely because they have had to get permission from the embryology regulator every step of the way.

It has yet to be used clinically in Britain and any doctor hoping to use the technique would have to get special permission and then abide by tight controls.

But there are no such safeguards in Mexico, which makes many scientists uneasy.

In fact the team decamped from their base in New York to work over the border precisely because the technique is illegal in the US.

In this case the doctors only used the technique to create male embryos. 

That prevents the genetic changes being passed on because mitochondria and the genes they contain always come from the mother.

So in Abrahim's case there won't be indelible genetic changes being passed down a family line.

But there are also concerns whether he will be monitored as he grows up. 

In the UK doctors would have to regularly check there are no unexpected consequences from tampering with the egg - and they would proceed cautiously before rolling out the technique.

But that doesn't detract from the medical breakthrough. 

It does, however, highlight the different standards of regulation that exist around the world.

Unscrupulous medical teams could in future take advantage of desperate families - and that should make us all uneasy.

credit: http://news.sky.com/story/three-parent-baby-breakthrough-sparks-concerns-10596134

 

 

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Finnair claims fastest way to get to Europe

Finnair, the government backed airline of Finland, will make its inaugural flight between Singapore and Helsinki Monday.

With a flight time of just 11 hours and 30 minutes, it claims to be the fastest way to get between Singapore and Europe.

The new route uses its new fleet of Airbus A350 XWBs, a widebody aircraft that claims to use 25-percent less fuel compared to its aluminum long-range competitors, like Boeing's B777. The aircraft, which first entered the market last year, offers passengers 18-inch wide seats as the standard in economy.

Finnair is the first European airline to fly the aircraft between Europe and Asia. As part of its marketing strategy, Finnair is boasting that the route provides regional travelers with the shortest connection between Asia and Europe, with layovers as little as 35 minutes to major hubs including London, Paris and Amsterdam.

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