October 2006 in science

Events in Science and Technology

October 31, 2006

• NASA director Mike Griffin announces that the shuttle Discovery is now scheduled to service the Hubble Space Telescope in 2008. (BBCNews)

October 28, 2006

• The genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera has been fully sequenced and analyzed. (Nature)

October 19, 2006

• NASA scientists announce that measurements show that the ozone hole over the Antarctic reached a record large surface area in 2006. They explain the extreme size on unusually cold air temperatures over the polar region. (Reuters)

October 16, 2006

• New results on the artificial creation of the element ununoctium are published. The pathway announced for the detection of element 118 is different from that supposedly used in a fraudulent announcement of its creation in 2002,. (Reuters)

October 14, 2006

• US and Hong Kong researchers publish the invention of a gel that seals bleeding wounds quickly, and then breaks down into amino acids which can be used to heal the wound. It may have the potential to significantly reduce surgery times. (BBC)

October 12, 2006

• A study published in Science announces the discovery of ca. 600 million year old embryo fossils (of an unknown species), that were in the process of cell division when they were killed. (Reuters)

October 10, 2006

• Fossilized bones of a previously unknown species of a "giant" dromedary are discovered in Syria. (BBCNews)
• Scientists found a bacterium designated Desulfotomaculum which is independent of photosynthesis that uses energy provided by radioisotopes to form hydrogen sulfide. (NewScientist)

October 9, 2006

• Combining astrometry data taken over many years at multiple observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope, a study obtains the exact mass and orbital inclination of the planet candidate of Epsilon Eridani. The inclination matches the already known value for the dust disk around the star. This strongly supports the notion of how planets form from the material around young stars. (SpaceRef.com)

October 5, 2006

• Astronomers describe a new class of extra-solar planets which they name ultra-short-period planets. (BBC)

October 4, 2006

• American Roger Kornberg wins the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for describing the essential process of gene copying in cells, research that can give insight into illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. (Boston Globe)
• The X PRIZE Foundation announces the Archon X-Prize for Genomics award of 10 million USD to the first privately funded team that can decode 100 sets of human DNA within 10 days. (BBCNews)

October 3, 2006

• United States scientists John C. Mather and George Smoot win the Nobel Prize in physics for research into cosmic microwave background radiation that helps explain the origins of galaxies and stars. (Bloomberg)

October 2, 2006

• Andrew Fire and Craig Mello win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in controlling the activity of genes. (ABC)

References