January 2007 in science

Events in Science and Technology

January 30, 2007

• The launch attempt for a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket fails due to an explosion while sitting on the launch pad, shortly after the ignition of its main booster. (SpaceFlightNow)
• The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) device on board the Hubble Space Telescope has an electrical failure and shuts down. Mission members do not expect that the camera can be brought back to full working order. (BBCNews) (full story on wikinews)

January 24, 2007

• Scientists are celebrating the virgin birth of a Komodo dragon at the Toronto Zoo. There are fewer than 4000 Komodos left on earth.(CBC News)

January 23, 2007

• A rare eel-like creature identified as a frilled shark is discovered and caught in Awashima Marine Park, Japan. (Reuters) (CNN)

January 22, 2007

• The Indian Space Research Organisation announces the successful recovery of a space capsule, launched on January 10, 2007. This represents a first test of a human rated payload by this space agency. (SpaceRef.com)
• An American team of researchers at the University of Rochester have successfully stored, and recovered an image using a single photon. (CBC News)
• Scottish scientists have genetically engineered hens that produce useful drugs in their eggs. Furthermore, the hens are capable of passing on this trait to their offspring. (Science News Online)

January 18, 2007

• An analysis of a rocket launch at January 11, 2007 concludes that China tested the military use of its payload by destroying an orbiting satellite. If correct, this would be the first publicly known test of that technology in at least 20 years. (BBCNews) (Reuters)

January 16, 2007

• A fossilized human skull found at Pestera cu Oase, Romania, is dated to be about 35,000 years old and described to have features of mixed origin, both from modern Homo sapiens and older branches of the Homo genus. (BBCNews)

January 12, 2007

• The genome of Trichomonas vaginalis, the organism causing trichomoniasis, is sequenced and first results published in Science. (BBCNews)

January 11, 2007

• Scientists discover a new type of algae, Picobiliphytes are a marine picoplanktonic algal group with unknown affinities to other eukaryotes. (EurekAlert!)

January 8, 2007

• Researchers announce the successful use of stem cells recovered from the amniotic fluid, growing them into a large variety of cell types in the lab. (BBCNews)

January 4, 2007

• NASA publishes in Nature that Cassini–Huygens found methane lakes on Titan, a moon of Saturn. (BBCNews) (NASA) (Saturn Daily)

References