Knara - Slashdot User

Mystery Roar from Faraway Space Detected -> 0

Submitted by Knara on Thursday January 08 2009, @04:22PM

Knara writes "From Space.com:

Space is typically thought of as a very quiet place. But one team of astronomers has found a strange cosmic noise that booms six times louder than expected. The roar is from the distant cosmos. Nobody knows what causes it. The signal is measured to be six times brighter than the combined emission of all known radio sources in the universe. For now, the origin of the signal remains a mystery. "We really don't know what it is,"said team member Michael Seiffert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
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Autism Shown to Have Significant Genetic Basis-> 0

Submitted by Knara on Thursday January 10 2008, @06:31PM

Knara writes "From an article on ABCNews.com:

'[...]Three different laboratories across the country have identified the same gene abnormality as a possible cause of autism — adding to the growing body of evidence that the disorder is primarily genetic.

The gene — known to scientists as contactin-associated proteinlike 2 (CNTNAP2) — has been a prime autism suspect among scientists. The gene is a blueprint of sorts for an important protein involved in the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other properly.'

There's also a slightly more technical scoop at MedPageToday"
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