Technology News for November 16, 2007

Archaeologists uncover city of the dead in Syria
Syrian archaeologists have unraveled a second century necropolis (a large cemetery or burial place) and statues along with several skeletons in the central town Palmyra. ANI

Methane based rocket thruster might power next moon mission
A aerospace company has successfully tested a rocket thruster, which might be used to power the engine of the Apollo 11 lunar lander on its next mission to the moon. ANI

Study elucidates role of maternal effects in plant growth
Researchers have shed more light on how stationary organisms like plants cope when faced with alterations to their environment, by finding that plants grown in the same setting as their maternal plant performed almost three-and-a-half times better than those raised in a different environment. ANI

Damaged ozone on way to recovery, says Oz scientist
Updated images taken by a satellite have shown that the hole in the ozone layer is on track to a full recovery. ANI

China sets targets to meet its renewable energy goals
China is on target to either meet or go beyond its ambitious renewable energy goals. ANI

Scientists work out how create trapped rainbow by bringing light to a halt
Researchers have worked out a theoretical means to create a trapped rainbow by bringing light to a screeching halt inside a material that would separate the light into its constituent colours. ANI

Dew harvesting web may be answer to clean water scarcity
Israeli architects are developing a portable dew-harvesting kit inspired by a spiders web for use in areas hit by scarcity of clean and safe water. ANI

More genes that turn on just one copy than earlier believed
A new study has challenged the long thought belief for human genes that sequences from both paternal and maternal chromosomes are equally expressed within a cell - by finding that hundreds of our genes turn on just one copy, rather than both. ANI

Webmasters favour Google over other search engines: Study
Penn State researchers have found that website policy makers who use robots.txt files to specify what is open and what is off limits to web crawlers favour Google over other search engines ANI

Robotic cockroaches can influence pest behaviours
Scientists have found a novel way to discover how groups of cockroaches make collective decisions - by creating a robotic cockroach that can mix with a social group of cockroaches and influence their behaviour. ANI

New images of comets core might provide clues about its brightness
New images from the Hubble Space Telescope might provide clues about the mysterious brightening of Comet 17P/Holmes. ANI

Glass beads discovery questions Spaniards colonization route in US
The discovery of glass beads and ancient slivers of iron in South Georgia, US, might prompt historians to reconsider the exact path that Spaniards took during their first successful colonization expedition in North America. ANI

New theory points to lost energy as cause for supernova explosion
Astrophysicts have come up with a new theory regarding supernova explosions after observing a superbright supernova last year. ANI

Ruins of ancient city discovered in China
A hitherto unknown ancient city has been discovered near the city of Chongging in China. ANI