January 2005 in science - Definition

January 27 2005

• James Gunn, James Peebles, and Martin Rees are awarded the 2005 Crafoord Prize for their work on the large-scale structure of the Universe. (Science) (http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/127/1)

January 25 2005

• Scientists at Manchester University have developed a printer able to produce human skin to help wounds heal. (ManchesterOnline) (http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/143/143230_tailormade_skin_from_ink_printer.html)

January 20 2005

• Mars rover Opportunity uses its spectrometers to prove that Heat Shield Rock is a meteorite, the first to be found on another planet. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4192617.stm) (Space.com) (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_meteor_050120.html)

January 17 2005

• The Swift observatory images the first ongoing GRB with its X-ray telescope, after it automatically pointed itself towards the direction of the burst. (Spaceflightnow) (http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0501/22swift)

January 14 2005

• The Cassini-Huygens mission delivers the Huygens probe to Saturn's moon Titan successfully. Radio signals received on Earth indicate that the probe survived the touchdown onto the surface of the moon. Data relayed by the Cassini orbiter has arrived on Earth and is currently being analyzed. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4175099.stm)

January 13 2005

• NASA's MER-B Opportunity rover on Mars spots what appears to be a metallic meteorite on the surface of Meridiani Planum. More investigation will be carried out to determine the object's nature. (Space.com) (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_object_050113.html)

January 12 2005

• NASA's Deep Impact mission, which plans to crash a projectile into Comet Tempel 1, is launched from Cape Canaveral at 18:47 UTC. The projectile released by the spacecraft is scheduled to hit the comet on July 4. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4162869.stm).
• European researchers at the National Institute for Medical Research (http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk) in London have discovered that a small change in a single gene (Trim-5alpha) prevents HIV-1 from replicating in monkeys. This suggests a new method of gene therapy for AIDS. (Abstract, Curr Bio) (http://www.current-biology.com/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS096098220401022X) (NIMR Press Release) (http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/research/2005/aids/) (EarthTimes) (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/1183.html)
• Lowell Observatory announces the discovery of the three largest, though not heaviest, stars to date. Each is 1500 times larger than our sun. However, since they are red giants at the end of their life, they are not very dense and are only 25 times heavier than our sun. (Lowell Observatory Press Release) (http://www.lowell.edu/press_room/releases/recent_releases/largest_star_rls.html) (Preprint PDF file) (ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/massey/RSGMW.pdf) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4164365.stm)
• Rats can distinguish between languages with very different intonation patterns. Spanish neuroscientists trained rats to distinguish between Dutch and Japanese speech. They are the third mammal, after humans and Tamarin monkeys, that has been shown to be able to do this. NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/health/11anim.html) APA Press Release (http://www.apa.org/releases/speech.html)
• Palaeontologists unearth a new species of Mesozoic mammal Repenomamus giganticus in China. R. giganticus would resemble a large badger and fossilized stomach contents show that it ate small dinosaurs. (Nature) (http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050110/full/050110-11.html)

January 11 2005

• IBM announces that it's donating 500 technology patents to open-source groups. (Boston Herald) (http://business.bostonherald.com/technologyNews/view.bg?articleid=63073)

January 10 2005

• According to a study published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, people in love are terrible at judging whether others are in love. (Oregon State University Press Release) (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Jan05/loveisblind.htm)

January 3 2005

• Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka have reported that, despite the loss of human life in the Asian disaster, there have been no recorded animal deaths. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4136485.stm).
• The devastating earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean probably caused some islands to move by several metres. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4137727.stm).
• The silicon chip is the most significant invention developed during the past 50 years, according to a poll of CNN.com users. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/27/explorers.silicon/index.html).
• NASA celebrates the first anniversary of the Spirit rover's landing on Mars. (Xinhua) (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/04/content_2413972.htm) (National Geographic) (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0104_050104_mars_rovers.html).