Washington, April 8 : Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and be used for ethanol production, thus contributing to solve the global energy crisis.

Their research shows that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Dr. Jay Cheng.

This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," said fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp.

"We can kill two birds - biofuel production and wastewater treatment - with one stone - duckweed," Cheng said.

Washington, April 8 : In a new study, scientists have analyzed the DNA of 68 whale sharks from 11 locations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, in an effort to study the migration of the threatened species.

The study was conducted by Jennifer Schmidt, University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor of biological sciences, and her colleagues.

The results showed little genetic variation between the populations, which indicates migration and interbreeding among far-flung populations of the big fish.

Berlin, April 8 : The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of an oddball galaxy that is highlighted with striking swirling dust lanes and glittering globular clusters.

Dubbed NGC 7049, the galaxy is found in the constellation of Indus, and is the brightest of a cluster of galaxies, a so-called Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG).

Typical BCGs are some of the oldest and most massive galaxies. They provide excellent opportunities for astronomers to study the elusive globular clusters lurking within.

The globular clusters in NGC 7049 are seen as the sprinkling of small faint points of light in the galaxy's halo.

Washington, April 8: A new analysis by scientists has determined that climate change would bring about rapid shifts in worldwide wildfire patterns, and those changes are coming fast.

The analysis was done by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with scientists at Texas Tech University.

Researchers used thermal-infrared sensor data obtained between 1996 and 2006 from European Space Agency satellites in their study of pyrogeography – the distribution and behavior of wildfire – on a global scale.

Melbourne, April 8 : In a new research, scientists have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine.

The research, conducted by researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University, indicates that the brightness of the reflected earthshine varied as the Earth rotated, revealing the difference between the intense mirror-like reflections of the ocean compared to the dimmer land.

Washington, April 8: NASA has chosen the material for a heat shield that will protect a new generation of space explorers when they return from the moon.

After extensive study, NASA has selected the Avcoat ablator system for the Orion crew module.

Orion is part of the Constellation Program that is developing the next-generation spacecraft system for human exploration of the moon and further destinations in the solar system.

The Orion crew module, which will launch atop an Ares I rocket, is targeted to begin carrying astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015 and to the moon in 2020.