Washington, June 11 : Symptoms associated with jet lag, shifts in work schedules, seasonal changes in day lengths, and disorders like insomnia and depression may become treatable with a pill if an Indian-origin researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has his way.

Dr. Satchidananda Panda says that this objective may be accomplished by understanding how the elimination of melanopsin, a photopigment in the eyes that measures the intensity of incoming light, makes the body clock blind to light without having any adverse effect on normal vision.

Washington, June 11 : A new research has determined that a new complete evolutionary ‘family tree’ showing how all British bird species are related to each other may provide clues about which ones are at risk of population decline and are endangered.

Comparing the new family tree with existing lists of endangered bird species, author Dr Gavin Thomas from the NERC Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College London found that British birds currently suffering population decline were clustered close together on the same branches of the family tree.

Because of this, the family tree, or ‘phylogeny’, could be used to predict which species are at risk of decline in the future.

Washington, June 11 : A new study has determined that the rate of climate warming and permafrost thaw over northern Alaska, Canada, and Russia could more than triple during periods of rapid sea ice loss.

Conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the study raises concerns about the thawing of permafrost, or permanently frozen soil, and the potential consequences for sensitive ecosystems, human infrastructure, and the release of additional greenhouse gases.

“Our study suggests that, if sea-ice continues to contract rapidly over the next several years, Arctic land warming and permafrost thaw are likely to accelerate,” said lead author David Lawrence of NCAR.

Washington, June 11 : Physicists have uncovered new secrets about the properties of graphene—a form of pure carbon that may one day replace the silicon in computers, televisions, mobile phones and other common electronic devices.

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycombed lattice, has a number of advantages over silicon.

Because it is an optically transparent conductor of electricity, graphene could be used to replace current liquid crystal displays that employ thin metal-oxide films based on indium, a rare metal that is becoming increasingly expensive and likely to be in short supply within a decade.

Washington, June 11 : Researchers at Northwestern University in the US have developed new transistors that hold up well when exposed to radiation, which could prove helpful on long space missions.

These transistors, that have been based on a new kind of material, have already been lifted into outer space on the space shuttle Endeavour and attached to the outside of the International Space Station for radiation testing.

The transistors, which used a new kind of gate dielectric material called a self-assembled nanodielectric (SAND), were placed on the space station during a spacewalk on March 22 this year.

The transistors will remain there for a year as part of a NASA materials experiment to see how they and other materials hold up to the harsh space environment.

Washington, June 11 : University of Missouri archaeologists have discovered that early man, on the way to perfecting the performance of the bow and arrow, engaged in experimental research, producing a great variety of projectile points in the quest for the best, most effective system, a precursor to today’s “cutting-edge” weapons.

When the “cutting-edge” technology of the bow and arrow was introduced to the world, it changed the way humans hunted and fought.

According to R. Lee Lyman, professor and chair of the University of Missouri Department of Anthropology, “When the bow and arrow appeared in North America, roughly
1,500 years ago, it eventually replaced the atlatl (spear thrower) and dart.”