Press Releases
March 2010
31 March 2010 - EMBL
Movies for the human genome
Name a human gene, and you’ll find a movie online showing you what happens to cells when it is switched off, thanks to work by researchers at EMBL Heidelberg and their collaborators in the Mitocheck consortium, in a study published today in Nature where they identify the genes involved in mitosis in humans.
31 March 2010 - ESO
The Light and Dark Face of a Star-Forming Nebula
Today, ESO is unveiling an image of the little known Gum 19, a faint nebula that, in the infrared, appears dark on one half and bright on the other. On one side hot hydrogen gas is illuminated by a supergiant blue star called V391 Velorum. New star formation is taking place within the ribbon of luminous and dark material that brackets V391 Velorum’s left in this perspective.
30 March 2010 - CERN
LHC research programme gets underway
Beams collided at 7 TeV in the LHC at 13:06 CEST, marking the start of the LHC research programme. Particle physicists around the world are looking forward to a potentially rich harvest of new physics as the LHC begins its first long run at an energy three and a half times higher than previously achieved at a particle accelerator.
24 March 2010 - ESO
Explained: Why many surveys of distant galaxies miss 90% of their targets
Astronomers have long known that in many surveys of the very distant Universe, a large fraction of the total intrinsic light was not being observed. Now, thanks to an extremely deep survey using two of the four giant 8.2-metre telescopes that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a unique custom-built filter, astronomers have determined that a large fraction of galaxies whose light took 10 billion years to reach us have gone undiscovered.
23 March 2010 - CERN
CERN sets date for first attempt at 7 TeV collisions in the LHC
With beams routinely circulating in the Large Hadron Collider at 3.5 TeV, the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, CERN has set the date for the start of the LHC research programme. The first attempt for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) is scheduled for 30 March.
22 March 2010 - EIROforum
Successfully establishing new Research Infrastructures
In a position paper presented at the European Conference on Research Infrastructures today, the members of EIROforum present the main challenges encountered by research infrastructure projects and offer to support and help new European research infrastructures to become world-class facilities for scientific research.
21 March 2010 - ESO
APEX Snaps First Close-up of Star Factories in Distant Universe
For the first time, astronomers have made direct measurements of the size and brightness of regions of star-birth in a very distant galaxy, thanks to a chance discovery with the APEX telescope. The galaxy is so distant, and its light has taken so long to reach us, that we see it as it was 10 billion years ago. A cosmic “gravitational lens” is magnifying the galaxy, giving us a close-up view that would otherwise be impossible.
19 March 2010 - CERN
LHC sets new record – accelerates beam to 3.5 TeV
At just after 5:20 this morning, two 3.5 TeV proton beams successfully circulated in the Large Hadron Collider for the first time. This is the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, and an important step on the way to the start of the LHC research programme.
18 March 2010 - EMBL
What makes us unique? Not only our genes
Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg and Yale and Stanford Universities have found that we differ from each other mainly because of differences not in our genes, but in how they’re regulated – turned on or off, for instance. Their study is published online today in Science.
17 March 2010 - ESO
First Temperate Exoplanet Sized Up
Combining observations from the CoRoT satellite and the ESO HARPS instrument, astronomers have discovered the first “normal” exoplanet that can be studied in great detail. Designated Corot-9b, the planet regularly passes in front of a star similar to the Sun located 1500 light-years away from Earth towards the constellation of Serpens (the Snake).
16 March 2010 - ESO
Jupiter’s Spot Seen Glowing
New ground-breaking thermal images obtained with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and other powerful ground-based telescopes show swirls of warmer air and cooler regions never seen before within Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, enabling scientists to make the first detailed interior weather map of the giant storm system linking its temperature, winds, pressure and composition with its colour.
16 March 2010 - EMBL
The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine officially inaugurates the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland in Helsinki
Today, the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine officially inaugurates the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) in Helsinki. The partnership was initiated in 2007 and is dedicated to research in molecular medicine, investigation of the molecular basis of disease and the discovery of new treatments.
9 March 2010 - EMBL
New training and conference centre for the life sciences at EMBL in Heidelberg
Today, the German Minister for Education and Research, Annette Schavan, officially opens the new training and conference centre for the life sciences on the campus of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.
4 March 2010 - CERN
CERN to celebrate International Women’s day
On Monday 8 March, CERN1 will take on a distinctly feminine look as the laboratory celebrates the role of women in physics. Often seen as a male preserve, the reality is rather different, with women playing key roles across all areas of CERN activity.
4 March 2010 - ESO
E-ELT Site Selection Advisory Committee Recommends Cerro Armazones in Chile
ESO Council delegates met in Committee on 2–3 March 2010 and discussed the process for adoption of a baseline reference site for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This will enable the successful conclusion of the detailed design of the telescope with the goal of preparing a proposal for construction in due course.
4 March 2010 - EMBL
Bacterial balance that keeps us healthy
At 3.3 million, microbial genes in our gut outnumber previous estimates for the whole of the human body, EMBL scientists and their collaborators found when establishing a reference gene set for the human gut microbiome.
3 March 2010 - ESO
The Cosmic Bat
The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image that ESO is releasing today. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion’s bright stars, the latter’s powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.