The Korea Herald

Scientists analyze genome of vulture for first time

Mar 31, 2014

Korea scientists successfully analyzed the genome of the cinereous vulture, a large bird of prey found across Europe and Asia, for the first time, the Science Ministry said Monday.The findings are expected to offer clues on the genetic structure of the bird, scientifically known as Aegypius monachus, such as why it does not contract diseases from eating rotten meat.Scientists took blood samples from two live vultures and performed an analysis of the first whole genome and transcriptome of the bi
Newfound pink world lurks at solar system fringes

Mar 27, 2014

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Peering into the far reaches of the solar system, astronomers have spied a pink frozen world billions of kilometers from the sun.It’s the second such object to be discovered in a region of space beyond Pluto long considered a celestial wasteland. Until now, the lone known resident in this part of the solar system was an oddball dwarf planet spotted in 2003 named Sedna after the mythological Inuit goddess who created the sea creatures of the Arctic.The latest discovery shows “S
Technical hitch delays U.S.-Russia crew’s ISS docking

Mar 26, 2014

MOSCOW (AFP) ― A U.S.-Russian three man crew Wednesday faced an unprecedented two-day delay in their docking with the International Space Station after their Russian Soyuz spacecraft suffered a technical glitch on its approach in orbit.The two Russian cosmonauts and American astronaut were to have docked with the ISS early Wednesday just six hours after launch from Kazakhstan but the problem means that the docking is now only planned on Friday.This means that the trio will now orbit the Earth 34
Video games linked to aggressive behavior in kids

Mar 25, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Youths who play video games are more likely to think and act in aggressive ways, suggested a study out Monday of more than 3,000 schoolchildren in Singapore.The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, a journal of the American Medical Association, was based on more than 3,034 children who were studied over the course of three years.Frequent use of video games was linked to higher rates of aggressive behaviors and thoughts, according to self-reported answers to survey questions
Lockheed wins $9 million deal on Korea's spy jet system

Mar 19, 2014

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $9-million contract for the maintenance of South Korea's reconnaissance aircraft system, the Maryland-based defense firm said Tuesda.Under the foreign military sales deal, Lockheed will provide South Korea with upgraded services to sustain the Peace Krypton system, it said.The system is tasked with collecting reconnaissance imagery of selected areas, using militarized business jets and ground stations that process data from the aircraft. "Raising
S. Korea, U.S. extend nuclear accord

Mar 19, 2014

The United States on Tuesday announced the two-year extension of its 40-year-old accord with South Korea on civilian nuclear cooperation.The widely anticipated announcement also heralds the start of another round of tough negotiations on Seoul's pursuit of advance consent for uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing.The State Department said the allies concluded an agreement extending the duration of the existing bilateral agreement on a peaceful nuclear partnership until March 19, 2016. I
Scientists confirm discovery of meteorites in Jinju

Mar 16, 2014

INCHEON (Yonhap) ― Culture preservation officials said Sunday they will be discussing measures to prevent recently discovered meteorites from being taken out of the country and make them the first set of space rocks to be owned by South Korea. The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) confirmed that the two rocks found last week in Jinju, 434 kilometers south of Seoul, as “ordinary chondrite” of high iron composition. Given the proximity of where they were found and the similarity in their comp
Synthetic biology holds key to future

Mar 14, 2014

KAIST professor makes breakthrough in biorefining using E. coli’s metabolic process
Dinosaur-killing impact acidified oceans

Mar 10, 2014

PARIS (AFP) ― The space rock that smashed into Earth 65 million years ago, famously wiping out the dinosaurs, unleashed acid rain that turned the ocean surface into a witches’ brew, researchers said Sunday.Delving into the riddle of Earth’s last mass extinction, Japanese scientists said the impact instantly vaporized sulphur-rich rock, creating a vast cloud of sulphur trioxide gas.This mixed with water vapor to create sulphuric acid rain, which would have fallen to the planet’s surface within da
California establishes center for coffee study

Mar 10, 2014

DAVIS, California (AP) ― University of California students who drink coffee to get through the day will soon be able to study the science behind the beverage.University of California-Davis will host a research conference run by its recently founded Coffee Center.The center is currently without a dedicated home, but the university hopes to formalize the research in coming years and eventually offer a major in coffee science, the Sacramento Bee reported.J. Bruce German, director of the university’
Gov't eyes 1.35 tln won in space industry sales

Mar 9, 2014

South Korea's government plans to support local companies export more space-related products in order to push up sales in the hightech industry to 1.35 trillion won ($1.27 billion) in 2014, an official source said Sunday. The plan is part of an ongoing effort by Seoul to grab a larger portion of the global space business that is forecast to reach 216 trillion won in 2020. In 2012, total sales for the country's space industry reached 1.16 trillion won. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Fut
Studies show big promise for HIV prevention drug

Mar 5, 2014

Exciting research suggests that a shot every one to three months may someday give an alternative to the daily pills that some people take now to cut their risk of getting HIV.The experimental drug has only been tested for prevention in monkeys, but it completely protected them from infection in two studies reported at an AIDS conference on Tuesday.“This is the most exciting innovation in the field of HIV prevention that I’ve heard recently,” said Dr. Robert Grant, an AIDS expert at the Gladstone
NASA plots daring flight to Jupiter’s moon

Mar 5, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― NASA is plotting a daring robotic mission to Jupiter’s watery moon Europa, a place where astronomers speculate there might be some form of life.The space agency set aside $15 million in its 2015 budget proposal to start planning some kind of mission to Europa. No details have been decided yet, but NASA chief financial officer Elizabeth Robinson said Tuesday that it would be launched in the mid-2020s.Robinson said the high radiation environment around Jupiter and distance from E
Age-old indicators under stress in Bolivia

Mar 4, 2014

CUTUSUMA, Bolivia (AP) ― For centuries, farmers in the fragile ecosystems of the high Andes have looked to the behavior of plants and animals to figure out what crops to grow and when.If reeds dried up in the late summer, rainless weather lay ahead, they believed. If the Andean fox made a howling appearance, abundant rains were thought sure to come.But increasingly erratic weather that scientists attribute to global warming is rendering their age-old methods less reliable, endangering harvests i
Expanded earthquake lab second biggest in world

Mar 3, 2014

RENO, Nevada (AP) ― There’s a whole lot of shakin’ going on at the University of Nevada, Reno.UNR’s seismic-simulation facility became the largest in the United States and second largest in the world this week with an expansion that included moving three new 27-ton shake table tops into the school’s new Earthquake Engineering Laboratory.“This facility is very exciting for us because it enables us to test things we haven’t been able to test before,” said David Sanders, a civil engineering profess