Although it's been a half century since America entered the space age, the basic propulsion concepts used to push Explorer I into space will be the same type of propulsion that the nation will use to begin the next half century of space exploration.

It was January 31, 1958 when a Redstone-Jupiter C rocket developed in Huntsville, Ala., lifted the 30-pound artificial satellite into space.

Clark Hawk, director of the Propulsion Research Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) has seen most of the advances that have taken place in rocket propulsion. He has spent 50 years conducting research in the field.

An interesting security imaging technology that can 'see' explosives, liquids, narcotics, weapons, plastics and ceramics hidden under clothing from 25 meters away is due to be unveiled at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) Exhibition next week.

When you think 'green' in March, maybe you think of leprechauns or four-leaf clovers. Or maybe you think about Al Gore and hybrid vehicles clogging up the HOV lanes during rush hour.

But let's not forget the original 'green' mindset, say nutrition, experts, and it involves diet.

Here’s a sampling of some green foods UT Southwestern dietitians recommend for March which, along with being a chance to drink green beer, is also National Nutrition Month (no, the green beer does not count as nutrition):

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that two clinically different inherited syndromes are in fact variations of the same disorder. The team suggests that at least for this class of disorders, the total number and “strength” of genetic alterations an individual carries throughout the genome can generate a range of symptoms wide enough to appear like different conditions.

“We’re finally beginning to blur the boundaries encompassing some of these diseases by showing that they share the same molecular underpinnings,” says Nicholas Katsanis, Ph.D., an associate professor of ophthalmology at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Hopkins. “This is important progress for several reasons. First, knowing what’s going on molecularly and being able to integrate rarer conditions under common mechanisms allows us to potentially help more people at once. Second, clinicians can finally begin to offer more accurate diagnoses based on what really matters: the state of affairs at the cellular/biochemical level. In time, this will empower genetic counseling and much improved patient management.”

Astronomers using ESO's New Technology Telescope have measured the distribution of mass inside a dark filament in a molecular cloud with an amazing level of detail and to great depth, based on a new method that looks at the scattered near-infrared light or 'cloudshine.'

Dark clouds are feebly illuminated by nearby stars. This light is scattered by the dust contained in the clouds, an effect dubbed 'cloudshine' by Harvard astronomers Alyssa Goodman and Jonathan Foster. This effect is well known to sky lovers, as they create in visible light wonderful pieces of art called 'reflection nebulae'. The Chameleon I complex nebula is one beautiful example.

The vast expanses between stars are permeated with giant complexes of cold gas and dust opaque to visible light.

Tests on a ‘virtual physiological human’ (VPH) have simulated how well an HIV drug blocks a key protein in the lethal virus, say scientists in the UK. The method could pave the way to personalized drug treatments, such as for HIV patients developing resistance to their current regimes.

The human body is too complex to replicate using a single computer or even several computers strapped together. To fully simulate our inner workings, the VPH has to link networks of computers nation- and worldwide. With all this power assembled, scientists can then carry out studies of "supercomputing" proportions, such as the effects of a drug at the organ, tissue, cell and even molecular levels.