A team of astronomers from Europe and the US studied the "Einstein Cross", a famous cosmic mirage. This cross-shaped configuration consists of four images of a single very distant source. The multiple images are a result of gravitational lensing by a foreground galaxy, an effect that was predicted by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his theory of general relativity. The light source in the Einstein Cross is a quasar approximately ten billion light-years away, whereas the foreground lensing galaxy is ten times closer. The light from the quasar is bent in its path and magnified by the gravitational field of the lensing galaxy.

The best flame retardant for your Christmas tree is still plain old water. 

Worse,  researchers have determined that some flame retardants not only don't work on cut Christmas trees, they actually sped up the drying process and made trees more flammable.

Drs. Gary Chastagner, professor of plant pathology at Washington State University's Puyallup Research Center, and Eric Hinesley, professor of horticulture at North Carolina State University, tested two flame retardants on Douglas-fir and Fraser fir, two of the favorite Christmas tree species in the United States.

There are hurdles to clear before malaria elimination can be achieved. A supplement published in Malaria Journal features a series of articles reviewing the many aspects of the research agenda for global malaria elimination.

Astronomy&Astrophysics is publishing spectroscopic observations with NASA's space-based Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) of the white dwarf KPD 0005+5106. The team of German and American astronomers who present these observations show that this white dwarf is among the hottest stars known so far, with a temperature of 200,000 K at its surface. It is so hot that its photosphere exhibits emission lines in the ultraviolet spectrum, a phenomenon that has never been seen before. These emission features stem from extremely ionized calcium (nine-fold ionized, i.e., CaX), which is the highest ionization stage of a chemical element ever discovered in a photospheric stellar spectrum.

Informex today announced that it will invite young chemists to attend the upcoming InformexUSA exhibition in San Francisco free of charge. The invitation opens the door for chemists and chemical engineers 25 and under to learn more about the chemical technologies manufacturers will require in the years ahead to commercialize exciting new concepts in areas like nano technology, pharmaceutical fine chemicals, and green chemistry.

Recently News Account have published an item The Meaning Of Milton 400 Years Later. This has led me to some thoughts.

It was only when I was into my forties that I got around to reading Paradise Lost. To start with, there are some bits that really stick in my scientific mind. Take this bit where Satan gets ejected from Heaven:

Him the Almighty Power
hurled headlong flaming from th' eternal sky
with hideous ruin and combustion down
to bottomless perdition, there to dwell
in adamantine chains and penal fire,
who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California and AMSTERDAM, December 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Agendia, a world leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, today announced MammaPrint(R)'s ability to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer.

Dr. Laura van 't Veer, from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, presented the data at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) during the session Molecular profiling for guiding therapeutic decisions. The study analyzed the association between the pathological complete response (pCR) rate and the results of the MammaPrint test.

Last weekend I visited the St. Louis Zoo to witness their first ever Penguin Walk.

MUNICH, Germany, December 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Wirecard AG Assumes Commitment to Donations Platform betterplace.org

Instead of gifts, business customers of Wirecard AG will receive betterplace.org donation vouchers in their Christmas mail this year.

These vouchers can be redeemed on the profile page of the organization specifically set up on betterplace.org for the aid project of their choice under http://www.wirecard.betterplace.org.

ZUG, Switzerland, December 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss AmVac AG establishes comprehensive collaboration with the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan to combat H5N1. H5N1/Influenza A is a flu virus known colloquially as avian flu. Avian flu first occurred in Asia, and was transmitted to humans in a number of cases.