The mystery of how young stars can form within the deep gravity of black holes has been solved by a team of astrophysicists at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The team, partly funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), made the discovery after developing computer simulations of giant clouds of gas being sucked into black holes. The new research may help scientists gain better understanding of the origin of stars and supermassive black holes in our Galaxy and the Universe.

Until now, scientists have puzzled over how stars could form around a black hole, since molecular clouds - the normal birth places of stars - would be ripped apart by the black hole's immense gravitational pull.

They have worked for almost seven years in secret.

Most people did not know that the work in Ray Goehner's materials characterization department at Sandia National Laboratories was contributing important information to the FBI's investigation of letters containing bacillus anthracis, the spores that cause the disease anthrax. The spores were mailed in the fall of 2001 to several news media offices and to two U.S. senators. Five people were killed.

Sandia's work demonstrated to the FBI that the form of bacillus anthracis contained in those letters was not a weaponized form, a form of the bacteria prepared to disperse more readily. The possibility of a weaponized form was of great concern to investigators, says Joseph Michael, the principal investigator for the project. This information was crucial in ruling out state-sponsored terrorism.

Air circulates above the Earth in four distinct cells, with two either side of the equator, says new research out today in Science.

The new observational study describes how air rises and falls in the atmosphere above the Earth’s surface, creating the world’s weather. This process of atmospheric circulation creates weather patterns and influences the climate of the planet. It is important to understand these processes in order to predict weather events, and to improve and test climate models.

Previous theories have claimed that there are just two large circular systems of air in the atmosphere, one either side of the equator. These theories suggested that air rises at the equator and then travels towards either the north or south polar regions, where it falls.

A study by a group of prominent seismologists suggests that a pattern of subtle but active faults makes the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area substantially greater than formerly believed. Among other things, they say that the controversial Indian Point nuclear power plants, 24 miles north of the city, sit astride the previously unidentified intersection of two active seismic zones.

NEW DELHI, August 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Omaxe Infrastructure & Construction Private Ltd(OICPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Omaxe Ltd has received a Letter of Intent for the construction of Allopathic Medical College and Associated Hospital at Saharanpur, UP from UP Government through UP RNNL. The construction value of the project is Rs250 crores approx.

The project is spread over an area of 62 acres with total built up area of 15.66 lac sq ft. It will comprise of an Allopathic Medical College and a 500-bedded hospital.

COPENHAGEN, August 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Summary: Genmab Will Receive a Milestone Payment of Approximately DKK 232.7 Million From GSK for Achievement of Positive Results in the Phase III CLL Study.

COPENHAGEN, August 21 /PRNewswire/ --

MANHASSET, New York, August 21 /PRNewswire/ --

The Oncology Group is pleased to announce the publication of the 11th edition of Cancer Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach, scheduled for release in the Fall of 2008. A popular resource for the oncology and hematology community, this guide aims to keep pace with these rapidly changing fields by providing clinicians with up-to-date, practical, and authoritative information on patient management.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080821/AQTH018)

BASINGSTOKE, England, August 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Customers Benefit From High-Speed Stable Broadband

LONDON, August 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Integer, a leading business consultancy in the area of global emissions regulations, today announced its latest conference targeted at Europe's energy intensive Industries and EU Policy makers. 'Energy Intensive Industries and Climate Change' will be held in Brussels on 25-27 November. The aim of this independent conference is to provide energy intensive industries with exclusive insight into how other sectors are demonstrating their exposure to external competition at this time of regulatory uncertainty. As energy intensive industries express concern about how the new EU climate change and energy proposals will impact on their competitiveness, the conference will host high level discussions on minimizing carbon leakage of European industry.