Huge star streams in the outskirts of two nearby spiral galaxies have allowed astronomers to obtain a panoramic overview of ' galactic cannibalism' similar to that involving the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the vicinity of the Milky Way.

The detection of these immense stellar fossils confirms the predictions of the cold dark matter model of cosmology, which proposes that present-day grand design spiral galaxies were formed from the merging of less massive stellar systems.

The first of these debris structures surrounds the galaxy NGC 5907, located 40 million light-years from Earth and formed from the destruction of one of its dwarf satellite galaxies at least four billion years ago.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Thirty New Award-winning Stellaris Family Members Add USB Connectivity, Superior Motion Control Performance, Smaller Package Options, and Green Application Energy Efficiency

The electric solar wind sail developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute has moved rapidly from invention towards implementation. Electric sail propulsion might have a large impact on space research and moving in space in general.

The electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Meteorological Institute might revolutionise travelling in deep space. The electric sail is a Finnish invention which uses the solar wind as its thrust source and therefore needs no fuel or propellant. The solar wind is a continuous plasma stream emanating from the Sun. Changes in the properties of the solar wind cause auroral brightening and magnetic storms, among other things.

A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University has found that gravitational radiation—widely expected to provide “smoking gun” proof for a theory of the early universe known as “inflation”— can be produced by another mechanism.

According to physics scholars, inflation theory proposes that the universe underwent a period of exponential expansion right after the big bang. A key prediction of inflation theory is the presence of a particular spectrum of “gravitational radiation”-- ripples in the fabric of space-time that are notoriously difficult to detect but believed to exist nonetheless.

“If we see a primordial gravitational wave background, we can no longer say for sure it is due to inflation,” said Lawrence Krauss, the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Case Western Reserve.

Using NASA, Japanese, and European X-ray satellites, a team of Japanese astronomers has discovered that our galaxy’s central black hole let loose a powerful flare three centuries ago.

The finding helps resolve a long-standing mystery: why is the Milky Way’s black hole so quiescent? The black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"), is a certified monster, containing about 4 million times the mass of our Sun. Yet the energy radiated from its surroundings is billions of times weaker than the radiation emitted from central black holes in other galaxies.

"We have wondered why the Milky Way’s black hole appears to be a slumbering giant," says team leader Tatsuya Inui of Kyoto University in Japan. "But now we realize that the black hole was far more active in the past. Perhaps it’s just resting after a major outburst."

CHICAGO, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company's TrueLeads(TM) Service Helps Marketers Acquire Explicit Permission to Begin Relationship With Interested Consumers

SAN JOSE, California, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- AT91CAP7X-DK Includes ARM7-based Microcontroller with 80K LC FPGA

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today announced its AT91CAP7X-DK development kit for designers to develop, emulate, and ultimately migrate ARM7(TM)-plus-FPGA designs to Atmel's CAP7 customizable microcontrollers.

AMSTERDAM, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Biopharmaceutical company Kiadis Pharma announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its product Rhitol(TM) Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of chronic Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD). This complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is highly disabilitating and can become life threatening when the patient is unresponsive to steroid treatment. Rhitol(TM) has completed a multicenter phase I/II study for patients with severe steroid resistant chronic GvHD. A phase III study is anticipated to start in 2008.

VALLETTA, Malta, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Award Recognizes the 100 "Most Promising" Companies Driving the Future of Technology

Red Herring today announced that Mobiletech AS is a recipient of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.

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BATH, England, April 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Vision of Grammy Award-Winning Artist & Digital Media Pioneer Peter Gabriel, Technology Available as Personal Discovery Website and White Label Solution for Content Partners