asian scientist aksuna

[Toramana]

Kibo Robot To ‘Hang Out’ With Japanese Astronauts On ISS http://ow.ly/fLcma

A humanoid communication robot called Kibo that is being developed by Dentsu Inc., the University of Tokyo, and ROBO Garage Co. Ltd. is expected to be completed by February 2013.

Kibo will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2013, to function as a humanoid companion for Japanese astronauts who will be living in the Kibo Experiment Module aboard the ISS.

[Toramana]

Scientists Solve Mystery Of Earth’s Core Density http://ow.ly/fyZa9

Scientists in China and the U.S. have used computer simulations to solve a long-standing mystery: What accounts for Earth’s core density?

Researchers from the University of California, Davis, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing have discovered that the Earth’s core contains 0.1-0.8 percent carbon, the largest reservoir of carbon on the planet.

The findings were published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences (Photo: Argonne National Laboratory/Flickr/CC).

[Toramana]

China’s Chang’e-3 (嫦娥三号) to land on the Moon in 2013 http://ow.ly/fj7ob

China's lunar missions are named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang’e (嫦娥), and the first such mission in 2007 helped to create an accurate and a high-resolution map of the Moon’s surface.

Chang’e-5 is slated to carry lunar rocks back to the Earth in 2017.

Its ultimate aim is a manned Moon landing around 2030.

[Toramana]

'Desperate' Komodo housewives? ow.ly/eEvSy

Researchers have found that female Komodo Dragons live half as long as males on average, seemingly due to their nest-building and egg-guarding duties.

Males and females start off at the same size until they reach sexual maturity at around seven years of age.

From then on, males live to around 60 years of age, reaching an average 160 cm in length and 65 kg at adulthood. However their female counterparts live a significantly shorter lifespan of 32 years and reach only 120 cm in length, and 22 kg.

[Toramana]

China is preparing to launch its first space telescope between 2014 and 2016, said top Chinese astronomer, Su Dingqiang (苏定强), at the 28th general assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Beijing. The hard X-ray telescope will be used to study black holes. http://ow.ly/datgH