CERN experiments create and trap particles of anti-matter * 38 anti-hydrogen atoms trapped for long enough to study GENEVA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Physicists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced on Wednesday they have created and trapped anti-matter, one of the biggest mysteries of modern science.

Star Trek - here we come!

It doesn't like that big a deal, but the ability to harness 'antimatter' must be a massive step forward in science. And they have to start somewhere, and 38 atoms is definitely a start!

The potential future of these sorts of discoveries can easily change the way the world is and can be...interesting stuff.

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The 61-year-old former lead singer of Black Sabbath has several gene variants that "we've never seen before," experts said.

Geneticist Nathaniel Pearson, who sequenced the rocker's genome, including variants that could impact how Osbourne's body absorbs methamphetamines and other drugs, ABC News reported on its website today.

Osbourne's resilience piqued the interest of Knome, Inc., a genomics company that decided to sequence the "full Ozzy genome."

"Why not Ozzy?" Jorge Conde, co-founder and chief executive of Cambridge, Mass.-based Knome, told ABC News.

The results of Knome's sequencing were released last Friday in San Diego at this year's TEDMED conference.

The biggest differences in Osbourne's genes compared to other people is how he processes drugs and booze.

Curious scientific announcements. We all knew he was a bit different, but at least science now proves it!

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Giant NASA balloon lands in outback

By Chrissy Arthur

Updated Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:53am AEST

PreviousNextSlideshow: Photo 1 of 2

The balloon is the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, (ABC News: ABC News)

• Video: Scientists release research balloon (7pm TV News NSW)
• Map: Longreach 4730

Scientists are trying to recover a massive NASA balloon and several tonnes of equipment that drifted into outback Queensland over the weekend.

The 300-metre balloon was launched recently from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to gather data about the universe.

The balloon is the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and carries two tonnes of equipment used to study outer space phenomena.

Launch director Associate Professor Ravi Sood says it landed without incident near Longreach in central western Queensland on Sunday afternoon.

"About 70 kilometres south of Longreach very close to a farm track, so we should have our recovery people there some time this morning," he said.

"The balloon landed separately - the balloon landed about 20 kilometres west of where the instrument and the parachute impacted."

Associate Professor Sood says overall the exercise was a success, considering its magnitude.

"The equipment was just about two tonnes - then there was about a tonne of ballast and the balloon weighed about two tonnes - we had a gross lift of about four or five tonnes," he said.

"It was spectacularly successful ... the whole flight was flawless and that's a great credit to the team that comes out from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas."

He says some residents may have thought the balloon was a UFO.

Tags: astronomy, the-universe, space-exploration, research, australia, nt, alice-springs-0870, longreach-4730, mount-isa-4825

First posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:37am AEST

MORE stories from Queensland

Just updating from a previous post.

And no, we didn't make it to the launch. Maybe next time!

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