August 2005 in science

2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → __NOTOC__

August 31, 2005

* The decoding of genome of the chimpanzee is announced and a first draft is published. See: Chimpanzee Genome Project. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050901/ap_on_sc/chimp_genes (AP/YahooNews)]

August 30, 2005

*Scientists have created a material harder than diamond, dubbed Aggregated diamond nanorods. [http://www.theregister.com/2005/08/30/diamonds_hard_material/ (The Register)]

August 27, 2005

*By copying the wing action of seagulls, researchers at the University of Florida, supported by the US Air Force and NASA, have developed so-called micro air vehicles (MAVs) that can change their shape while in mid-flight. Possible applications of such MAVs, which are predicted to be two to three years away from deployment, include flying into urban environments to detect biological agents. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4185648.stm (BBC)]

August 26, 2005

*Scientists publish new data that supports the notion that the Earth's core is spinning with a different speed than the outer crust. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4184358.stm (BBC)]
* A study is published in "The Lancet" that indicates that drugs based on homeopathy may not be more effective than a placebo. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4183916.stm (BBC)]

August 19, 2005

* The SOHO spacecraft have now provided images to discover 1000 comets. The 1000th comet was discovered by amateur astronomer, Toni Scarmato, who has now discovered 15 comets using SOHO images. [http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCA3908BE_index_0.html (ESA)]
* Scientists publish the full genome of the bacterium "Pelagibacter ubique", which contains only 1,354 genes. It is estimated that it represents one quarter of the ocean's total number of organisms. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4166076.stm (BBC)]

August 18, 2005

* NASA decides to push the launch date of the next shuttle mission, STS-121, to March 2006 and reassign it from "Atlantis" to "Discovery". [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8989072/ (MSNBC)]

August 17, 2005

* The Zotob computer worm causes fatal crashes of computers worldwide. The worm only crashes PCs running Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows XP, shutting down and rebooting the computer endlessly. Among notable organizations whose PCs were affected are CNN, ABC, Caterpillar, New York Times and Capitol Hill. [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/16/computer.worm/index.html (CNN)] [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050817/ap_on_hi_te/computer_worm (AP/YahooNews)]

August 16, 2005

* Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev breaks the world record for most days spent in space while on board the International space station. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050816/sc_nm/space_record_dc (Reuters/YahooNews)]

August 12, 2005

*Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:43 EST. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4134300.stm (BBC)]

August 11, 2005

* Pakistan's first domestically designed cruise missile, the Babur missile, is test launched. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4140692.stm (BBC)]
* Scientists at the German Primate Centre and the University of Göttingen announce the discovery of two new species of lemur, "Mirza zaza" and "Microcebus lehilahytsara". [http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news123914 (German press release)] , [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4135670.stm (BBC)]

August 10, 2005

* Apple Computer fails to patent the iPod interface technology because a Microsoft researcher already registered a similar patent in 2002. [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20050810/tc_nf/37722 (YahooNews)]
* Astronomers discover the first triple asteroidal system. Two satellites orbit the asteroid 87 Sylvia. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/08/11/asteroid.trio/index.html (CNN/space.com)] [http://astron.berkeley.edu/~fmarchis/document/Sylvia/Paper_UNDER_EMBARGOE/NATURE04018_proof1.pdf (Nature)]

August 9, 2005

* Space Shuttle "Discovery" lands at 5:12 PDT (12:12 UTC) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4134986.stm (BBC)]

August 6, 2005

* The space shuttle "Discovery" undocks from the International Space Station in preparation to return to Earth. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4749793.stm (BBC)]

August 3, 2005

* Biologists at the University of California, Riverside find a gene coding for a spider silk protein used by female spiders to construct their egg cases. [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0502473102v1 (PNAS)] [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0802_050802_spidersilk.html (National Geographic)]
* The NASA spacecraft "MESSENGER" successfully executes an Earth swingby on its way to Mercury. [http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17533 (spaceref.com)]
* Astronomers announce that ground-based telescopic surveys during 2003 and 2004 show no evidence of liquids on Saturn's moon Titan. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050803/ap_on_sc/saturn_titan (AP/YahooNews)]
* Astronaut Stephen Robinson fixes the thermal protection shield of the space shuttle "Discovery" while in space, docked to the International space station. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4740651.stm (BBC)]

August 2, 2005

* Scientists at Stanford University have used nanotechnology to kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4734507.stm (BBC)]
* Forecasters increase the predicted number of tropical storms for the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season to 18 to 21. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050802/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_outlook (AP/YahooNews)]

Past science and technology events by month

2005 in science: May June July "(For earlier science and technology events, see April 2005 and preceding months)"

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