Washington, August 26 (ANI): Monash University researchers say that they have designed a nano-sized "trojan horse" particle that protects antioxidants from being destroyed in the gut, and ensures a better chance of them being absorbed in the digestive tract.

Dr Ken Ng and Dr Ian Larson from the University's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences highlight the fact that antioxidant are known to neutralise the harmful effect of free radicals and other reactive chemical species that are constantly generated by the body, and are thought to promote better health.

They say that when antioxidants are given orally to people at high risk of developing conditions like atherosclerosis, diabetes or Alzheimer's disease, they are easily destroyed by acids and enzymes in their bodies, with only a small percentage of what is consumed actually being absorbed.

According to the researchers, the solution lies in designing a tiny sponge-like chitosan biopolymeric nanoparticle as a protective vehicle for antioxidants.

Chitosan is a natural substance found in crab shells, they point out.

"Antioxidants sit within this tiny trojan horse, protecting it from attack from digestive juices in the stomach. Once in the small intestine the nanoparticle gets sticky and bonds to the intestinal wall. It then leaks its contents directly into the intestinal cells, which allows them to be absorbed directly into the blood stream," Dr Larson said.

"We hope that by mastering this technique, drugs and supplements also vulnerable to the digestive process can be better absorbed by the human body," the researcher added.

The researchers have revealed that their study will proceed to trials early next year.

Although the research was in its early stages, Dr. Ng said that the longer term aim of the project would be to include similarly treated nanoparticles into food items, similar to adding Omega-3 to bread or milk.

"For catechins - the class of antioxidants under examination and among the most potent dietary antioxidants -- only between 0.1 and 1.1 per cent of the amount consumed makes it into our blood. If we can improve that rate, the benefits are enormous," Dr. Ng said. (ANI)

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Washington, August 26 (ANI): New evidence has surfaced that debunks an earlier theory propounded by archaeologists, which stated that Neanderthals became extinct because they were less intelligent than our ancestors.

The research team that has rejected the earlier theory is from the University of Exeter, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University, and the Think Computer Corporation, which spent three years producing stone tools.

Eventually, they have shown that early stone tool technologies developed by our species, Homo sapiens, were no more efficient than those used by Neanderthals.

They recreated stone tools known as 'flakes,' which were wider tools originally used by both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, and 'blades,' a narrower stone tool later adopted by Homo sapiens.

Archaeologists often use the development of stone blades and their assumed efficiency as proof of Homo sapiens' superior intellect.

To test this, the team analyzed the data to compare the number of tools produced, how much cutting-edge was created, the efficiency in consuming raw material and how long tools lasted.

Homo sapiens first produced blades during their colonization of Europe from Africa approximately 40,000 years ago.

This has traditionally been thought to be a dramatic technological advance, helping Homo sapiens out-compete, and eventually eradicate, their Stone Age cousins.

Yet, when the research team analyzed their data, there was no statistical difference between the efficiency of the two technologies. In fact, their findings showed that in some respects, the flakes favoured by Neanderthals were more efficient than the blades adopted by Homo sapiens.

According to Metin Eren, an MA Experimental Archaeology student at the University of Exeter and lead author on the research paper, "Our research disputes a major pillar holding up the long-held assumption that Homo sapiens were more advanced than Neanderthals. It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived."

"Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals, we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of different," he added.

The Neanderthals, believed to be a different species from Homo sapiens, evolved in Ice Age Europe, while the latter evolved in Africa before spreading out to the rest of the world around 50-40,000 years ago.

Neanderthals are thought to have died out around 28,000 years ago, suggesting at least 10,000 years of overlap and possible interaction between the two species in Europe. (ANI)

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Paris, August 26 (ANI): ESA's (European Space Agency's) orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has discovered the most massive cluster of galaxies seen in the distant Universe until now.

The newly-discovered cluster, known only by the catalogue number 2XMM J083026+524133, is estimated to contain as much mass as a thousand large galaxies. Much of it is in the form of 100-million-degree hot gas.

The galaxy cluster is so big that there can only be a handful of them at that distance, making this a rare catch indeed.

It was first observed by chance as XMM-Newton was studying another celestial object and 2XMM J083026+524133 was placed in a catalogue for a future follow-up.

Georg Lamer, from Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Germany, and a team of astronomers discovered the record-breaking cluster as they were performing a systematic analysis of the catalogue.

Based on 3500 observations performed with XMM-Newton's European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) covering about 1 per cent of the entire sky, the catalogue contains more than 190 000 individual X-ray sources.

The team were looking for extended patches of X-rays that could either be nearby galaxies or distant clusters of galaxies.

J083026+524133 stood out because it was so bright.

While checking visual images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the team could not find any obvious nearby galaxy in that location. So, they turned to the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona and took a deep exposure.

Sure enough, they found a cluster of galaxies. So, the team calculated a distance of 7.7 thousand million light-years and the clusters mass using the XMM-Newton data.

This was not a surprise because XMM-Newton is sensitive enough to routinely find galaxy clusters at this distance. The surprise was that the cluster contains a thousand times the mass of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

"Such massive galaxy clusters are thought to be rare objects in the distant Universe. They can be used to test cosmological theories," said Lamer.

Indeed, the very presence of this cluster confirms the existence of a mysterious component of the Universe called dark energy.

No one knows what dark energy is, but it is causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. This hampers the growth of massive galaxy clusters in more recent times, indicating that they must have formed earlier in the Universe.

"The existence of the cluster can only be explained with dark energy," said Lamer. (ANI)

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London, August 25 (ANI): While all eyes were set on the athletes participating in the Beijing Olympics, a Japanese firm was organising an athletic competition for radio-controlled humanoid robots in Tokyo.

Participants in the Robot Athletic Meet 2008, held in the Akihabara district, competed in a range of disciplines, including battling it out in the "sprint" over a distance of two meters.

Hundreds were on hand to cheer on the 15 bipedal competitors during the event, reports the Telegraph.

Akihabara is famous the world over as the home of the anime, gadgets, computer games, and manga that are purchased by technology freaks. It is renowned as the marketplace for the newest and most intricate gadgets and gizmos.

The district offers visitors an opportunity to test out various types of off-the-shelf robot, including walking them through a complicated maze.

The shops there have everything that one wanting to custom-build one's own imitation human would need.

Gripping hands, power packs, feet in various sizes, heads, wiring, and nuts and bolts are all on display. (ANI)

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