Washington, Nov 14 : A female rhinoceros has successfully given birth to a healthy offspring after being artificially inseminated (AI) with frozen and thawed semen, say German researchers.

Experts at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Zoo Budapest and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, have revealed that using semen collected from a 35-36 year-old Southern white rhinoceros, frozen for 2 to 3 years and then thawed, a 30-year-old female rhinoceros was artificially inseminated in two attempts.

The first failed, but the second resulted in pregnancy and the birth of a healthy offspring.

Washington, Nov 14 : National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have decoded the mysterious mechanisms behind the high-temperature superconductors that industry hopes will find wide use in next-generation systems for storing, distributing and using electricity.

The advance could pave the way for next-generation systems for storing, distributing and using electricity.

Many materials become superconductors at temperatures approaching absolute zero, capable of carrying vast amounts of electrical current with no resistance. In such low-temperature superconductors, magnetism can actually shatter the fragile superconductive state.

Washington, Nov 14 : A team of American researchers has moved a step closer to realising much advanced technology for satellite communications and solar power generation by finding a way to slow down the cooling of electrons in nanocrystals, which can lead to more efficient photovoltaic devices.

University of Chicago researchers claim that they have successfully induced electrons in the nanocrystals of semiconductors to cool more slowly by forcing them into a smaller volume, something that was first theorized in 1990.

Washington, Nov 14 : The Planetary Society has outlined a vigorous new approach to space exploration for the consideration of the new U. S. Administration and Congress to develop a flexible space program that is designed to achieve more, cost less, and engage the entire world.

Washington, November 14 : Natural raw materials like sugars, alcohols, or fatty acids may soon find application in the production of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), better known as acrylic glass that is widely used as a lightweight alternative to glass to make protective goggles and vehicle lights.

Dr. Thore Rohwerder, from the University of Duisburg-Essen, and his mentor Dr. Roland Muller, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), say that they have found an enzyme that can be used for the biotechnological production of a precursor of methyl methacrylate (MMA), polymerising which is the key to PMMA’s manufacture.