London, Dec 9 : A new research has suggested that meteorite impacts during Earth’s early history could have created amino acids, which kick-started life on the planet.

Exactly how and when organic molecules appeared in abundance on the young Earth, leading to the origin of life about 4 billion years ago, has been unclear.

But, according to a report in New Scientist, a new research by Yoshihiro Furukawa at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and colleagues, suggests that meteor impacts could have created amino acids, the building blocks of life.

London, Dec 9 : A new research has suggested that 3D laser scans of people’s faces could be a more strong option in spotting terrorists.

Security services around the world are devising software to match CCTV photos of faces with image archives, to catch known criminals and terrorists.

However, the technology struggles to overcome problems caused by variations in lighting and the position of people’s faces between photos.

Melbourne, Dec 8 : Going through a heavily abbreviated SMS can take twice as long time and only saves the sender a few seconds of typing, says a new research.

The study led by University of Tasmania psychology lecturer Dr Nenagh Kemp has shown that many common abbreviations were hard to be deciphered or was misinterpreted.

She asked students to write as many abbreviations as possible in five minutes and then read a series of shortened messages.

London, Dec 8 : Marine archaeologists have discovered a piece of string made out of honeysuckle, nettles or wild clematis dating back to the Stone Age.

The team led by Gary Momber of the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology found the four-and-a-half inch long string in a pre-historic camp 30 feet below the surface, 200 yards off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

The tough stems of honeysuckle, nettles or wild clematis were twisted together.

The researchers had cut out small blocks of the sea floor for analysis after seeing the wooded remains of the settlement by chance.

The string was buried in one of them.

London, Dec 8 : It can withstand enemies’ attack, but a nuclear bunker failed to protect itself from the dreading effects of the financial credit crisis.

The auctioneers were forced to trim down more than 40,000 pounds from the asking price of the secure shelter underneath the Hampshire Downs despite its potential of converting into an eight-bedroom home, reports the Telegraph.

The 7,000 square feet nuclear bunker outside Twyford, near Winchester, which was priced at more than 300,000 pounds, is now up for sale for a price between 240,000 pounds and 260,000 pounds.

Washington, Dec 8 : Researchers in Finland say they have identified the first potential "biomarker" that could be used in development of a sputum test for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that causes severe difficulty in breathing — most often in cigarette smokers.

Vuokko L. Kinnula and colleagues point out that until now, no disease marker for COPD currently exists, despite extensive efforts by scientists to find one.

Previous studies pointed to a prime candidate — surfactant protein A (SP-A), which has a major role in fighting infections and inflammation in the lung.