Washington, Nov 6: A new research has indicated that the search for dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up most of the Universe, could soon be at an end, thanks to a giant computer simulation.

Dark matter is believed to account for 85 per cent of the Universe’s mass, but has remained invisible to telescopes since scientists inferred its existence from its gravitational effects more than 75 years ago.

Now, the international Virgo Consortium, a team of scientists including cosmologists at Durham University, has used a massive computer simulation showing the evolution of a galaxy like the Milky Way to “see” gamma-rays given off by dark matter.

Pretoria - An auction of 51 tonnes of ivory in South Africa was brought to a halt before bidding even started Thursday by Asian buyers, who demanded the media be excluded from the sale.

Around two dozen Chinese and Japanese buyers threatened to boycott the one-off sale unless journalists were barred from the conference centre of the Reserve Bank in Pretoria, where the auction opened shortly after 10 a. m. (0800 GMT).

Lot number one had just appeared on a big screen when the buyers, informed the organizers that they wished to keep their identities confidential and that no bid would be submitted unless the journalists were removed. The media was also excluded from the Namibia sale.

Bonn - Deutsche Telekom reported increased third quarter profits on Thursday despite falling revenue.

Net profit in the third quarter increased by 600 million euros (760 million dollars) to 895 million euros compared to the same period last year, Germany's biggest telecommunications company said.

Adjusted for special factors net profit increased by 12 per cent to 1.18 billion euros.

Despite a 1.5 per cent decline in revenues to 15.4 billion euros, Deutsche Telekom chief executive Rene Obermann said the company had been "relatively resistant" to the global economic slowdown so far.

Washington, Nov 6: Men’s risk of developing diabetes can be calculated by factors like their genetic background and behaviour, according to a new study.

While scientists have learned a lot about human disease through research in traditional laboratory mice, there are limits in studying genetic variation since controlled breeding and diet introduces artificially influences.

In order to study diabetes risk in a more naturally genetically diverse animal, Roxanne Oriel, Paul Vrana and colleagues studied glucose tolerance, a test often used to diagnose diabetes and metabolic syndrome, in a type of field mouse native to North America.

Washington, Nov 6: A team of researchers have carried out the largest study of differences between human and chimpanzee genomes, identifying regions that have been duplicated or lost during evolution of the two lineages.

The study is the first to compare many human and chimpanzee genomes in the same fashion.

The team show that particular types of genes - such as those involved in the inflammatory response and in control of cell proliferation - are more commonly involved in gain or loss.

They also provide new evidence for a gene that has been associated with susceptibility to infection by HIV.

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday sharply lowered its earnings projections for the current fiscal year because of a rising yen and slowing auto demand in the United States and Europe amid the global financial crisis.

Japan's leading automaker expected operating income of 600 billion yen (6 billion dollars) for the year that ends March 31, down 62.5 per cent from its initial projection in May.

The figure would also represent a fall of 73.6 per cent from the operating income earned the previous fiscal year.