Munich, Sept 28 : The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope (VLT) Interferometer has helped astronomers discover a reservoir of dust trapped in a disc that surrounds an elderly star.

Scientists say the discovery provides additional clues about the shaping of planetary nebulae.

In the last phases of their life, stars such as our Sun evolve from a red giant, which would engulf the orbit of Mars to a white dwarf, an object that is barely larger than the Earth.

Washington, Sept 28 : Pennsylvania State University researchers have sequenced the DNA of 10 woolly mammoths that died 50,000 years ago, using a technique that could revolutionize genetic testing of extinct creatures.

In their study, ‘Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of Mitochondria from Ancient Hair Shafts’, the scientists describe how the hair shafts of extinct animals can provide an ideal source of ancient DNA.

Washington, Sept 28 : Carbon dioxide did not cause the end of the last ice age, according to new study by a University of Southern California geologist.

Deep-sea temperatures rose 1,300 years before the rise in atmospheric CO2, ruling out the greenhouse gas as driver of meltdown, Lowell Stott said in his study published online Sept 27 in Science Express.

Washington, Sept 28 : A new NASA funded research has pushed back the timeline for presence of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere by 50-100 million years before the Great Oxidation Event.

The event happened between 2.3 and 2.4 billion years ago, when many scientists think atmospheric oxygen increased significantly from the existing very low levels.

As part of their study, the scientists analysed a kilometre-long drill core from Western Australia, representing the time just before the major rise of atmospheric oxygen.

Bangalore, Sept.27 : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on April 9, 2008.

"We are looking for a launch on April nine," Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I, said, adding that a launch windows are available for the next two days in case the launch does not happen on that day.

Washington, Sept 27 : A team of two British scientists have conceptualised a radical plan that calls for placing giant pumps in the ocean to pump up cold, nutrient-rich water from deep below, encouraging surface algae to bloom and suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

James Lovelock and Chris Rapley claim that such climate engineering solutions might be the only way to hold global warming at bay given its current progress.