Washington, Nov 20 : In a first of its kind study, scientists at the Buck Institute for Age Research have uncovered biomarkers of aging, which can predict both chronological and physiological age.

Biomarkers are biochemical features that can be used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment.

The scientists conducted the study by using nematode worms, microarrays which measure changes in gene expression, and complex computer algorithms.

And they believe that the step could help them identify similar biomarkers in humans, which would provide a means of scientifically validating anti-aging therapies.

Washington, November 20 : Former ‘Baywatch’ actor David Hasselhoff has had a globe made with his pictures – to interpret his impact on the world.

The 56-year-old claims that the customised little world, which features countries made out of small images of the actor, depicts his contribution in relieving the world from some of its problems.

“I have had a globe made with my face stretched across the ocean and little versions of myself forming the countries,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

Washington, Nov 20 : Fearing you won''t be able to keep track of your workout sessions during the holiday season? Well, in that case, scrap all your worries, for cell phone software has been developed that can help people maintain their exercise routine and keep the pounds off over winter months.

Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have created two new cell phone applications, dubbed UbiFit and UbiGreen, which can track workouts and green transportation.

And the interesting part of using the programs is that they display motivational pictures on the phone''s background screen that change the more the user works out or uses eco-friendly means of transportation.

Kabul , Nov. 20 : At least six insurgent fighters have been killed and several others wounded following a suspected U. S. airstrike deep inside Pakistani territory on Wednesday, the Washington Post quoted a Pakistani security official as saying.

An unmanned U. S. Predator aircraft fired at least two missiles early Wednesday at a house near north Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal territories that line Pakistan''s border with Afghanistan.

Washington, Nov 20 : As NASA selects a landing site for its next Mars mission called the ‘Mars Science Laboratory’, four intriguing places on the Red Planet have made it to the final round.

The sites, alphabetically, are: Eberswalde, where an ancient river deposited a delta in a possible lake; Gale, with a mountain of stacked layers including clays and sulfates; Holden, a crater containing alluvial fans, flood deposits, possible lake beds and clay-rich deposits; and Mawrth, which shows exposed layers containing at least two types of clay.

Washington, Nov 20 : A new research by a team of scientists has suggested that climate change can open new avenues for spread of invasive plants.

The team’s findings indicate that certain plants could become invasive if they spread to places that were previously too cold for them.

“This paper is the first to suggest that the mechanisms that aid invasive species when they move from one continent to the next may actually work within continents when climate change gradually extends the distributional range of a species,” said Koen J. F. Verhoeven, an evolutionary biologist at The Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

“Plants may be able to outrun, so to speak, their enemies from the southern range,” he added.