Scientists may have identified the first specks of interstellar dust in material collected by the US space agency's Stardust spacecraft. A stream of this dust flows through space; the tiny particles are building blocks that go into making stars and planets. The Nasa spacecraft was primarily sent to catch dust streaming from Comet Wild 2 and return it to Earth for analysis. But scientists also set out to capture particles of interstellar dust. The material was gathered by the Stardust probe in a seven-year, 4.8-billion-km (2.9 billion miles) interplanetary voyage.

Astronomers have found the first clear evidence of a binary quasar within a pair of actively merging galaxies. Quasars are the extremely bright centers of galaxies surrounding super-massive black holes, and binary quasars are pairs of quasars bound together by gravity. Binary quasars, like other quasars, are thought to be the product of galaxy mergers. Until now, however, binary quasars have not been seen in galaxies that are unambiguously in the act of merging.

"Over the last 50 years, the people of the developed world have begun to cross into a landscape unlike any that humanity has experienced before. It is a region without physical shape or form. It exists, like a standing wave, in the vast web of our electronic communication systems. It consists of electron states, microwaves, magnetic fields, light pulses and thought itself." Mitch Kapor (in "Across the Electronic Frontier," a paper co-authored with John Perry Barlow).

PARIS: Astronomers have made the first direct capture of a spectrum of light from a planet outside the Solar System and are deciphering its composition. The light was snared from a giant planet that orbits a bright young star called HR 8799 about 130 light-years from Earth, said the European Southern Observatory (ESO). “The spectrum of a planet is like a fingerprint. It provides key information about the chemical elements in the planet’s atmosphere,” said Markus Janson, lead author of a study on the find. “With this information, we can better understand how the planet formed and, in the future, we might even be able to find tell-tale signs of the presence of life.”

The Maya Calendar – the cosmogram of evolutionary programs

The calendaric system used by the Maya intrigued the scholars of pre-Columbian culture for over 100 years. The new evidence of the amazingly profound knowledge of the Maya being discovered, specifically relating to their understanding of the phenomena and the intricate relationships of the cosmos, still fails to explain the reason for the Maya using two different calendars: the 365 day long HAAB and the 260 day TZOLKIN. While the links between the astrophysical phenomena with the 365 day system are easily interpreted, the findings in no way explain the complexities of the Tzolkin, and specifically the calendar’s references to ancient human history as well as to humanity’s FUTURE.

Stretching, Breathing, and Meditating can Transform your Day

Many yoga students complain that they don’t have time to commit to their practice. In the western mindset, yoga is a workout; we envision ourselves visiting gyms and studios on a regular basis for 90-minute sessions full of asanas and sun salutations and 15-minute savasanas. There is another way to approach yoga that can have a much more significant impact on your life. Yoga is about changing your habits and attitudes, both in your body and mind. To that end, yoga can be a small part of your daily life, rather than something you do a few times a week.