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Astronomers have detected regular patterns in what they call the afterglow of creation that they believe were caused by shock waves shortly after the universe was born. They provide the most precise image yet of the Big Bang explosion that created the universe 12 to 15 billion years ago.

They were obtained by the Boomerang (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics) experiment. Boomerang is an extremely sensitive microwave telescope that was carried by a balloon that circumnavigated the Antarctic in late 1998. The balloon carried the telescope at an altitude of 120,000 feet for 10 days.
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Dennis Tito had to pay the Russians 2 million dollars in order to be the first tourist in space, but companies are working hard to develop craft that will make space travel affordable in the next decade.

Space Adventures, the Virginia company that arranged Tito’s flight to the International Space Station, has already flown 150 customers up 80,000 feet, to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, where the curvature of the earth and the darkness of space are visible.

Within 3 years, they think they can produce a privately-built sub-orbital rocket that will be able to take passengers on a trip to space similar to the first trip into space by U.S. astronaut Alan Shepherd 40 years ago. The price of the trip will be only $98,000.
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Scientists have identified an area in space called the Orion Nebula where tiny specks of dust are growing into infant planets. Conditions there favor the development of Earth- and Mars-sized planets, which have the potential for developing life, rather than gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn.

?We?ve never seen dust in astrophysics that behaves like this,? says Henry Throop at Southwest Research Institute. ?It?s not direct visual evidence of planets, but it?s very direct evidence for large grains, which means these things are sticking together and growing on their way to becoming planetesimals and planets.?
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Ever wake up late at night and hear what sounds like a burglar walking around downstairs? It can?t happen if you?ve equipped your home with the new burglar alarm developed by Swedish scientists that will go on sale in England this year.

When the device, known as Inferno, is set off, the sounds it makes are so unbearable they can cause physical nausea. It can be attached to existing burglar alarms and emits low-frequency sounds that grate against each other. In tests, volunteers were able to endure the sounds for a maximum of 80 seconds before running out of the room.
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