The prehistoric beasts are back as Walking With Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular gets ready to return home in 2011.

The crowds part to reveal the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, six tonne killer queen of the Cretaceous period.

Created in Australia in conjunction with the BBC documentary series, Walking With Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular has toured internationally since 2007.

The giant Tyrannosaurus Rex indulges in a little pre-dinner conversation with Sydney school children.

After playing to packed venues across the US for the past three years, the dinosaurs are set to return to home soil in 2011 to thrill Australian audiences once more.

The baby Tyrannosaurus Rex gives some the kids a sniff before bounding off to see monster mum.

The Australian tour is set to start in April 2011and takes in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Newcastle.

At 12m long, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the largest terrestrial carnivores of all time, tipping the scales at about six tonnes.

The animatronic creatures used in the show were created by team at the Creature Production Company and are some of the largest free-moving models in the world.

Children from Randwick Public School in Sydney get up close and personal with the mother and baby Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The show features 20 life-sized dinosaurs ranging from human height to a Brachiosaurus, standing more than 10m tall.

The dinosaurs are the brainchild of designer Sonny Tilders.

Based out of Melbourne's docklands, he and his 50-strong team, worked tirelessly for 12 months to create the beasts that appear in the show.

The stage show cost $20 million to produce.

The giant Tyrannosaurus Rex lunges towards the unsuspecting photographer.

The creatures minor movements get their own "voodoo puppeteer" who operates the mouth and eyes and deals with the sounds effects.

The kids play nice as mother watches from above.

In the three years the show has been in the US it has put on 1097 performances, playing to 4.1 million people in 144 cities.

While Sonny Tilders does an interview we take a sneak peak inside the T-Rex's driver cockpit.

The model dinosaur is powered by 18 truck batteries, weighs in at two-and-a-half tonnes and is manoeuvred around the arena by a driver located below the creature's belly.

This is the effects keyboard used during the show to create the sounds for both the mother and baby Tyrannosaurus Rex.

A total of three operators are required to work the Tyrannosaurus Rex during the show. One drives, one controls the head and tail and the other handles mouth, eyes and sound effects.

The mother and baby Tyrannosaurus Rex let out a blood-curdling roar.

The show includes ten species of dinosaurs, spanning the 200 million-year reign of these "terrible lizards".

Creature design engineer Trevor Tighe inspects the jaws of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The T-Rex gets its realistic look by having air-bags that inflate under the skin. Body movement is controlled by 20 hydraulic and 10 electric motors.

School children look up as the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex moves towards them.

It takes 33 semi-trailers to move the show from town to town and it employs 65 staff when on the road.

Note : Book your tickets which is available online at DinosaurLive . So, get there with heart full of imagination with your family and walk with Dinosaurs after 65 Million Years !!!

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Meteor shower tonight Orionid meteor shower October 2009. We are in for another great treat from Orionid meteor shower. After Perseids showers that we experienced in mid August, it will be another visual treat for millions of stargazers.

The Orionids generally begin on October 15 and end on October 29, with maximum generally occurring during the morning hours of October 20-22. The Orionids are barely detectable on the beginning and ending dates, but observers in the Northern Hemisphere will see around 20 meteors per hour at maximum, while observers in the Southern Hemisphere will see around 40 meteors per hour. The maximum can last two or three nights, although there is evidence of some fluctuation from year to year.

There are other, weaker meteor showers going on around the same time as the Orionids. The Orionids generally appear to move fast. When you see a meteor, mentally trace it backwards. If you end up at Orion then you have probably seen an Orionid meteor! If you are not sure where Orion is in the sky, the following charts will help you find it from both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere:

This represents the view from mid-northern latitudes at about 1:00 a.m. local time around October 21. The graphic does not represent the view at the time of maximum, but is simply meant to help prospective observers to find the radiant location. The red line across the bottom of the image represents the horizon.

Location of the Orionids:

For Southern Hemisphere Observers

This represents the view from mid-southern latitudes at about 2:00 a.m. local time around October 21. The graphic does not represent the view at the time of maximum, but is simply meant to help prospective observers to find the radiant location. The red line across the bottom of the image represents the horizon.

HISTORY :

The Orionids Meteor Shower is caused by the dust particles of Halley’s Comet (IP/Halley). Halley’s Comet last visited us in 1986 and has a 75-76 year orbit. The trail of debris that follows this comet consistently produces the Orionids Meteor Shower each October. Halley’s Comet is also accountable for an additional meteor shower in May called the Eta Aquarids. The Orionids Meteor Shower started October 2 and will be active until November 7. Viewers can expect the strongest activity to take place in the morning of October 21. An interesting fact about the Orionids is that they have been known to exhibit what is called “submaxima” activity which means that strong outbursts may occur anytime between October 18-24. Meteors are the occurrence of light created from meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere at 90,000+ mph. Orionids seem to originate from the constellation Orion near the red/orange star named Betelgeuse. Light pollution from the moon and man-made sources of light are always a factor for meteor shower viewing, however this year the Moon will be a waxing crescent with only 13% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated which means good news for meteor enthusiasts.

WHERE TO WATCH ?

To view this shower one must go to a safe dark place in the morning and look toward the constellation Orion. Orionids get their name from the meteor shower’s radiant which is located near Orion, the Hunter.

WHEN TO WATCH ?

For each shower, I list the shower's name and a "Predicted Maximum". This is when THE SHOWER should be at its maximum activity, whether or not you are in a position to view it. If this maximum time happens to coincide with a time when it's clear and dark and the radiant is high in your sky, you'll probably be a happy camper.

These times are generally valid for all of North America and are given as local time (i.e., you don't have to worry about converting for your time zone). It may be worth looking up the beginning of astronomical twilight for your location on a given date; this will give you an idea of how late you may observe into the prime morning hours.

I’m looking forward to this event because it marks the start of more major meteor activity in the last part of the year. The Orionids is considered a major meteor shower and could produce 25 to 35 visible meteors per hour. Please note that meteor showers are best seen in the morning before dawn so one should be observing Wednesday morning October 21 to have the best chance to see the most meteors not Wednesday Night.

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It's a proud moment for India. UK-based Indian origin scientist Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on proteins that control life .

Short Biography Of Dr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan :

Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, known to most as "Venki," started out as a theoretical physicist. After graduate school, he designed his own 2-year transition from physics to biology. Then, as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr Peter Moore at Yale University, he worked on a neutron-scattering map of the small ribosomal subunit of E. coli. He has been studying ribosome structure ever since.

In the August 26, 2000 issue of Nature, Dr Ramakrishnan and his coworkers published the structure of the small ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus, a heat-stable bacterium related to one found in the Yellowstone hot springs. With this 5.5 Angstrom-resolution structure, Dr. Ramakrishnan's group identified key portions of the RNA and, using previously determined structures, positioned seven of the subunit's proteins.

Dr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 58, had his early education in the town of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, and Baroda, Gujarat, before went to the US. He later moved to US. The Swedish Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Dr Ramakrishnan, who is currently affiliated with the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, for his work on protein-producing ribosomes and its translation of DNA information into life. He shared the prize with Dr Thomas Steitz of Yale University, Connecticut, and Dr Ada Yonath of Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
He credited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the University of Utah for supporting his work and the collegiate atmosphere there that made it all possible.Surly he made a great contribution.

THE RESEARCH:

The practical importance of Dr Ramakrishnan's work arises from ribosomes being present in allliving cells, including those of bacteria. Human and bacterial ribosomes are slightly different,making the ribosome a good target for antibiotic therapy that works by blocking the bacteriums ability to make the proteins it needs to function.Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath demonstrated what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at an atomic level using a visualization method called X-ray crystallography to map the position of each of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, according to the MRC.

Dr. Ramakrishnan said:

‘‘I have to say that I am deeply indebted to all of the brilliant associates, students and post docs who worked in my lab as science is a highly collaborative enterprise. The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the University of Utah supported this work and the collegiate atmosphere there made it all possible. The idea of supporting long term basic research like that at LMB does lead to breakthroughs, the ribosome is already starting to show its medical importance.’’

"There are lots of good scientists in India but I notice the press is hung up about these Western prizes like the Nobel Prize instead of appreciating the excellent work they (scientists) are doing within the context of India. There are lots of good labs in India where they can do excellent work. Well, in 1971 there were only a few places in India - there was not much research and money for research in India at that time."

"I have been to India several times since and these days there are some really fantastic places in India like the Indian Institute of Science and several others...those are very good places and very good scientists," Ramakrishnan, added.

"This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the Nobel citation explained.

Scientists say growing knowledge of the ribosome has created targets for a new generation of antibiotics. The instruction manual for the creation of proteins is DNA, but the ribosome is the machine which takes information transcribed onto messenger RNA and turns it into proteins.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Medical Research Council Chief Executive, said:

‘‘We are absolutely delighted that Dr Ramakrishnan’s work has been recognized with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Venki’s award is the Medical Research Council’s 29th Nobel Prize and is a reflection of the excellent work that our scientists do. The MRC is committed to long-term support of the difficult areas of basic science as exemplified by Venki’s success. It is only on the back of such discoveries that we can continue to drive translation into benefits for human health.’’

Elaborating, the MRC said Dr Ramakrishnan's basic research on the arrangement of atoms in the ribosome has allowed his team not only to gain detailed knowledge of how it contributes to protein production but also to see directly how antibiotics bind to specific pockets in the ribosome structure. Dr Ramakrishnan will share the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million) Nobel Prize money (1/3rd each), in a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

This must be the greatest moment for all the Indians who are proud to having such a biggest Personality who discovered a new theory of life origin... This is a small step for science but a giant for Indian glory.


learn more about the secret behind Nobel Prize At HERE

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The world's first personal supercomputer - a machine 250 times faster than the average PC - has been unveiled in Britain.

It will go on sale for more than pound £4000 ($9100), beyond the reach of most consumers but a fraction of what computers with similar capabilities usually cost. The supercomputers, released in the US last month, will initially be sold to the scientific and research community and universities. PC maker Dell, however, said it would soon be mass-producing them for the general consumer market.

The Tesla supercomputers have such immense power they should be able to help doctors to process the results for brain and body scans much more quickly, allowing them to tell patients within hours instead of days whether they have a tumour.

Scientists believe they could help to find cures for diseases such as cancer and malaria faster than traditional research, because they can run hundreds of thousands of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs most likely to offer a potential cure.

Previous supercomputers have been massive systems consisting of thousands of machines housed in huge rooms, costing millions to build and maintain. Tesla personal supercomputers look like the PCs many people already have in their homes.

"These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1000 times," Dr Kirk said.

"If you imagine it takes a week to get a result (from running an experiment), you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day."

The new computers use innovative "graphics processing units" - a technological breakthrough, the company says, that could bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers for the consumer market.

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