Category: Science &Technology

{{Boeing Co has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to conduct test flights of its 787 Dreamliner, suggesting the company is making progress in finding a solution to the battery problems that grounded the entire 787 fleet last month.}}

Boeing said it has submitted an application to conduct test flights, confirming a report in the Seattle Times.

The newspaper reported that the FAA might grant permission as soon as Monday night, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

The FAA said it is evaluating Boeing’s request.

Boeing would test a potential fix for the problem that caused two batteries to burn on 787s last month, the paper said.

But passenger flights would still be weeks if not months away, the paper said, citing two sources.

Reuters

{{British researchers say they‘ve found it’s at least partially true some people are born leaders, thanks to a specific DNA sequence. }}

Dr. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve of the University College London School of Public Policy, who led an international team at Harvard, New York University and the University of California, said about a quarter of the observed variation in leadership behavior between individuals can be explained by genes.

“We have identified a genotype, called rs4950, which appears to be associated with the passing of leadership ability down through generations,” lead author De Neve said in a statement. “The conventional wisdom — that leadership is a skill — remains largely true, but we show it is also, in part, a genetic trait.”

To find the genotype, the researchers analyzed data from two large-scale samples in the United States, available through the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Framingham Heart Study.

They compared genetic samples of about 4,000 individuals with information about jobs and relationships and found there was a significant association between rs4950 and leadership.

Leadership behavior was measured by determining whether or not individuals occupied supervisory roles in the workplace.

The study, published online in Leadership Quarterly, found although acquiring a leadership position mostly depends on developing skills, inheriting the leadership trait can also play an important role.

(UPI)

{{Iran said on Monday it had launched a live monkey into space, seeking to show off missile systems that have alarmed the West because the technology could potentially be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.}}

The Defense Ministry announced the launch as world powers sought to agree a date and venue with Iran for resuming talks to resolve a standoff with the West over Tehran’s contested nuclear program before it degenerates into a new Middle East war.

Efforts to nail down a new meeting have failed repeatedly and the powers fear Iran is exploiting the diplomatic vacuum to hone the means to produce nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic denies seeking weapons capability and says it seeks only electricity from its uranium enrichment so it can export more of its considerable oil wealth.

The powers have proposed new talks in February, a spokesman for the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Monday, hours after Russia urged all concerned to “stop behaving like children” and commit to a meeting.

Iran earlier in the day denied media reports of a major explosion at one of its most sensitive, underground enrichment plants, describing them as Western propaganda designed to influence the nuclear talks.

The Defense Ministry said the space launch of the monkey coincided “with the days of” the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, which was last week, but gave no date, according to a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

The launch was “another giant step” in space technology and biological research “which is the monopoly of a few countries”, the statement said.

The small grey monkey was pictured strapped into a padded seat and being loaded into the Kavoshgar rocket dubbed “Pishgam” (Pioneer) which state media said reached a height of more than 120 km (75 miles).

“This shipment returned safely to Earth with the anticipated speed along with the live organism,” Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi told the semi-official Fars news agency.

“The launch of Kavoshgar and its retrieval is the first step towards sending humans into space in the next phase.”

There was no independent confirmation of the launch.

{Agencies}

{{China said it successfully tested a heavy air force freighter that could be a mostly home-grown substitute for the older Russian planes it now uses while substantially boosting the Chinese military’s global reach.}}

The Y-20 flew took off from its development base near the northwestern city of Xi’an on Saturday, the China Daily and other newspapers reported Monday.

The plane can fly 44,000 kilometers (27,300 miles) with 66 tons of freight, and is designed to fill the need for a stronger, long-range heavy lift capacity.

China now uses Russian IL-76 freighters, including for communications roles, but those planes were first built in the 1970s and their technology is outdated.

The Y-20, which compares to the U.S. Air Force’s C-17 cargo planes, will use Russian jet engines until China develops replacements, the reports said.

China in 2011 sent IL-76 freighters to rescue its citizens trapped by the fighting in Libya and the introduction of the Y-20 should substantially increase the military’s ability to deliver soldiers and equipment, including tanks, for combat missions or disaster relief.

Separately, the official Xinhua News Agency said China successfully tested an anti-ballistic missile system Sunday but gave few details. China last successfully tested the system in 2010.

China has spent lavishly on its military in recent years as its economy boomed, giving the country the second-largest official defense budget after the United States.

That has given teeth to Beijing’s ambitions to take a leading role in the Asian Pacific region and deter Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own, from declaring formal independence.

While China says those arms are purely for defense, its recent aggressive moves to assert its territorial claims have unnerved Vietnam, the Philippines and other neighbors and prompted them to boost defense spending as well.

AP