Astronaut captures Northern Lights from space

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, dazzle stargazers on Earth and in space.

Watch this amazing video (timelapse)

Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly has captured timelapse footage of the spectacular sight, from the International Space Station.

The splashes of colour are caused by the interaction of charged particles and the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.

Scott took the sunrise footage on his 141st day of his #yearinspace mission. (CBBC Newsround)

Scott Kelly who is on a year-long space mission to collect important scientific data for future human exploration of our solar system. Scott Kelly started his “Year In Space” mission in March 2015. Scott Kelly served as commander of 26th long-duration mission, Expedition 26 which reached the station on 10 October 2010. (The Indian Express)

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Huge vortex appears in lake in America

A giant spiralling vortex has appeared in a lake in the United States.

Video footage has captured the vortex on Lake Texoma, which is on the border between the states of Texas and Oklahoma.

It opened up after water was drained from the lake after severe floods.

The hole is two and a half metres wide but is walled off to make sure vessels and small boats are not caught up in it. (CBBC newsround)

What's a Vortex?

In fluid dynamics, a vortex is a region, in a fluid medium, in which the flow is mostly rotating on an axis line, the vortical flow that occurs either on a straight-axis or a curved-axis. The plural of vortex is either vortices or vortexes.

Once formed, vortices can move, stretch, twist, and interact in complex ways. A moving vortex carries with it some angular and linear momentum, energy, and mass. In a stationary vortex, the streamlines and pathlines are closed. In a moving or evolving vortex the streamlines and pathlines are stretched by the overall flow into loopy but open curves. (in Wikipedia)

Did you know vortices spin in different directions weather you are in northern or southern hemisphere?

Watch this video

Robot receptionist starts work in Tokyo department store

A super-life-like robot has started work at a department store in Tokyo, Japan.

The robot will help to welcome customers who visit the shop, and offer directions.

Mio Sakai has been working as the store's human receptionist for two years now, and says she feels honoured to work alongside the robot-lady.

The new robo-receptionist will be welcoming visitors to the store for the next few days, before working elsewhere in the store as a guide.

From BBC Newsround

Dressed in a kimono and smiling, Aiko Chihira greets shoppers at the entrance of Tokyo's Mitsukoshi department store. But Chihira is no regular employee — she is a humanoid robot.

Developed by Toshiba last year, the robot made its debut at the store on Monday in a new role interacting with customers.

Speaking Japanese, Chihira, which has human-like features and blinks, can also be programmed to speak in other languages such as Chinese.

"It would be good if we can have her provide guidance, or recommend various things in Chinese," said Hitoshi Tokuda, Toshiba's new business development division group manager.

"... People can be looking around and think, 'Oh if Aiko is around, she can speak Chinese'. That's what I hope will happen."

Sign language

Toshiba has said Chihira has 43 motors which allow it to move. The robot is also programmed to do Japanese sign language.

At Monday's unveiling, Chihira accompanied Japanese opera singer Shoko Iwashita in a performance.

"I would like you to listen to the song that I've put a lot of effort into," the robot said.

After the performance, in which it appeared as if Chihira had lip-synched, the robot asked for applause for Iwashita.

Chihira, currently not programmed to respond to customer complaints or questions, is not the only robot to work in retail. Last year, Nestle said it would enlist SoftBank Corp's humanoid robots, Pepper, to help sell its coffee makers at home appliances stores across Japan.

From CBCNews

Solar Eclipse

Students build electric sofa to travel around campus

A team of engineering students from the University of New South Wales in Australia has created a robotic sofa to travel around campus.

It can move in any direction and is controlled manually using an Xbox gamepad.

Movement can also be pre-programmed by the students.

Watch the interview with Stephanie McArthur, one of the students behind the project.

From CBBC Newsround

Driverless cars could be on UK roads by 2015

Driverless cars will be allowed on public roads in the UK from January 2015, the government has announced.

They've asked cities to compete to host special trials to test the technology.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Today's announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months."

He said it would put the UK "at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities".

Driverless cars could become a familiar sight from January 2015

The cars work by using a system of sensors and cameras and engineers have been experimenting with them for some time.

From CBBC newsround

Google Glass goes on sale in UK

Google have released their wearable technology device, Glass, in the UK.

The device, which is still a prototype at the moment, costs £1,000 and you have to be over 18 to buy it.

Glass lets you film stuff and check the internet on the move, with a built-in camera and microphone to record photos, video and sounds.

Google says Glass is a hands-free, quick alternative to smartphones - but some people are concerned about privacy and that using Glass while driving would be unsafe.

From CBBC newsround

Volcano causes new island to pop out of the sea near Japan

A brand new island has popped out of the sea near to Japan.

It's tiny - about 200 metres wide - and it might not last very long because it's made out of volcanic rock that erodes quite easily.

It was caused by a volcanic eruption under the sea bed which forced lava and rock to burst through the surface of the water.

The molten rock has then cooled and hardened on the water, turning it into a mini island.

It was first spotted because of massive clouds of smoke blowing out into the air, and when coastguards went to investigate they saw land that wasn't there before.

It's not been named yet because experts want to wait and see if it will stick around, but if it does it's a new mark to make on the map!

From CBBC Neewsround

Life on Earth may have started on Mars, say scientists

Could we all be Martians?! Because new research suggests life on Earth might have actually begun on Mars.

Scientists in the US have found evidence to show that some compounds found in human DNA might have originally come from Mars.

They think they were transported to Earth by meteorites billions of years ago.

The research also suggests that back then Mars was actually a better place to kick-start life than Earth was.

"The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock," says Professor Steven Benner who explained the research.

"It's lucky that we ended up here, nevertheless - as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life" he added, "if our hypothetical Martian ancestors had remained on Mars, there may not have been a story to tell."

This new evidence has emerged to support the long-debated theory that life on Earth may have come from Mars. According to this research paper presented at the 23rd Goldschmidt conference in Florence, an oxidised mineral form of the element molybdenum which may have been crucial to the origin of life, could only have been  available on the surface of Mars and not on Earth.

“It’s only when molybdenum becomes highly oxidised that it is able to influence how early life formed,” said Professor Steven Benner, from The Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in the US.

“This form of molybdenum couldn’t have been available on Earth at the time life first began, because three billion years ago the surface of the Earth had very little oxygen, but Mars did. It’s yet another piece of evidence which makes it more likely life came to Earth on a Martian meteorite, rather than starting on this planet,” Benner said.

In the research presented at the conference, Benner tackled two of the paradoxes which make it difficult for scientists to understand how life could have started on Earth.

The first is dubbed by Benner as the ‘tar paradox’.

All living things are made of organic matter, but if you add energy such as heat or light to organic molecules and leave them to themselves, they don’t create life. Instead, they turn into something more like tar, oil or asphalt.

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From CBBC newsround / Hindustantimes- World