Tech

An ancient galaxy has entered the record books after being confirmed as the most distant object in the universe. The collection of stars, known as UDFy-38135539, is 13.1 billion light years away - meaning its light has taken almost the whole of the life of the universe to reach the Earth. When the light photons detected by astronomers began their journey, the universe was only 4 per cent of its present age. The Big Bang which created space, time and everything in the universe occurred only 600 million years earlier. British astronomers were among a team of European scientists who reported the discovery in the journal Nature. They measured the distance to the galaxy by analysing its faint glow of light using the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Splitting infrared light from the object into its component parts, the astronomers searched for the tell-tale signature of emission from hydrogen gas. This allowed the team to measure the galaxy's "redshift" - the amount by which its light waves are shifted to the red end of the spectrum. Redshift is similar to the Doppler effect which causes the sound of a police siren to rise and drop in pitch. As the police car approaches, the sound waves are compressed and shortened relative to a listening observer, causing a higher note to be heard. A lowering of pitch happens when the car recedes and the sound waves are stretched and lengthened. The same phenomenon occurs on a cosmological scale due to the expansion of the universe. As the distance between an observer on Earth and a far away object lengthens, light from the object is stretched and becomes redder. In the case of UDFy-38135539, scientists detected a record-breaking redshift of 8.55. Previous record holders were a galaxy at redshift 6.96 and a gamma-ray burst - a massive explosion of gamma rays - discovered last year at redshift 8.2.

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NTT DoCoMo unveiled prototype research at this week’s Ceatec trade show that uses a small display mounted over a set of eyeglasses to provide the wearer with navigation and weather information.

Microsoft have launched a new range of smartphones running their Windows operating system, as it bids to establish itself in the mobile market. The technology giant claims the Windows Phone 7 marks "a new era in mobile gaming" by integrating them with their Xbox Live service. Another feature of Windows Phone 7 is a start screen with "Live Tiles" software, which provides real-time information including email, news and social network updates. The new handsets, which are being made by manufacturers including HTC, LG and Samsung, go on sale from October 21. Experts have claimed this could be Microsoft's final attempt to break into the smartphone market. Twitter fan and gadget blogger Stephen Fry has praised the mobiles, saying "I have felt enormous pleasure using this phone". Steve Ballmer, chief executive, Microsoft, said: "We have a beautiful line-up in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets. "Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience - one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a glance and go format."

Japan faces a demographic crisis. Find out how robots have been drafted in to help.

For the man who has everything, here's a helicopter that's controlled by iPhone.

Experts say an earth-like planet that they have discovered has the crucial conditions needed for life to exist. It sits directly in the middle of what is referred to as the habitable or Goldilocks zone. It is unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside Earth's solar system. The planet is said to be neither too far from its star nor too close, and it could contain liquid water. "People have been getting closer and closer over the last couple of years, they have been finding planets that are on the hot edge of the habitable zone and on the cold edge of the habitable zone, but finally we have one right in the middle," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington on Wednesday. But there remain many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star, 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It is so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it does not rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark. Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as minus 25 degrees below zero, but in between, in the land of constant sunrise, it would be "shirt-sleeve weather," according to co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

In an interview with IDG News Service, NASA Payloads Specialist Scott Higginbotham explains the R2 robot that will be launched in Shuttle mission STS-133.

Spectacular images captured by space station cameras of Hurricane Igor as it churned west across the Atlantic Ocean

The finished piece. An experimental piece based around particle system generated by music and sound, pieced together to create a narrative of a cycle of life. Hopefully reflecting warmth, confusion discomfort and peace. This is the final version. Using Trapcode particular 2 and after effects. oh! and soundkeys.

The Technocrat Retrofit of London occurs circa 2070, and marks a return to the community driven sustainable way of living so often romanticised by architects, but with the help of less fashionable technology and top-down systems of government. The stock market has crashed and the pound has moved into hyper-inflation. Banks are deserted. The mayor of London negotiates with a powerless central government to transform the square mile into a contained self-sufficient Technocratic state.Buildings are retrofitted to create a sustainable self-sufficient community. Aerostats above the city support tethered wind turbines in the polar jet stream, supplying electricity to the Technate. Sunlight is the most scarce resource in the city, so a canopy of hydroponic greenhouses covers the Technate. Many existing buildings are used to house industrial and agricultural processes, located and inter-linked for efficiency and reuse of waste products. For more info, see keiichimatsuda.com

Scientist in India have developed a $35 computer which they hope will enable widespread connectivity and higher literacy.

Charles M. Telesco es profesor del Departamento de Astronomía de la Universidad de Florida. Su área de investigación es la formación estelar, planetaria y el desarrollo de instrumentación infrarroja. Lidera el equipo de investigadores que trabajan en el desarrollo de CanariCam, uno de los instrumentos que el Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) utilizará para mirar al Cosmos cuando éste comience sus observaciones. Se trata del primer aparato de imágenes y espectrógrafo de infrarrojos que se utilizará en el telescopio óptico-infrarrojo más grande del mundo. Entre sus honores destaca la obtención de la medalla de la NASA para la ciencia (1990).

A Russian rocket carrying a three-person US-Russian crew to the International Space Station has blasted off successfully from Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19 is carrying US astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin to the international orbiting laboratory for a mission lasting about six months. The trio will be onboard the space station to see the final shuttle Endeavour depart from its last planned mission to the lab in November before the fleet is finally retired. With the shuttle being phased out, the venerable Soyuz rocket will take over as the only means by which astronauts will be able to travel to the space station. The three-person crew will join Russian commander Alexander Skvortskov, NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko, who have been on the orbiting laboratory since April. Last week, the international space station raised its orbit by 1.6 miles to enable optimal positioning for the arriving Soyuz craft. A Progress cargo carrier also is due to arrive at the orbiting lab later this month.

Audiovisual work by Sculpture.Time lapse photography and animation by Reuben Sutherland. Music by Dan Hayhurst. View of Olympic construction site from rooftop, Hackney Wick, London. www.tapebox.co.uk