MUSIC: "Our World" theme
Straight ahead on "Our World" ... NASA launches the space shuttle on a space station-construction mission ... finding the links between poverty, development and health ... and a laboratory where they try to answer the really big questions ...
ANISI: "We actually try and study the fundamental components of the universe and see what the basic bits and pieces that go together to make matter are."
Those stories, a chemistry resource on our Website of the Week and more. I'm Art Chimes. Welcome to VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."
The Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off on Tuesday in what appeared to be a flawless launch, despite concerns among safety officials about the shuttle's vital heat protection system.
On this 120th shuttle mission, Discovery delivered the newest component of the International Space Station ? the seven-meter-long, 14,000 kilogram Harmony module that will provide more working space and attachment points for future European and Japanese laboratory sections. Installation of that module and other construction work make this mission the most challenging in almost a decade of space station construction.
The shuttle docked with the space station on Thursday. One of the toughest jobs will be to relocate a large piece of the space station, called the P6 truss, from one end of the station to another. Astronaut Doug Wheelock said it's unlike anything shuttle astronauts have ever done before, and they're ready for all contingencies.
WHEELOCK: "We are very well prepared. A lot of people, a lot of smart rocket scientists around the Johnson Space Center, have spent a lot of time figuring out what could go wrong, and what we might do to address those things. So we have a very long list of procedures that we could run if things don't go exactly as planned."
Before the flight a NASA safety panel expressed concern about three pieces of the shuttle's wings that help protect the spacecraft against the heat of reentry. A damaged wing led to the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, which burned up on its return to Earth in 2003. But NASA managers decided the risk to Discovery was minimal and decided to go ahead with the launch.
While docked at the space station, astronauts now routinely inspect the shuttle for any damage to the tiles and other parts of the heat protection system, and they are equipped to do repairs if they identify any problems.
At a pre-flight press conference, mission commander Pamela Melroy expressed confidence that if there was any damage, it could be repaired.
MELROY: "The possibility always exists that something is going to come along. I mean, we're NASA, that's what... we practice...for everything that we can possibly think of. But I have a lot of confidence in our [external fuel] tank, in the recent activity that was done on it, and we have a lot of confidence in the orbiter, and I'm hopeful that everything will go well. So we feel comfortable that if anything does come up, we'll be ready to look at it."
Melroy is one of two women in the seven-member crew, which also includes Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli. Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to return to Earth a week from Tuesday.
More than 200 medical and scientific journals joined forces this week to publish some 750 articles on the theme of poverty and human development, and their implications for health.
The journals taking part in this extraordinary, coordinated effort represent 37 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe, and span the range from major journals like the British Nature to specialty publications like the Islamic University Journal.
Several of the papers were presented at a special event Monday at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, or NIH, just outside Washington.
At that session, Dr. Sarah Saleem of the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, reported on her study on the effectiveness of a widely-used disinfectant called chlorhexidine to reduce infections in childbirth. Saleem explained that hospital births, or even the presence of a skilled attendant, are uncommon in her country.
SALEEM: "In Pakistan, more than 80 percent of deliveries occur at home and are attended by unskilled, traditional birth attendants. Only 13 percent of deliveries are conducted by skilled attendants. And most of the adverse maternal and neo-natal outcomes in Pakistan and other developing countries are infectious in origin."