August 2004 (Newstream) -- New research from Ohio State University shows that avocados act as a "nutrient booster," allowing the body to significantly absorb more heart-healthy and cancer-fighting nutrients like alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene found in fruits and vegetables.

Adding delicious, heart-healthy avocados to a colorful salad can increase absorption of cancer-fighting nutrients. (Photo: Business Wire)

Dr. Steven Schwartz from Ohio State University participated in research for both studies. According to Schwartz, "Many fruits and vegetables are rich in beneficial carotenoids, but most fruits and vegetables are virtually fat free, which may limit the body's ability to absorb some of these nutrients. Our latest research shows that the natural fat content in avocados increases carotenoid absorption, which offers nutritional advantages over other sources of fat like salad dressings."

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August 2004 (Newstream) -- A Proton rocket launched by International Launch Services (ILS) successfully carried the Amazonas satellite into orbit today.

Kazakhstan, Thursday morning on a mission managed by International Launch Services (ILS) of MCLean, Va. The rocket carried the Amazonas satellite, built for Hispasat of Spain to provide communications on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the 30th Proton mission for ILS, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin of the U.S. and Khrunichev of Russia.

The launch vehicle was built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, a partner in the ILS joint venture along with Lockheed Martin Corp. [NYSE:LMT]. This was the third Proton launch of the year for ILS, and the seventh mission overall for the company in 2004.

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The United States will soon embark on a mission to the small planet Mercury, its first since 1973. A spacecraft named Messenger will lift off from Florida to begin a six-and-a-half year journey to a planet slightly larger than our moon and the one closest to the Sun. This proximity requires special protections for the spacecraft so it will not burn up in Mercury's extreme heat. But the planet can become extremely frigid, too.

On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Boeing workers complete the installation of the fairing around the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth joint, protecting the spacecraft during launch. MESSENGER is scheduled to launch Aug. 2 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket and is expected to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Image credit:  KSC, NASA.

The only spacecraft to make the trip was the U.S. Mariner 10, which flew by three times in the mid-1970s. But it mapped only half of the surface, so Mercury still remains the least explored of the rocky, inner worlds that include Earth, Venus, and Mars.

Scientists have many questions

"How did Mercury end up mostly metal?" asks Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the mission scientists.

He notes that Mercury is mostly iron, making it the densest planet. He wonders why it has less rocky crust than Earth, Venus, and Mars, even though scientists believe they formed the same way from a giant cloud of gas and dust swirling around the Sun.

"We do not know whether that is because closer to the Sun there was more metal than other materials, or it is possible Mercury started out more Earthlike in composition and lost its rocky fraction because of extreme heat or because of mechanical disruption by a giant impact," adds Mr. Solomon.

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