The world's largest snake has been found deep in the South American rainforest

New bird species

• TONY EASTLEY: Scientists in the United States have made a breakthrough that could lead to a universal flu vaccine. They've discovered anti-bodies that neutralise multiple strains of the influenza virus, and a so-called "pan-therapy" or broad-spectrum vaccine could be just five years away.

• American scientists Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien, and Osamu Shimomura of Japan won the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, or GFP.

• Martin Chalfie

• Brian Butterworth, a British cognitive neuropsychologist and founding editor of the journal "Mathematical Cognition", has summarized several lines of evidence pointing to the conclusion that the normal human brain contains a "number module" - a highly specialized set of neural circuits that enable us to categorize small collections of objects in terms of their so-called numerosities.

• Wheat could soon take a walk on the wild side. An ancient strain of wild wheat found growing in Israel has enabled a team of Israeli and American scientists to boost the protein, zinc and iron content in modern wheat, an accomplishment that could help supply more nutritious food to millions of people worldwide.

• The next significant discovery took place in 1820. Professor Hans Christian Oersted was demonstrating an experiment for students when he accidentally discovered that a compass needle moved when it was close to a wire connected to a voltaic pile. Oersted's discovery was a major breakthrough in electrical science because he was first to recognize that electricity and magnetism are related. His discovery marked the beginning of electricity as we know it today. The "Oersted" is the unit of magnetic reluctance.

• Andre-Marie Ampere made the next significant discovery, establishing the science of electrodynamics in 1823.The properties of electromotive force in Ampere's time were in a constant state of interpretation and revision by many scientists. Nevertheless, it was Ampere's brilliant deduction that solved the scientific riddle. Ampere experimented with current-carrying conductors and reasoned that electromotive force is manifested by two kinds of effects: electric tension and electric current. Thus, he established the concepts of voltage and current. The "Ampere" is the unit of electric current.

• Oersted's discovery set Faraday on a series of experiments for 11 years. Finally, in 1831, his experiments revealed a great truth: Electricity could indeed be produced by magnetism. Nevertheless, the critical component of his discovery was that magnetism must be accompanied by motion. If Oersted had discovered the magic doorway that would lead to the age of electric power, it was Faraday who unlocked that door. The "Farad" is the unit of electrical capacitance.

• In the late 1870's, the nature of electricity was still not well known. Maxwell's mathematical equations, electromagnetic theory of light, and laws of electrodynamics lacked hard experimental verification. Heinrich Hertz became a strong deciple of Maxwell's theories, and it was his work that proved Maxwell correct.
• -By 1888 Hertz had received world acclaim for his exhaustive experiments of electromagnetic wave phenomena concerning propagation, polarization, and reflection of waves. His discoveries opened the door to future work in the realm of radio. The "Hertz" is the unit for measurement of frequency.

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