One poser of sandstorm lightning explained

Sandstorms can beget fantastic lightning displays, but how they do so is a mystery.

By unlocking the secrets of how sparks come to fly in these storms as researchers are right away doing, scientists could assistance fastener with all kinds of problems, from charged molecule clouds that can means harmful explosions in the food, drug and spark industries to charged dust that could problematic critical solar panelsmissions to the moon or Mars.

Sand is an insulator, so saying sandstorms beget lightning would be rather similar to examination physical materialisation arise from a assign full of rubber balls. It has been an conundrum for some-more than 150 years as to how silt grains can send the outrageous amounts of electrical assign indispensable for lightning to happen.

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"It unequivocally is utterly startling to me that notwithstanding the illusions, we unequivocally dont assimilate the simplest of goods that led Faraday, Kelvin, Maxwell and others to investigate electromagnetism in the initial place," pronounced physicist Troy Shinbrot at Rutgers University.

Now Shinbrot and his colleagues think a elementary new indication could assistance compromise one aspect of this mystery.

"We are returning to the roots of physics, and we are anticipating them abounding with unexplored behaviors that have languished for centuries," Shinbrot said.

How it functions Assuming the participation of an electric field, turn particles inside of the margin done of insulators turn polarized — that is to say, electric assign gatherseach side of the spheres. When dual such particles rebound off each other, the charges in each globe get rearranged so that each is twice as polarized as before. As these particles boomerang off each alternative again and again, outrageous amounts of assign could get eliminated even in the deficiency of any kind of conducting medium.

This indication predicts thin clouds of dust would usually set up up diseased charges, that creates sense, as thin clouds usually have a couple of particles to hit together. Surprisingly, however, thick clouds with most particles additionally set up up usually diseased charges as well, due to a materialisation dubbed "granular collapse."

Related News UPDATE 1-Egypt"s Sewedy Cables sees 2010 profit, exports upThu, April 8 2010UPDATE 1-Vestas wins 93 MW Turkish turbine orderWed, April 7 2010Denmark needs breeze turbine exam centre: Prime MinisterTue, April 6 2010China Resources Power to buy some-more spark minesTue, April 6 2010UPDATE 2-India"s Bharat Heavy targets sales growth, capexThu, April 1 2010

The object rises over a windmill plantation in Palm Springs, California, Nov 27, 2005.

Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Installations of breeze turbine ardour strike a jot down in the United States last year notwithstanding the monetary predicament that choked off appropriation for half the year, breeze ardour advocates pronounced on Thursday.

More than 10,000 megawatts of breeze ardour capacity, or 5,700 turbines, were commissioned in 2009, the American Wind Energy Association pronounced in the annual report, bringing the sum genius in the United States to 35,000 MW.

That kept the United States in the tip mark globally for breeze power, forward of China and Germany, that each had about 25.8 MW of capacity. One megawatt is sufficient ardour for about 800 U.S. households.

The U.S. breeze industry has grown 39 percent on normal each of the last five years, and right away employs about 85,000 people, most of them in states that have seen alternative industries close up factories in new years, AWEA said.

"We unequivocally are one of the usually splendid spots out there in conditions of flourishing the production centers," AWEA Chief Executive Denise Bode told a press conference.

Turbine makers such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S Suzlon laid off employees in the initial half of 2009 as orders slowed to a halt, but wake up fast rebounded after the sovereign supervision set manners that authorised companies to make use of U.S. impulse supports to assistance await the industry.

"It was a vicious piece of the success in 2009," pronounced Don Furman, comparison clamp boss for growth at breeze ardour association Iberdrola Renewables, the second largest breeze owners in the republic at the back of FPL Group"s NextEra Energy Resources.

The sovereign supports were released by a accede to complement that transposed a taxation credit program, permitting developers who had already built projects to be reimbursed for thirty percent of their building a whole costs. That helped equivalent supports that banks pulled out of the marketplace when the credit predicament stirred them to hindrance lending.

Even with the solid industry growth, breeze ardour era reached usually 1.8 percent of the country"s total, up from 1.3 percent at the finish of 2008, AWEA said. Although, AWEA pronounced it would cranky the 2 percent threshhold this year.

Leading the republic in commissioned genius is Texas, with 9,405 MW, followed by Iowa, with 3,679 MW, and California with 2,723 MW.

Even as fast as the U.S. marketplace was growing, China was catching up quickly, according to Steve Sawyer, cabinet member ubiquitous of the Global Wind Energy Council, and the Asian country"s ardour appetite done it the largest new breeze marketplace in 2009.

(Reporting by Matt Daily, Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Lenders quizzed about credit movement fears

Gr�inne Gilmore & ,}

The City Minister has created to the heads of Britains five greatest banks asking them to insist how they are scheming for bad credit label debts, The Times has learnt.

Lord Myners letter, that was sent on Thursday after a discuss on the issue in the House of Lords, was copied to Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, authority of the Financial Services Authority, and to Angela Knight, arch senior manager of the British Bankers Association.

There is flourishing fluster between a little peers that the rising series of people struggling to encounter credit label debts will incite an additional movement to the monetary predicament as banks are forced to write off billions in poisonous debt.

Britons owe some-more than 63 billion on credit cards. Speaking in the Lords this month, Lord Marlesford, a Tory peer, pronounced that a little banks had perceived less than twenty pence for each bruise of debt upheld on to debt collectors.

Related LinksWall Street banks indicted of window sauce debtCredit label clampdown: know your rights

What has the ... credit label debt on the banks change sheets been valued at? If the is still valued at 100 pence in the pound, I would indicate that that represents a complicated weight of intensity toxicity that could imperil, again, the monetary system, he said.

Bright Star review

By Philip Horne 312PM GMT twenty-six March 2010

Link to this video

Bright Star

PG, Path, 15.99

Ben Whishaw talk for Bright Star Jane Campion on "Bright Star" The maids story Kathryn Stockett examines labour and injustice in Americas Deep South Kate Moss?s open pick up for Topshop Restaurants Culinary bliss found...in East Kent Footballing star Eric Cantona goes for Palme dOr glory

Jane Campions distressing movie about John Keats and Fanny Brawne, the theme of his Bright Star sonnet, is a conspicuous achievement. Its an awkwardly lifelike, lyrical, intense, frank rendezvous with one of the good poets (played by Ben Whishaw) by his attribute with a lady who schooled to conclude communication by him.

Whats so successful about the movie is the concentration on the vain, flirtatious, afterwards sexually committed Fanny, played by the Australian singer Abbie Cornish; and the distraction of her world, Hampstead circa 1820.

The movie has been criticised, fairly, for not guileless Keatss difference sufficient for example, giving us a loud nightingale when Keats is essay his paper to it. What rises us over such teenager misjudgments is the story of in turn mania and loss, that Campion creates so involving.

Samsung unveils new Galaxy S Android phone

LAS VEGAS Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:29am EDT

J.K. Shin, boss of Mobile Communications Business for Samsung Electronics, unveils a new Galaxy S Android smartphone during the International CTIA Wireless traffic show in Las Vegas, Nevada Mar 23, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world"s second-biggest mobile phone maker, on Tuesday denounced a new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S, that is formed on Google Inc"s Android software.

Technology&&&&Media

The Galaxy S, that will contest with inclination from Nokia, Motorola Inc and Apple Inc"s iPhone, will be accessible for tellurian placement after this year, pronounced JK Shin, head of Samsung"s mobile phone business.

He pronounced in a keynote debate at the CTIA annual wireless traffic show that the phone would have use of an modernized shade record called Super AMOLED, that promises a arrangement twenty percent brighter that will simulate 80 percent less object outdoors.

Samsung pronounced the arrangement record creates the phone preferred for observation video.

Shin pronounced Samsung was partnering with tip media companies to move full-length movies, radio shows and electronic books to smartphones by approach download.

These will embody Viacom Inc"s Paramount Pictures and Skiff, an ebook edition use whose partners embody the New York Times and Esquire, Samsung pronounced at a press eventuality at CTIA.

The Galaxy S will additionally have a 1 gigahertz Samsung chip, that Shin pronounced is twice as absolute as today"s normal smartphone.

The device will have a underline called amicable hub, that aggregates messages from amicable network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Consumers will be means to see at high-definition video accessible on the phone on their radio shade by a wireless connection, according to Samsung"s US senior manager for plan Omar Khan.

At 9.9 millimeters thick, Khan pronounced the device would be one of the skinniest on the market.

The association additionally voiced that Skiff would work with Samsung to have renouned newspapers and magazines accessible on the phone.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Gabriel Madway, modifying by Gerald E. McCormick)

Technology Media for acne crude associations between acne and high intake of chocolate and chips and low intake of vegetables

Stocks tumble as concerns about the economy resurge

NEW YORK -- Stocks backtracked from an early thrust Thursday but still sealed reduce on concerns about slow mercantile debility in the U.S.

Investors were additionally nervous about the probability that Greeces rising debt problems competence brief over to alternative countries. But the dollar, that peaked early in the day as investors sought protected investments, came off the highs. And that signaled that investors, at slightest for now, had lost a little of their fears about abroad economies.

The Dow Jones industrial normal sealed down 53 points after carrying depressed 188. An astonishing climb in first-time claims for stagnation word done for a green mood in the market.

The Labor Department pronounced first-time claims for stagnation word rose by 22,000 to a seasonally practiced 496,000. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had foresee a dump in claims.

It was the second true week that claims rose unexpectedly. High stagnation stays one of the greatest obstacles to a postulated mercantile recovery. The Labor Departments monthly inform on practice will be expelled subsequent week.

The broader Standard & Poors 500 index slipped 2.30, or 0.2 percent, to 1,102.94. The Nasdaq combination index fell 1.68, or 0.1 percent, to 2,234.22.

Crude oil fell $1.83 to $78.17 per tub in New York.

Jim Maguire Jr., a merchant at E.H. Smith Jacobs in New York, pronounced he expects the marketplace to go on the back-and-forth trade it has logged this year as investors see for clues about the gait of an mercantile rebound.

"There is a feeling out there that this is not a self-sustaining economy as of nonetheless and there is this expectancy that the batch marketplace is going to stutter since of it," he said.

Overseas, Britains FTSE 100 fell 1.2 percent, Germanys DAX index forsaken 1.5 percent, and Frances CAC-40 fell 2 percent.

Japans Nikkei batch normal fell 1 percent.

Understanding tellurian meridian shift by new breakthroughs in frigid research

Griffiths presents formula from the census -- that began in 2005 -- and describes how the review provides the benchmark for destiny studies on how the unusual and opposite range of sea-floor creatures vital in Antarcticachilly waters will reply to likely environmental change.

More than 6,000 opposite class vital on the sea-floor have been identified so far and some-more than half of these are singular to the icy continent. A multiple of long-term monitoring studies, newly collected report on the sea hold up placement and tellurian sea warming models, capacitate the scientists to brand Antarcticamarine "biodiversity hotspots".

Griffiths describes how krill populations (the shrimp-like invertebrates eaten by penguins, whales and seals) are shortening as a outcome of a diminution in sea-ice cover. A most not as big crustacean (copepods) is winning the area once assigned by them. This shifts the shift of the food web to foster predators, similar to jellyfish, that are not eaten by penguins and alternative Southern Ocean higher predators. Sea-ice rebate is additionally inspiring penguins that multiply on the ice.

Griffiths says, The Polar Regions are amongst the fastest warming places on Earth and predictions indicate that in the destiny we"ll see warming sea aspect temperatures, rising sea acidification and dwindling winter sea ice -- all of that have a approach outcome on sea life.

Marine animals outlayed millions of years bettering to the freezing, fast conditions of the Antarctic waters and they are rarely supportive to change. This equates to that from the scientistperspective they are glorious indicators of environmental change. The frigid oceans are abounding in biodiversity. If class are incompetent to move or conform to new conditions they could in conclusion die out. The loss of any singular class is thus a loss of tellurian diversity.

The Most Influential Video Games of the Last 50 Years

Electronic games have had a tellurian stroke on multitude and culture,changing how people play, sense and bond with each other. Theyvebecome a entire presence, played by immature and old alike, at home,at work or in arcades. But it wasnt that approach in the beginning.

The initial computer-based video game, Spacewar!,was invented by MIT tyro Steve Russell in 1961. Unfortunately, youcouldnt fool around it unless you had entrance to a mainframe computer. How didelectronic games have the jump from mainframe to mainstream?

TechNewsDailyasked Jon-Paul Dyson, executive of the International Center for theHistory of Electronic Games (ICHEG) at Rochester, N.Y.s StrongNational Museum of Play, to give us a curated debate of vital milestonesin the expansion of electronic games.

Pong

The initial shot in the electronic diversion series was discharged by Magnavox in 1972, Dyson said.

The initial home video-game complement was the Magnavox Odyssey,Dyson said.� This interactive radio diversion let players fool around tennisand alternative games. Though it pennyless new belligerent and changed electronic gamesout of the lab, it wasnt a big seller. But it did yield theinspiration for what became the fledging genres initial homerun, Ataris Pong, an electronic list tennis game.

Pongfirst appeared as a coin-operated colonnade diversion in 1972. The initial gamewas tested in a club in Sunnyvale, Calif., called Andy Capps Tavern.�Shortly after receiving delivery, the owners called Atari and pronounced themachine was broken.�� That wasnt the case. The diversion had been sopopular that the silver box had spin clogged with quarters. Thatswhen they knew they had a strike on their hands, Dyson said. The homeversion of the diversion was expelled in 1975.

Atari authored the subsequent new thing as well, the Atari 2600Video Computer System (VCS), introduced in 1977. It featured thesoon-to-be-ubiquitous joystick diversion controller, games in color and,most importantly, transmutable cartridges.

It jump-startedthe console diversion difficulty and became the industry leader, convertingmillions of Americans in to home video-game players. But being firstwasnt the usually value of the VCS. Its a multiple of technicalproficiency with selling savvy and execution that unequivocally creates ithappen, he said. The VCS had that multiple of all three.

First video diversion character

The electronic gaming universe got a box of the munchies when Pac-Man was launched for the home marketplace in 1980. The Atari 2600 version became the initial colonnade strike to crop up on a home console.

Pac-Manwas the initial genuine impression video game, Dyson said. It was the firstone you unequivocally identified with. Two years after the politicallycorrect sibling, Ms. Pac-Man, became the best-selling colonnade diversion ofall time.

The subsequent couple of years were a idle time for theelectronic gaming industry as call after call of muted me-tooconsole games flooded the marketplace and gathering sales south. The one brightspot was the fast flourishing recognition and accessibility of homecomputers, that began combining a together ecosystem. One standout inthis early epoch of computer-based games was Tetris, a 1987 Russian export.

Tetrismarked a milestone, Dyson says, since it was the initial reallysuccessful infrequent diversion that a player could simply and intuitivelyunderstand and proceed personification but guidance.

Nintendo

The video-game industry was carried from the ennui in 1985 when Nintendo launched the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The NES unequivocally helped revitalise the industry and done Nintendo the vital player it is today, Dyson said.

It additionally supposing a star spin for a jumping plumber declared Mario in Super Mario Bros,which became the best-selling video diversion of all time until 2009, whenit was dethroned by Wii Sports. The diversion was the origination of Japanesegaming fable Shigeru Miyamoto. Hes probably the majority worshiped figurein video diversion design, Dyson said. Hes one of the half-dozen mostimportant people in this industry.

Mario hasnt shown any signs of age, Dyson says; the diversion is still fun to fool around today.

The subsequent seismic eventuality in the electronic gaming, says Dyson, came in 1990 when Microsoft bundled the classical label diversion Solitairewith Windows 3.0. The story of expansion in video computer games is notjust about record but additionally about broadening the assembly as well.

Solitaire unequivocally non-stop the door, Dyson said.

Newcomersto computers saw that they could be used to fool around games as well as workon Excel spreadsheets. Solitaire additionally helped users spin comfortableusing a mouse. Its not mostly since the credit the due, but the veryimportant, he said.

Not everyones a fan of the game, however:New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg summarily discharged a city workerin 2006 when he noticed an open deck of cards diversion on his computer screenin the citys Albany lobbying office.

Video diversion violence

In 1993, the gaming industry found itself inextricable in debate since the turn of assault in games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom, that offering feat jubilee scenarios such as ripping out the heart or spinal column of a washed up foe.

Therewas majority breast assault in Washington and the United States Senate heldhearings on video-game violence. The video diversion industry responded,Dyson says, and in a preemptive move combined the Entertainment SoftwareRating Board, that generates diversion ratings such as E for Everyone.

Now, each diversion has pithy ratings, he said. Its a sincerely strong system.

The assembly for electronic games was extremely broadened when Will Wrights make-believe diversion The Simswas expelled in 2000. Wright, an additional mythological gaming designer,credits saying his daughter fool around with her dolls for on condition that theinspiration at the back of his iconic game. The game, that let users controlthe activities of practical people, was a supplement to Wrights earliergame, Sim City. The Sims was one of the initial games to move womeninto the tent, Dyson said.� It shortly became the majority renouned diversion withfemale players.

That broadening of the assembly one after another with the key of Nintendos Wiiin 2006. "Nintendo proposed to think differently, Dyson said. This ledthem to emanate a total new, discerning kind of experience and gamecontroller. Contrary to the industry use of ceaselessly pier onfeatures and adding power, the Nintendo took a some-more minimalist approachto rein in cost and concentration on discerning functionality. The Wiissuccess speaks to the knowledge of that decision; it has outsoldMicrosofts Xbox 360 and Sonys PlayStation 3 to spin the worldleader in console sales.

The launch of Apples iPhone in2007, Dyson believes, was additionally a tipping point enabling electronicgames to be permitted by a wider audience. It has done gamesubiquitous, poor and easy to rise and distribute. Its multi-touchfunctionality and built-in accelerometer move a new dimension to theexperience of mobile gaming, an exponentially flourishing shred of thewireless ecosystem.

The sleeper diversion last year, says Dyson, was FarmVille,a diversion focus on Facebook. Deriving the recognition from socialnetworking rather than technology, it has spin the difficulty personality onFacebook with some-more than 82.7 million active users and, as of thisFebruary, some-more than twenty-two million fans.

The success of that tookthe diversion universe by surprise, pronounced Dyson, who predicts that amicable gameswill spin one of the fastest-growing branches of the gaming tree.

As Video Games Become Ubiquitous, So Do Hand Health Problems The Future of Video Game Input: Muscle Sensors 10 Profound Innovations Ahead

�

PREVIEW-Canada seen adding 20K jobs in Feb

Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:30am EST

(Repeats story first run March 5 without changes)

Currencies&&&&Bonds

WHAT: Canadian February employment report

WHEN: Friday, March 12 at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT)

REUTERS FORECAST: The median forecast of 21 analysts is fora net gain of 20,000 jobs in February, considerably less thanthe 43,000 job gains in January. Forecasts vary from a loss of10,000 jobs to a gain of 45,000.

The median forecast for the unemployment rate is 8.3percent, unchanged from January. Forecasts range from 8.2percent to 8.4 percent. ECONCA

FACTORS TO WATCH:

OLYMPICS: The Winter Games in Vancouver will likely give atemporary bump to February job numbers due to regional hiringin retail, tourism, security and other services.

RECOVERY: Canada"s economy seems to be recovering fasterthan predicted after annualized fourth-quarter growth of 5percent. In February, manufacturers and exporters may have beenhurt by snowstorms in the United States that slowed trade.

The three-month trend has been jobs growth of about 30,000and analysts expect that to continue as the labor marketgradually improves after bottoming out in mid-2009.

STIMULUS: The government confirmed in its budget onThursday that it would carry through with the second phase ofits two-year C$47.2 billion stimulus plan.

Department of Finance models suggest the stimulus plan hadcreated or maintained 130,000 jobs as of January, and it seesthat number reaching 220,000 by March 2011. Nearly 60 percentof the total jobs will be in services, followed by constructionand manufacturing, it said.

Ottawa lowered its estimate of 2010 unemployment to 8.5percent from 9 percent in the budget.

MARKET IMPACT: Another month of big job gains, followingthe blockbuster fourth-quarter growth, could increase marketexpectations of an earlier than expected rate hike by the Bankof Canada. As a result, the Canadian dollar could strengthenagainst the U.S. currency and bond prices could fall. Anet job gain that is lower than estimates or job losses couldburst the market optimism about the recovery, triggering adecline in the Canadian dollar. (Reporting by Louise Egan; editing by Janet Guttsman)

Currencies Bonds

Babcock VT move closer to understanding as talks reliable

Rhys Jones LONDON Thu Mar 4, 2010 11:37am EST Related News VT aims to repel Babcock after dropping Mouchel bidThu, Mar 4 2010PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - March 4Wed, Mar 3 2010PRESS DIGEST - British business - March 3Wed, Mar 3 2010UPDATE 2-UK panel sets Babcock April 12 deadline for VT bidMon, Mar 1 2010Investors urge VT to talk to BabcockWed, Feb 24 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Babcock International"s proposed takeover of defense services company VT Group moved a step closer after VT caved in to shareholder pressure and agreed to discuss a deal to create a services powerhouse.

Deals

The two companies said on Thursday they had agreed the basis for an exchange of information, but added the terms of any transaction, including price, had not been agreed.

Analyst Harry Philips at brokerage Evolution said the move showed VT had responded to demands from shareholders, many of whom have urged VT to open its books to Babcock.

"This clearly is progress and is significant because it is a step forward and shows they have agreed some parameters," he said. "It doesn"t suggest it is a full opening of the books, but Babcock are clearly now going to have access to information that they wouldn"t have had this time yesterday."

VT shares were 0.8 percent up at 681 pence by 1535 GMT, while Babcock shares were down 3.5 percent at 516 pence.

"There has been a lot of pressure from VT shareholders for the company to at least explore the industrial logic of a deal," said analyst Andrew Nussey at brokerage KBC Peel Hunt.

"Is it due diligence or just a look at some contracts? I think it"s due diligence and suspect Babcock will be able to find more synergies than the 27 million pounds ($40.7 million) they have already identified and could see them coming up with 40 million easily."

ALL ABOUT PRICE

Nussey added that Britain"s Ministry of Defense, a major customer for both groups, would be unlikely to object to a deal given the cost savings a combined group could help it achieve.

"I think it"s all about price now (between VT and Babcock)," Angela Lascelles, joint managing director at OLIM Ltd, which holds 1.49 percent of VT shares, earlier told Reuters.

"Shareholders seem to be looking for at least 750 pence and I think (VT Chief Executive Paul Lester"s) attitude is if it is the right price he will accept it. That is my interpretation."

Earlier on Thursday, VT -- once a naval shipbuilder called Vosper Thornycroft and now a support services company -- said it was walking away from bidding for service sector rival Mouchel ahead of a March 8 deadline set by the UK Takeover Panel.

Babcock, which maintains the Royal Navy"s submarines, had said a deal would be subject to VT withdrawing its bid for Mouchel.

VT"s Mouchel bid had raised hopes it could diversify beyond the defense industry but the group found itself the target of rival defense support services group Babcock with a tentative cash-and-shares offer valuing it at up to 1.29 billion pounds, or 715 pence per share.

VT rejected Babcock"s approach, saying it significantly undervalued the group and set its sights on an 800p per share offer. Yet some shareholders pressed for talks and VT"s third-largest shareholder, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, said "significant shareholder value could be created" by a merger of the two businesses.

Some analysts and shareholders believe a bid of around 725 to 775p could be enough to seal a deal.

(Additional reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Greg Mahlich and David Holmes)

($1 = 0.6640 pounds)

Deals

First blurb jetpack to go on sale for �50000

It is the perfect way for city high-fliers to miss the morning rush hour. A company is set to produce the first commercial JETPACKS - and one could be yours for just 50,000.

The traffic jam-beating packs will be manufactured after a multi-million pound deal was signed with an international aircraft company this week.

Martin Aircraft Company, in Christchurch, New Zealand, aims to make 500 packs a year allowing first-person propulsion through the skies for commuters.

The world"s first factory making space-age JET PACKS is going into production. It can travel at 60MPH for 30 miles

The 200 horsepower dual-propeller packs can travel at 60mph for up to 30miles on a full tank of fuel. They have been reached heights of 7,800ft in tests.

At 250lbs when empty, the jet pack is not heavy enough to require a pilot"s licence, although users will take part in a Martin Jetpack training programme.

However, the gadget is not environmentally friendly burning 10 gallons of fuel per hour - five times as much as the average car.

More...Put your feet up! Levitating chair lets you recline in style

The 5ft by 5.5ft device is the brainchild of Kiwi inventor Glenn Martin who unveiled his machine for the first time in July last year.

While jetpacks are traditionally powered by jets of escaping gases, the new device uses a gas engine with two ducted fans to provide lift.

Pitch and roll are controlled by one hand, yaw and the throttle by the other.

Martin Aircraft Company chief executive Richard Lauder said the pack could be perfect for the emergency services, private users and even the military.

You won"t need a pilot"s licence to fly with this jetpack

Mr Lauder said: "This could be life-saving stuff. For us this is an excellent commercial step."

The device has safety features to combat the inherent dangers of flying through the air. It has both an internal roll cage to protect the pilot from side impact and a a ballistic parachute system that works at low altitudes.

Jetpacks first emerged in science fiction in the 1920s and were testedby the U.S military by the 1960s, but have never "taken-off"commercially.

Astronauts on the International Space Station wear rocket packsduring space walks called a "Safer." This can be used in emergenciesshould they become detached from the station.

Watch the jetpack in action...