523 articles on Science

  • Mercury Space Observatory (1964)
    Piloted spacecraft differ from most other types of space vehicles in that they need to return precious cargo to Earth's surface. Beyond Apollo blogger David S. F. Portree describes how, a year after the last manned Mercury mission, a NASA engineer proposed that Mercury capsules be re-purposed to return a new precious cargo: photographic film containing high-resolution images of comets, stars, and galaxies.
    06.16.12
  • NASA's NEEMO: Bringing Space to the Deep
    The name Nemo automatically brings to mind visions of the deep for many people. From the infamous anti-hero captain in Jules Vernes' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to the lovable lost clown fish in Pixar's Finding Nemo, the name has become linked to life in the ocean. For a dedicated team from a number of backgrounds, interests, and organizations, the name is linked to both the ocean and space exploration.
    06.15.12
  • Revenge of the Vampires: Bat Kills Backfiring
    Most cases of rabies in Latin America are caused by vampire bats, which bite victims at night and feed on their blood. In addition to infecting humans, the bats also do more than $30 million worth of damage to livestock each year. Governments have typically responded by culling bat colonies, but new research suggests that this approach doesn¿t work and might be backfiring.
    06.14.12
  • Celebrate Robotics at Touch Tomorrow Festival
    Live in, or even near, Massachusetts? Then I've got weekend plans for you! The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) landed the prestigious role of being the first university to host a NASA Centennial Challenge and they decided to celebrate with a family-friendly festival of robotics, Touch Tomorrow, on Saturday June 16th.
    06.14.12
  • Pentagon's Prosthetic Plan: Tap Spinal Fluid to Fuel Fake Limbs
    A military-funded group of MIT researchers have already designed the brain-implant portion of a neurally mediated prosthetic limb. Now they've come up with the fuel cells that'll power the system ... by squeezing energy out of the patient's own spinal fluid.
    06.13.12
  • With NASA on Amazon, Will OpenStack Get Liftoff?
    First NASA said it was grounding its work on OpenStack, the open source cloud rival to Amazon it co-founded. And now it seems the space agency is all-in on Amazon, with NASA's CIO recently touting (and Amazon echoing) that using Amazon Web Services could save the agency $1 million a year. And if breakups were not ...
    06.13.12
  • Natural Experiments Show Media's Effects on Families
    I interviewed UCSD economist Gordon Dahl about one of his natural experiments ¿ the data-driven observation that an unexpected home-team football loss leads to a spike in domestic violence in the team's home city ¿ for my book, Brain Trust. A recent review by Dahl in the journal Family Relations uses the natural experiments to discover how media affects families.
    06.13.12
  • NASA Embraces Amazon Cloud, Leaves OpenStack Behind
    NASA was one of the primary driving forces behind OpenStack, an effort to provide an open source alternative to Amazon's popular cloud services. But as OpenStack takes off in other places, the space agency is turning away from the open source platform -- and into the arms of Amazon.
    06.12.12
  • More Big Wildfires May Be Future Norm for US
    An international team of scientists discovered that climate change will disrupt fire patterns across over 80 percent of the globe by the end of the century, possibly making massive wild fires like the one this month in Colorado more frequent in North America.
    06.12.12
  • How Aging Is Recorded in Our Genes
    A comparison of newborn baby DNA with that of a centenarian shows that the scope of aging's toll on genes can be dramatic. Such changes may help explain why our risk of cancer and other diseases increases as we get older.
    06.12.12
  • Mars Rover Curiosity Zeroes In on Landing Site
    NASA's nuclear-powered Curiosity Mars rover is on track for a precision landing near Mount Sharp in the center of Gale Crater. Astrobiologist and Extremo Files blogger Jeffrey Marlow reports.
    06.12.12
  • Beyond Factory Farming: Creating An Appetite For Pastured Poultry
    I get this a lot: "I understand that the things you write about are important -- but they're so depressing. Couldn't you write some, you know, good news, for a change?" So here you go: a solutions post for once, instead of another problem. (But I can't promise to make a habit of it.) I live most ...
    06.11.12
  • The Transit of Venus and the Distance to the Sun
    You just totally missed the transit of Venus. And there's more. It was awesome. No worries. The next one will be in 2117. You should be fine. Until then, you have some time to figure out how to calculate Earth's distance from the sun using the Venus transit. Dot Physics blogger Rhett Allain provides a walk-through.
    06.08.12
  • Air Force Wants Hypersonic Missiles for Stealth Jets
    The Air Force is seeking to build an ultrasonic missile -- again. But instead of mach-speed weapons that can strike anywhere on Planet Earth, which are indistinguishable on radars from (gulp) nukes, this one's for the Air Force's fleet of stealth fighter jets. Only one problem: The U.S.'s experience with hypersonic weapons is hit and miss.
    06.07.12
  • Venus Viewing Ends Up With a Different Kind of Transit
    Earlier this week, I took my telescope with solar filter down to my son's school, and for three hours entertained a stream of kids, teachers, and parents with the progress of Venus across the face of the sun with the added bonus of some nice sunspots. The picture, above, was taken through the eyepiece using an iPhone. Toward the end of our viewing, I was experimenting with recording some video - possibly for use with some stacking software to get a higher resolution picture. Instead, I got something else entirely. Check out the surprising video after the jump.
    06.07.12
  • Poop Smart!
    I'm grateful to Destin of Smarter Every Day fame for providing an elegant solution to a delicate problem. With science!
    06.07.12
  • Why Do Kids Prefer Sci-Fi Over Science?
    "At least in Star Wars' spaceships, they can walk." I heard an 8-year-old utter that while I attempted to explain the effects of reduced gravity on the International Space Station. Well, the kid had a point, but still, Star Wars is not real. It's science fiction. Yet it was clear which one he and his classmates preferred.
    06.07.12
  • Video and Photos Capture Transit of Venus From Space
    This must-see video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the transit of Venus from space, taken in many different wavelengths. Other images show the transit from the International Space Station as well as here on Earth.
    06.06.12
  • There's a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today (Or There Was Yesterday)
    I am fortunate to live in a town with plenty of astronomy enthusiasts. There is a very active Astronomy Club, and plenty of amateur astronomers with their own telescopes. I even have my own (a six inch Dobsonian reflector). A friend of mine has several solar telescopes, and a bunch of us gathered to watch the transit of Venus across the Sun yesterday. (If I weren't so lucky to have this friend, there were several places around town that I could have gone to view the transit.)
    06.06.12
  • Is Space Getting Too Politicized?
    Presidential candidates are now turning to a question that's on many people's minds: What would you, as President, do with NASA? Astrobiologist and Extremo Files blogger Jeffrey Marlow rounds up key articles pondering the options.
    06.06.12


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