Category: Science

(BBC): Almost five years of studying the deep Atlantic in unprecedented detail has revealed 12 species new to science. The sea mosses, molluscs and corals had eluded discovery because the sea floor is so unexplored, scientists say. Researchers warn that the newly discovered animals could already be under threat from climate change. Carbon dioxide absorbed… Continue reading Atlantic discovery: 12 new species ‘hiding in the deep’

(BBC): Scientists have been greeted by the sight of jet black chunks of rock and soil from an asteroid after opening a capsule that returned from deep space a week ago. It’s the first significant sample of material to be delivered to Earth from a space rock and was grabbed last year by Japan’s Hayabusa-2… Continue reading Hayabusa-2: Pieces of an asteroid found inside space capsule

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP): Night began to fall in Rio de Janeiro’s Pedra Branca state park as four Brazilian scientists switched on their flashlights to traipse along a narrow trail of mud through dense rainforest. The researchers were on a mission: capture bats and help prevent the next global pandemic. A few meters ahead, nearly… Continue reading Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic

(AP): Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager, the World War II fighter pilot ace and quintessential test pilot who showed he had the “right stuff” when in 1947 he became the first person to fly faster than sound, has died. He was 97. Yeager died Monday, his wife, Victoria Yeager, said on his… Continue reading Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dies at 97

NEW YORK (AP): Brain scans offer a tantalizing glimpse into the mind’s mysteries, promising an almost X-ray-like vision into how we feel pain, interpret faces and wiggle fingers. Studies of brain images have suggested that Republicans and Democrats have visibly different thinking, that overweight adults have stronger responses to pictures of food and that it’s… Continue reading Why are some scientists turning away from brain scans?

BEIJING (Reuters): China’s Chang’e-5 lunar vehicle has finished collecting samples of lunar rocks and soil more than a day ahead of schedule in the first lunar sample retrieval mission since the 1970s, the country’s space agency said on Thursday. The robotic vehicle has stored the samples and will now dock with the orbiting Chang’e-5 for… Continue reading China completes lunar sample collection ahead of schedule

(AP): As an extreme year for hurricanes, wildfires and heatwaves come to an end, the head of the United Nations challenged world leaders to make 2021 the year that humanity ends its “war on nature” and commits to a future free of planet-warming carbon pollution. With new reports highlighting 2020’s record-breaking weather and growing fossil… Continue reading UN calls on humanity to end ‘war on nature,’ go carbon-free

TOKYO (AP): A Japanese spacecraft is nearing Earth after a yearlong journey home from a distant asteroid with soil samples and data that could provide clues to the origins of the solar system, a space agency official said Friday. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth,… Continue reading Japan spacecraft carrying asteroid soil samples nears home

(The Guardian): A huge US space telescope nestled deep in the Puerto Rican jungle will be shut down after suffering two destructive mishaps in recent months, ending 57 years of astronomical discoveries. Operations at the Arecibo observatory, one of the largest in the world, were halted in August when one of its supportive cables slipped… Continue reading US to shut down famed huge Arecibo space telescope in Puerto Rico jungle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP): The International Space Station’s two Russian astronauts began spacewalking work Wednesday to prepare for next year’s arrival of a long-delayed lab, but had to scrap another chore because of a stubborn bolt. Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov — dubbed Sergey 1 and Sergey 2 by flight controllers — left four Americans… Continue reading Spacewalking astronauts prep for 2021 arrival of Russian lab