SLS: Nasa’s ‘megarocket’ set to fire up engines in crucial test

The four RS-25 engines attached to the core stage, photographed at Nasa's Michoud facility, New Orleans. Photo Courtesy: NASA / JUDE GUIDRY via BBC

(BBC): The four main engines of Nasa’s new “megarocket” are to be fired in unison for the first time, demonstrating the launcher’s raw, explosive power. The Space Launch System (SLS) is part of the agency’s Artemis programme, which aims to put Americans back on the lunar surface in a few years. The engine “hotfire” is… Continue reading SLS: Nasa’s ‘megarocket’ set to fire up engines in crucial test

Blue Origin launches capsule to space with astronaut perks

In this image from video made available by Blue Origin, the company's New Shepard rocket lands after a test flight in West Texas on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (Blue Origin via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP): Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company launched a new capsule into space Thursday to test all the astronaut perks before people strap in. Thursday’s flight with a dummy named Mannequin Skywalker lasted 10 minutes and reached 66 miles (106 kilometers) above West Texas. Both the New Shepard rocket and the capsule landed… Continue reading Blue Origin launches capsule to space with astronaut perks

Identical twins aren’t perfect clones, research shows

FILE - In this Saturday, June 18, 2005 file photo, identical twins Alf, left, and Sven Fehnhanhn, left background, 79, from Kassel, pose along with seven-month-old Luis Carl, right, und Albert Frank Millgramm, right background, during a twins' meeting in Berlin. According to research published on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, identical twins are not exactly genetically the same. Photo Courtesy: AP

WASHINGTON (AP): If you’re an identical twin who’s always resisted being called a clone of your sibling, scientists say you have a point. Identical twins are not exactly genetically the same, new research shows. Scientists in Iceland sequenced DNA from 387 pairs of identical twins — those derived from a single fertilized egg — as… Continue reading Identical twins aren’t perfect clones, research shows

Why 2021 could be turning point for tackling climate change

Photo Courtesy: Getty Image

(BBC): Countries only have only a limited time in which to act if the world is to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Here are five reasons why 2021 could be a crucial year in the fight against global warming. Covid-19 was the big issue of 2020, there is no question about that.… Continue reading Why 2021 could be turning point for tackling climate change

Atlantic discovery: 12 new species ‘hiding in the deep’

Photo Courtesy: BBC

(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’

Hayabusa-2: Pieces of an asteroid found inside space capsule

Chunks of rock and dust from asteroid Ryugu, contained in chamber A of the capsule. Photo Courtesy: BBC

(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

Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic

A researcher for Brazil's state-run Fiocruz Institute takes an oral swab sample from a bat captured in the Atlantic Forest, at Pedra Branca state park, near Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Teams of researchers around the globe are racing to study the places and species from which the next pandemic may emerge. It's no coincidence that many scientists are focusing attention on the world's only flying mammals — bats. Photo Courtesy: AP

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

Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dies at 97

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, file photo, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Yeager talks to members of the media following a re-enactment flight commemorating his breaking of the sound barrier 65 years earlier, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, died Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at age 97. Photo courtesy: AP

(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

Why are some scientists turning away from brain scans?

FILE - This Jan. 30, 2006 file photo shows a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan on a computer screen at an Emory University lab in Atlanta. Using large magnets, the scans detect where oxygenated blood flows, allowing scientists to indirectly measure brain activity. Researchers are becoming increasingly critical of some brain scan studies that purport to show exactly how our minds shape our behavior. Photo Courtesy: AP

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?

China completes lunar sample collection ahead of schedule

FILE PHOTO: The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Center, in Wenchang, Hainan province, China November 24, 2020. Photo Courtesy: Reuters

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