(The Guardian): When astronauts return to the moon in the next decade, they will do more with the dust than leave footprints in it. A British firm has won a European Space Agency contract to develop the technology to turn moon dust and rocks into oxygen, leaving behind aluminium, iron and other metal powders for… Continue reading UK firm to turn moon rock into oxygen and building materials
Category: Science
Two million-year-old skull of human cousin found by Australian team in South African cave
(The Guardian): A two million-year-old skull from a large-toothed distant human cousin has been unearthed at an Australian-led archaeological dig deep in a South African cave system. The discovery is the earliest known and best-preserved example of the small-brained hominin called Paranthropus robustus, La Trobe University researchers say. The almost complete male skull, found in… Continue reading Two million-year-old skull of human cousin found by Australian team in South African cave
As African penguin population dwindles, researchers plan new colony
CAPE TOWN (Reuters): South African researchers plan to release scores of abandoned, hand-reared African penguin chicks at the Western Cape’s De Hoop nature reserve, boosting efforts to start a new breeding colony of the seabirds at risk of extinction. The only penguin that breeds in Africa, it was once South Africa’s most abundant seabird. But… Continue reading As African penguin population dwindles, researchers plan new colony
Nepali students win two awards in international astronomy competition
Kathmandu: Nepal has won two awards in an international school level astronomy competition. Rahul Ranjan Sah from St. Xavier’s College Maitighar and Anshuraj Sedhai from Capital College and Research Center Koteshwor have received the Honorable Mention Award for Nepal in this year’s ‘Global e-Competition on Astronomy and Astrophysics’.The team led by Suresh Bhattarai from Nepal… Continue reading Nepali students win two awards in international astronomy competition
Researchers discover fossils of new species in Arizona
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Researchers have discovered fossils of a tiny burrowing reptile among a vast expanse of petrified wood in eastern Arizona. The new species has been named Skybalonyx skapter, a part of a group known as drepanosaurs from the Triassic Period, about 220 million years ago.Petrified Forest National Park outside… Continue reading Researchers discover fossils of new species in Arizona