Science
- ScienceNBC News
The secretive X-37B space plane is headed back into orbit with a boost from SpaceX
The United States military is preparing to launch its secretive X-37B space plane on a seventh mission in orbit.
2 min read - WorldAssociated Press
Organizers of COP28 want an inclusive summit. But just how diverse is the negotiating table?
Climate activist Lisa NoBaya sat in a room filled with stakeholders at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai and asked the delegates what inclusivity looks like at COP28: does it mean diverse voices are simply present, or actively participating in what the outcome of the talks will look like? Many women, young people and Indigenous voices say they feel they're relegated to mere attendance, with limited opportunities to contribute substantially to the decisive meetings, despite promises to
4 min read - ScienceCNN
‘Bone biographies’ reveal what life was like for everyday medieval people
This week, read the “bone biographies” of medieval Cambridge, learn why chinstrap penguins take thousands of naps, peer inside a mysterious galactic cloud, and more.
5 min read - ScienceSpace
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 90 — The Wizard of Griffith Observatory
On Episode 90 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss archaeoastronomy with the amazing Dr. Ed Krupp.
2 min read - ScienceThe New York Times
Genes That Boost Fertility Also Shorten Our Life, Study Suggests
Why do we grow old and die? In the 19th century, German biologist August Weismann argued that the machinery of life inevitably wore out with time. Death had evolved “for the need of the species,” he declared. It cleared away weak, old individuals so they wouldn’t compete with young ones. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times That explanation never made sense to George Williams, an American evolutionary biologist. Natural selection acts only on the genes that are passed down
3 min read - ScienceSpace
Japan may delay its Mars moon sampling mission MMX due to rocket problems
Japan’s ambitious mission to explore the two mini moons of Mars could be facing a lengthy delay as JAXA's new H3 rocket, which will launch MMX, failed on its debut flight in March.
2 min read - ScienceWashington Post
Diminutive and mysterious, the Pentagon's X-37B set to launch again
It's an itty-bitty spaceplane, not quite 30 feet long and under 10 feet tall, with a pair of stubby wings and a rounded, bulldog-like nose. But despite its diminutive size - it looks like a miniature version of the space shuttle - the Pentagon's most mysterious spacecraft, known as the X-37B, has built an outsize reputation. Is it a secretive Pentagon weapon? Is it stealthy? Does it sneak up to satellites? What exactly does it do in space? And why is it up there for so long?Subscribe to The Post
4 min read - ScienceSpace
How can we restore public trust in science? (op-ed)
In an age of diminishing trust in science, scientists need to change how they work with the public and within the broader scientific community.
6 min read - USCNN
Her mother vanished when she was 1. Some 40 years later, a phone call from a stranger helped her understand why
Misty LaBean spent her whole life wondering why her mother, Connie Christensen, left her family when she was only a year old. DNA science helped her find out why.
6 min read - ScienceSpace
SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket set to launch secretive X-37B space plane on Dec. 10
The U.S. Space Force's mysterious X-37B space plane is poised to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Sunday (Dec. 10), and you can likely watch it live.
2 min read - WorldAssociated Press
What is carbon capture and why does it keep coming up at COP28?
The future of fossil fuels is at the center of the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where many activists, experts and nations are calling for an agreement to phase out the oil, gas and coal responsible for warming the planet. In the background of those discussions are carbon capture and carbon removal, technologies most, if not all, producers are counting on to meet their pledges to get to net-zero emissions. Skeptics worry the technology is being oversold to allow the industry to maint
6 min read - USAssociated Press
From urchin crushing to lab-grown kelp, efforts to save California's kelp forests show promise
A welding hammer strapped to her wrist, Joy Hollenback slipped on blue fins and swam into the churning, chilly Pacific surf one fall morning to do her part to save Northern California's vanishing kelp forests. The veterinarian who lives in Berkeley, California is part of a crew of volunteers who swim, snorkel and dive armed with pick axes and hammers on a sole mission: To crush purple urchins that largely destroyed 96% of California's iconic bull kelp forests between 2014 and 2020, and with it
7 min read - ScienceSpace
An asteroid will eclipse the puzzling red star Betelgeuse on Dec. 11
Betelgeuse, one of the most recognizable stars in the night sky, will disappear for several seconds in a rare asteroid occultation on the evening of Dec. 11.
2 min read - BusinessReuters
China LandSpace's methane-powered rocket sends satellites into orbit
BEIJING (Reuters) -A rocket developed by LandSpace Technology on Saturday launched three satellites into orbit, a milestone in the Chinese private rocket startup's mission to test whether its vehicle using methane and liquid oxygen is ready for commercial liftoffs. The success could boost investor confidence in methane as a potential rocket fuel, which is deemed able to help slash costs and support reusable rockets in a cleaner and more efficient way. Several private Chinese rocket startups ha
2 min read - ScienceSpace
India's Aditya-L1 solar observatory captures 1st gorgeous views of the sun (images)
An instrument onboard India's Aditya-L1 spacecraft captured beautiful images of the sun earlier this week.
3 min read - ScienceSpace
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter gearing up for longest flight ever this weekend
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter will fly farther than it ever has before on Saturday (Dec. 9), covering more than half a mile of Red Planet ground.
2 min read - ScienceSpace
That’s no moon! Scientists doubt proposed detection of the 1st exomoons
Scientists aren't sure whether humanity really detected moons outside the solar system.
4 min read - ScienceSpace
'Dark force' theory could solve 2 open cosmic mysteries
A new theory suggests the universe's most mysterious and dominant form of matter could exert a "dark force."
4 min read - ScienceReuters
Fossils show dismembered young dinosaurs in belly of T. rex cousin
The young Gorgosaurus knew what it liked for dinner. About 75 million years ago in what is now Canada's Alberta province, this fearsome T. rex cousin set about hunting turkey-sized yearlings of a feathered plant-eating dinosaur called Citipes. With such prey numerous, the Gorgosaurus could be picky about what it ate.
3 min read - ScienceCNN
Tomato lost in space by history-making astronaut has been found
After Frank Rubio misplaced the first tomato ever harvested in space, the astronaut’s colleagues have exonerated him.
3 min read - ScienceSpace
Wild new NASA plasma tech reduces drag during hypersonic flight
NASA is licensing a radical new form of propulsion that uses electromagnets to control the flow of plasma over aircraft and spacecraft flying at hypersonic speeds.
3 min read - HealthCNN
FDA approves two gene therapies for sickle cell, bringing hope to thousands with the disease
The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved two gene-based treatments for sickle cell disease, including the first therapy that uses the gene-editing technique CRISPR, opening a new era of treatments for genetic conditions.
11 min read - ScienceCNN
Teen tyrannosaur had a taste for baby dinos, rare fossil reveals
A rare fossil discovery marks the first time a tyrannosaur’s stomach contents have been found, a new study says. The young apex predator was a cousin of T. rex.
5 min read - ScienceSpace
All black holes feast chaotically, no matter how hungry they are
A fresh understanding of how black holes eat offers a new way to estimate their masses.
3 min read - BusinessSpace
Halley's Comet begins its 38-year journey back toward Earth tonight
On Friday, Dec. 8, Halley's Comet reaches its farthest point from the sun and begins its journey back through the solar system.
7 min read - ScienceSpace
Colliding space junk makes 'noise' that could be heard from Earth
Weird effects of space junk collisions could help researchers detect dangerous, hard-to-see orbital clutter.
4 min read - HealthAssociated Press
FDA approves 2 gene therapies for sickle cell. One is the first to use the editing tool CRISPR
Regulators on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease that doctors hope can cure the painful, inherited blood disorder that afflicts mostly Black people in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration said the one-time treatments can be used for patients 12 and older with severe forms of the disease. One, made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, is the first approved therapy based on CRISPR, the gene editing tool that won its inventors the Nobel Prize in 2020.
5 min read - WorldCNN
Pompeii archaeologists uncover bakery that doubled as a prison
An ancient bakery operated by slaves has been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, the Pompeii Archaeological Park said in a statement released Friday.
3 min read - HealthCBS News
FDA approves gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease affects approximately 100,000 people in the U.S., predominantly people of color.
3 min read - ScienceSpace
DARPA moon tech study selects 14 companies to develop a lunar economy
We've seen the movies and read the books about what it would be like to have a lunar habitat — but to turn our Sci-Fi fantasy into a reality, scientists must develop a game plan.
3 min read - ScienceCNN
Meet ‘Turtwig,’ an ancient turtle species once thought to be a plant
Scientists analyzed two fossils resembling leaves and realized they were the rare shells of baby turtles that lived in South America during the time of dinosaurs.
5 min read - ScienceSpace
Ex-NASA scientist dishes on space food in new memoir 'Space Bites'
Of all of the food items she helped send into space, Vickie Kloeris' favorite was the cherry-blueberry cobbler. A NASA food scientist for 34 years, Kloeris has published her memoir 'Space Bites.'
6 min read - ScienceSpace
Strange underground polygons on Mars hint at Red Planet's wet past
Buried dozens of meters under the equator of Mars is a large honeycomb pattern similar to, but much larger than, those found only near Earth's frigid poles.
5 min read - WorldReuters
Clam makes comeback from extinction off shores of Croatia
A huge clam that was on the verge of extinction has made a comeback, with a surge in numbers in waters off Croatia, marine biologists say. The clam, known as the noble pen shell or pinna nobilis, started dying out as a deadly pathogen spread in parts of the Mediterranean around 2016. Numbers plummeted across the region and, until recently, scientists in Croatia only knew of around 10 surviving in their corner of the Adriatic.
2 min read - USCNN
Training a new generation of ‘climate doctors’
Since 2019, the number of US medical schools requiring coursework on the effects of climate change has more than doubled. A Colorado program goes a step further and aims to turn working medical professionals into leading experts on climate and health.
12 min read
