Science

Mount Etna is erupting and astronauts are watching it from space

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The majestic Mount Etna is erupting so strongly in the Mediterranean that it’s catching the attention of the International Space Station crew. Members of Expedition 66 currently in orbit shared some views of space of the highly active volcano, which has erupted dozens of times in the past year alone.  “@astro_luca’s home volcano #Etna is … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope has locked onto guide star in crucial milestone

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The James Webb Space Telescope‘s key pointing instrument is working well in testing, according to two space agencies involved with the observatory’s commissioning work. The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), a contribution from Honeywell on behalf of the Canadian Space Agency, successfully  “locked on” to a specific guide star in tracking mode on Sunday (Feb. 13), … Read more

NASA Eyes Electric Car Tech for Future Moon Rovers

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Of the many “firsts” from NASA’s Apollo program of lunar exploration, one often overlooked is that the Apollo missions included the first—and so far only—times that humans have driven on another world. Presaging today’s eco-conscious market for carbon-neutral transportation, Apollo’s battery-powered lunar roving vehicles were all-electric as well. Astronaut David Scott, who was the first … Read more

What We Learned from the Perseverance Rover’s First Year on Mars

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One year ago NASA’s Perseverance rover plunged through the Martian atmosphere and safely landed in Jezero Crater, a 45-kilometer-wide gouge that scientists suspect once hosted a deep, long-lived lake. The rover’s ultimate target is near Jezero’s western edge: a large, fan-shaped pile of sediments that washed into the basin through a notch in the crater … Read more

NASA’s InSight Mars lander bounces back from dust storm, but its days are numbered

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NASA’s InSight Mars lander has shaken off the effects of a recent dust storm, likely allowing the spacecraft to collect science data for a few more months. InSight went into a protective safe mode on Jan. 7, temporarily shutting down its instruments after a huge dust storm prevented the solar-powered lander from soaking up enough … Read more

Discovery of New HIV Variant Sends Warning for COVID Pandemic

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As SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has spread throughout the world, many observers have failed to take note of the millions of illnesses and deaths caused by HIV—another virus that has approached pandemic status during its history. Now an HIV variant that is more virulent and transmissible has been discovered in the Netherlands, where … Read more

What’s the maximum number of planets that could orbit the sun?

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The solar system contains eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, all of which circle the sun due to its intense gravitational pull. But is this the maximum number of planets that can orbit the sun? Or is there room for more? Compared with other known planetary systems, the solar system … Read more

Scientists spot 10,000th medium near-Earth asteroid in planetary defense milestone

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Scientists watching the skies for asteroids that may threaten Earth have hit a new milestone, spotting the 10,000th sizable space rock that circles the sun near Earth’s orbit. The detection comes as part of NASA’s ongoing planetary defense work, which discovers and monitors space rocks in the inner solar system to assure that no large … Read more

Europe proposes drastic cuts of BPA, a hormone disruptor found in plastics and food | Science

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In a move that could signal a new approach to regulating potentially hazardous compounds, European health experts are recommending a drastic cut in the allowable human consumption of a common chemical in food. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has proposed reducing by a factor of 100,000 the tolerable daily intake of bisphenol A (BPA), … Read more