News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
On 4 March, a discarded rocket booster will slam into Hertzsprung Crater on the far side of the Moon—humanity’s first known piece of litter to unintentionally reach the lunar surface. Skywatchers originally thought the booster was part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched in 2015. But now they say it is part of a … Read more
A new petition calls for the United States government to release to the public all unclassified videos of unidentified flying objects (UFOS), or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), as they have recently been rebranded. Initiated on Feb. 10 by Adam Goldsack of the United Kingdom, the petition is hosted on the Change.org website. “The radical ‘transmedium’ technology … Read more
A California biotech company seeking to create fast-growing trees that can rapidly soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide has announced its first experimental results: the firm’s genetically enhanced poplars grew more than 1.5 times faster than unmodified ones in lab trials. Plant scientists applaud the news, but caution that much more work is needed before engineered … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case on February 28 that could limit the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to curtail heat-trapping emissions at a time when the clock is ticking on our ability to limit catastrophic climate change. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency is a challenge being mounted by … Read more
Orbit.Industries is a strategy game from developers LAB132 that allows players to build and manage their own orbital stations, and the open beta is available to play. The open beta is out now and is available to play until March 20. it’s a strategic management game that means you can orbit planets on the edge … Read more
People with a rare genetic disorder known as Prader-Willi syndrome never feel full, and this insatiable hunger can lead to life-threatening obesity. Scientists studying the problem have now found that the fist-shaped structure known as the cerebellum—which had not previously been linked to hunger—is key to regulating satiation in those with this condition. This finding … Read more
NASA will give an update about its Artemis 1 moon mission on Thursday (Feb. 24), and you can tune in. Artemis 1 will be the first-ever launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket. The mission will send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the moon, to ensure that the SLS-Orion duo is ready to … Read more
The European Space Agency (ESA) is pushing for its members to back a program to allow it to independently send astronauts to space and set ambitious, long-term human exploration goals. While Europeans have been flying to space since the 1970s, only three countries — the Soviet Union (now Russia), the United States and China — … Read more
A ground-based telescope’s detection of a known Tatooine-like planet could herald new discoveries of similar planets, researchers say. Observers spotted Kepler-16b — an exoplanet that orbits two stars, similar to a world portrayed in the original series of “Star Wars” — using a relatively modest 75-inch (193-centimeter) telescope. The telescope is situated at Observatoire de … Read more
There’s an ongoing saga about the object that will smash into the far side of the moon early next month. First thought to be the upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched the DSCOVR Earth-observation spacecraft in February 2015, it was then tagged as a leftover from the launch of China’s Chang’e … Read more