Mars rover Perseverance sets distance record on the Red Planet

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The Perseverance rover’s self-driving function is working just great on Mars, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission, not quite at one Earth year on Mars, has topped a new distance record for Red Planet rovers. On Friday (Feb. 4) Perseverance made the longest drive completed in a single Martian day, or sol, traveling … Read more

Mountain Glaciers Have Less Ice than Previously Thought

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Many of the world’s glaciers contain significantly less ice than scientists previously estimated. That means some mountain communities that rely on melting ice may run out of fresh water faster, according to new research. Glaciers in the Andes Mountains of South America, in particular, may contain far less ice than previous studies suggested. That means … Read more

100 Years Ago, a Quantum Experiment Explained Why We Don’t Fall through Our Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 19th flight after historic Red Planet weather delay

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The dust storm couldn’t keep NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity grounded forever. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity aced a 100-second sortie on Tuesday (Feb. 8), its 19th Red Planet flight overall but its first since Dec. 15. The flight had originally been targeted for Jan. 5. But on New Year’s Day, a big dust storm kicked … Read more

100 Years Ago, a Quantum Experiment Explained Why We Don’t Fall through Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

It Has Been 100 Years since a Quantum Experiment Showed Why We Don’t Fall through Our Chair

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

These sponges survive the deep sea by feeding on remains of long-dead animals | Science

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It can be hard to find food in the central Arctic Ocean. The water is frigid and the surface is blanketed in ice, making it nearly impossible for the tiny organisms that power many marine food chains to photosynthesize. Now, researchers have unraveled how a gigantic, newly discovered sponge garden gets around the lack of … Read more

It Has Been 100 Years Since a Quantum Experiment Showed Why We Don’t Fall Through Our Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

Can scientists repair their relationship with Native people as they probe the past? | Science

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How and when people first set foot in the Americas is one of the enduring mysteries of human history. Most archaeologists now agree people lived in the Americas before Clovis-style tools—once thought to be linked to the first Americans—appeared about 13,000 years ago. Last year, for example, researchers reported human footprints in White Sands National … Read more

NASA picks Lockheed Martin to build rocket to carry Mars samples back to Earth

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NASA’s Mars sample-return plan continues to come together. The agency announced on Monday (Feb. 7) that it has selected the aerospace company Lockheed Martin to build the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a small rocket that will launch pristine Red Planet samples back toward Earth a decade or so from now. “Committing to the Mars Ascent … Read more