News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Falcon. Dragon. Starlink. Starship. Starman. SpaceX has contributed a lot to our spaceflight vernacular, showing just how far the company has come in its first 20 years. Elon Musk founded SpaceX on March 14, 2002, with big dreams of creating reusable rockets, commercial spacecraft and other advanced technology. Musk has said that few believed it … Read more
A NASA spacecraft is on its way to slam into a space rock, but what happens next is still unclear. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission launched in November and will arrive at its destination in late September. If all goes well, the impact will change the orbit of a small asteroid, Dimorphos, around … Read more
This Pi Day, as you’re enjoying your slice of pie, explore a bigger slice of mathematics. Most March 14 celebrations are obsessed with the number pi. If you think “obsessed” is too strong, take a look around: you’ll see things on sale for $3.14, Pi-K runs and, perhaps as in the past, a segment on … Read more
Human waste has become so ubiquitous in the ocean, it’s becoming easier for octopuses to shelter in our trash than in seashells or coral. A systematic review of underwater photographs and videos from around the world has tallied 24 cephalopod species making their homes in marine litter. For years, divers and scientists have observed … Read more
Centuries before first contact with Europeans, new research suggests a strain of tuberculosis was already circulating from the South American coasts to the mountains. Deadly European diseases, like tuberculosis (TB), whooping cough, and smallpox, were spread around the world with colonization, but recent evidence indicates this wasn’t the first time TB arrived in South America. … Read more
Many people have experienced chronic stress since the pandemic lockdowns. Added to this are the climate crisis, the increasing cost of living and most recently threats to European and global security due to the conflict in Ukraine. To some, it may seem that there is never any good news anymore. This is of course … Read more
The Sun is continuing its rowdy behavior, with flares and coronal mass ejections almost every day since mid-January. That means the inevitable has happened: some of those eruptions have blasted in the general direction of Earth, which means we’re in for some solar storms. The Space Weather Prediction Center of the US National Oceanic … Read more
Psychologists have investigated two contrasting beliefs about the nature of sexual satisfaction, to find out which is more likely to help couples better navigate sexual compatibility. Desire for sex with a new love interest typically starts strong and then wanes over time. Priorities rearrange, small incompatibilities become big ones, and the energy that comes … Read more
A new species of giant tortoise has been discovered in the Galapagos after DNA testing found animals living on one island had not yet been recorded, Ecuador’s environment ministry said. Researchers compared the genetic material of tortoises currently living on San Cristobal with bones and shells collected in 1906 from a cave in the … Read more
Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station (ISS) to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted. According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS. … Read more