SpaceX launches 105 small satellites into orbit, nails rocket landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its second rocket of the year Thursday morning (Jan. 13) as one of its veteran boosters carried 105 small satellites into orbit before landing back on Earth. The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off into a clear blue sky at 10:25 a.m. EST (1525 GMT) from Space Launch … Read more

Map of the universe: Largest ever survey covers 8 million galaxies

Astrophysicists hope a map created by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will help answer questions about the expansion of the universe Space 13 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu The telescope where DESI is mounted at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P.​ Marenfeld The largest 3D map of the universe has been created by a … Read more

‘Ghost’ viruses offer potentially better approach to gene editing | Science

Not every human disease can be tackled with a pill or shot. Some disorders would ideally be treated by delivering molecular payloads—like modified viruses carrying gene-editing tools—into defective cells, where they could rewrite target genes. Despite some early successes, researchers are still struggling to get this approach to work. Now, researchers say they have found … Read more

The hunt is on for exomoons around alien planets and scientists may have just found one

It’s time for another tantalizing glimpse of what alien solar systems might look like. Astronomers have announced the possible detection of an exomoon, or a moon in another stellar system from our own, the second such candidate observation to date. The signal comes from a star studied by NASA’s now-retired Kepler space telescope, and scientists … Read more

Can electric fields help plants grow? New claims met with caution

A study suggests that a small device powered by wind and rain can boost crop yield, but other researchers have cast doubt on the findings Life 13 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Pea plants growing in a greenhouse Andreeshcheva Katerina/Shutterstock A team of researchers claims to have shown that a high-voltage electric field generated using … Read more

In a conservation first, a cloned ferret could help save her species | Science

Last month, at a conservation center near Fort Collins, Colorado, staffers held an unusual birthday party, complete with a two-tiered cake made of prairie dog and mouse carcasses, minced meat, and kibble. The recipient of the macabre cake was a small, weasellike animal named Elizabeth Ann. She is the world’s first cloned black-footed ferret, one … Read more

Icefish: 60 million nests found in the seafloor near Antartica

In the Weddell Sea near Antarctica, scientists have found the largest colony of fish nests in the world, covering 240 square kilometres Life 13 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Adult icefish sitting on their nests under the ice in Antarctica Alfred Wegener Institute / PS124 AWI OFOBS team The largest colony of fish nests … Read more

World’s largest fish breeding grounds found under the Antarctic ice | Science

The most extensive and densely populated breeding colony of fish anywhere lurks deep underneath the ice of the Weddell Sea, scientists aboard an Antarctic research cruise have discovered. The 240 square kilometers of regularly spaced icefish nests, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, has astonished marine ecologists. “We had no idea that it would be just … Read more

Halo games in chronological order

Looking to play through the Halo games in chronological order? Then our guide has you covered. Halo Infinite is finally here which means it’s time for a ‘great journey’ for new players looking to catch up on the epic saga starring Master Chief, the alien supergroup known as the Covenant, and all the glowing, blue … Read more

The moon: Magnetic field may have been disrupted by huge sinking rocks

There’s a new explanation for the moon’s former magnetic field, and it involves 60-kilometre-wide slabs of rock sinking through the lunar mantle Space 13 January 2022 By Matthew Sparkes The moon once had a relatively strong magnetic field NASA Moon rocks collected by the Apollo missions sparked a mystery because they showed signs of having formed … Read more