NASA to release new James Webb Space Telescope images in update today. Here’s when to look.

NASA will release new images from the James Webb Space Telescope and discuss the observatory’s painstaking mirror alignment progress today (March 16) and you can follow it live online.  The space agency will hold a virtual press conference at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) that will air live on NASA TV, the NASA app and … Read more

Satellite images show fires and rubble in Mariupol after devastating Russian attack

New satellite images of Ukraine have revealed shocking scenes of death and destruction in the southern port city of Mariupol. The images, taken by the U.S. private satellite company Maxar on Saturday (March 12) morning, reveal a hellish landscape of smoldering apartment blocks; parks pockmarked by shell fire; and grocery stores blasted into rubble by … Read more

Satellite images spot Russian artillery firing on Kyiv, Ukraine

New satellite views from space show the Russian military moving towards Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday (March 11), including images of a battalion firing upon the besieged capital. Muzzle flashes and smoke are visible in some of the satellite images obtained by Maxar’s WorldView-2 satellite, which has been watching the invasion of Ukraine by Russia since … Read more

Beautiful images illustrate the dawn of modern botany

These delicately detailed representations of plants by a founding figure of modern botany are given a new lease of life in the book Leonhart Fuchs: The New Herbal Life 9 March 2022 By Gege Li Leonhart Fuchs Illustrator Leonhart Fuchs THESE delicately detailed representations of medicinal plants are the work of Leonhart Fuchs, a 16th-century … Read more

Neuroscientists Find Two Types of Brain Cells That Help Us Make Memories

Researchers have discovered two types of human brain cells that physically help us form memories. These cells play a significant role in dividing continuous conscious experience into distinct segments that can be recalled in the future.    As we move from the past, through the present, and into the future, we form autobiographical memories – … Read more

How a 19th-Century Breakthrough Could Revolutionize COVID-19 Diagnosis

It sounds simple, but to treat someone you suspect has COVID, you need to confirm they are actually infected with the coronavirus. In the UK, it is easy to take this for granted – we’ve had a reliable detection method for diagnosing infected patients widely available since early on in the pandemic. This allowed for … Read more

Nostalgia Evokes Many Things. Even Pain Relief, Scientists Show

The longing and wistfulness of nostalgia can make a person feel many different things. Amidst the memories, both happy and sad, you might even find a unique form of pain relief.   The observation is not new. Beyond boosting wellbeing and improving physical comfort, nostalgia has previously been shown to lessen perceptions of pain. Yet … Read more

Curiosity Rover Snapped This Photo of a Tiny And Delicate Mineral ‘Flower’ on Mars

The Curiosity rover took a picture of something pretty enticing this week on the surface of Mars. While the object in question looks like a tiny little flower or maybe even some type of organic feature, the rover team confirmed this object is a mineral formation, with delicate structures that formed by minerals precipitating from water.   … Read more

NASA Says Tonga Eruption Sent Up Highest Ash Plumes Ever Captured by Satellite

When a volcano in Tonga erupted on January 15, it gave satellites their first glimpse at a plume of volcanic ash shooting into the mesosphere, the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere.   According to NASA, the Tonga event was the largest volcanic eruption since satellites began monitoring our planet. As the Pacific volcano shot a burst of ash … Read more

The James Webb Space Telescope’s first images have scientists excited (and a bit relieved)

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first grainy images of a distant star and mission scientists are, to put it mildly, ecstatic.  Today (Feb. 11), NASA unveiled the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, which has identified starlight for the first time using its NIRCam instrument (which is essentially a camera … Read more