News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
NASA says it plans to plunge the vestiges of the International Space Station (ISS) into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo in early 2031, after passing the baton to commercial space stations. In an updated transition report just delivered to Congress, the space agency detailed the endgame for the space station, which … Read more
NASA astronaut Victor Glover will join other agency representatives Wednesday (Feb. 2) to talk about the International Space Station‘s research activities. You can watch the whole event live at the Destination Station NASA website at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT). You must register to join the webinar on Zoom; registration is free. Along with Glover, … Read more
Over the past year, you may have seen something called delta-8 THC or “delta 8” appear in convenience stores and pharmacies alongside CBD gummies, oils, and lotions. Delta-8 THC is a hemp-derived compound that’s closely related to delta-9 THC – what’s commonly called THC and which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that’s responsible for … Read more
Astronomers have just peered into the atmosphere of one of the most extreme exoplanets ever discovered. Although it’s absolutely not habitable (at least as we understand it), the exoplanet WASP-189b is the first in which scientists have been able to probe distinct atmospheric layers, each with their own chemical compositions and characteristics. “In the … Read more
For a couple of hundred years, Cahokia was the place to be in what is now the US state of Illinois. The bustling, vibrant city was at one time home to some 15,000 people, but by the end of the 14th century it was deserted – and researchers still aren’t sure why. A study … Read more
The search for life on Mars is not an easy one. Not only is the red planet difficult to get to, it’s deeply inhospitable to life as we know it. However, there are places on Earth that could show us how life may have been able to survive on Mars – if not now, then … Read more
The world could lose half of its best coffee-growing land under a moderate climate change scenario. Brazil, which is the currently world’s largest coffee producer, will see its most suitable coffee-growing land decline by 79 percent. That’s one key finding of a new study by scientists in Switzerland, who assessed the potential impacts of … Read more
You might think that clouds are clouds all over Earth, but that’s not quite so. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, the clouds there are different, more abundant, and more reflective than clouds found in the Northern Hemisphere, a fact scientists are well familiar with, but have not been able to fully explain. Now, … Read more
Early, accurate, and simple diagnosis is important in just about every health condition you could name, and that includes heart disease. New research now suggests straightforward eye scans could identify patients with an increased risk of cardiovascular problems later on in life. If this method of diagnosis can be developed, it would be a … Read more
Jumping spiders may have exceptional eyes, but one adorable species seems to have a curious lack in the vision department. New experimental evidence suggests that a jumping spider called Saitis barbipes has no photoreceptors capable of perceiving the color red. What makes this so strange is that S. barbipes – like many jumping spiders … Read more