Science

Scientists have confirmed the existence of ice on the surface of the moon. The findings have important significance for humankind’s future space explorations. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on Aug. 20. The study’s lead author, Dr. Shuai Li, a planetary […]

Scientists in Florida are on the cusp of developing promising methods to control toxic algae blooms like the “red tide” that has been killing marine life along a 150-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast, the head of a leading marine lab said on Aug. 15. Michael Crosby, president and chief executive of the Mote Marine […]

Officials with International Bird Rescue said staff members are treating more hungry and exhausted young Common Murres at the rescue’s Fairfield wildlife hospital this summer. More than 100 murres have been admitted to intensive care at the San Francisco Bay-Delta Wildlife Center in Fairfield. The birds are starving and many chicks have contaminated feathers from […]

ZURICH—With its quirky egg shape and minimalist interior, the bubble car was a symbol of cheap and cheerful mobility on European roads in the 1950s and 60s. Today, two Swiss brothers are developing a new version of the two-seater, a full 56 years after BMW halted production of its famed Isetta after churning out more […]

It’s starting to feel real. Boeing Co. and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. have contracts with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station as part of what’s known as the Commercial Crew Program. Seven years after the end of the space shuttle program, NASA introduced the astronauts who will fly with both […]

The Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) and East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) celebrated the finished expansion project at Jeffrey G. Hansen Water Recycling Plant in Pleasanton on August 15. The plant’s expansion will provide more recycled water in the Tri-Valley. The recycling plant is currently in operation. The recycling plant has been operating […]

NASA astronauts who will be riding the SpaceX Dragon discussed the challenges they’ve faced and what they’re looking forward to while speaking at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California on Aug. 13 ahead of the Crew Dragon mission. NASA last week assigned the astronauts who will ride the first commercial capsules into orbit next year […]

In 2002, renowned scientist Phillip Sharp co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. after learning about an intriguing discovery: Researchers had figured out how to “silence” biological messages sent by the genetic code in worms. Sixteen years and about $2 billion in research spending later, Alnylam has turned the concept, called RNA interference, or RNAi, into a treatment […]

MITZPE RAMON, Israel—Thousands of star-gazers gathered overnight at one of the darkest spots in Israel hoping to be dazzled by the annual Perseid meteor shower, only to be left somewhat disappointed by the show. Locals had the rare task of directing traffic on a moonless Monday night in Mitzpe Ramon in the heart of the […]

NASA successfully launched a spacecraft toward the sun on Aug. 12, hoping to increase scientific understanding of how our star works. The Parker Solar Probe’s departure promises to set a plethora of records, including speediest spacecraft, highest velocity while leaving Earth and closest solar approach. It will also mark the first robotic visit to a […]

NASA launched a space probe early Sunday that will go closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before, the agency announced. The craft will endure extreme heat while zooming through the solar corona to study the Sun’s outer atmosphere that gives rise to the solar winds. The Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft the size of […]

In a suburban Minneapolis laboratory, a tiny company that has never turned a profit is poised to beat the world’s biggest agriculture firms to market with the next potential breakthrough in genetic engineering – a crop with “edited” DNA. Calyxt Inc, an eight-year-old firm co-founded by a genetics professor, altered the genes of a soybean […]

In July, a 3-year-old male jaguar, Valerio, at New Orleans’ Audubon Zoo escaped and fatally mauled four trapped alpacas, one emu and one fox who were held in other displays. Valerio bit a hole in steel fencing and zoo officials vowed to install stronger materials. According to Fear of the Animal Plant: the Hidden History […]

Scientists using a radio-telescope array have spotted a gigantic roaming cosmic body with an abnormally strong magnetic field. The object is one of five supposed brown dwarfs located by the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico in 2016. Brown dwarfs are failed stars—objects much larger than most planets but too small to […]

A new radio telescope in Canada recently captured a strange signal from deep space. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, is located in British Columbia and monitors for signals beaming from outer space. BGR noted that the signal’s reception was revealed in a new bulletin from The Astronomer’s Telegram, and happened on July […]

The Atlantic hurricane season may have gotten off to an early start this year, but it’ll probably end with a whimper—at least when it comes to the total number of storms. Twelve named storms are likely to form in 2018, fewer than last year’s 17 and below the 1981-2010 average, according to a forecast Aug. […]

LONDON—A British government report about fracking, which concluded that the method of shale oil or gas extraction increases air pollution, was left unpublished for three years and was only made public just four days after the firm Cuadrilla was given the go-ahead to start the practice in Lancashire. The report was written by the Air […]

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a set of new fuel economy and emissions standards on Aug. 2, estimated to result in 12,700 fewer traffic deaths, make passenger cars more affordable, and give automakers more freedom to create cars based on consumer preference rather than government mandate. Car manufacturers currently are  mandated to incrementally reach an […]

In a tremendous display of grief and maternal instinct, a mother killer whale continues to keep afloat the body of her deceased calf in the waters off the Pacific Northwest. The orca, named J35, or Tahlequah, has been carrying her dead calf since it was born on July 24. The calf only lived a few […]

WASHINGTON—The Hope Diamond, a rare blue diamond that is one of the world’s most famous jewels, has had a complicated history, passing through the hands of monarchs and bankers and heiresses and thieves before landing for all to see at a Washington museum. The geological history of blue diamonds is even more complex, according to […]

If you see a blazing red light in the sky tonight (July 31) don’t panic. It’s just Mars, rushing toward Earth. Not that there is any danger of collision—the two planets will be 35.8 million miles apart, give or take a few miles. But Mars will be closer to the Earth than it has been […]

LONDON/SYDNEY—A blood moon will dominate the sky across much of the world on Friday night when the earth’s natural satellite moves into the shadow of our planet for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st Century. The total eclipse will last 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse precedes and follows, […]

BERLIN—A team of international scientists observing a star in the Milky Way have for the first time confirmed Einstein’s predictions of what happens to the motion of a star passing close to a supermassive black hole. Einstein’s 100-year-old general theory of relativity predicted that light from stars would be stretched to longer wavelengths by the […]

The moon will transform into a blood red hue this Friday night, July 27, during the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century. People around the world, except in North America, will be able to catch at least some of the celestial sight. On the same day, Mars will appear at its brightest directly below […]

FRANKFURT – Europe launched four more Galileo satellites on Wednesday, taking the number in orbit to 26 and moving a step closer to having its own navigation system, just as the program has become the latest flashpoint in Brexit negotiations. The satellites, which will be part of the European Union’s alternative to the U.S. Global […]

Using a radar instrument on an orbiting spacecraft, scientists have spotted what they said on Wednesday appears to be a sizable salt-laden lake under ice on the southern polar plain of Mars, a body of water they called a possible habitat for microbial life. The reservoir they detected—roughly 12 miles (20 km) in diameter, shaped […]

FARNBOROUGH, England —Britain wants to build its first spaceport for launching satellites in Scotland, with the government kick-starting the project by handing almost £30 million ($40 million) in grants to companies including Lockheed Martin. UK Business Minister Greg Clark said the new site at Sutherland on the northerly-most tip of mainland Scotland would provide facilities […]