With the successful landing and deployment of the Mars Curiosity Rover, humanity has been treated to a sneak peek at the Red Planet for the first time. The possibility of establishing space colonies has been a scientists’ dream for decades, but working out a way to keep humans alive on the outside Earth’s protective shell…
Getting a six-wheeled car-size rover safely onto the surface of the red planet? Daunting, sure. But NASA did it with Curiosity. Sending humans on a mission to Mars? That requires overcoming even more outlandish obstacles. Here’s a look at five of the top challenges to safely getting astronauts to Mars, as well as potential solutions.
Antarctic researchers found as much as 400 billion metric tons of carbon hidden under the ice sheets, with the potential to seep out as methane and accelerate global warming. The carbon stored under Antarctic ice is on par with the amount held in the northern hemisphere’s frozen permafrost soils and the lower end of estimates…
Ugh. That’s about the only audible response that I could muster after reading through Mitt Romney’s energy plan, which he finally released after getting winks, nods of approval, and campaign donations in the millions from fossil fuel company CEOs. I know that it’s hard to believe, but Romney’s positions on energy are even worse than…
Fungi found in plants may not be the answer to mitigating climate change by storing additional carbon in soils as some previously thought, according to an international team of plant biologists. The researchers found that increased carbon dioxide stimulates the growth of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) — a type of fungus that is often found…
A cost analysis of the technologies needed to transport materials into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth and therefore reduce the effects of global climate change has shown that they are both feasible and affordable. Published in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters, the study has shown that the basic technology…
As family and friends of Neil Armstrong gathered in Ohio on Aug. 31 for a private memorial service, NASA paid tribute to the Apollo astronaut, calling him a great American and a space hero. “He never dwelled on his remarkable accomplishments or sought the limelight,” Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Robert Cabana said…
By measuring the unique properties of light on the scale of a single atom, researchers from Duke University and Imperial College London believe that they have characterized the limits of metal’s ability in devices that enhance light. This field is known as plasmonics because scientists are trying to take advantage of plasmons, electrons that have…
As an animal develops from an embryo, its cells take diverse paths, eventually forming different body parts — muscles, bones, heart. In order for each cell to know what to do during development, it follows a genetic blueprint, which consists of complex webs of interacting genes called gene regulatory networks. Biologists at the California Institute…
A Christian geneticist has posted an online rebuttal to Bill Nye the Science Guy, who says in a web video that America is being held back by parents who teach their children to disbelieve in evolution. On the Big Think website, Nye says adults can deny evolution, but he pleads, “Don’t make your kids do…