A star does not die without getting noticed and may even leave the universe with "fireworks." At the end of its life cycle, a star begins to collapse in the middle and throws new material into space. The new material eventually becomes incorporated into new planets and life. Now, a University of Missouri professor identified new features in the material that is being ejected from the dying star Helix Nebula.
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The swathe of tape that adorns the shoulders of Australian Rules Football players may be a thing of the past with a study showing it has no impact on preventing dislocation.
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AP - In what might embarrass less adventurous souls, astronaut Koichi Wakata is returning to Earth with the underwear he kept on for a solid month during his space station stay and scientists will check them out.
SPACE.com - The space shuttle Endeavour cast off from the International Space Station Tuesday after a whirlwind 11 days of construction work at the orbiting laboratory.
LiveScience.com - Conventional wisdom has it that the first animals evolved in the ocean. Now researchers studying ancient rock samples in South China have found that the first animal fossils are preserved in ancient lake deposits, not in marine sediments as commonly assumed. These new findings not only raise questions as to where the earliest animals were living, but what factors drove animals to evolve in the first place. For some 3 billion years, single-celled life forms such as bacteria dominated the planet. ...
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An astrophysics experiment in America has demonstrated how fundamental research in one subject area can have a profound effect on work in another as the instruments used for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) pave the way for quantum experiments on a macroscopic scale.
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If that office inkjet printer has become just another fixture, it's time to take a fresh look at it. Similar technology may soon be used to develop paper-based biosensors that can detect certain harmful toxins that can cause food poisoning or be used as bioterrorism agents.
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The latest rise in the indirect taxation on tobacco and alcohol took place in June. The most popular brand of cigarettes went up in price from 3.10 euros to 3.30 euros per packet. Are these taxes a form of dissuasion or a way of compensating the rest of society for the harm generated by those who smoke? A study by the Polytechnic University of Cartagena has looked into the most significant questions concerning the tobacco economy.
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A hyper-realistic Einstein robot at the University of California, San Diego has learned to smile and make facial expressions through a process of self-guided learning. The UC San Diego researchers used machine learning to "empower" their robot to learn to make realistic facial expressions.
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Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Nina and El Nino events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The research may pave the way toward better predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the Sun's cycle, which lasts approximately 11 years.
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It's not too often that two tropical cyclones are close enough to each other to be within a satellite's view as it tracks far above the Earth, but it happened this week with Carlos and Dolores in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
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A destructive earthquake will strike a lone, wooden condominium in Japan next week, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Michael Symans will be on site to watch it happen.
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Immune cells could reveal a more accurate way of determining if a stab wound was inflicted before or after death
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Radiation from an improvised bomb could kill hundreds of thousands, but with the right preparation many might be saved
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Super water-repellent materials have all failed against hot water, but a new mix of carbon nanotubes and Teflon proves up to the task
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As more and more ice slides into the ocean, sea levels are rising faster and faster – but just how high will they get?
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Gritty salt can act like elastic taffy at the nanoscale, as this video shows
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It's a terrible sight: hundreds of dead seabirds washed up on the seashore. These catastrophic events occur in the winter and are known as winter wrecks. No one knows why the birds perish, and it is almost impossible to study the animals out in stormy winter seas to find out how they meet their fate. With the birds' tough life style in mind, Jérôme Fort and David Grémillet from the CNRS Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive in France decided to try to estimate the energetic demands placed on two alcid species (little auks and Brünnich's guillemots) by their aquatic lifestyle to find out whether battling the harsh conditions may simply be too energetically demanding for the little seafarers. Fort and his colleagues publish their discovery that winter wreck victims may not be able to eat enough to survive the harsh winter conditions in the Journal of Experimental Biology on 17 July 2009 at http://jeb.biologists.org/.
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Scientists have sequenced the genome of the parasite that causes intestinal schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia or snail fever), a devastating tropical disease that afflicts more than 200 million people in the developing world.
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A new study has revealed the origins of tiger stripes and a subsurface ocean on Enceladus- one of Saturn's many moons. These geological features are believed to be the result of the moon's unusual chemical composition and not a hot core, shedding light on the evolution of planets and guiding future space exploration.
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The U.S. civil space program should be aligned with widely acknowledged national challenges, says a new report from the National Research Council. Aligning the program with pressing issues – environmental, economic, and strategic – is a national imperative, and will continue to grow in importance. Coordination across federal agencies, combined with a competent technical work force, effective infrastructure, and investment in technology and innovation, would lay the foundation for a purposeful, strategic U.S. space program that would serve national interests.
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A prominent band of rain that circles the equator has moved hundreds of kilometres north over the last few centuries, probably because of a changing climate.
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SPACE.com - The long-awaited crew of the space shuttle Endeavour finally arrived at the International Space Station Friday to begin a two-week construction visit.
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When rushing to catch your plane, is it faster to hop on a moving walkway or not? A new mathematical study tackles the answer
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For most researchers, any mention of cold fusion brings back memories of a shameful period in modern science, but Martin Fleischmann, who instigated the field, says he could not have done anything differently
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Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprint of a parasitic worm responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide every year.
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Reuters reports that a new monkey has been discovered in the Brazilian Amazon. The monkey was discovered in a remote part of the Amazon rain forest. It is related to saddleback tamarin monkeys.
The newly found monkey was first spotted by scientists in 2007 in the Brazilian state of Amazonas and is related to the saddleback tamarin monkeys, known for their distinctively marked backs, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said.The newly discovered monkey is yet another reason why the Amazon rain forest needs to be protected. The BBC has some photos here of saddleback tamarin monkeys, the monkey species the newly discovered monkey is said to be related to.
The small monkey, which is mostly gray and brown and weighs 213 grams (0.47 pound), has been named the Mura's saddleback tamarin after the Mura Indian tribe of the Purus and Madeira river basins where the new sub-species was found. It is 240 millimeters (9.4 inches) tall with a 320 millimeter (12.6 inch) tail.
"This newly described monkey shows that even today there are major wildlife discoveries to be made," Fabio Rohe, the lead author of a study confirming the new discovery, said in a statement released by the WCS.
Jose Luis Ortiz strapped a video camera to his pet eagle. The video gives you an idea of what it is like to soar like an eagle. Nature also has a video here, where a video camera was strapped to a Peregrine falcon.
The BBC reports that some people are blaming a UFO for damage to a wind farm in Lincolnshire that cannot be explained. One wind farm turbine was damaged and another was knocked down. Experts say even a large bird could not have done this.
UFO enthusiasts are claiming damage to a Lincolnshire wind farm turbine was caused by a mystery aircraft.The most recent news is that a family claims to have spotted "tentacled UFOs" days before the wind farm reported damage.
The turbine at Conisholme lost one 66ft (20m) blade and another was badly damaged in the early hours of Sunday.
County councillor for the area Robert Palmer said he had seen a "round, white light that seemed to be hovering".
Ecotricity, which owns the site, said while investigations continued they were not ruling anything out - but the extent of damage was "unique".
