April 2012
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Russia working to put a robot on the ISS
General Motors and NASA collaborated to build the US robot called Robonaut 2 that is now aboard the international space station. The goal of that project was to develop a teleoperated humanoid robot that can be used for missions too hazardous for humans and general repairs aboard the space station. Interestingly, Russia has been at work on its own humanoid robot that will be sent to the ISS...
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Start-Up Outlines Asteroid-Mining Strategy
A start-up with high-profile backers on Tuesday unveiled its plan to send robotic spacecraft to remotely mine asteroids, a hyper-ambitious effort aimed at opening up a new frontier in space exploration.
At an event at the Seattle Museum of Flight, a group that includes former officials from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled Planetary Resources Inc. and said it is...
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How 'in-cell' technology could make the next...
We’re all familiar with Apple’s love affair for thin devices. Although the third-generation iPad surprised many by gaining about half a millimeter of thickness, it looks like Apple could be back to trimming product dimensions by using a new kind of display technology in the next iPhone.
Instead of using a display comprising a number of separate layers, Apple could use in-cell touch...
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New purple crab species found in Philippines
The tiny crustaceans burrow under boulders and roots in streams, feeding on dead plants, fruits, carrion and small animals in the water at night, said Hendrik Freitag of Germany’s Senckenberg Museum of Zoology.
Found only in small, lowland-forest ecosystems in the Palawan island group, most have purple shells, with claws and legs tipped red.
“It is known that crabs can...
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Diversity aided mammals’ survival over deep time
When it comes to adapting to climate change, diversity is the mammal’s best defense.
That is one of the conclusions of the first study of how mammals in North America adapted to climate change in “deep time” – a period of 56 million years beginning with the Eocene and ending 12,000 years ago with the terminal Pleistocene extinction when mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, giant sloths and most of...
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Meet Iceberg, the world's only all-white killer...
A team of Russian scientists say they will embark on a quest next week to observe the only all-white, adult killer whale ever spotted — a majestic and elusive bull they have named Iceberg.
The researchers from the universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg first spotted the orca’s towering, six-foot (two-meter) dorsal fin break the surface near the Commander Islands in the North...
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Breaking News! SpaceX launch to space station on...
The launch of a commercial cargo ship making its first flight to the International Space Station is expected to slip a week or so to give engineers more time to complete pre-flight testing and analysis, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, announced late today.The company had been aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule on April 30. A second launch opportunity was...
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VASIMR-powered spacecraft "space plasm rockets"
During more than 40 years of spaceflight, a lot of things have changed. Today’s Space Shuttle is a luxury ship compared to the Mercury capsules that carried the first American astronauts into space. Forty years ago, a lot of people might have had a hard time believing that Americans and Russians would be living together in space on one Space Station. Space probes have visited every planet...
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FELIX BAUMGARTNER JUMPS FROM 71,580 FEET
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Saturn Moon Has Water Geysers and, Just Maybe,...
Once-wet Mars has long been the primary focus of the search for life on other planets. But Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be an even more promising place to start the search for extraterrestrials. Startling new images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft indicate that Enceladus may contain pockets of liquid water below its icy crust.
These pockets, described in an article published today...
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The Sombrero Galaxy series#7
The Sombrero galaxy (also known as M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes. The...
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Miles Barr: Printing Solar Cells on Paper and...
Forget about putting solar panels on the roof. Miles Barr wants to make curtains, cell-phone cases, and even shirtsleeves that generate electricity from the sun.
Barr, who earned a chemical engineering Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an expert in chemical vapor deposition. That’s a process in which two vapors are piped into a sealed chamber, where they react, creating a...
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Would you buy a $60 energy-efficient light bulb?
Light bulb manufacturer Philips is flipping the switch Sunday on its new super-duper energy-efficient LED light bulb; that’s when the bulb will go on sale at various outlets, including Home Depot. The full retail price is $60, but consumers will be able to find online deals, rebates and subsidies that will cut the price by $10 or more.
Proponents of the new light bulb, which can...
