The first global map of the salinity, or saltiness, of Earth's ocean surface produced by NASA's new Aquarius instrument reveals a rich tapestry of global salinity patterns, demonstrating Aquarius' ability to resolve large-scale salinity distribution features clearly and with sharp contrast...
Everyone mark your calendar as NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite may crash back to earth at the end of this week. The date is still TBD, but early estimates suggest Friday will be the big day. More »
The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA's Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting two stars -- 200 light-years from Earth. Unlike Star...
Probably not, but they are cagily announcing a rather unusual press conference that has a certain familiar ring to it.
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA will host a news briefing at 11 a.m. PDT, Thursday, Sept. 15, to announce a new discovery by the Kepler mission. The briefing will be held in...
After a journey of almost three years, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red Planet's Endeavour crater to study rocks never seen before. On Aug. 9, the golf cart-sized rover relayed its arrival at a location named Spirit Point on the crater's rim. Opportunity drove...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Juno spacecraft is set to launch toward Jupiter aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Aug. 5. The launch window extends from 11:34 a.m. to 12:33 p.m. EDT (8:34 to 9:33 a.m. PDT), and the launch period extends through Aug. 26. The spacecraft is...
According to Steve Anderson, a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. Petraeus' chief logistician in Iraq, the Department of Defense spends $20 billion air conditioning tents and temporary structures for the military. That's more than NASA's entire $19 billion annual budget. More »
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is part of my own personal enigma. I have shown it to people who don't know me, who don't know what I think about, who don't know much about what I study. Nineteen out of twenty such people react in this matter:
A cold stare with underlying anger for wasting...
Here's a picture:
Well, ok, actually, they didn't exactly say this in their press release, but they didn't not say it, neither, so shame on them!!! They put this picture that they KNOW imma think is mitosis and FAILED to say it wassn! FAIL I say!
But seriously, folks, the real news...
In his highly readable book, One Long Argument, Ernst Mayr breaks down the body of thought often referred to as "Darwin's Theory" into five separate and distinct theories, the second of which being "common descent." Darwin's second evolutionary theory (second by Mayr's count, not Darwin's) is...
NASA has slyly, or inadvertantly, let out a handful of clues that a planned news conference will reveal details of an important new finding regarding life on other planets. There have been a number of moments in the history of astrobiology where an important find has gotten us all very excited...
If you're a space nerd like me, you probably knew that the iconic countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center was big. Yesterday—on my first day covering Discovery's Wednesday launch—I learnt it wasn't big. This thing is humongous. More »
NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander Doug Wheelock became the first person to "check in" from space Friday using the mobile social networking application Foursquare.
Fact: Space is a freak show. But that link goes to a post about deep space, beyond our solar system. Thanks to the IBEX probe, however, we're quickly learning that our own backyard is rife with the freaky-deaky too. More »
As Earl bears down on North Carolina and environs (well, slides by rudely if not bears down) I'll be stepping back from regular discussions of the Tropical Weather situation as I engage in labor day weekend activities. Meanwhile, have a look at this post at the NASA web site with more...
"NASA officials have complained bitterly about Tito's flight, fearing that his presence will at best disrupt work aboard the station and at worst put the lives of other crew members in danger. The space agency wants the trip postponed until October so that Tito can train on U.S. space station...