(Newswise)–A San Diego State University astrophysicist has helped discover evidence of a gigantic remnant surrounding an exploding star–a shell of material so huge, it must have been erupting on a regular basis for millions of years. When a white dwarf, the core of a dead star, is in a close orbit with another star, it […]
NASA’s Opportunity Rover Mission On Mars Comes To End
One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA’s Opportunity rover mission is at an end after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA’s return to the Red Planet. The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its […]
Eating Your Veggies, Even In Space
(Newswise)–Fresh food is so attractive to astronauts that they toasted with salad when they were able to cultivate a few lettuce heads on the International Space Station three years ago. In 2021, beans are on the menu to be grown in space, planted in high-tech planters developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology […]
Whale Watching Kicks Off Adventure On The High Seas
LA JOLLA–Whale watching season is just around the corner and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Flagship Cruises and Events have teamed up to offer guests big adventures looking for some of the largest creatures on the high seas. Whale watching season begins now and the twice-daily cruises continue […]
Ankylosaurs Likely Regulated Body Temperature With Elaborate Nasal Passages
(Newswise)–Ankylosaurs likely regulated their body temperature with convoluted nasal passages that acted as heat exchangers between air and body, according to a study published December 19 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jason Bourke from Ohio University, USA, and colleagues. Modern mammals and birds have long, convoluted nasal passages called turbinates that function as […]
Anchor Discovery Provides Clues In The Search For The Lost Ships Of Cortés
(Newswise)–In July of 1519, in a brazen act that would upend history, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés ordered his men to sink all but one of the 11 ships they sailed from Cuba to Mexico on a supposed exploratory mission. Nearly five hundred years later, the fleet’s final resting place remains undiscovered. But an international collaboration […]
NASA’s Mars InSight Flexes Its Arm
PASADENA–New images from NASA’s Mars InSight lander show its robotic arm is ready to do some lifting. With a reach of nearly 6 feet (2 meters), the arm will be used to pick up science instruments from the lander’s deck, gently setting them on the Martian surface at Elysium Planitia, the lava plain where InSight […]
Explore Where the Sea Meets the Shore
LA JOLLA–Shorter days and lower tides mean Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is kicking off Tidepooling Adventure season. December through March offers the best times for tidepooling in Southern California as minus tides get lower and expose the hardy creatures that call the intersection of land and sea home. On […]
Amazonian Peatlands May Soon Switch From A Carbon Sink To A Carbon Source
(Newswise)–Until humans can find a way to geoengineer ourselves out of the climate disaster we’ve created, we must rely on natural carbon sinks, such as oceans and forests, to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. These ecosystems are deteriorating at the hand of climate change. Once destroyed, they may not only stop absorbing carbon […]
NASA Sends New Research, Hardware To Space Station On SpaceX Mission
Experiments in forest observation, protein crystal growth and in-space fuel transfer demonstration are heading to the International Space Station following the launch Wednesday of SpaceX’s 16th mission for NASA under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. The company’s Dragon spacecraft lifted off at 1:16 p.m. EST on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex […]