(Newswise)–Methane is a strong greenhouse gas that plays a key role in Earth’s climate. Anytime we use natural gas, whether we light up our kitchen stove or barbeque, we are using methane. Only three sources on Earth produce methane naturally: volcanoes, subsurface water-rock interactions, and microbes. Between these three sources, most is generated by microbes, […]
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter succeeds in the historic first flight
Pasadena, CA–NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California Monday confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter through NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover at 3:46 a.m. “Ingenuity is the latest […]
Researchers reveal switch used in plant defense against animal attack
(Newswise)–For decades, scientists have known that plants protect themselves from the devastation of hungry caterpillars and other plant-munching animals through sophisticated response systems, the product of millions of years of evolution. The biological mechanisms underlying this attack-counter defense paradigm have been vigorously pursued by plant biologists given that such details will help unlock a trove […]
Studying the sun as a star to understand stellar flares and exoplanets
(Newswise)–New research shows that sunspots and other active regions can change the overall solar emissions. The sunspots cause some emissions to dim and others to brighten; the timing of the changes also varies between different types of emissions. This knowledge will help astronomers characterize the conditions of stars, which has important implications for finding exoplanets […]
NASA’s astronauts ready for space station, moon, and mars missions
NASA welcomed 11 new astronauts to its ranks Friday, increasing the number of those eligible for spaceflight assignments that will expand humanity’s horizons in space for generations to come. The new astronauts successfully completed more than two years of required basic training and are the first to graduate since the agency announced its Artemis program. […]
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Sign Historic Memorandum To Enhance Technologies
Washington, D.C.–The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Thursday signed an historic Memorandum of Cooperation for both agencies to increase regulatory effectiveness through collaborative work on the technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies. The memorandum represents a uniquely important step in both countries’ strong commitment to a […]
Astronomers Discover Third Planet In The Kepler-47 Circumbinary System
(Newswise)–Astronomers have discovered a third planet in the Kepler-47 system, securing the system’s title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds. Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a team of researchers, led by astronomers at San Diego State University, detected the new Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets. With its three […]
2019: A Space Organoid
(Newswise)–From the science fiction of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke to the cinematic worlds of Star Wars and galaxies far, far away, humans have imagined life in space. But among the myriad challenges to colonizing other worlds lie fundamental questions of biology: Can a human embryo grow naturally outside the nurturing embrace of Earth? […]
A New Filter To Better Map The Dark Universe
(Newswise)–The earliest known light in our universe, known as the cosmic microwave background, was emitted about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The patterning of this relic light holds many important clues to the development and distribution of large-scale structures such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. Distortions in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), caused by […]
NASA’s InSight Lander Captures Audio Of First Likely ‘Quake’ On Mars
NASA’s Mars InSight lander has measured and recorded for the first time ever a likely “marsquake.” The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander’s 128th Martian day, or sol. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from […]