The U.S. space agency says the Mars rover Curiosity is ready to scoop up its first sample of soil from the red planet Saturday. NASA officials made the announcement Thursday. It said the rover’s robotic arm will take several samples of Martian soil in the coming days and process them to help determine if there […]
U.S. Martian Rover Nearing First Major Drive
Posted September 13th, 2012 at 5:00 am (UTC-5)
The Mars rover Curiosity will undergo a final round of mechanical checks Thursday before making its first lengthy drive across the surface of the Red Planet. Engineers with the U.S. space agency NASA have kept Curiosity parked in one spot for the past week while testing its sophisticated instruments, including a high-resolution camera and a […]
Greenland Ice Sheet Melts at Unusually Fast and Furious Pace
Posted July 25th, 2012 at 8:05 am (UTC-5)
Data from three satellites show the massive ice sheet covering the Arctic territory of Greenland underwent an unusual melting earlier this month. The U.S. space agency NASA says the data shows 40 percent of the ice sheet, stretching from Greenland’s coastal edges to its 3.2-kilometer thick center, had experienced some thawing by July 8, and […]
Greenland Ice Sheet Melts at Unusually Fast and Furious Pace
Posted July 25th, 2012 at 7:05 am (UTC-5)
Data from three satellites show the massive ice sheet covering the Arctic territory of Greenland underwent an unusual melting earlier this month. The U.S. space agency NASA says the data shows 40 percent of the ice sheet, stretching from Greenland’s coastal edges to its 3.2-kilometer thick center, had melted by July 8, and accelerated to […]
Huge Iceberg Breaks Off from Greenland Glacier
Posted July 19th, 2012 at 7:10 am (UTC-5)
A NASA satellite has captured images of a huge iceberg breaking off from one of the largest glaciers in the Arctic territory of Greenland. The iceberg, which measures twice the size of New York City’s Manhattan island , broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier earlier this week. Images from NASA’s Aqua satellite showed the iceberg separating […]
Scientists Find Culprit in “Tasteless” Market Tomatoes
Posted June 28th, 2012 at 3:00 pm (UTC-5)
Beware the gorgeous red tomato. In a cruel twist of fate, the same gene that enables a tomato to ripen evenly also robs it of sweetness, according to new research published in the journal Science. For decades, breeders have prized uniform color in tomatoes, a red, fleshy fruit native to the Americas that’s now grown […]
Ancient Pot Shards Suggest Ceramics First Used 20,000 Years Ago
Posted June 28th, 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC-5)
People began making ceramic pottery 20,000 years ago about 2000 years earlier than previously thought — according to a new analysis of ancient Chinese pot shards. The study, published in the journal Science, suggests that the craft of pottery predates farming by 10,000 years. And it proposes that fired ceramic containers were being used during […]
New Test Shows Subatomic Particles Do Not Travel Faster Than Light
Posted March 16th, 2012 at 1:55 pm (UTC-5)
Researchers in Europe say that their measurement test shows that subatomic particles known as neutrinos do not travel faster than light as claimed by another team last year. The latest test at the European Center for Nuclear Research counters results from a similar test performed last year, which showed evidence neutrinos might exceed light speed. […]
Singh: India Falling Behind China in Science Skills
Posted January 3rd, 2012 at 7:20 pm (UTC-5)
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he worries that the country is falling behind China in scientific skills. In a speech to inaugurate the 99th Indian Science Congress in the northeastern city of Bhubaneshwar Tuesday, Mr. Singh said India’s position in the world of science has been declining for decades and it has been overtaken […]
Scientists: Particles Seen to Travel Faster Than Light
Posted September 22nd, 2011 at 5:55 pm (UTC-5)
Scientists have made a discovery that, if confirmed, could rewrite the laws of physics. An international group of researchers says it has measured a sub-atomic particle, called a neutrino, moving faster than the speed of light – something that was supposed to be impossible. A particle accelerator blasted a beam of neutrinos 730 kilometers from […]
