Einstein Proven Correct; Gravitational Waves Detected; Super Hot Planet
Einstein Theory Confirmed Again In his 1915 Theory of General Relativity, physicist Albert Einstein proposed that mass can bend space time. And he predicted that when a distant star’s light passed by a large object en route to the observer, the object’s gravity can bend and brighten the starlight like a magnifying lens. This effect, called […]
Don’t Smoke; Space Blob Mystery; Near Earth Asteroid Watch
Yet Another Reason Not to Smoke The American Heart Association released a new study that uncovers yet another reason not to smoke. The study, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, suggests that smoking can have a wide-ranging and long-term effect on our DNA. The research shows that smoking leaves a “footprint” on the human […]
NASA Creates New Office to Protect Us from Asteroid and Comet Impact
NASA is taking the potential threat posed by near earth objects (NEO’s), such as asteroids and comets, more seriously than ever and has established the new Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The space agency says the new office will oversee all of its efforts in finding and characterizing all celestial objects that travel close to […]
Hormone Cuts Sugar Craving; inSight Launch Delayed; Space Telescope Mirrors
Hormone Cuts Sugar Craving in Mice For those of us with an active “sweet tooth”, it can be really difficult to resist sweet treats like candy, cake and cookies. But with diseases and conditions associated with eating sugary foods like diabetes, heart disease and obesity at or near epidemic levels it’s important not to overindulge […]
Rosetta Mission Fuels Argument About Origin of Earth’s Water
The debate about the origin of Earth’s water just got deeper. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta has sent back some interesting information regarding water vapor it detected and analyzed on its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. According to the ESA and an international group of scientists, the analysis shows that the chemical composition of […]
NASA Checks Out Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
First, the good news. There are fewer asteroids near Earth than previously estimated. Now the bad news. A new NASA survey also finds there may be more than twice as many aligned with Earth’s orbit than thought, which could increase the odds of an asteroid coming close enough to us to cause concern. The findings […]
Titanic Director Backs Venture to Mine Platinum from Asteroids
What do filmmaker and deep sea explorer, James Cameron, and Google co-founder, Larry Page, have in common? They’re both backing a new venture to extract natural resources, such as precious metals and water, from more than 1,500 near-Earth asteroids (NEA). The firm that plans to turn what sounds like science fiction into science fact is […]