High-Tech Meteorite Hunting
Scientists estimate that thousands of extraterrestrial rocks enter our atmosphere every year, most of which burn up or fragment into smaller pieces before hitting Earth. Here’s how the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA/JPL refer to various space objects. Asteroid: A relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun. Comet: A relatively small, […]
Zika Kills Cells Crucial to Brain Development; Did Volcanoes Cause Mars to Tilt?
Study: Zika Virus Infects and Kills Fetal Cerebral Cortex Cells This birth defect can cause babies to be born with an unusually small head and inhibited brain development. The scientists, who made their findings based on experiments performed with lab-grown human stem cells, discovered that the Zika virus is attracted to and infects the cells […]
Meteorite Reveals Early Solar System Information, Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Melting & Smart Keyboard Adds Layer of Cybersecurity
Meteorite’s Magnetic Memory Reveals its Secret Message A team of British geologists has developed a new way to learn something about the early days of our solar system. Since meteorites are fragmented pieces of asteroids that have fallen to Earth, testing the magnetic field of the meteorite can provide some information about its parent asteroid. […]
Science Scanner: Orion Set for Test, Mars Meteorite May Have Organic Matter, Heavy Newborns Excel in School, Oceans Help Warming Hiatus
NASA Readies Orion Spacecraft for Test Flight Excitement continues to build in Florida as NASA makes final preparations for the tomorrow’s (12/4/14) first unmanned flight test of Orion spacecraft, which the space agency plans to use to send astronauts to an asteroid and then to Mars. Liftoff has been set for 1105 UTC from Space […]
Science Images of the Week
Earth Gets a Hit, Braces for a Miss
Earth suddenly seems to be dodging celestial objects, although there was a direct hit earlier today when a streaking meteorite exploded above Russia’s Ural Mountains. Hundreds of people were injured. The powerful blast damaged the facades of buildings and shattered windows, according to the Russian Interior Ministry, Now all eyes are on an asteroid that […]
Mars Meteorite Sparks New Questions About Red Planet
Scientists have determined a meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2011 is about 2.1 billion years old and could be the first meteorite to come from the surface of Mars. The meteorite, designated NWA (North West Africa) 7034 and nicknamed “Black Beauty,” weighs about 320 grams and is loaded with Martian water. It is […]
Scientists Strike ‘Scientific Gold’ in California
While in space and orbiting the sun this celestial body is an asteroid. It’s a meteor as its entering earth’s atmosphere, like a fireball flashing across the sky and a meteorite is the actual object that made it to Earth.