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 […]
About Half of the Water You Drink is Older than the Sun
New research reveals that as much as one half of all of Earth’s current water supply is older than the Sun. An international team of scientists led by Ilse Cleeves at the University of Michigan looked back into creation of Earth and our solar system to find out where all of the water came from. […]
Planetary Scientists Get Into Balloon Game
A new device developed by NASA will help planetary scientists take advantage of high altitude research balloons, a relatively inexpensive observational platform that has long been used by other scientists. The balloons, which can climb to the edge of space, have been utilized by researchers across multiple scientific disciplines, helping them to make groundbreaking findings. […]
Sleeping Comet Chaser to Get Wake-Up Call
The European Space Agency’s comet chasing Rosetta spacecraft is about to wake up from a 31-month nap, which was induced to conserve power after the vehicle ventured too far from the sun. While ESA officials are confident Rosetta will respond when they try to rouse it this Monday, Jan. 20, they also realize anything could […]
Far-away Planet Found to be Same Color as Earth
The Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists determine the color of a planet outside of our Solar System for the first time. Located about 63 light years from Earth, the planet known as HD 189733b would be a deep cobalt blue if viewed at close range, similar to Earth’s color as seen from space. Despite […]
Ultra-Light Planet Found Outside Solar System
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has discovered what appears to be the lightest planet ever to be directly observed outside of our Solar System. Astronomers made the discovery using the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile, which captured the faint object moving near a bright star about 300 light years from Earth. The possible […]
Advanced Telescope Optics Spot Faraway Planets
Astronomers have a powerful new tool to help them in their search for planets outside of our solar system. Project 1640 is a first-of-its-kind, high-contrast imaging program which combines high-tech instrumentation and software, giving scientists the ability to spot planets orbiting distant suns in star systems outside of our solar system. Ever since the search […]
Rare Astronomical Event Occurs Tuesday in US
On Tuesday, June 5, people in most parts of the world have a good chance of witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event called the transit of Venus. It’s a planetary alignment which occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and sun. For those of us here on Earth, it’ll look like a little […]