Radioactive Material Found in Fracking Waste; Searching Space for H20
Radioactive Isotopes Found in Fracking Waste US oil and natural gas production, has been boosted in recent years by a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking.” But this practice has also been criticized for its possible impact on the environment because of the wastewater this method generates. A new study published in […]
Study: Dinosaurs Roamed Before Saturn’s Moons and Rings Formed
A new study from researchers at the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has found that most of Saturn’s 62 moons and perhaps even its celebrated rings may only be a hundred million years old. That’s more recent than when dinosaurs were roaming Earth. One of the study authors, Matija […]
Virginia Tech Researchers Learn How a Dog Drinks Water
Have you ever watched a dog drink water and wondered how he was able to quench his thirst from what appeared to be some rather sloppy and haphazard actions? Well, it turns out the parched pooches know exactly what they’re doing, and according to a new study by researchers at Virginia Tech, they’re actually executing […]
Earth’s Atmosphere Got Its Oxygen in Periodic Bursts Over a 100 Million Year Period
For about the first 2.1 billion years of Earth’s history, its atmosphere didn’t have enough oxygen to support complex life. Scientists believe that Earth’s first atmosphere,formed after its creation, was probably made up of hydrogen and helium. Then as a result of volcanic eruptions that spewed gases from Earth’s interior, in a process known as […]
A Close Look at Saturn Moon’s North Pole; Imitation Skin Senses Pressure
Cassini Explores North Pole Area of Saturn’s Moon Enceladus NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been sending back spectacular images and providing scientists with valuable data about the Saturn and its many moons since its arrival there in 2004. On October 14th, Cassini returned to Saturn’s ice-covered and 6th largest moon Enceladus, the latest of many trips […]
Bed-In for Science; Microbes Abound in House Dust ; Twin Black Holes Power Quasar
ESA Experiment Will Send a Dozen Men to Bed for 60 Days How would you like to spend the next 60 days in bed? That’s what the European Space Agency is asking 12 men to do, all in the name of science. The first members of this group of a dozen will hit the sack […]
Playing Tetris May Help Addicts Reduce Cravings
Could playing a classic block-shifting puzzle video game help drug addicts and compulsive eaters overcome, or at least reduce, their addictions or their obsession with food? Psychologists in the U.K. and Australia said that they found playing Tetris can weaken cravings for things such as drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, food and drugs, as well as […]
NASA’s Boomerang-Like Aircraft, Kid Athletes Excel in Class, Citrus and Skin Cancer
Boomerang-Like Aircraft Could Help NASA Find Landing Sites on Mars NASA has built a prototype of what it hopes to be the first aircraft to fly on Mars sometime in the 2020’s. Shaped like a boomerang, the flying wing Prandtl-m will be rather small, with a 61 cm wingspan, and weighing only about 454 grams. […]
Science Scanner: Monster Galaxy; Mars Missions On Vacation
Monster Galaxy Found Near Edge of Universe A group of researchers imaged a “monstrous galaxy” – SDP.81, located some 11.7 billion light-years from Earth, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and a natural magnification method called “gravitational lensing.” The researchers used the gravity of a massive galaxy 3.4 billion light-years away to […]