Space: Exploration
Published

Floating in space might be fun, but study shows it's hard on earthly bodies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Bone loss happens in humans -- as we age, get injured, or any scenario where we can't move the body, we lose bone. Understanding what happens to astronauts and how they recover is incredibly rare. It lets us look at the processes happening in the body in such a short time frame. We would have to follow someone for decades on Earth to see the same amount of bone loss.

Energy: Nuclear Space: Exploration
Published

Laser creates a miniature magnetosphere      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A research team realized magnetic reconnection driven by electron dynamics in laser-produced plasmas and measured the pure electron outflows. Their findings will be applied not only to space and astrophysical plasmas, but also to magnetic propulsion and fusion plasmas.

Space: Exploration
Published

Asteroids: Researchers simulate defense of Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the world's first full-scale planetary defense test against potential asteroid impacts on Earth. Researchers now show that instead of leaving behind a relatively small crater, the impact of the DART spacecraft on its target could leave the asteroid near unrecognizable.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

New kangaroo described -- from Papua New Guinea      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Australian palaeontologists have described a new genus of giant fossil kangaroo from the mountains of central Papua New Guinea. The new description of the fossil kangaroo has found that, rather than being closely related to Australian kangaroos, it most likely belongs to a unique genus of more primitive kangaroo found only in PNG.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Space: Exploration
Published

Climate damage caused by growing space tourism needs urgent mitigation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A formidable space tourism industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study.

Space: Exploration
Published

Gaia space telescope rocks the science of asteroids      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The European Gaia space mission has produced an unprecedented amount of new, improved, and detailed data for almost two billion objects in the Milky Way galaxy and the surrounding cosmos. The Gaia Data Release 3 on Monday revolutionizes our knowledge of the Solar System and the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies.

Space: Exploration
Published

Gaia Data Release 3: 'Complete step change' in understanding of our Universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Space scientists have discovered a 'super Jupiter' orbiting a white dwarf, detected using direct observations with the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Gaia mission.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA telescope to help untangle galaxy growth, dark matter makeup      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will study wispy streams of stars that extend far beyond the apparent edges of many galaxies. Missions like the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes would have to patch together hundreds of small images to see these structures around nearby galaxies in full. Roman will do so in a single snapshot. Astronomers will use these observations to explore how galaxies grow and the nature of dark matter.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

The tarantula's cosmic web: Astronomers map violent star formation in nebula outside our galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have unveiled intricate details of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, using new observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Now we can see the nebula in a new light, with wispy gas clouds that provide insight into how massive stars shape this region.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Ground-breaking number of brown dwarfs discovered      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Brown dwarfs, mysterious objects that straddle the line between stars and planets, are essential to our understanding of both stellar and planetary populations. However, only 40 brown dwarfs could be imaged around stars in almost three decades of searches. An international team has directly imaged a remarkable four new brown dwarfs thanks to a new innovative search method.

Environmental: Ecosystems Space: Exploration
Published

Studying grassland from space      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Extensively used grassland is host to a high degree of biodiversity, and performs an important climate protection function as a carbon sink and also serves for fodder and food production. However, these ecosystem services are jeopardized if productivity on these lands is maximized and their use therefore intensified. Researchers have now described how satellite data and machine learning methods enable to assess land-use intensity.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

The secret lives of Darwin's finches reveal daily commutes the equivalent of 30 soccer fields      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using radio transmitters, scientists have gained new insights into the behavior of medium ground finches in the Galapagos Islands. A study reveals daily movement patterns covering an area equivalent to the size of 30 soccer fields.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Bacterial cellulose could enable microbial life on Mars      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international research team has investigated the chances of survival of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures -- a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Although the simulated Martian environment destroyed the microbial ecology of the kombucha cultures, surprisingly, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived.

Space: Exploration
Published

Hubble Space Telescope captures largest near-infrared image to find universe's rarest galaxies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists released the largest near-infrared image ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, enabling astronomers to map the star-forming regions of the universe and learn how the earliest, most distant galaxies originated. Named 3D-DASH, this high-resolution survey will allow researchers to find rare objects and targets for follow-up observations with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) during its decades-long mission.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Study suggests that most of our evolutionary trees could be wrong      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research suggests that determining evolutionary trees of organisms by comparing anatomy rather than gene sequences is misleading. The study shows that we often need to overturn centuries of scholarly work that classified living things according to how they look.

Space: Exploration
Published

Spaceflight: Microgravity analog culture profoundly affects microbial infection process in 3-D human tissue models      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers demonstrate that under low fluid shear force conditions that simulate those found in microgravity culture during spaceflight, the foodborne pathogen Salmonella infects 3-D models of human intestinal tissue at much higher levels, and induces unique alterations in gene expression.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Hot-blooded T. rex and cold-blooded Stegosaurus: Chemical clues reveal dinosaur metabolisms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Paleontologists have debated whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, like modern mammals and birds, or cold-blooded, like modern reptiles. In a new paper, scientists are unveiling a new method for studying dinosaurs' metabolic rates, using clues in their bones.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

First Australians ate giant eggs of huge flightless birds, ancient proteins confirm      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists settle debate surrounding species that laid eggs exploited by early Australian people around 50,000 years ago. Shell proteins point to Genyornis, which was among the 'mega-fauna' to go extinct a few thousand years after humans arrived on the continent.

Space: Exploration
Published

Hubble reaches new milestone in mystery of universe's expansion rate      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has calibrated more than 40 'milepost markers' of space and time to help scientists precisely measure the expansion rate of the universe -- a quest with a plot twist.

Space: Exploration
Published

High school students measure Earth's magnetic field from ISS      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A small computer aboard the International Space Station programmed by Portuguese students enables measurements as part of Raspberry Pi Foundation's Astro Pi Challenge.