Space Brief: Shuttle Discovery completes successful flightNASA astronauts are now safely back on Earth after the Space Shuttle Discovery's orbital rendezvous with the International Space Station. The Discovery mission lasted 13 days and included several spacewalks intended to make additions and repairs to the station. Post a comment |
Space Brief: More on the Shuttle: a hot landingAs Discovery came back to Earth Saturday, NASA scientists wanted to do a little research to investigate what goes on with the shuttles' heat shields when they re-enter the atmosphere. Towards this end, NASA engineers added a slight bump in the shuttle's outer surface before liftoff earlier last month. Post a comment |
Space Brief: Experts still unsure about Pluto's statusNever fear, Pluto lovers, there may still be hope for the little planet that couldn't. The scientists who gathered at the American Museum of Natural History's recent debate on the issue still can't make up their minds. So is or is not Pluto a planet? In 2006, little Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet because it is only one - albeit among the largest - of a group of similar asteroids that make up our solar system's Kuiper Belt. Post a comment |
Resistance to cancer chemotherapy is studiedOvarian cancer is a growing concern with more than 15,000 deaths occurring in 2007, making it the leading cause of death in gynecological diseases. Ground-breaking work on an ovarian cancer-related protein in the lab of Ie-Ming Shih at the School of Medicine is leading to new insights into cancer biology. 1 Comment |
Female songbirds can "jam" mate's song if threatenedA recent study has begun to shed some light on how duetting birds coordinate their songs. Joseph Tobias and Nathalie Seddon published a report in Current Biology that looks at pairs of Peruvian Warbling Antbirds and their synchronized songs. The study found that normally the two birds coordinate their singing to minimize signal "jamming," which occurs when overlapping signals interfere with one another. Post a comment |
Report shows calamitous collapse of many U.S. birds speciesFor the first time ever, a group of government wildlife agencies and conservation groups have published a comprehensive report on the dire state of the U.S. bird population and the resultant environmental implications. The publication is entitled The State of the Birds, the 2009 Report and is available online. 1 Comment |