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ScienceSpace
The World Would Be Better If Everyone Watched This Video
The spacecraft was a long way from home. I thought it would be a good idea, just after Saturn, to have them take one last glance homeward. From Saturn, the Earth would appear too small for Voyager to make out any detail. Our planet would be just a point of light, a lonely pixel hardly … Continued
Carl Sagan -
ScienceSpace
Australian Astronaut Reality TV Show One Big Scam
While the whole world is swept up in Virgin Galactic fever, an Aussie scam-artist who fooled the world with plans for an astronaut reality TV show (even hiring Professor Stephen Hawking as a judge, supposedly) has unsurprisingly vanished. After supposedly buying two seats on the Russian Soyuz rockets, Jonathan Nolan from Australia (whose only TV … Continued
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ScienceHealth
Printing Healthy Cells Onto Wounded Flesh
Wake Forest’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a group of organ-growing, tissue-engineering mad scientists, is trailblazing the cool and creepy future of medicine. Their latest effort is an inkjet-inspired bioprinter that prints fresh cells directly onto wounds. We talked to Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of the Institute, during our This Cyborg Life theme week last fall, … Continued
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ScienceSpace
A Rare Look Into the Space Shuttle’s Engines
I always wanted to know how a rocket engine looked right from below, peeking into its nozzles. So I got a high definition NASA photography of Discovery approaching the ISS, and passed it through Photoshop. Here’s the result. Click to zoom into the 2000px wide image and see all the details A unique clear view … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceAnimals
Only Aliens Could Survive Through Torture Like This
Some think animals who live without oxygen are proof of alien existence, but how about little creatures who can be dried out, frozen, and boiled only to be resurrected with a few drops of water? Are those our next overlords? The creatures in the video are rotifers—tiny and resilient little beasts. Their ability to survive … Continued
By Rosa Golijan -
ScienceHealth
Electronic Noses Can Smell If You Have Asthma
Asthma affects about 300 million people around the world, but can be difficult to diagnose. That’s why scientists designed an electronic nose which can sniff the air exhaled by a patient to determine whether he or she has asthma. The electronic noses basically consist of a bunch of gas sensors which sample and analyze inhaled … Continued
By Rosa Golijan -
ScienceSpace
Hubble Finds God
It’s official: God exists. The Hubble caught Him out of his home, taking a walk on the Gemini constellation, about 5,000 light-years from Earth. Looking at His photo, God doesn’t have a beard. Or maybe this isn’t God. In fact, NASA says that this image taken by the space telescope Hubble—which is turning 20 this … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceSpace
Animals That Can Live Without Oxygen Discovered, Aliens Basically Guaranteed to Exist Now
Scientists have just discovered the first multicellular animals that can survive entirely without oxygen. They live in the L’Atalante Basin in the Mediterranean Ocean, a place with salt brine so thick it doesn’t mix with oxygen-containing waters above. This is pretty crazy stuff. Previously, it was thought that only single-celled life could exist in such … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
ScienceSpace
Space Shuttle or Alien Invasion
When a reader sent me his video of Discovery shooting to the stars in the middle of the night—for mission STS-131—I thought it was a comet blazing through the sky. Or an alien invasion. Whatever. It’s absolutely spectacular. Did you see any of the pictures or videos from the same launch of how the shuttle, … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
SciencePhysics
The Most Magnetic Material Yet
Iron cobalt was the most magnetic material on Earth until physicists created what’s in this man’s hands. It’s an iron and nitrogen compound which is 18 percent more magnetic and potentially disproves theories about how magnetic a material can be. Jianping Wang, a physicist at the University of Minnesota, created the compound, but he’s actually … Continued
By Rosa Golijan -
ScienceSpace
International Space Station In Aurora Collision Course
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi took this beautiful long-exposure shot of the aurora in Earth’s atmosphere through the International Space Station’s window. Then he did what most of us would do and showed off the snapshot via Twitter: Yeah, if I had such a nice view from my window, I’d tweet pictures of it, too. [Twitter … Continued
By Rosa Golijan -
ScienceSpace
4-Player Globetrotters Game on the iPad Is All Sorts of Crazy
Games aren’t just single player affairs on the iPad. Globetrotters is a game where four players control a corner, competing to see who can catch the most stars and planets. It looks crazy, hectic, and awesome. $1. [Globetrotters]
By Casey Chan -
ScienceSpace
This Manual Saved the Power to Keep Apollo 13 Alive
On April 13, 1970—321,860 kilometers into its Moon trip—an oxygen tank exploded in the Odyssey’s Service Module. James Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise had a really big problem. These pages saved their lives. These pages described how to power down the electric systems in the spacecraft, to save energy that was going to be … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceAnimals
Giant Lego Tarantula Grosses Me Out
Look at this freaking giant tarantula made out of Lego. Builder Doctor Mobius used a gazillion billion levers (of all things!) to create its freaking hairs and gross me out enough to make me poop Lego bricks. I hope he has the same nightmares I’ll have tonight. [Flickr via Brothers Brick]
By Jesus Diaz -
ScienceHealth
Tattletale Pills Reveal When You’re Off Your Meds
Maybe you’re forgetful, completely insane, or part of a clinical trial—whatever the reason, someone needs to know if and when you’re taking your medication. The simplest way of keeping track of your swallowing habits? Let the pills tattle. Folks at the University of Florida have devised a capsule which is coated with a “label embossed … Continued
By Rosa Golijan -
ScienceSpace
Remainders – The Things We Didn’t Post: Long and Winding Road Edition
In today’s Remainders: journeys. The Xof1 solar-powered saucer car readies for a trek across a Canadian ice road; analysts rain on the Verizon iPhone rumor parade; Google Buzz headaches reach the White House; planetary orbits, visualized and musicalized; and more. •The last we heard of the Xof1 solar powered car, its flying-saucer shape was getting … Continued
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ScienceSpace
NASA Discovers Pac-Man On Death Star Saturn Moon
Hold on to your Spiderman underpants because here’s a planetary-sized nerdgasm. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has made the most amazing discovery in the history of science: Pac-Man actually lives on the Death Star. There. Beat that, Large Hadron Collider. This is the temperature map of Mimas, the Saturn’s icy moon that looks like the AT&T logo. … Continued
By Jesus Diaz