|  Prehistoric Paint to Shield European Sun Probe from Solar Inferno  | A European spacecraft set to launch toward the sun in 2017 will be protected by a paint once used in prehistoric cave art. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter probe will be coated in a substance derived from burnt bone charcoal — a type of pigment once used by early humans to create art on the insides of caves in France. The robust substance traditionally made from burned bones should help protect the Solar Orbiter when it flies as closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it. While observing the sun from space, the Solar Orbiter will have to face temperatures up to 968 degrees Fahrenheit (520 degrees Celsius), ESA officials said.
| Read More » Space Station Streaks Across Pleiades Star Cluster in Striking Amateur Photo  | The International Space Station streaks through the night sky over Pisa, Italy, as the bright blue Pleiades star cluster glitters in the background in this amazing photo recently submitted to Space.com. Amateur astronomer Giuseppe Petricca took this image of the Pleiades star cluster, which is also known as M45. "But, yesterday, above Pisa, Italy, the International Space Station made a beautiful passage, and it crossed next to the cluster." [See more amazing February night sky photos by stargazers] To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.
| Read More » Bullying Has Lingering Effects on Children's Mental Health Researchers found that bullying had its greatest influence on the health of kids who were repeatedly targeted, and it was linked with poorer mental and physical health, increased symptoms of depression and lower self-esteem. The study also revealed that victims of recent bullying fared worse than students who had been picked on by their peers further in the past. "The effects of bullying can snowball over time," said study researcher Laura Bogart, a social psychologist at Boston Children's Hospital. "The results are a strong argument for an immediate, early intervention of bullying," Bogart said. Read More » Whoops! Amazon Green-Up Actually Satellite Error  | Surprising dry season growth spurts spotted in the beleaguered Amazon rainforest are fake, the result of misleading satellite data, a new study finds. So scientists were surprised when they discovered the Amazon forest turns green during the tropical dry season from June through October —even during an extreme drought — based on data from NASA's Terra satellite. The initial findings were published in the March 22, 2006, issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. (During growth spurts, trees and plants produce more chlorophyll, which makes them look greener.)
| Read More » Will SpaceX Super Rocket Kill NASA's 'Rocket to Nowhere'? (Op-Ed)  | The private spaceflight company Space X plans to build a rocket so big it would "make the Apollo moon rocket look small,"the company's CEO, Elon Musk, announced on "CBS This Morning"on Feb. 3. The huge rocket would ultimately send colonists to Mars, but what would SpaceX do in the meantime? The company's primary focus right now is giving NASA astronauts access to the International Space Station (ISS) on American vehicles, drastically lowering prices to Earth orbit versus what the Russians are charging, Musk said. Musk further mentioned SpaceX doing a manned flight around the moon, possibly including a landing.
| Read More » Are Democratic Presidents Better for Babies? Having a Democratic president in the United States is linked with a reduction in infant mortality rates, according to a controversial new study. Researchers analyzed U.S. infant mortality rates from 1965 to 2010, a period that spans nine presidencies (four Democratic and five Republican). But when the researchers used statistical methods to focus on short-term changes during this time period, they found that infant mortality rates were about 3 percent higher during years in which a Republican was president, compared with the years in which a Democrat was president. The findings held even after the researchers took into account factors that might affect infant mortality, such as unemployment rates, smoking rates, abortion rates and measures of national education and income level. Read More » | |
