|  Toxic algae bloom off West Coast might be largest ever: scientists A toxic algae bloom in the Pacific Ocean stretching from California north to Washington state might be the largest ever detected off the U.S. West Coast, scientists said on Tuesday. The bloom, which first appeared in May, involves microscopic algae that produce a neurotoxin potentially fatal to humans called domoic acid, according to researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Levels of domoic acid in California's Monterey Bay are some of the highest scientists have ever observed, Raphael Kudela, professor of ocean sciences at the Santa Cruz campus, said in a statement. Read More » Astronaut Spies Menacing Tropical Storm Bill from Space  | Tropical Storm Bill lurks menacingly near the coast of Texas in a photo taken from space yesterday (June 15). The image was captured from the International Space Station, and shows the storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of the Lone Star State. The storm made landfall earlier today, on southern Matagorda Island, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center.
| Read More » GSK invests $95 million in effort to demystify cell 'operating system'  | British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is investing $95 million to create a new U.S. research institute led by a top genomics professor to investigate how a cell's operating system works. The move reflects a commitment to fundamental research by the British company, even as its shifts emphasis to greater reliance on non-pharmaceutical businesses such as consumer healthcare and vaccines. The non-profit Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Seattle will be led by John Stamatoyannopoulos, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, with GSK providing more than $95 million in cash and other resources.
| Read More » Mount Everest Moves 1 Inch After Earthquake  | The incredible energy unleashed by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25 moved Mount Everest more than an inch. The world's tallest mountain shifted 1.18 inches (3 centimeters) to the southwest during the quake, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper, which cited a new report by China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation. But Everest's movement during the quake was small potatoes compared with the shifting of regions around Kathmandu, Nepal's capital during the quake.
| Read More » Rare King David-Era Inscription Discovered in Biblical City  | A 3,000-year-old ceramic jar discovered in pieces in Israel has been restored to reveal a rare inscription of the name of a biblical figure and ruler whose reign coincided with that of King David, archaeologists announced today (June 16). The pottery was found in an ancient city overlooking the Valley of Elah, where, as described in the Bible, the legendary David defeated Goliath. The inscription, the researchers found, read: Eshba'al Ben Bada', who the archaeologists say was likely an important person since his name was inscribed on a jar.
| Read More » 'Jurassic World' Has Awesome Dinos, Iffy Science  | The summer blockbuster "Jurassic World" roared through its opening weekend, showing moviegoers Hollywood's version of baby Triceratops, armored ankylosaurus and long-necked sauropods, as well as a terrifying genetically engineered hybrid named Indominus rex. Live Science asked seven paleontologists to scientifically assess the film and its beastly characters. I usually see movies on airplanes, as I'm traveling around digging up fossils, but I'm glad that I saw "Jurassic World" on the big screen.
| Read More » Russian science foundation fined in foreign agent dispute MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Wednesday fined Russia's largest private donor supporting science for refusing to register as a foreign agent. Read More » Pluto Awaits: NASA Spacecraft 20 Million Miles from Epic Encounter  | NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is less than one month away from its flyby of Pluto and in great shape for what promises to be a truly epic encounter with the dwarf planet. New Horizons, the first spacecraft ever sent to investigate Pluto, has been traveling for nine long years and has just 20 million miles (32 million kilometers) to go before it makes a historic flyby of the dwarf planet. During its close encounter with Pluto, New Horizons will fly within 7,750 miles (12,500 km) of the dwarf planet and capture the first-ever close-up views of the icy world.
| Read More » Pope's climate change encyclical could sway U.S. opinion - scientists By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some U.S. scientists are expressing hope that Pope Francis' encyclical on global warming embracing the view that it is mostly caused by human activities will change public opinion in the United States, where the issue is highly politicized. Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said the pope's document is important because more facts alone will not convince climate change sceptics. Read More » Pope's climate change encyclical could sway U.S. opinion: scientists  | By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some U.S. scientists are expressing hope that Pope Francis' encyclical on global warming embracing the view that it is mostly caused by human activities will change public opinion in the United States, where the issue is highly politicized. Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said the pope's document is important because more facts alone will not convince climate change skeptics.
| Read More » Pope's climate change encyclical could sway U.S. opinion - scientists  | By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some U.S. scientists are expressing hope that Pope Francis' encyclical on global warming embracing the view that it is mostly caused by human activities will change public opinion in the United States, where the issue is highly politicized. Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said the pope's document is important because more facts alone will not convince climate change skeptics.
| Read More » Scientists plan risky move to get Rosetta spacecraft nearer comet  | By Victoria Bryan PARIS (Reuters) - European scientists are planning a risky maneuver to get their Rosetta spacecraft closer to the comet it is orbiting, so it can communicate with its robotic lander on the surface and start experiments that could unlock some of the universe's secrets. The lander, called Philae, surprised scientists at the weekend by waking up and sending a signal to Earth. With the comet moving closer to the sun, scientists hope Philae will be able to generate enough power to resume its pre-programmed experiments.
| Read More » Bright Galaxy Reveals Signs of First Stars in the Universe  | Astronomers have found what looks like some of the very first stars ever formed in the universe, forged from hydrogen created in the Big Bang. Such stars, while long theorized, have never been observed before now, according to scientists with the European Southern Observatory, which announced the discovery today (June 17). ESO officials created a video animation of the bright galaxy, called CR7, to illustrate their find.
| Read More » Scientists plan risky move to get Rosetta spacecraft nearer comet  | By Victoria Bryan PARIS (Reuters) - European scientists are planning a risky manoeuvre to get their Rosetta spacecraft closer to the comet it is orbiting, so it can communicate with its robotic lander on the surface and start experiments that could unlock some of the universe's secrets. The lander, called Philae, surprised scientists at the weekend by waking up and sending a signal to Earth. With the comet moving closer to the sun, scientists hope Philae will be able to generate enough power to resume its pre-programmed experiments.
| Read More » 'Astronaut Wives Club' Co-Star Talks Being Spaceman's Spouse on ABC Series  | Based on author Lily Koppel's bestseller, the 10-episode docu-drama opens with NASA's Mercury 7 astronauts and, central to this series, their spouses, as they are thrust into the spotlight in the early 1960s. The wives – as well as their high-flying husbands – landed on LIFE magazine's covers, which provides the initial plot point for "Astronaut Wives Club." But the accompanying articles only painted the "happy, proud and thrilled" view of the wives' story. The series (and Koppel's book before it) seeks to tell the more complete tale.
| Read More » Alien Planet Is Smaller Than Earth and Surprisingly Light  | A Mars-size planet about 200 light-years from our solar system has turned out to be the lightest known alien world orbiting a normal star, researchers say. Astronomers made the discovery after measuring the size and mass of the baking-hot planet, named Kepler-138 b, which orbits a red dwarf star called Kepler-138.
| Read More » The Moon's Puzzling Dust Cloud Finally Yields an Answer  | The moon is surrounded by a permanent dust cloud likely caused by comet particle collisions, new observations reveal. Data from NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), a spacecraft whose specialties include dust observations, reveals a dust cloud that is different than what may have been observed by astronauts on Apollo 15 and 17. The crews saw a "glow" on the moon that some believe was caused by hovering dust.
| Read More » | |
