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Monday, February 9, 2015

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SpaceX Launch of DSCOVR Space Weather Satellite Delayed by Radar Glitch

The spaceflight company SpaceX aborted the planned launch of a long-awaited space weather satellite on Sunday, as well as a novel rocket landing test, due to problems with a U.S. Air Force ground radar tracking system. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was less than 3 minutes from launching the Deep Space Climate Observatory into the sunset sky above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when the radar issue forced the delay. "Air Force tracking radar went down. Launch postponed to same time tomorrow," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter after the delay.

How Would the World Change If We Found Alien Life?

How extraterrestrial life would change our world view is a research interest of Steven Dick, who just completed a term as the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair of Astrobiology. The chair is jointly sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Program and the John W. Kluge Center, at the Library of Congress. Dick is a former astronomer and historian at the United States Naval Observatory, a past chief historian for NASA, and has published several books concerning the discovery of life beyond Earth. "If we found microbes, it would have an effect on science, especially biology, by universalizing biology," he said.

Human Cadavers Provide New Skin for Chronic Wounds

Human skin from cadavers that has had its cells removed can help treat wounds, researchers say. This new treatment could prove especially helpful for chronic skin wounds, which are a growing threat to public health, scientists added. With an aging population and increasing rates of diseases linked to ulcers and other skin wounds, such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease, the prevalence and costs of such wounds are likely to rise in the future, said study senior author Ardeshir Bayat, a bioengineer and clinician-scientist at the University of Manchester in England. In the past three decades, scientists have developed a variety of skin substitutes to help treat wounds.

Global Warming May Spawn More Southeast US Tornadoes

March, April and May. They found that while the yearly tornado total will climb by 2080, the number of tornadoes will also vary wildly from year to year. "We see this trend in a lot of extreme weather," said lead study author Victor Gensini, a severe storms climatologist at the College of DuPage in Illinois. In the future, tornado season will also peak earlier, in March instead of May, the study reported. Typically, climate models can't predict how global warming will affect tornadoes because the storms are smaller than the resolution of climate models.

Killer Shrimp Could Invade the Great Lakes

Killer shrimp, creatures that indiscriminately slay other animals without eating them, may soon join the list of invasive species living in the Great Lakes, a new study finds. But government regulations for the exotic pet trade and commercial shipping may impede the shrimp's arrival, the researchers said. More than 180 invasive species have made the Great Lakes basin their home in the past 200 years. Government regulations have curbed the introduction of new invasive threats, but the lakes are still vulnerable, the researchers said.

Mysterious Stone Carving May Contain Old Message

A weighty stone carved with a mysterious pattern that may be writing has been discovered in a garden in Leicester, England. The hefty carving was up for sale as a garden ornament when archaeologist and TV presenter James Balme found it. The carving, which was very dirty, may have been plowed up many years ago, Balme said. When he was done conserving it, Balme saw a stone carving with an extremely complex pattern that is difficult to describe.

Cost-of-Smoking Estimates Were Grossly Exaggerated

Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day will cost a person upwards of $2 million in tobacco costs and other expenses over his or her lifetime — at least according to a study conducted last month by WalletHub, a financial advice website. WalletHub calculated costs between $100,000 and $200,000 depending on the state where one lives, based on a recalculation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a population-wide level.

Fires Intensified Deadly Tornado Outbreak

One of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history was strengthened by smoke from burning farmlands in Central America, a new study suggests. The hardest hit states were Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, which were struck by 15 tornadoes ranked EF-4 or higher on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. There were also four powerful EF-5 tornadoes — the highest possible tornado ranking — as severe storms raked through these states. Researchers now say that air pollution intensified this incredible tornado outbreak.

Tiny Drones Capture Gorgeous Views of Sizzling Lava Lake

"The drone was not able to get nearly as close to lava as I did because it literally would have melted into a soup," said Sam Cossman, the filmmaker and entrepreneur who created the video. Cossman, who used to run a tech startup that provides people with once-in-a-lifetime adventures, found a video online of a bubbling lava lake on the remote Pacific island of Ambrym, part of the nation of Vanuatu.

Is It Too Late to Get a Measles Vaccination?

The current measles outbreak in the United States has highlighted the dangers of skipped vaccinations, and some people may be wondering whether it's too late to get vaccinated now. If an adult or child had not received the MMR [measles, mumps and rubella] vaccine, "it's not too late," said Dr. Ambreen Khalil, an infectious-disease specialist at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. "It is better to get an MMR vaccine again, if one does not remember," Khalil added. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults who were born after 1956 get at least one dose of the vaccine, unless they can show that they have either been vaccinated or had all three diseases that the MMR vaccine protects against.

SpaceX Launch of DSCOVR Satellite, Rocket Landing Try Delayed to Tuesday

SpaceX has delayed the planned liftoff of a long-awaited space weather satellite and an ambitious rocket landing attempt another 24 hours, to Tuesday evening (Feb. 10), due to weather concerns at its Florida launch site. On Sunday, a U.S. Air Force ground radar malfunction delayed SpaceX's launch of Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) atop the private spaceflight company's Falcon 9 rocket. The mission was tentatively rescheduled to today, but has since been pushed back another day to Tuesday, when weather conditions are expected to be more favorable for launch, NASA officials said in an update. You can watch the SpaceX launch live online beginning at 5 p.m.. EST (2200 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.

SpaceX launch with deep-space weather buoy reset for Tuesday

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies will try again Tuesday to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a U.S. satellite intended to watch for threatening solar storms, NASA said on Monday. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida had been planned for Sunday, but was called off two minutes before launch because of a problem with an Air Force radar system needed to track the rocket during flight. Launch was retargeted for Monday, but a poor weather forecast prompted SpaceX, as the California company is known, to reschedule for Tuesday. Liftoff with the Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, a partnership of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is now planned for 6:05 p.m. EST/2305 GMT.

Ex-Los Alamos scientist to be sentenced in nuke spy sting

A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist who pleaded guilty to trying to help Venezuela develop a nuclear weapon is set to be sentenced. Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni and his wife, Marjorie Roxby ...

NASA Probe Spies Mars Rover Curiosity from Space (Photo)

Call it a Red Planet two-for-one. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spied the agency's Curiosity rover and snapped the newly released image on Dec. 13, 2014. At the time the picture was taken, Curiosity was examining the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, according to NASA. MRO's high Resolution Imagining Science Experiment (HiRISE) took the picture, which covers an area of approximately 360 yards (330 meters), NASA officials added.

More Floods Hitting Midwest States

Floods have become more frequent in the central United States over the past 50 years, a new study finds. However, even though the events are striking more often, floods aren't bigger in size, said study co-author Gabriele Villarini, a hydrologist at the University of Iowa. "It's not that the largest floods are getting larger, but that we are experiencing a larger frequency of flood events," Villarini told Live Science. The new research was sparked by a 2013 study by Villarini and his colleagues that discovered heavy rainfall days are becoming more frequent in the Midwest.

Amazing! Original Magna Carta Copy Found in Scrapbook

An original copy of the Magna Carta has been discovered in a scrapbook in Kent, England. The tattered document dates back to 1300, 85 years after King John of England was compelled to sign the first agreement limiting the rights of kings. This version was issued by King Edward I (King John's grandson), who was under pressure from the church and the barons to reaffirm good governance, said Sophie Ambler, a research associate with the Magna Carta Project. The copy was then placed in the Sandwich archive in Kent, where it was forgotten, Ambler told Live Science.

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Sunday, February 8, 2015

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SpaceX to Launch Space Weather Satellite, Try Rocket Landing: Watch Live

The private spaceflight company SpaceX will attempt the ultimate space double-header today (Feb. 8) with the launch of a space weather observatory followed by an ambitious rocket landing attempt on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) into orbit from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:10 p.m. EST (2310 GMT). You can watch the SpaceX rocket launch live online beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. It is the second time that SpaceX is attempting to land a Falcon 9 rocket first stage on the drone ship.

SpaceX rocket to launch weather satellite into deep space

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX rocket is scheduled on Sunday to launch a U.S. satellite from deep storage to deep space, where it will keep tabs on solar storms and image Earth from nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) away. The Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for launch at 6:10 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Perched on top of the booster is the Deep Space Climate Observatory, nicknamed DSCOVR, and jointly owned by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. DSCOVR replaces a 17-year-old satellite monitoring for potentially dangerous solar storms.

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Saturday, February 7, 2015

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Rare Case of Conjoined Lizard Twins Reported at Zoo

In a first-of-its-kind case, a pair of conjoined lizards called Quince monitor lizards were discovered at a German zoo, according to a new report. The animals were found in June 2009 in a clutch deposited in a terrarium at the Cologne Zoo, in Germany.Other cases of conjoined twins have been reported in reptiles such as turtles, crocodiles and other lizard species, according to the report. "Interesting for us was that both clutches of the same pair comprised malformed offspring, which indicates that this probably did not happen coincidentally," said Mona van Schingen, a reptile expert at the University of Cologne in Germany and co-author of the report. All three were smaller than the typical size of hatchlings of this species, van Schingen said.

Extinct Mega-Rodent Had Teeth Like Elephant Tusks

The biggest rodent to ever stalk the Earth lived about 3 million years ago in what is now South Africa — and it used its large front teeth the way today's elephants use their tusks. The bull-size creature likely used its incisors to root around in the ground for food, possibly even fighting off predators with the sturdy teeth, according to a new study. These ancient overgrown rodents sported large front teeth, whose exact purpose had remained unclear. Past studies had suggested the beasts had fairly weak chewing muscles and small grinding teeth.

The Microbes That Ride the NYC Subway with You

For all the bizarre sights on the subway in New York, the tiny, unseen organisms lurking in the train stations might make up the city's most colorful freak show. A team of scientists collected cotton-swab samples from the turnstiles, emergency exits, MetroCard kiosks, benches, hand rails and trash cans in all 468 stations that make up New York City's sprawling subway system, which provides 1.7 billion rides every year.

Cosmonaut Cuisine in Tubes: Real Russian Space Food on Sale in Moscow

Move over astronaut ice cream, Russian space food tubes have arrived. As of Friday (Feb. 6), the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow now sells authentic cosmonaut food to the public, the state-run Sputnik news service reported.

Spectacular Milky Way Maps Show Our Galaxy in New Light

The Milky Way galaxy is made up of more than just stars and a new series of galactic maps has captured that diversity of gas, dust, particles and magnetic fields in amazing detail. The new Milky Way galaxy maps are based on observations by the European Space Agency's prolific Planck space observatory. They show the Milky Way in four distinct color signals that, when combined into a single mosaic, create a hypnotic view of our home galaxy.The Planck satellite observed the oldest light in the universe during its mission. The Planck satellite was built to detect microwave light, which made it sensitive to something called the cosmic microwave background, or light left over from the big bang.

SpaceX to Try Rocket Landing Again with DSCOVR Satellite Launch

When SpaceX launches a long-delayed satellite to study space weather on Sunday, the private spaceflight company also hopes to do the amazing: return a rocket to Earth and land it on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of its 14-story Falcon 9 rocket after launching the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR for short) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. It will be SpaceX's second try in two months to land a rocket on an ocean drone ship as part of company founder Elon Musk's dream of making reusable rocket technology a reality. The rocket stage slammed into SpaceX's drone ship and exploded.

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Friday, February 6, 2015

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LEGO Passes on Fan-Voted Hubble Space Telescope Model

The Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary celebration won't include a LEGO model of the orbiting observatory, despite the support of 10,000 fans. LEGO on Wednesday (Feb. 4) revealed the outcome of its most recent review of fan-suggested model kits submitted through its LEGO Ideas website. "We reviewed eight amazing projects that reached 10,000 supporters between June and September," Signe Lonholdt with the LEGO Ideas team said in a video announcing the results of the evaluation. The LEGO Hubble Space Telescope, which was designed by fan Gabriel Russo, reached 10,000 votes last August.

NASA Demolishes Gantry Used to Lift Space Shuttles Off Jumbo Jets

One of NASA's last remaining structures unique to supporting the space shuttle is no more. The Mate-Demate Device (MDD), which for 35 years was used at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to mount and remove the space shuttles from the back of their transport jumbo jets, has been demolished. The towering gantry was toppled to make way for the Florida space center's current and future needs, NASA reported on its website on Wednesday (Feb. 4). "The MDD was a solid, well-built structure," Ismael Otero, the project manager for NASA's Construction of Facilities Division in Center Operations, said in a NASA interview.

Florida scientists develop way to detect mislabeled fish

By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A pair of Florida scientists have developed a device they say can genetically verify whether imported fish destined for dining tables are grouper or less expensive, potentially harmful Asian catfish often passed off for the popular firm-fleshed fillets. By early summer, Tampa-based PureMolecular LLC hopes to begin selling the fist-sized machines for about $2,000 apiece, said John Paul, the company's chief executive and a marine science professor at the University of South Florida. Retailers trying to profit from mislabeling cheaper seafood as more expensive varieties have come under increasing fire from consumer and environmental activists and from seafood vendors who find it harder to charge the full price for properly labeled fish. One group estimates that up to a third of the fish consumed in the United States could be mislabeled.

Chimps Can Learn Foreign 'Dialects,' Experiment Shows

The Dutch chimps loved apples, and referred to the fruit using a high-pitched grunt, whereas the Scottish chimps disliked apples, and used a much lower-pitched grunt to describe the fruit. For example, Taglialatela and his colleagues have found evidence that young chimps learn to make attention-getting sounds from their mothers.

#Weed: Twitter Is Awash In Pro-Marijuana Tweets

People who support pot smoking seem to be more vocal about the topic on Twitter than those who oppose lighting up, a new study of marijuana hashtags finds. Out of the more than 7.6 million tweets about marijuana during a one-month period, there are 15 pro-pot tweets for every anti-marijuana tweet published on Twitter, the researchers found. "The younger people are when they begin using marijuana, the more likely they are to become dependent," Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a statement. It's possible that messages shared on social media sites influence people's behavior and opinions about marijuana, Cavazos-Rehg said.

Wow! Hubble Telescope Sees Rare 3-Moon Shadow Dance on Jupiter

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured three of Jupiter's moons marching across the huge planet's disc, a stunning sight that happens only once or twice every 10 years. The rare triple-moon conjunction on Jupiter, which Hubble witnessed on Jan. 24, involved Io, Callisto and Europa — three of the gas giant's four Galilean moons (so named because they were discovered by astronomer Galileo Galilei in the early 17th century). "The apparent 'fuzziness' of some of the shadows depends on the moons' distances from Jupiter," they added.

Oldest Stars in the Universe Actually Younger Than Previously Thought

A few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the light from some of the very first stars and galaxies lit up the universe and ended a period known as the "dark ages." New measurements by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite — which studied the cosmic microwave background, or the light left over from the Big Bang — indicate that this period of light began about 100 million years later than Planck's previous estimate. Some of the first stars and galaxies to be born in the early universe helped end what is often referred to as the universe's "dark ages." The stars not only lit up the skies with their light, but also cleared away a fog consisting of hydrogen atoms that had come to fill cosmos. The powerful photons created by stars and galaxies ripped the atoms apart, or ionized them, which is why this era is known as reionization.

Eating Organic Produce Can Limit Pesticide Exposure

People who eat organic produce may have lower levels of some pesticides in their bodies than people who eat similar amounts of conventionally grown fruits and veggies, according to a new study. Organophosphates are the pesticides commonly used on conventionally grown produce. The researchers estimated pesticide exposure by comparing typical intake of specific food items with average pesticide residue levels for those items. When matched on produce intake, people who reported eating organic fruits and veggies at least occasionally had significantly lower levels of pesticide residue in their urine than people who almost always ate conventionally grown produce.

Measles Outbreak, Measles Vaccine: Top Questions Answered

The U.S. measles outbreak now includes at least 102 infected people in 14 states. Most of the cases of measles reported so far in 2015 are part of a large, ongoing outbreak linked to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, according to the California Department of Public Health(CDPH). The theme park has many international visitors, and measles is brought into the United States every year by unvaccinated travelers who contract the disease in other countries, especially in Western Europe, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines, according to the CDPH. In 2014, there were more than 600 cases of measles in the U.S. The largest outbreak of the disease involved 383 of these cases, and occurred primarily among unvaccinated people living in Amish communities in Ohio.

Herbal Supplement Controversy: Did NY Investigation Use the Right Tests?

Authorities in New York have accused major retailers of selling herbal supplements that do not contain the listed ingredients. Officials said that DNA tests showed that just 21 percent of the supplements tested actually contained the ingredient listed on the label. In contrast, nearly 80 percent of supplements either contained no DNA from the substance listed on the label, or they contained other plant species not listed on the label, such as rice, asparagus or wild carrot. Many of the DNA tests could not find any botanical substance in the supplements, the attorney general's office said.

NASA Probe Snaps Stunning New Views of Dwarf Planet Ceres (Video)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has taken the sharpest-ever photos of Ceres, just a month before slipping into orbit around the mysterious dwarf planet. Dawn captured the new Ceres images Wednesday (Feb. 4), when the probe was 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometers) from the dwarf planet, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. On the night of March 5, Dawn will become the first spacecraft ever to orbit Ceres — and the first to circle two different solar system bodies beyond Earth. "It's very exciting," Dawn mission director and chief engineer Marc Rayman, who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said of Dawn's impending arrival at Ceres.

Mock Mars Mission Starts Saturday in Utah Desert

A simulated Mars mission kicks off Saturday (Feb. 7) in Utah, and its seven crewmembers hope the experience helps them prepare for a real Red Planet expedition a decade from now. All seven explorers — who will spend two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), near the Utah town of Hanksville — are astronaut candidates for the Mars One project, which aims to launch four pioneers to the Red Planet in 2024 as the vanguard of a permanent colony. "It's not a coincidence that the whole crew is comprised of Mars One candidates — that was by design," said crewmember Kellie Gerardi, business development specialist at California-based aerospace firm Masten Space Systems. "I can only speak for myself, but my participation on a Mars One crew was an effort to show that there is so much more behind the candidates," Gerardi told Space.com via email.

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