Photos: Once-in-a-lifetime comet dazzles Pacific Northwest skies
A recently discovered comet lit up the skies over the Pacific Northwest over the weekend. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), discovered in 2023, made its closest approach to Earth last week and is expected to be visible in the skies until Oct. 24, although cloud cover might make viewing it hard. Over the weekend, Oregonians were treated […]
Scientists Discover ‘Skinny Genes’ That Make It Easier to Lose Weight
Scientists from the University of Essex and Anglia Ruskin University conducted a study to investigate if genetic factors influence individual weight loss in response to exercise. They recruited 38 volunteers between ages 23-40, dividing them into a control group and exercise group. The exercise group did three 20-30 minute runs per week for two months. […]
NASA’s $5 billion Europa Clipper had a rocky road to space. How it switched rockets and more to launch to Jupiter
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which aims to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa and its subsurface ocean, launched successfully today after many challenges in its development. The $5 billion mission originally planned to launch on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket but faced issues with compatibility and budget overruns. In 2020 it switched to use a SpaceX […]
NASA thinks it found a moon light-years away spewing gas
NASA scientists believe they have indirect evidence of an exomoon orbiting the exoplanet WASP-49b, located about 635 light years from Earth. They detected a large sodium cloud around the exoplanet that produces about 220,000 pounds of sodium per second. The motion and location of the cloud suggests it is not coming from the planet’s atmosphere. […]
Can a Supplement Really Help Control Your Pesky Eye Floaters?
Eye floaters, also known as muscae volitantes, are small cloud-like structures or spots that drift across people’s vision, caused by clumps or strands of collagen in the vitreous humor (gel-like substance) inside the eye. Floaters are common and often increase with age as the vitreous thins and shrinks, sometimes pulling away from the retina in […]
Zap, zap, zap! Our bodies are electric
Our bodies rely on electricity to function. Tiny electrical signals called action potentials race through the brain, heart, muscles and bones on a constant basis. In the heart, the sinoatrial node acts as the natural pacemaker, generating electrical signals that cause the heart to contract in a regular rhythm. The rate is controlled by the […]
34-year-old Hubble Telescope does it again – NASA uncovers unusual galaxy using Hubble photography
The 34-year-old Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of an unusual galaxy called NGC 4694. Most galaxies are either spiral or elliptical in shape, but this one is difficult to classify. NGC 4694 has a smooth, armless disk like an elliptical galaxy, but it still has ongoing star formation in its core, unlike typical ellipticals. […]
Surprising Discovery: NASA’s Retrofitted U2 Spy Plane Reveals Tropical Lightning Storms Are Radioactive
NASA retrofitted a former U-2 spy plane to study tropical thunderstorms and lightning from above. This plane is called the ER-2. On flights into thunderstorms over the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, instruments onboard detected bursts of radioactive isotopes coming from the clouds. The radioisotopes detected were carbon-14 and beryllium-7, which are not normally […]
James Webb Uncovers the Whirling Origins of Planetary Systems
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured a unique view of the birth of a new planetary system. It observed a protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star called AB Aurigae. Protoplanetary disks are swirling disks of dust and gas where new planets form around young stars. The JWST image provides a glimpse into this […]
Top ‘safety risk’ for the ISS is a leak that has been ongoing for 5 years, NASA audit finds
A long-running air leak in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) has been identified as the top safety risk according to a recent NASA audit. The leak is located in a transfer tunnel that connects the Russian Zvezda module to one of the ISS docking ports. It has been ongoing for 5 […]