http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. When robotic spacecraft bring a sample of Mars back to Earth, scientists will need specially-designed facilities to study the samples and prevent them from escaping to the outside world. http://www.physorg.com/news179156380.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:50:02 EST news179156380 (PhysOrg.com) -- The annual Geminid meteor shower, which will reach its maximum on the night of Dec. 13-14, usually offers the best show of the year, outperforming even the Perseid shower of August. This year the Geminids will peak three days after new moon, so viewing conditions should be favorable. In a clear sky, observers may see more than 100 meteors per hour. http://www.physorg.com/news179085646.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:00:01 EST news179085646 Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape. http://www.physorg.com/news179081243.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:48:31 EST news179081243 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a safe standby mode on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the team operating the spacecraft has begun implementing careful steps designed to resume Odyssey's science and relay operations within about a week. http://www.physorg.com/news178907664.html Space & Earth Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:34:56 EST news178907664 Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to the ‘Fermi Paradox`: Why haven`t we been visited by aliens? http://www.physorg.com/news178821471.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:38:28 EST news178821471 (AP) -- Naked mole rats don't get cancer. They shrug off brushes with acid and age so well, some are older than the college-aged researchers handling them. http://www.physorg.com/news178645682.html Biology Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:20:01 EST news178645682 (PhysOrg.com) -- This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sample of the variety and complexity of processes that may occur on the walls of Martian craters, well after the impact crater formed. http://www.physorg.com/news178453746.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:29:56 EST news178453746 (PhysOrg.com) -- On Sol 2095 (Tuesday, Nov. 24), Spirit performed a set of diagnostic actions related to a stall of the right-rear wheel on the previous drive, three days earlier. http://www.physorg.com/news178393606.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:00:03 EST news178393606 (PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities. http://www.physorg.com/news178359134.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:12:42 EST news178359134 Antarctica has long held secrets of the earth's history locked in its icy depths, and until recently, there has been very little information on the environments that have been sealed beneath miles of ice for millions of years. Now, a team of researchers from nine institutions - including LSU - have been funded to the tune of $10 million dollars by the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to get to the bottom of things - literally. These scientists will drill through the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to directly access a subglacial lake and the cavity below the ice shelf. http://www.physorg.com/news178293790.html Space & Earth Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:40:02 EST news178293790 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting the Red Planet once had an ocean. http://www.physorg.com/news178216318.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:33:14 EST news178216318 (PhysOrg.com) -- Because the first extrication drive for Spirit, on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17), stopped as soon as it began due to an exceeded tilt limit, the plan for an extrication drive on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19) will essentially be a repeat of the first drive plan, but with improved rover attitude knowledge. The updated attitude knowledge comes from the rover's measurement of its tilt on Sol 2088. http://www.physorg.com/news177844519.html Space & Earth Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:17:08 EST news177844519 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have collaborated to create a Web site where Internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars. http://www.physorg.com/news177699754.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:03:57 EST news177699754 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there. http://www.physorg.com/news177615422.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:30:02 EST news177615422 Scientists with NASA`s IceBite project are heading this week for University Valley, a hanging valley perched more than 1600 feet (more than 1 mile) above sea level in Antarctica`s McMurdo Dry Valleys. Their objective: to test a set of ice-penetrating drills and select one for use on a future mission to the martian polar north, the same region of the planet that NASA`s Phoenix lander investigated in 2008. http://www.physorg.com/news177613575.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:07:23 EST news177613575