NASA's WISE Space Telescope Jettisons Its Cover

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

12 hours ago | 4.4 / 5 (10) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers and scientists say the maneuver went off without a hitch, and everything is working properly. The mission's "first-light" images of the sky will be released to the public in about ...

Russia in secret plan to save Earth from asteroid: official

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

14 hours ago | 4.7 / 5 (10) | 20

Russian scientists will soon meet in secret to work on a plan for saving Earth from a possible catastrophic collision with a giant asteroid in 26 years, the head of Russia's space agency said Wednesday.

NASA Chooses Three Finalists for Future Space Science Mission to Venus, an Asteroid or the Moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

14 hours ago | 4 / 5 (2) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has selected three proposals as candidates for the agency's next space venture to another celestial body in our solar system. The final project selected in mid-2011 may provide a better ...

NASA awards CU-Boulder $3.3 million for concept study for mission to Venus

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 29, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

NASA has awarded the University of Colorado at Boulder $3.3 million for a detailed, one-year concept study for a lander mission to Venus to study the history of its surface, climate and atmosphere and to predict ...

New Video Reveals Secrets of Webb Telescope's MIRI (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 29, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's going to take infrared eyes to see farther back in time than even the Hubble Space Telescope, and that's what the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI or Mid-Infrared Instrument detectors ...

Rare New Year's Eve 'blue moon' to ring in 2010

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 29, 2009 | 3.5 / 5 (11) | 1

(AP) -- Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. ...

Researchers Use New Acoustic Tools to Study Marine Mammals and Fish

Biology / Ecology

Dec 29, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Over the past decade, researchers have developed a variety of reliable real-time and archival instruments to study sounds made or heard by marine mammals and fish. These new sensors are now ...

CU Students to Build Tiny Spacecraft to Observe 'Space Weather' Environment

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 29, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded $840,000 from the National Science Foundation for students to build a tiny spacecraft to observe energetic particles in space that should ...

Cockroaches offer inspiration for running robots

Electronics / Robotics

Dec 28, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (6) | 0

The sight of a cockroach scurrying for cover may be nauseating, but the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel, and is providing researchers at Oregon State University with what they call "bioinspiration" ...

Consumer groups try to block Google purchase of AdMob

Technology / Internet

Dec 28, 2009 | 1 / 5 (4) | 0

Two consumer groups urged the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday to block Internet search and advertising giant Google's proposed purchase of mobile advertising company AdMob.

Seeing without looking

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Dec 28, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (14) | 2

Like a spotlight that illuminates an otherwise dark scene, attention brings to mind specific details of our environment while shutting others out. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological ...

As the World Churns

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Dec 28, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (15) | 26

(PhysOrg.com) -- "Terra firma." It's Latin for "solid Earth." Most of the time, at least from our perspective here on the ground, Earth seems to be just that: solid. Yet the Earth beneath our feet is actually ...

Cell phone mania forces scramble for more airwaves

Technology / Telecom

Dec 27, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 1

(AP) -- Wireless devices such as Apple's iPhone are transforming the way we go online, making it possible to look up driving directions, find the nearest coffee shop and update Facebook on the go. All this ...

Voyager makes an interstellar discovery

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 26, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (61) | 24

The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. In the Dec. 24th issue of Nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's Voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.

As shuttle's career nears an end, NASA turns focus to satellites

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 26, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 2

NASA heads into 2010 with the bittersweet assignment of retiring the space shuttle after nearly three decades. But that's not all the agency has planned: There are also launches of three new satellites aimed at better understanding ...