Microbes that cause salmonella came back from spaceflight even more virulent and dangerous in an experiment aboard the US space shuttle Atlantis, according to a study published on Monday.
The experiment by microbiologists at Arizona State University sent tubes with salmonella bacteria on a shuttle flight in September 2006 to measure how space flight might affect disease-causing microbes.
Science & Technology
If you think of yourself as unique, think again. The days when physicists could ignore the concept of may have come to an end. If that doesn't send a shudder down your spine, think of it this way: our world is just one of many. You are just one version of many.
Extraterrestrial impact possibly wiped out all life forms on Earth during the Ice Age, a new study by a team of international researchers, including two Northern Arizona University geologists, has revealed.
What caused the extinction of mammoths and the decline of Stone Age people about 13,000 years ago remains hotly debated. Overhunting by Paleoindians, climate change and disease lead the list of probable causes.
What caused the extinction of mammoths and the decline of Stone Age people about 13,000 years ago remains hotly debated. Overhunting by Paleoindians, climate change and disease lead the list of probable causes.
Wooly mammoths, giant sloths, saber-toothed cats, and dozens of other species of megafauna may have become extinct when a disintegrating comet or asteroid exploded over North America with the force of millions of hydrogen bombs, according to research by an international team of scientists.
Most of the universe -- 96 percent, to be exact -- is made of dark matter and energy whose composition we simply do not fathom, a Nobel laureate told physicists gathered this week to explore the intersection of the infinitely small and the infinitely large.
"We think we understand the universe, but we only understand four percent of everything," said James Watson Cronin, who won the 1980 Nobel for physics by proving that certain subatomic reactions escape the laws of fundamental symmetry.
According the most recent models, he said, 73 percent of cosmic energy seems to consist of "dark energy" and 23 percent of dark matter, the pervasive but unidentified stuff that holds the universe together and accelerates its expansion.
"We think we understand the universe, but we only understand four percent of everything," said James Watson Cronin, who won the 1980 Nobel for physics by proving that certain subatomic reactions escape the laws of fundamental symmetry.
According the most recent models, he said, 73 percent of cosmic energy seems to consist of "dark energy" and 23 percent of dark matter, the pervasive but unidentified stuff that holds the universe together and accelerates its expansion.
Encrusted with tiny shells and smelling strongly of the sea, a 2,400-year-old Greek jar lies in a saltwater bath in Durres Museum, on Albania's Adriatic coast.
Part of a sunken shipment of up to 60 ceramic vessels, the 26-inch storage jar, or amphora, was the top find from what organizers say is the first archeological survey of this small Balkan nation's seabed, conducted by US and Albanian scientists.
Part of a sunken shipment of up to 60 ceramic vessels, the 26-inch storage jar, or amphora, was the top find from what organizers say is the first archeological survey of this small Balkan nation's seabed, conducted by US and Albanian scientists.
A total of 247 child pornography web-sites in Runet, the Russian Internet domain, have been shut down in the first six months of the year, a spokesman for Russia's Interior Ministry said.
Speaking in Vienna at an Organization for Security and Cooperation conference on combating the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, the spokesman said that the number of crimes linked to child pornography totaled 46 in the same period of time, a 50% decrease, year-on-year.
Speaking in Vienna at an Organization for Security and Cooperation conference on combating the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, the spokesman said that the number of crimes linked to child pornography totaled 46 in the same period of time, a 50% decrease, year-on-year.
Every now and then a space rock hits the world's media - sometimes almost literally. Threatening asteroids that zoom past the Earth, fireballs in the sky seen by hundreds of people and mysterious craters which may have been caused by impacting meteorites; all make ESA's studies on the Don Quijote mission look increasingly timely.
The uncertainty surrounding whether a meteorite impacted in South America recently highlights the need to know more about these pieces of natural space debris and their trajectories. ESA has always been interested in such endeavours and conducted a number of studies into how it might best help.
The uncertainty surrounding whether a meteorite impacted in South America recently highlights the need to know more about these pieces of natural space debris and their trajectories. ESA has always been interested in such endeavours and conducted a number of studies into how it might best help.
LONG BEACH, California -- The public will have to overcome its squeamishness about nuclear power, if current plans for space missions and manned outposts are ever to become reality, industry experts told attendees at the Space 2007 conference this week.
The public's fear of fallout and the government's worries about losing nuclear material have led to onerous requirements in using radioactive sources of power for space probes and to funding cuts for nuclear propulsion research, executives said. Future missions and the creation of outposts on the moon and other planets will require the technology, they added.
The public's fear of fallout and the government's worries about losing nuclear material have led to onerous requirements in using radioactive sources of power for space probes and to funding cuts for nuclear propulsion research, executives said. Future missions and the creation of outposts on the moon and other planets will require the technology, they added.
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| ©NASA / William K. Hartmann |
| Proponents argue that nuclear propulsion could allow space probes, such as the Dawn mission to the asteroid belt, to reach their destinations faster and do more once they get there. |
An orbiting spacecraft has found evidence of what look like seven caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano, the space agency NASA said on Friday.
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent back images of very dark, nearly circular features that appear to be openings to underground spaces.
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent back images of very dark, nearly circular features that appear to be openings to underground spaces.
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| ©NASA/Reuters |
| Seven very dark holes on the north slope of a Martian volcano are seen in this undated handout photo. |
Comment: For more on this catastrophe, see the article Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!
The recent crater in Peru may well be the first of many impacts we'll be seeing over the next few years. We may be on our way to going the way of the wooly mammoth.