NASA Selects Partners for US Commercial Lander Capabilities
Washington DC (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
NASA announced Wednesday the selection of three U.S. companies to negotiate no-funds exchanged partnership agreements with the agency to advance lander capabilities that will enable delivery of payloads to the surface of the moon, as well as new science and exploration missions of interest to NASA and scientific and academic communities.
NASA made the selections following a January solicit ...
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Shockwave findings set to rewrite scientific theories
Leicester, UK (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Research from an international team of scientists led by the University of Leicester has discovered for the first time that one of the most powerful events in our universe - Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) - behave differently than previously thought.
The study, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, uses evidence from observation of a GRB to rule out most of the existing theoretic ...
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Undersea warfare: Viruses hijack deep-sea bacteria at hydrothermal vents
Washington DC (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
More than a mile beneath the ocean's surface, as dark clouds of mineral-rich water billow from seafloor hot springs called hydrothermal vents, unseen armies of viruses and bacteria wage war.
Like pirates boarding a treasure-laden ship, the viruses infect bacterial cells to get the loot: tiny globules of elemental sulfur stored inside the bacterial cells.
Instead of absconding with th ...
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NASA Carbon-Counting Satellite Arrives at Launch Site
Vandenberg AFB CA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
A NASA spacecraft designed to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., to begin final preparations for launch.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 arrived Wednesday at its launch site on California's central coast after traveling from Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. The spacecraft no ...
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Peacekeeper Safing - The Ultimate Re-Use Project
White Sands NM (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
NASA Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) contracted with the United States Air Force (USAF) to safe Peacekeeper Post Boost Propulsion System (PBPS) stages in the next four years by de-tanking hypergolic propellants, venting helium tanks and expending the ordnance so the stage can be destroyed by the USAF and reusable hardware and propellants could be harvested.
WSTF was ...
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Boeing Showcases Future Commercial Spacecraft Interior
North Las Vegas NV (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Boeing has unveiled a new commercial interior of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) next-generation manned space capsule, showing how people other than NASA astronauts may one day travel to space.
Boeing and partner Bigelow Aerospace highlighted the future commercial interior of the capsule it is developing for NASA, while Bigelow showcased a full-scale model of its BA 330 commercial ...
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Predators predict longevity of birds
Seewiesen, Germany (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Ageing inevitably occurs both in humans and in other animals. However, life-span varies widely across species. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen have now found a possible general mechanism explaining differences in longevity.
They investigated life history data of nearly 1400 bird species and found that avian life span varies considerably across the entir ...
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Acidity Dissolving Shells Of Tiny Free-Swimming Marine Snails
Washington DC (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
NOAA-led research team has found the first evidence that acidity of continental shelf waters off the West Coast is dissolving the shells of tiny free-swimming marine snails, called pteropods, which provide food for pink salmon, mackerel and herring, according to a new paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Researchers estimate that the percentage of pteropods in this region ...
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DNA 'Sat Nav' directs you to your ancestor's home
Sheffield, UK (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Tracing where your DNA was formed over 1,000 years ago is now possible due to a revolutionary technique developed by a team of international scientists led by experts from the University of Sheffield.
The ground breaking Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool, created by Dr Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences and Dr Tatiana Tatarinova ...
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Extreme sleep durations may affect brain health in later life
Boston MA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
A new research study led by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) published in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in May, shows an association between midlife and later life sleeping habits with memory; and links extreme sleep durations to worse memory in later life. The study suggests that extreme changes in sleep duration from middle age to older age may also worsen memory function. ...
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Regenerative medicine improves muscle strength and function in legs
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Damaged leg muscles grew stronger and showed signs of regeneration in three out of five men whose old injuries were surgically implanted with extracellular matrix (ECM) derived from pig bladder, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Early findings from a human trial of the process ...
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Deep origins to the behavior of Hawaiian volcanoes
Manoa HI (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Kilauea volcano, on the Big Island of Hawai'i, typically has effusive eruptions, wherein magma flows to create ropy pahoehoe lava, for example. However, Kilauea less frequently erupts more violently, showering scoria and blocks over much of the surface of the island.
To explain the variability in Kilauea's eruption styles, a team including Bruce Houghton, the Gordon Macdonald Professor of ...
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European seafloor survey reveals depth of marine litter problem
Plymouth, UK (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
A major new survey of the seafloor has found that even in the deepest ocean depths you can find bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets and other types of human litter.
The litter was found throughout the Mediterranean, and all the way from the continental shelf of Europe to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 2,000 kilometres from land. Litter is a problem in the marine environment as it can be mistaken f ...
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Network for tracking earthquakes exposes glacier activity
San Francisco CA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Alaska's seismic network records thousands of quakes produced by glaciers, capturing valuable data that scientists could use to better understand their behavior, but instead their seismic signals are set aside as oddities. The current earthquake monitoring system could be "tweaked" to target the dynamic movement of the state's glaciers, suggests State Seismologist Michael West, who will present ...
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Neanderthals were not inferior to modern humans
Boulder CO (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
If you think Neanderthals were stupid and primitive, it's time to think again. The widely held notion that Neanderthals were dimwitted and that their inferior intelligence allowed them to be driven to extinction by the much brighter ancestors of modern humans is not supported by scientific evidence, according to a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Neanderthals thrived in a ...
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Brain Does Not Work The Way A Computer Does Recognizing Speech
Boston MA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
How does the brain decide whether or not something is correct? When it comes to the processing of spoken language - particularly whether or not certain sound combinations are allowed in a language - the common theory has been that the brain applies a set of rules to determine whether combinations are permissible.
Now the work of a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigator and his t ...
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Magnitude of quake scales with maturity of fault
San Francisco CA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
The oldest sections of transform faults, such as the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) and the San Andreas Fault, produce the largest earthquakes, putting important limits on the potential seismic hazard for less mature parts of fault zones, according to a new study to be presented at the Seismological Society of America (SSA) 2014 Annual Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. The finding suggests that m ...
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Cadiz researcher discovers 18 new species of molluscs
Cadiz, Spain (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Molluscs are invertebrates that make up one of the most numerous groups in the animal kingdom. They are everywhere, from great heights of over 3,000m above sea level to ocean profundities of over 5,000m deep, in polar and tropical waters and they tend to be common elements on coastlines around the world. Within this animal group are found the nudibranchs, characterized among other things, for no ...
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Columbia engineers grow functional human cartilage in lab
New York, NY (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have announced that they have successfully grown fully functional human cartilage in vitro from human stem cells derived from bone marrow tissue. Their study, which demonstrates new ways to better mimic the enormous complexity of tissue development, regeneration, and disease, is published in the April 28 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Acad ...
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Multiple consecutive days of tornado activity spawn worst events
West Lafayette IN (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
Significant tornado outbreaks and especially strong tornadoes are more likely occur within periods of activity lasting three or more days, according to a Purdue University tornado expert.
Jeff Trapp, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, examined 30 years of U.S. weather records and found that an outbreak of 20 or more reported tornadoes had a 74 percent probability of ...
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China's Xi vows 'decisive actions' after Xinjiang attack
Beijing (AFP) May 01, 2014 -
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and explosion at a railway station in the restive Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang left two attackers and a civilian dead and 79 wounded, state media said Thursday.
The violence came as Xi was wrapping up what state media characterised as an "inspection tour" of the volatile region in China's far west, during which he ...
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Ukraine on 'combat alert' as rebels gain ground
Kiev (AFP) April 30, 2014 -
Ukraine's armed forces are on "full combat alert" against a possible Russian invasion, Kiev said Wednesday, as authorities admitted they were "helpless" to prevent pro-Kremlin insurgents tightening their grip on the increasingly chaotic east of the country.
Rebels stormed the regional police building and town hall in the eastern Ukrainian city of Gorlivka, local officials told AFP, adding to ...
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ViaSat Awarded Damages in Patent Infringement and Breach of Contract Lawsuit Against Space Systems/Loral
Carlsbad CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2014 -
ViaSat has announced that a federal court jury has awarded ViaSat $283 million in damages in its patent infringement and breach of contract case against Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). The jury found SS/L (1) infringed three ViaSat patents relating to its ViaSat-1 high-capacity satellite system: U.S. Patent Nos. 8,010,043, 8,068,827, and 8,107,875 and (2) breached the non-disclosure agreements and m ...
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Syria regime raid on Aleppo kills at least 33: NGO
Beirut (AFP) May 01, 2014 -
Syrian warplanes hit a popular market in a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Thursday killing at least 33 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Several people were also wounded in the attack on the market in the Halak neighbourhood of northeastern Aleppo, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
It also reported at least 21 people killed in clashes between the jihadist ...
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It's a "go" for Arianespace's Vega launch with Kazakhstan's first Earth observation satellite
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Apr 29, 2014 -
Arianespace's next Vega mission from French Guiana has been given the "all clear" for liftoff on April 28 with its DZZ-HR payload, following completion of the launch readiness review performed Friday at the Spaceport.
This assessment - held before each flight of an Arianespace launcher family member - confirmed that the light-lift vehicle and its DZZ-HR satellite passenger are flight-ready ...
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