Lockheed Martin partners for space debris research
Palo Alto, Calif. (UPI) Nov 7, 2014 -
Lockheed Martin is co-operating the largest infrared telescope in the Western Hemisphere to study space debris and for other research studies.
The partnership to operate the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, or UKIRT, is with the University of Arizona and others. The telescope, once owned by the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Facilities Council and now by the University of Haw ...
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From doomsday to fact: Science lifts veil on comets
Paris (AFP) Nov 08, 2014 -
For millennia, the sight of a comet filled humans with awe or dread.
The birth of Jesus, the assassination of Julius Caesar, the Great Plague of London, the coming of war or peace, bountiful harvests or famine... all thought to be portended by cosmic herald.
Bit by bit, mysticism about comets has been replaced by fact as scientists discover more about these epic and ancient travellers of ...
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Europe set to make space history with comet landing
Paris (AFP) Nov 08, 2014 -
One of the biggest gambles in space history comes to a climax on Wednesday when Europe attempts to make the first-ever landing on a comet.
Speeding towards the Sun at 65,000 kilometres (40,600 miles) per hour, a lab called Philae will detach from its mothership Rosetta, heading for a deep-space rendezvous laden with risk.
The 100-kilogram (220-pound) probe will seek out a minuscule landi ...
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Ancient genomes show the European meta-population
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Nov 07, 2014 -
DNA recovered from a 36,000 year old fossil skeleton found in Russia shows early divergence of Eurasians once they had left Africa, and the deep shared ancestry of Europeans.
The new study, carried out by an international team of researchers, also reveals when Neanderthals and early modern humans out of Africa interbred - around 54,000 years ago, before the modern human population began to ...
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NEIKER fells pine trees to study their wind resistance
Bilbao, Spain (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Technicians of the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development NEIKER-Tecnalia have in recent days been felling trees to simulate the effect of the wind in mountains in the Bizkaia locality of Artzentales.
Forestry experts of the French Institute for Agricultural Research INRA together with technicians from NEIKER-Tecnalia and the Chartered Provincial Council of Bizkaia fell ...
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Understanding of global freshwater fish and fishing too shallow
East Lansing MI (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
Inland fish have to make a bigger splash. What sounds counter-intuitive to an activity commonly perceived as quiet is the broad recommendation of scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) recommending that small-scale fishing in the world's freshwater bodies must have a higher profile to best protect global food security.
In this month's journal Global Food Security, scientists note th ...
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NMSU professor experiments growing plants in highly saline water
Las Cruces NM (SPX) Nov 06, 2014 -
As drought continues to plague New Mexico, alternatives such as using wastewater have been tested and used for agriculture and urban irrigation. In the quest to conserve potable water and still maintain agricultural practices, Manoj Shukla, New Mexico State University professor of soil physics, is trying to research the use of highly saline water.
Since 2013, he has been experimenting with ...
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