Dust, Iron, and Life
Boulder CO (SPX) Nov 11, 2015 -
Dust begets life, and Earth's atmosphere 300 million years ago was perhaps the dustiest of all time, with large consequences for carbon cycling and the climate system.
In a new paper for Geology, Sohini Sur and colleagues examine the bioavailability of iron in dust from Earth's penultimate icehouse of the late Paleozoic. Dust links to carbon because of the iron - a key nutrient for nearly ...
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Putin: Russia Has Weapons Capable of Penetrating Any Missile Defenses
Sochi, Russia (Sputnik) Nov 11, 2015 -
Russia will strengthen its strategic nuclear potential in response to the deployment of US missile defense systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
"Russia will take necessary retaliatory measures to strengthen the capacity of its strategic nuclear forces. We will work on our missile defense system as well. Initially, as we have repeatedly said, we will work on the strike sy ...
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Astronomers spot most distant object in the solar system
National Harbor, Md. (UPI) Nov 11, 2015 -
As of right now, it is the most distant object in the solar system, a sizable space rock 103 times farther away from the sun than the Earth.
The object remains unclassified, cataloged as V774104, and it could be one of the more exciting finds in years - or it could be just another rock.
Researchers presented the object's discovery on Wednesday to attendees of the 47th annual mee ...
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Discovery of a new confinement state for plasma
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Nov 12, 2015 -
The National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Fusion Science applied the "Momentary Heating Propagation Method" to the DIII-D tokamak device operated for the United States Office of Science, Department of Energy, by the General Atomics and made the important discovery of a new plasma confinement state. This discovery was introduced in the November 4, 2015, issue of Scientifi ...
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Space institute funds adjustable power eyeglasses and a smart sleep mask
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 11, 2015 -
Two small companies developing state-of-the-art medical technologies have been selected to receive grants from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). LumosTech, Inc. is a Stanford University-based startup company developing a programmable mask that uses light therapy during sleep to adjust a person to a new time-zone. eVision Smart Optics, Inc. of Sarasota, Florida is developi ...
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Whopping Galaxy Cluster Spotted with Help of NASA Telescopes
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 09, 2015 -
Astronomers have discovered a giant gathering of galaxies in a very remote part of the universe, thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The galaxy cluster, located 8.5 billion light-years away, is the most massive structure yet found at such great distances.
Galaxy clusters are gravitationally bound groups of thousands of galaxies, which th ...
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LISA Pathfinder topped off for Vega launch that will test Relativity
Paris (ESA) Nov 11, 2015 -
The LISA Pathfinder scientific space probe to be launched by Arianespace's next Vega flight has received its propellant load for a mission to study the ripples in space-time predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
LISA Pathfinder was "topped off" in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation facility, taking it one step closer to a December 2 launch from French Guiana on A ...
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