Skynet 5 move will place military satcom over Asia-Pacific region
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Airbus Defence and Space announced during Satellite 2015 the forthcoming move of its Skynet 5A satellite. The move of Skynet 5A will enable delivery of protected and secure satcom services in the new coverage footprint from mid-2015.
Airbus Defence and Space owns and operates the hardened Skynet X-band satellite constellation of 8 satellites and the ground network to provide all Beyond Lin ...
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Second natural quasicrystal found in ancient meteorite
Princeton NJ (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
A team from Princeton University and the University of Florence in Italy has discovered a quasicrystal - so named because of its unorthodox arrangement of atoms - in a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite from a remote region of northeastern Russia, bringing to two the number of natural quasicrystals ever discovered. Prior to the team finding the first natural quasicrystal in 2009, researchers thoug ...
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Astronomers to shed light on space discoveries to mark solar eclipse
Leicester UK (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Space scientists at the University of Leicester will be taking part in a spectacular event to mark a rare astronomical phenomenon by demonstrating some of their out-of-this-world research - including how they located and identified Beagle 2 on Mars.
To coincide with Stargazing Live returning to BBC Two, BBC Learning is holding a one-off spectacular live event, open to the general public, o ...
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Desktop App has potential to increase asteroid detection
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
A software application based on an algorithm created by a NASA challenge has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid discoveries by amateur astronomers. Analysis of images taken of our solar system's main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter using the algorithm showed a 15 percent increase in positive identification of new asteroids.
During a panel Sunday at the South by So ...
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Russia, US May Sign New Deal to Send Astronauts to ISS
Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 18, 2015 -
Russia's space agency Roscosmos is likely to sign an agreement with NASA this fall on sending US astronauts to the International Space Station in 2018, Roscosmos said Monday.
"The agreement on astronauts' delivery to the International Space Station in 2018 is expected to be signed this fall," the Roscosmos press service informed.
Russia's space agency also said that a similar deal ha ...
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Expandable addition on ISS will gather data for future space habitats
Houston TX (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
NASA and Bigelow Aerospace are preparing to launch an expandable habitat module to the International Space Station this year. The agency joined Bigelow Thursday at its Las Vegas facility to mark completion of the company's major milestones.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, leverages key innovations in lightweight and compact materials, departing from a traditional rigid met ...
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Moon crater named for aviator Amelia Earhart
West Lafayette, Ind. (UPI) Mar 17, 2015 -
One of the largest craters on the moon was only recently discovered, thanks to the hard work of scientists at Purdue University. The crater's discovery was announced on Monday at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.
There, the crater's discoverers offered a preliminary name, the Earhart crater, in honor of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator ...
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From cancer-battling bacteria to life on Mars at TED
Vancouver (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
Brilliant minds wrapped around heady notions ranging from injecting medicine by laser to cherishing life on Earth while seeking a future in the stars as the TED conference began Monday.
The weeklong annual gathering known for blending innovation, inspiration and imagination kicked off with presentations by fresh young visionaries brought in as Fellows.
Videos of Fellows "talks" available ...
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How to watch total solar eclipse on Friday
Washington (UPI) Mar 17, 2015 -
Though not as rare as they're made out to be, total solar eclipses don't come around all that often - only once every 18 months or so. So it's only natural to want to capture the astronomical phenomenon for posterity's sake, whether with a photograph or a mental image.
But the feat can be dangerous. When rushing to catch a glimpse of this Friday's solar eclipse, it's important to take ...
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Severe solar storm may disrupt power, satellites
Miami (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
A pair of solar eruptions over the weekend have unleashed a severe geomagnetic storm that could disrupt power and communications on Earth, US officials said Tuesday.
The storm ranks as a G4 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scale of one to five, with five being the worst.
"Today we are experiencing a severe geomagnetic storm," said Thomas Berger, director of t ...
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Milky Way may host billions of planets in 'habitable' zones: study
Paris (AFP) March 18, 2015 -
The Milky Way galaxy may be home to billions of planets orbiting their host stars in a "habitable zone" where life could theoretically exist, researchers said Wednesday.
NASA's Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009 to search for so-called "exoplanets" outside our own solar system, has already found thousands - many of them in systems like our own with multiple planets orbiting a star. ...
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China probes foreign textbooks after warning on 'Western values'
Beijing (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
China has launched an investigation into the use of imported textbooks at its universities, government websites and an official said on Tuesday, after its education minister called for "Western values" to be banned.
China's education ministry has asked universities nationwide to fill out questionnaires detailing their use of "foreign" classroom materials, according to a copy posted on a gove ...
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Fears of food shortages in Vanuatu as huge damage revealed
Port Vila, Vanuatu (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
Vanuatu warned it faces imminent food shortages as accounts emerged of huge damage to a large outer island, days after one of the fiercest cyclones on record pummelled the Pacific archipelago.
Relief agencies say conditions are among the most challenging they have faced, with some areas still inaccessible and concerns that disease and a lack of clean water could add to a revised toll of 11 c ...
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Mali rebels hopeful of 'decisive' meeting on peace deal
Bamako (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
Mali's Tuareg-led rebels voiced hope Tuesday that their next meeting with international mediators would prove "decisive" for a peace deal that has been stalled for months.
The Algiers Agreement, hammered out over eight months of tough negotiations, aims to bring a lasting peace to a sprawling area of northern desert that the rebels refer to as "Azawad".
It has been signed by Mali's gover ...
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Botswana MPs want wildlife hunting ban lifted ahead of talks
Johannesburg (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
A week before Botswana hosts two key wildlife conservation conferences, a small group of lawmakers are seeking a review of a 2014 commercial hunting ban designed to reverse a decline in wildlife.
Botswana is home to a third of the world's elephants, but three of the diamond-rich country's 61 legislators believe elephants have multiplied to the point they are now "terrorising" local farmers. ...
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Top chefs tout anchovies, sardines to save the oceans
San Sebastian, Spain (AFP) March 17, 2015 -
Top world chefs launched a campaign Tuesday to protect over-exploited fish species by promoting alternatives such as the humble anchovy, sardine and herring in their restaurants.
A score of gourmet celebrities said they would serve sustainable fish options from June 8 in a campaign titled "Save the Oceans and Feed the World".
The star chefs included Spanish chef Ferran Adria and Britain' ...
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Ancient whale fossil provides exact date for East Africa's puzzling uplift
Dallas TX (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Uplift associated with the Great Rift Valley of East Africa and the environmental changes it produced have puzzled scientists for decades because the timing and starting elevation have been poorly constrained.
Now paleontologists have tapped a fossil from the most precisely dated beaked whale in the world - and the only stranded whale ever found so far inland on the African continent - to ...
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Wealth and power may have played a stronger role than 'survival of the fittest'
Tempe AZ (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
The DNA you inherit from your parents contributes to the physical make-up of your body - whether you have blue eyes or brown, black hair or red, or are male or female. Your DNA can also influence whether you might develop certain diseases or disorders such as Crohn's Disease, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia or neurofibromatosis, to name a few.
In a study led by scientists from Arizona State Un ...
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Queen bee microbiomes are starkly distinct from worker bees
Bloomington IN (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
An Indiana University researcher and collaborators have published the first comprehensive analysis of the gut bacteria found in queen bees.
Despite the important role of gut microbial communities - also known the "microbiome" - in protecting against disease, as well as the central role of the queen bees in the proper function and health of the hive, similar analyses of honey bees have prev ...
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Magnetic brain stimulation
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Researchers at MIT have developed a method to stimulate brain tissue using external magnetic fields and injected magnetic nanoparticles - a technique allowing direct stimulation of neurons, which could be an effective treatment for a variety of neurological diseases, without the need for implants or external connections.
The research, conducted by Polina Anikeeva, an assistant professor of ...
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Small eddies produce global effects on climate change
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
The increasing strength of winds over the Southern Ocean has extended its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, effectively delaying the impacts of global warming.
New research published in the Journal of Physical Research found the intensifying wind over that ocean increased the speed and energy of eddies and jets, which are responsible in large part for the movement of nutrients, heat and sa ...
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Chimpanzees will travel for preferred foods, innovate solutions
Chicago IL (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Just as humans will travel to their favorite restaurant, chimpanzees will travel a farther distance for preferred food sources in non-wild habitats, according to a new study from scientists at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo that publishes on March 17 in the journal PeerJ.
Chimpanzees at Lincoln Park Zoo prefer grapes over carrots. Previous research at the zoo provided that insight into food pr ...
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Gulf of Mexico marine food web changes over the decades
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Scientists in the Gulf of Mexico now have a better understanding of how naturally-occurring climate cycles - as well as human activities - can trigger widespread ecosystem changes that ripple through the Gulf food web and the communities dependent on it, thanks to a new study published Saturday in the journal Global Change Biology.
A team of NOAA scientists spent three years reviewing over ...
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Predicting the extent of flash flooding
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2015 -
Devastating floodwaters such as those experienced during Iowa's Flood of 2008 - which swamped many Iowa communities, along with ten square miles of Cedar Rapids - are notoriously difficult to predict.
So a team of University of Iowa mathematicians and hydrologists collaborating with the Iowa Flood Center set out to gain a better understanding of flood genesis and the factors impacting it. ...
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New genetic evidence resolves origins of modern Japanese
Oxford UK (SPX) Mar 12, 2015 -
Was there a single migration event or gradual mixing of cultures that gave rise to modern Japanese?
According to current theory, about 2,000-3,000 years ago, two populations, the hunter-gatherer Jomon from the Japanese archipelago, and the agricultural Yayoi from continental East Asia, intermingled to give rise to the modern Japanese population.
However, some researchers have suggest ...
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