Russia has revealed new plans to send a pair of space tourists to the International Space Station in late 2021. According to the nation's Roscosmos, the space agency has signed a contract with Space Adventures Inc., a private spaceflight company. The space tourists will be delivered to the Russian segment in the ISS using the Soyuz spacecraft.
Around half a billion years ago, the world's oceans were home to a bizarrely shaped creature measuring up to 4cm in length. Called stylophoran, the species had an unusual appearance that included a single long appendage and a flat body, making it difficult for scientists to determine where it falls on the animal family tree. After more than 150 years of mystery, a new study has the answer.
Virgin Galactic set a new personal best for space flight today, with SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Unity, successfully reaching space for the second time. It was a trifecta of achievements for Richard Branson's commercial space flight endeavor, with new records in speed, altitude, and crewing.
Physicists at MIT have for the first time calculated the pressure distribution inside a proton. One incredible finding by the researchers is that the core of a proton generates pressures greater than what's found inside a neutron star. That discovery is so incredible because a neutron star is among the densest known objects in the universe.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA has announced that the Hayabusa2 spacecraft has touched down on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. Japan launched Hayabusa2 back in December of 2014. After years of hurtling towards the asteroid Ryugu, the touchdown has been confirmed on its surface.
After nearly four decades, researchers have rediscovered the world's largest bee which, until now, was believed to be extinct. Called Wallace's giant bee, this creature is about the size of a human thumb, black in color, and was first discovered in the mid-1850s. Scientists last saw the bee alive in 1981, but that changed recently thanks to a team of researchers in northern Indonesia.
In November 2018, a Chinese researcher claimed to have used gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of twin girls allegedly born late last year. The confirmation had followed the discovery of clinical trial documents published in China that indicated a team of researchers were seeking couples to participate in a gene-editing study. Following that, a new study indicates that the genetically edited girls may have enhanced memory and cognition as a result of the experiment.
If you ever learned anything about zebras growing up, the key fact about their stripes you might believe is accurate might not be accurate at all. That factoid would be that the stripes on a zebra are to help camouflage the animals inside the herd, so predators have a harder time catching a meal. Scientists from the University of California and the University of Bristol have conducted a series of experiments to figure out why the stripes of a zebra foil biting flies.
Physicists from MIT have announced that they have discovered the answer to a question that has challenged nuclear physicists for 35 years. That mystery was why do quarks move more slowly inside larger atoms? A quark is a fundamental building block of the universe.
At last, research has shown significant data on a 7th moon of Neptune, a planet that until now only really had 6 moons of which to speak. While scientists have had the images needed to see the seventh moon of Neptune since all the way back in the year 2004, it was only in 2013 that science had access to so-called "specialized image analysis" required to detect the 7th moon. So tell all your science teachers, tell all your friends: it's time to update your space maps again.
NASA has launched a Mars weather service website courtesy of its InSight rover, the space agency has announced. The new site provides the public with a weekly Mars forecast, including high and low temperatures, wind speed, and pressure. The weekly forecast is joined by a historic data chart showing average and record temperatures for the Red Planet, offering a truly unique look at the foreign world.
NASA has announced that a volunteer working with the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project has made a very impressive discovery. The amateur scientist has discovered what is said to be the oldest and coldest known white dwarf. A white dwarf is the remnant of a dead star said to be about the size of Earth.