There are many uses for large devices known as hyperbaric oxygen chambers in the medical field. They can be used to treat wounds and can place a human under enough pressure that oxygen can be forced directly into the tissue without the need for blood flow. A group of researchers say they have reversed the aging process in elderly people using the hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
Many science fiction and Star Wars fans would completely agree with us that The Mandalorian is the best thing to happen in the Star Wars universe in years. While Mando is certainly a draw, many people like "The Child" or Baby Yoda as he tends to be called just as much. Interestingly, the astronauts aboard the historic SpaceX Crew-1 mission secretly took a plush Baby Yoda into space with them.
Scientists sorting through data gathered from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered what they call a "fossil galaxy" that's tucked away deep inside the Milky Way. Scientists say that the proposed fossil galaxy could have collided with the Milky Way 10 billion years ago when our galaxy was still in its infancy. The fossil galaxy has been named Heracles.
We mentioned back in August that a cable failure at the iconic Arecibo Observatory caused significant damage to the dish of the radio telescope. Sadly, a second cable at the radio observatory has failed, and the famous 1000-foot diameter radio telescope will have to be demolished. An engineering firm called Thorton Tomasetti has determined that the radio dish and the 900-ton instrument platform are too unstable for repair.
NASA has published a photo of a distant 'cinnamon bun' in space, one made of stars and gas dust collected together in an unusual way. The image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, which observed the faint galaxy where it is located way over in the Andromeda constellation. Despite its appearance, NASA says the 'cinnamon bun' is a spiral galaxy.
The NASA Office of Inspector General has published its 2020 report detailing the challenges the space agency faces and how they may shape the next few years. A total of seven challenges are listed, the first revolving around NASA's ambitious goal to return humans to the Moon in 2024. According to the report, it may not be able to achieve that deadline.
Everyone knows what water is. It's essential to life as we know it. Water is unique in the way it responds to changes in pressure and temperature, which can be completely different from other liquids. What causes water to react differently than other liquids to pressure and temperature has been something investigated by scientists for a while.
Rocket Lab is a company aiming to follow SpaceX and Blue Origin in putting commercial payloads into space. SpaceX lost many first-stage rockets in the recovery attempt before successfully and routinely recovering its rockets today. Rocket Lab recently launched a payload and attempted to recover its first stage rocket for the first time.
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is sitting on a launchpad ready to launch tomorrow, Saturday, November 21, 2020, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California. Sentinel-6 is designed to monitor oceans worldwide and will be followed in 2025 by a twin satellite called Sentinel-6B. The spacecraft will extend the record of global sea level height measurements that spans back three decades.
A giant rodent known as the African crested rat is, despite its adorable appearance, deadly. The rat is the only known mammal to harvest plant toxins -- the same kind traditionally used in poison arrows -- to protect itself from predators. While researching this unique aspect of the rat's existence, scientists with the University of Utah found unexpected social behavior among the rodents.
Today the U.S. National Science Foundation announced they'd be initiating deconstruction of a major landmark. The Arecibo Observatory Telescope saw two major cable failures in the year 2020. Because of the cable failures, the structure has been deemed too dangerous to repair, and will be decommissioned in the near future.
NASA is looking forward to the James Webb Space Telescope launching and already has plenty of science planned for the telescope. One of the mysteries that the telescope will help solve is why there appears to be more cosmic dust in galaxies than expected. Where exactly the cosmic dust comes from is a mystery.