Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jul 19, 2023
No, oxygen didn't catalyze the swift blossoming of Earth's first multicellular organisms. The result defies a 70-year-old assumption about what caused an explosion of oceanic fauna hundreds of millions of years ago. Between 685 and 800 million years ago, multicellular organisms began to appear in all of Earth's oceans during what's known as the Avalon explosion, a forerunner era of the mor

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 20, 2023
New polling data released by the Pew Research Center indicates that Americans want the nation to maintain a continued presence in space. A sample group of 10,329 U.S. adults was surveyed between May 30 and June 4. About seven in 10 respondents said America's role in space was essential, while 30% said it was not. The survey indicates that 47% of Americans have done at leas

East Lansing MI (SPX) Jul 14, 2023
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and, during that time, it has seen some things. Life has been a part of most of that history, but what life has looked like has changed dramatically over the eons. Deciphering how life worked on this planet during its different epochs is one of the things that Dalton Hardisty works on at Michigan State University. In fact, he's part of an internati

Hannover, Germany (SPX) Jul 14, 2023
One of the most basic assumptions of fundamental physics is that the different properties of mass - weight, inertia and gravitation - always remain the same in relation to each other. Without this equivalence, Einstein's theory of relativity would be contradicted and our current physics textbooks would have to be rewritten. Although all measurements to date confirm the equivalence principle, qua

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 20, 2023
With the majority of artificial objects in space concentrated in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), it's easy to see why this orbit is a hotbed of activity. LEO, the orbit closest to Earth, is the simplest to access from an energy and rocket power perspective. From the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope to the approximately 4,000 SpaceX Starlink satellites, the occupants of LEO are notably diverse.

Rome NY (SPX) Jul 20, 2023
Moonlighter reached low earth orbit July 5 after a short visit at the International Space Station and is on track for its inaugural mission: to host an on-orbit cybersecurity challenge during Hack-A-Sat 4 finals, making it the first on-orbit Capture the Flag, or CTF, hacking competition. It took four years, but "this year, we are in space for real," said Steve C

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jul 19, 2023
A comprehensive understanding of the long-term vegetation dynamics and their potential influences in the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa is pivotal in progressing sustainable management of these delicate dryland ecosystems. These trends and changes, particularly those not attributable to rainfall, need a more in-depth examination to decode the role of non-climatic factors like land use and land

In a summer of extreme weather events, NASA is emphasizing its role in studying the climate, efforts that face both fiscal headwinds and partisan divides.

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image highlights the colours of autumn over the southern part of New York state in the US.

Three months after rolling out the first phase of its architecture for human exploration of the moon and Mars, NASA is heading into a second phase that will focus on Mars.