Help scientists discover what else happens during a solar eclipse!
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Month: August 2017
Flashback Friday: We are so obsessed with gender, we even assign it to numbers.
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The First Solar Eclipse Seen from Space was in 1966
The solar eclipse seen from Gemini 12. NASA. The Gemini program was sort of NASA’s overlooked middle child. It didn’t have the excitement of being the first time American astronauts flew in space like the Mercury did, and it didn’t have the glamour of going to the Moon like Apollo. Which means most people don’t know it happened. But the Gemini program was how NASA learned to fly in space, to perform rendezvous and docking maneuvers, change orbits, and test all ...read more
How Scientists Are Saving The Dodo’s Pink Cousin
A genetic rescue project has restored the pink pigeon population from just 12 birds to over 400 today. (Vikash Tatayah/Mauritian Wildlife Foundation) “Voldemort outlived Harry Potter,” Christelle Ferriere tells me as we walk around the small, uninhabited island of Ile aux Aigrettes, off the east coast of Mauritius. “Whoever bands them gets to name them,” she explains. Ferriere is a bird expert with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) and the fantastical beasts she w ...read more
Scorpion Venom Has A Secret Ingredient: Acid
An emperor scorpion. (Credit: By Vova Shevchuk/Shutterstock) A scorpion’s sting doesn’t just impart venom — it uses a special acid to bring the pain. In research published Wednesday in Science Advances, a team of researchers looked into why scorpion venom packs such a punch. The venom targets several pain receptors to warn away would-be predators, and it uses acid to make the sting all the more excruciating. Packing A Punch Scorpion venom is custom designed to hurt like ...read more
As the Northwest bakes in a potentially historic heat wave, the region is also choking on thick smoke from wildfires
Smoke from wildfires blankets a large portion of the Pacific Northwest, as seen in this image from the GOES-16 weather satellite acquired on Aug. 2, 2017. (Source: RAMMB/CIRA) The Pacific Northwest is sitting under a massive heat dome and a horrible pall of thick smoke from raging wildfires in British Columbia and Washington. Source: RAMMB/CIRA You can see the grayish smoke clearly in the image above from the GOES-16 weather satellite. Make sure to click on it to view it full-sized. Als ...read more
Treating the Brain With Ultrasound and a Ceramic 'Window'
The transparent ceramic “window.” (Credit: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering) One of the biggest problems in neuroscience is very simple — access. The brain is encased in the bony cranium, and many regions are buried beneath layers of brain tissue, making any intrusion potentially dangerous. Physically probing into the brain is also extremely difficult, and because you can’t just cut it open and sew it back up afterward as you might another or ...read more
Images from space reveal the beauty and potentially deadly nature of Typhoon Noru, Earth's strongest storm of 2017
U.S. Astronaut Randy Bresnik took this photograph of Typhoon Noru from the International Space Station. (Source: Randy Bresnik/@AstroKomrade via Twitter) After a very long and strange trip, powerful Typhoon Noru has turned toward Japan. As of Wednesday afternoon in the U.S., the storm’s maximum sustained winds were pegged at about 115 miles per hour, putting it in Category 3 territory. It now looks like Noru will come ashore on Saturday in the northern reaches of the Ryukyu Islands, ...read more
Here's how much bacteria you spew on the cake while blowing out birthday candles.
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In a First, Scientists Edit Human Embryos In a US Lab
Researchers used CRISPR to prevent an embryo from inheriting a fatal heart condition. This image sequence shows embryos developing after injected CRISPR along with sperm from a man with a potentially fatal genetic mutation. The embryo developed for several days and was found to be free from the hereditary mutation. (OHSU) Earth is now one step closer to a future with genetically modified humans. On Wednesday, scientists working at a lab in Oregon announced they’ve successfully used the g ...read more