Astronomers are cracking the secrets of our solar system within the oldest rocks — on Earth and beyond. The oldest object known to humans fell from the sky on Feb. 8, 1969, with the furor of a divine omen. The blue-white fireball streaked over northern Mexico at 1:05 a.m., ending with a staccato of booms heard from hundreds of miles away. A small asteroid had struck Earth’s atmosphere and exploded — raining thousands of fragments over the desert. NASA dispatched scientists ...read more

Once this iceberg drifts into the ocean, the shelf behind it might collapse. That’s similar to what happened at Larsen B, which will likely disintegrate completely by 2020. However, NASA JPL ice shelf scientist Ala Khazendar cautions that Larsen C’s future remains uncertain. Ice shelves naturally shed icebergs, and this ice shelf could recover and avoid the fate of Larsens A and B. If the floating Larsen C does collapse, it won’t raise sea levels directly. But once an ice shelf ...read more

Mammals aren’t the only ones who can have a good time. In April 2013, on board the unmanned spacecraft BION-M, a thick-toed gecko wriggled out of its polyurethane collar. In microgravity, the object floated away, then floated back toward the animal, then away again, approaching another gecko, and then a third. The animals got curious. One pushed the collar with its snout. Another tried inserting its head into it. Yet another pinned the thing down to the floor. As the spacecraft orbite ...read more

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Another issue: Most scientists aren’t experts in mouse biology. “I think in the past, some investigators worked in a vacuum,” says Elizabeth Bryda, director of the Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC). Scientists aren’t always thinking about the genetic differences between mice and humans because they’re focused elsewhere. “Maybe the species you’re working with isn’t the best species for the question, but you don’t know enough about the ph ...read more