Floating out in the solar system, the Cassini spacecraft captured a curious image of two moons that seem to be stuck together.The image actually shows Saturn’s moons Dione and Rhea, but because of the angle that the image was taken at, they appear to be conjoined. Cassini snapped the image before NASA crashed the ship into Saturn last year. The spacecraft took this image 683,508 miles (1.1 million km) away from Dione (top) and 994,193 miles (1.6 million km) away from Rhea (bottom). So, w ...read more

The universe is full of surprises, and a colossal young star has been hiding a stellar one. While observing infant star MM 1a, astronomers found that its massive disk was actually forming another star instead of planets. The much smaller companion, dubbed MM 1b, was detected just outside the behemoth star’s dusty disk, and could actually house a planet-forming disk of its own. The discovery of the new star, published on December 14 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, marks one of the fi ...read more

Humans have a tendency to litter wherever we go. Whether it's the local park, a music festival, or Mt. Everest, we're just not good at cleaning up after ourselves. And space is no exception. Space is pretty big. Infinite, in fact. But the same can't be said of low-Earth orbit (LEO) and, in particular, the most popular orbital lanes used by Earth-sensing and communications satellites. We're launching more objects skyward every year and not, in many cases, cleaning up when we're done with t ...read more

For many people, the holiday ritual of baking cookies isn’t complete without also eating some of the raw dough. In my family, questions like “Who gets to lick the beaters?” and “Can I grab a piece of dough?” were always part of the cookie-making experience. Yet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly issued warnings about the dangers of consuming raw dough. Specific statements have included: “The bottom line for you and your kids is don’t ...read more

The discovery of novel filaments on two species of pterosaur suggests that the extinct flying reptiles had complex coats of "feathers" and fuzz, say the authors of a new study. The presence of these apparent pterosaur feathers may indicate that the ancestor of both pterosaurs and their cousins, dinosaurs, sported similar coverings — but that's not the only hypothesis. Like dinosaurs, pterosaurs are archosaurs. This group of reptiles, which also includes crocodilians, likel ...read more

This time last year I wrote(1,2) about a Swedish company called Emotra. Emotra make a device that is supposed to measure suicide risk in people with mental illness. The test is called EDOR® and according to Emotra's website and materials, it has been shown to be highly effective. Last year, I explained why I disagree with that assessment. Now, a year later, I'm revisting the EDOR® story, because there have been a number of developments that I find quite disturbing. It seems that EDOR& ...read more

The Surfrider Foundation is pleased to announce its participation in the first ever open data standard for the automated exchange of recreational water quality data. Recreational waters at ocean and freshwater beaches, lakes and rivers are monitored for harmful bacteria and pathogens that can threaten human health. Agencies and volunteer organizations alike have always found it challenging, however, to get water quality information into the hands of the public. An estimated 90 milli ...read more

When we think of Apollo astronauts, we think of hot-shot pilots who dared to ride rockets to the Moon! But who, at their core, were straight-laced military men who followed the rules. So it might come as a surprise that most Apollo astronauts had tattoos.  This wasn’t something I expected to find. It’s also something that I came across pretty recently. Which in itself was a shock — I’ve spent the better part of my adult life digging into every aspect of the Apollo e ...read more

The Jedi in Star Wars is all about the force, but NASA’s GEDI is all about the forest. On December 5, the space agency launched their tree-tracking Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) instrument to the International Space Station (ISS), where it will use laser light to create 3D maps of Earth’s forests and estimate their carbon emissions. Unlike most mappers, GEDI is able to peer below tree canopies and see the vegetation that lies beneath — giving insight into carb ...read more

A telephone ringing. A car horn blaring. Fluorescent lighting overhead. These are everyday sights and sounds that most people don’t give a second thought to. But for a person with autism, being around ordinary sensory stimuli can be uncomfortable or even unbearable. Autism, typically thought of as a disorder affecting social functioning, can also have a profound effect on sensory processing. Although no two cases of autism are alike, it’s estimated that up to 90 percent of children ...read more