Japan's experiment module on ISS, called Kibo. (Credit: NASA)
Astronauts living on the International Space Station spend hours working out every day just to avoid losing serious muscle mass and bone density in microgravity. But will such precautions be needed to live on worlds that are simply lower in gravity than Earth, like the moon and Mars? And what effect would such gravity have on growing children? These questions are almost entirely unanswered by science, but they're vital for humani ...read more
Rachel Seevers shows off her jellyfish-inspired propulsion device at ISEF. (Credit: Chris Ayers, Society for Science & the Public)
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Seevers waited nervously at the 2019 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). The high school senior was about to demonstrate a new kind of underwater propulsion system she’d created and tested in her parents’ basement. But no one came to talk to her. So, Seevers tried an experiment. She and a nearby male partici ...read more
Canadian John Hodge, left, with astronaut Al Shepard and Flight Director Chris Kraft. NASA.
There was nothing particularly different about February 20, 1959. For the workers at the A.V. Roe plant in Malton, Ontario, it was just another Friday working on cutting-edge aircraft before the chilly winter weekend. Then, out of nowhere that afternoon, the plant’s public announcement system crackled to life. A.V. Roe’s President Crawford Gordon’s angry voice addressed the workforce ...read more
An artist's depiction of Lucy, the world's most famous Australopithecus africanus. (Credit: Greg Grabowski/Shutterstock)
In the savannah of southern Africa three million years ago, an early human species known as Australopithecus africanus roamed the tropical grasslands chomping on a diverse diet of fruits, leaves and roots. The hominins ate well when the land was ripe with bounty, but seasonal rains and lengthy dry spells meant food was often scarce.
Now an international team of rese ...read more
Astronomers measured red giant stars to figure out a new measure of how fast the universe is expanding. (Credit: Norval Glover/University of Chicago)
If you’re confused by modern cosmology, you’re not alone. Cosmologists themselves are confused, and two new results, using very different methods, add to their collective bewilderment. The results are measurements of how fast the universe is expanding, known as the Hubble constant. In recent years, astronomers keep finding strangely ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine