Designing Citizen Science for Both Science and Education

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

In January 2017, eleven field science advocates gathered in an unlikely location: indoors. These individuals were educators, scientists, and web platform developers participating in the Designing Citizen Science for Both Science and Education workshop, hosted by the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The workshop focused on georeferenced field studies, which are projects that involve the collection of data organized by location. Led by ...read more

“Can I Have My Amygdala Removed?”

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Brain surgery is not usually something that people actively seek out. However, there may be an exception: the idea of the removal of the amygdala seems to hold a fascination for many people. Questions about the desirability of an amygdala-free life can be found in many places online. On Quora, there have been many queries about what amygdala removal would entail, and at least one brave user outright asked Can I have my amygdala removed? I came across the question on two other sites within the pa ...read more

Large-Scale Wind Farms Could Warm the U.S.

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Credit: By Angela Rohde/Shutterstock) If we humans want to slow down global warming due to carbon emissions, clean energy is the way. But, as with all things, there are cons to go along with those pros. New research reports that installing large-scale wind farms across the country could raise the temperature of the continental United States. The study, published in the journal Joule, is based on mathematical modeling done by experts at Harvard University. First, the team created a climat ...read more

Will New Landers and NASA’s Lunar Outpost Get Us Back to the Moon?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

An artist’s conception of what an orbital lunar station could look like. (Credit: NASA) It looks like the moon is back in style. Decades after NASA’s last trip to our satellite, both Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin have recently announced plans for lunar landers, and NASA hopes to build a Lunar Orbital-Platform Gateway that would sit in orbit around the moon. The moon is a logical stepping stone for longer missions to Mars and beyond, and it offers a crucial testing ground for ...read more

Mission Accomplished: MASCOT Lander Successfully Explores Asteroid Ryugu

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Hayabusa2 watches the MASCOT lander descend to the surface of asteroid Ryugu. (Credit: JAXA, Tokyo University, Kochi Univ., Rikkyo Univ., Nagoya Univ., Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji Univ., Aizu Univ., AIST) In yet another historic feat, Hayabusa2’s MASCOT rover has completed its mission to explore, probe and photograph the surface of asteroid Ryugu. The rover spent three asteroid-days, or 17 Earth-hours, hopping across the asteroid and conducting research with an array of high-pow ...read more