Batteries Nearly Drained and Vital Science Done, Philae Has Gone to Sleep
The robot spacecraft that made history by
landing a comet for the first time has gone to sleep—possibly for good,
as the Philae lander is expected to exhaust its battery power by
sometime Saturday.
Modeling Philae’s Double Bounce Comet Landing
How do you model the ESA lander Philae's double bounce landing on a comet? Here is a sample program to get you started.
Glowing Predatory Insect Graboids
Our friends at the Tambopata Research Center in the Peruvian Amazon report a new glowing mystery predator.
This Week’s Weirdest Wild Animal Incidents
A deer in Ohio, which had a plastic,
pumpkin-shaped bucket stuck on its face for at least six days, finally
got the bucket off its face when a teenager ambushed and tackled the
animal. “It had to be done today,” the teenager said stoically.
Absurd Creature of the Week: The Nightmarish Shark That Lures Victims With Its Effed Up Teeth
In the deep sea, to get ahold of prey you'd
do well to have row after row of backward-facing, needle-like
teeth---hundreds and hundreds of them that are each forked into three
nasty prongs. Such is the grotesque mouth of the frilled shark, surely
one of the more bizarre sharks in the ocean.
The Plan to Map Illegal Fishing From Space
Illicit fishing goes on every day at an
industrial scale. But large commercial fishers are about to get a new
set of overseers: conservationists—and soon the general public—armed
with space-based reconnaissance of the global fleet. Crews on big
fishing boats deploy an impressive arsenal of technology—from advanced
sonars to GPS navigation and mapping systems—as they […]
Ebola Here and There: Knowing When It Is And Isn’t Over
The US is now Ebola-free, but the disease
continues to flourish in Africa — and the track of one new outbreak
shows how complicated tracking it has become.
New Eruption Started at Alaska’s Pavlof
After a few months of quiet, Pavlof in Alaska has started erupting again.
Incredible New Photos Taken From the Surface of a Comet
For millennia, people have seen comets come
and go from afar, watching the mysterious, bright objects suddenly
appear in the sky with long, spectacular tails. Now the Rosetta mission
has provided an unprecedented close-up perspective.
The Philae Spacecraft Landed in the Shadow of the Comet’s Cliff
The Philae spacecraft hit its landing
target perfectly yesterday. And then it bounced off into space. Twice.
Now it has settled at the base of an enormous comet cliff.
Science Graphic of the Week: Magnetic Stars and Planets
Whether life can exist on a planet may depend on how the planet and its star's magnetic fields interact.
Where Energy Companies Test What’ll Happen if Their Oil Spills
Grant Harder Oil pipeline leaks are bad.
And that means pipeline operators and companies developing leak-sensing
technologies are in a bind—they need to test their inventions without
actually letting gunk seep into the earth. So they turn to a Canadian
company called C-Fer Technologies. “There are few spots where you can
dump oil on the […]
Humans and Robots Battle It Out in the Deep
Exploration has always been risky. Pacific
islanders spent weeks in canoes out of sight of land, Antarctic
explorers braved sub-zero weather and meager rations, and astronauts
took their chances atop powerful explosive devices. And under the
crushing pressure of the ocean, researchers piloted submersibles like
Woods Hole’s Alvin to learn more about ecosystems of the deep—that is,
until the robots came to take their jobs.
Sleep-Deprived Bees Do Weirder Waggle Dances
Sleep deprivation makes people talk
nonsense—which led animal behaviorist Barrett Klein to wonder if
worn-out honeybees might also have trouble communicating with the waggle
dances they use to share directions to food and hives.
Eavesdropping on the Secret Social World of Giant Otters
Giant otters can grow to nearly 6 feet in
length and are the largest otter species on the planet. In addition to
being huge, giant river otters also have a (relatively) huge vocabulary.
US and China Announce a Huge Deal on Climate, to Everyone’s Surprise
In a surprise announcement Tuesday night,
the world’s two biggest economies and greenhouse gas emitters, United
States and China, said they will partner closely on a broad-ranging
package of plans to fight climate change, including new targets to
reduce carbon pollution, according to a statement from the White House.
The “Paper Effect” – Note Something Down And You’re More Likely To Forget It
"Experts" have warned that the internet is
irrevocably and harmfully changing our brains, including our memory
abilities. They have missed a more immediate threat - the notepad!
Holy Shit We Landed a Spacecraft on a Comet
Update: At a media briefing a little after
11:00 a.m. PST/2:00 p.m. EST, Stephan Ulamec, the head of the lander
team, said that the data suggests that Philae might have bounced back
upward after landing, only to settle back down onto the comet. The team
is still in communication with the lander and is receiving […]
The Ages of Whales and Technological Change
Understanding the ages of bowhead whales
requires a deep knowledge of historical change, building a bridge
between the technological and the biological.
Could the Black Arrow Actually Kill a Dragon?
We get a quick glimpse of the Black Arrow
in The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug. How fast is the arrow? Would it
kill a dragon? Video analysis included.
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