Science Glance
New Horizons has acquired yet another stunning view of Pluto.
The US space agency probe captured the latest image on Tuesday when it was just under eight million km from the dwarf world.
As of Thursday, New Horizons had moved to within six million km, heading for its historic flyby next week.
New Horizons snaps Pluto from eight million km
Russian craft delivers long-awaited cargo to space station
An unmanned Russian cargo ship has docked successfully at the International Space Station, where it was anxiously awaited by the U.S.-Russian crew after the successive failures of two previous supply missions.
The Progress M-28M ship, which is carrying 2.5 metric tons of fuel, oxygen, water, food and other supplies, was launched into orbit on Friday from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. Russian Mission Control said it docked successfully Sunday in the automated mode at the orbiting space station.
Solar plane smashes solo flight record over Pacific
An aircraft attempting to circumnavigate the globe powered only by the sun's energy has broken a world record for the longest non-stop solo flight, the project team said.
The Solar Impulse 2, which took off from Japan on Monday on the seventh leg of its journey, has shattered the solo-flight record threshold of 76 hours while crossing the Pacific.
Oldest stone tools pre-date earliest humans
The world's oldest stone tools have been discovered, scientists report. They were unearthed from the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, and date to 3.3 million years ago.
They are 700,000 years older than any tools found before, even pre-dating the earliest humans in the Homo genus.
The find, reported in Nature, suggests that more ancient species, such as Australopithecus afarensis or Kenyanthropus platyops, may have been more sophisticated than was thought.
Cosmic rays may damage brains of astronauts
It may not be space debris, errant asteroids, supply shortages, thruster malfunctions or even the malevolent aliens envisioned in so many Hollywood films that thwart astronauts on any mission to Mars. It may be the ubiquitous galactic cosmic rays.
Researchers said on Friday long-term exposure to these rays that permeate space may cause dementia-like cognitive impairments in astronauts during any future round-trip Mars journey, expected to take at least 2-1/2 years.
'Bizarre' Jurassic dinosaur discovered in remarkable new find
Fossil hunters in Chile have unearthed the remains of a bizarre Jurassic dinosaur that combined a curious mixture of features from different prehistoric animals.
The evolutionary muddle of a beast grew to the size of a small horse and was the most abundant animal to be found 145 million years ago, in what is now the Aysén region of Patagonia.
Chicago offers reparations package to police torture victims
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and several Chicago aldermen are offering what they call a reparations package for the victims of torture under the city's former police commander, Jon Burge.
The city said Tuesday that the package will include an apology, a $5.5 million fund and city services, such as job training and tuition for victims and their families.
More Articles...
Page 13 of 61
