Science

Putin's spokesman Peskov tests positive for COVID-19

May 20, 2020

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Putin during nationally televised videoconference call that he tested positive for COVID-19 on April 30. The Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, as well as the Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev along with one of his deputies were also diagnosed with the virus.

First tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season has formed

May 20, 2020

It's another early start for the Atlantic hurricane season: Arthur formed Saturday in waters off Florida, marking the sixth straight year that a named storm has developed before June 1. The storm is expected to track more to the northeast today and increase its speed. While the storm could bring tropical storm winds to coastal North Carolina by Monday, it is expected to pass south of CT midweek.

Mike Pence calls USA astronauts 'trailblazers' ahead of launch next week

May 20, 2020

The historic launch pad has witnessed the Apollo and space shuttle missions. This will be the first crewed launch of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Capsule. The first ever. A feat that has been at the forefront of the efforts of SpaceX and its mercurial CEO Elon Musk since its founding in 2002. SpaceX had planned on launching another batch of Starlink satellites this week, but due to Tropical Storm Arthur's appearance chose to postpone that ...

Qld borders may stay shut beyond September

May 20, 2020

Executive director Simon Westaway said, "It serves no objective for a scattered and long drawn out approach to the removal of state and territory borders". Based on that advice, Australia would need to record 28 days without any new cases of COVID-19. "The difference between Queensland and NSW is that in (almost) every case we are able to trace where the transmission was".

Patients who test positive for Covid-19 weeks after recovery aren't infectious

May 20, 2020

The 18-year-old students were confirmed positive for the virus after visiting a karaoke establishment that had been visited earlier this month by another student connected with an educator in Incheon, who is believed to be the initial source of infection.

X-37B spaceplane launched for sixth secretive mission

May 19, 2020

Riding atop an Atlas V rocket, the craft left from Space Launch Complex 41 at 9:14 a.m., following a one-day delay due to bad weather. Space and Missiles Systems Center plans to launch seven other missions this year, it said in a news release.

Mystery of lava-like flows on Mars is finally solved

May 19, 2020

As geophysicist Petr Brož of the Czech Academy of Sciences said , "our experiments show that even a process as apparently simple as the flow of mud - something that many of us have experienced for ourselves since we were children - would be very different on Mars".

Governor Urges Caution at Coast as Arthur Approaches North Carolina

May 18, 2020

East coast beaches in the days ahead. "Everyone in our coastal areas should remain aware and cautious as Arthur brushes our coast on Monday", said Governor Cooper. Sustained winds of 40-50 miles an hour are possible across the Outer Banks, with gusts of 50-65 miles an hour possible. This clearing will allow us to get into the low 60s inland.

Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

May 18, 2020

The aircraft that was launched on Sunday - Operational Test Vehicle 6 - carries several USA military and NASA science experiments. The X-37B is the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft. This was the 84th flight of the Atlas 5 since it entered service in 2002. "The upcoming OTV-6 mission will mark the seventh mission the U.S. Space Force, and has the designation USSF-7".

Air Force launches X-37B spy plane from Florida

May 18, 2020

Space Force propelled the Boeing-built space plane atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is adjacent to Kennedy Space Center. Naval Research Laboratory, making it the largest load for science yet for a mission. The aircraft, also known as an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV ), is on its sixth mission in space, where it will deploy a satellite into orbit.

Invasive 4-foot lizard threatening wildlife in Georgia, officials say

May 18, 2020

Now, Georgia is trying to rid itself of the Argentine black-and-white tegu lizard, an invasive species so far spotted in Toombs and Tattnall counties, CNN reports. While the lizards are legal as pets in Georgia, it is illegal to release them into the wild. "If you are able to safely and humanely dispatch of the animal, we encourage that and we want that information too", Jensen said in his video about the lizards.

NASA unveils ‘Artemis Accords’ for responsible space exploration

May 18, 2020

However, there is a question over who determines the sizes of the safety zones, said Ram Jakhu, associate professor at McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law in Canada. "This is based on our values and our own behaviors, but it's also grounded in the Outer Space Treaty ", Morhard said. In addition, NASA is known for being exceptionally open with its data and sharing its findings with the wider scientific community, and the accords specify that other partners should follow NASA's ...

Where is Storm Arthur now? Latest path and maps

May 18, 2020

A tropical storm warning was issued Sunday morning for Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Manteo, Wanchese, Hatteras Island, mainland Dare, mainland Hyde, Ocracoke Island, as well as Beaufort, coastal Onslow, Carteret, Pamlico, southern Craven, Tyrrell and Washington counties, where forecasters say tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 48 hours.

US Space Force launches mystery space plane from Cape Canaveral

May 18, 2020

Built by Boeing, the plane uses solar panels for power in orbit, measures over 29ft (9m) long, has a wingspan of almost 15ft and a weight of 11,000lbs (4,989 kg). The X-37B runs various missions for the USA, though its specific aims are actually classified. "We have to stop the live broadcast early so we don't provide adversaries too much data about the flight".

Hurricane Hunters investigate what could become season’s first storm in the Atlantic

May 18, 2020

One to 3 inches of rain is possible on the North Carolina coast Sunday night and Monday, the weather service says. The National Hurricane Center has issued a Tropical Storm Warning for portions of North Carolina , including Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks .

Tornado watch issued for Central and Western Massachusetts Friday

May 17, 2020

Storm chances are a little higher west of I-95. Wednesday is it for a bit for below average highs in the upper 50s. That front will hang out around central Virginia for much of Sunday . Sunday has a different scenario all together with rain and storms back in the forecast. Arthur will move away from the United States of America, but an upper-level area of low pressure will move into the region and stall out for a good portion of the week.

Pioneering NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson Dies at 101

May 16, 2020

Johnson was one of the so-called "computers" who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand during NASA's early years. So trusted were her calculations that astronaut John Glenn , the first American to orbit the Earth, considered them an integral part of his preflight checklist-even after the equations had been transferred over to modern electronic machines.

Space Force flag unveiled at White House ceremony

May 15, 2020

According to a White House pool report, Trump cheered the unfurling of the flag, commenting that space "is going to be the future". Trump was presented with the flag by senior military officials, including chief master sergeant in the U.S.

Scientists make sense of pulsating stars using NASA's TESS satellite

May 15, 2020

Another report by the geologists studying the seismic waves of the earthquakes found that the internal structure from the way the reverberations have a tendency to change the speed and direction as they were travelled through it. "The delta Scuti stars had perplexed us until now". Some occur as the whole star expands and contracts symmetrically. The TESS mission , which was created to detect exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, around nearby stars, captures data about star ...

National parks and historic sites set to partially open June 1

May 15, 2020

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the reopening will be very limited at first and won't apply to every park. Parks Canada said it will automatically extend the end date of Discovery Passes for the full duration of the time these sites are off-limits.

NASA astronauts enter quarantine ahead of SpaceX Demo-2 mission

May 15, 2020

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people all over the world recently have experienced varying degrees of quarantine - a period of isolation from others to prevent the spread of contagious illness. However, for crews getting ready to launch, "flight crew health stabilisation" is a routine part of the final weeks before liftoff for all missions to the space station, NASA said on Wednesday.

Virus mutations could hold clues for COVID-19 vaccine

May 15, 2020

A large proportion of the coronavirus' global genetic diversity was found in all countries with the largest outbreaks , suggesting vast worldwide transmission when the virus emerged in late 2019, according to the release. They expect more mutations will continue to accumulate as the pandemic continues. In particular, they have identified 198 recurrent mutations of the virus' genome since its emergence, of which almost 80 percent produced non-synonymous changes at the protein level, ...

Biggest Chinese Rocket Just Smashed Down to Earth in an Uncontrolled Fall

May 15, 2020

Days after its successful launch into the space, a huge chunk of a Chinese rocket has fallen back to the Earth . Ground-based radars reportedly tracked the Long March 5B rocket body in space and that allowed U.S. The Air Force's final prediction was plus or minus half an hour, during which time it went 3/4 of the way around the world. The rocket body was reportedly more massive than the Chinese Tiangong-1 space station that plummeted back to Earth (presumably landing somewhere in the ...

Incredibly rare Super-Earth raises hope of discovering alien life

May 14, 2020

This can be called "one in a million" discovery as the newly found planet is among the only handful of such planets discovered that's comparable in both size and orbit to that of Earth. In observing the exoplanet and its star, the research team also tapped into gravitational microlensing , which is based on the predictions of general relativity .

Ottawa Announces $470-Million Benefit to Aid Fish Harvesters

May 14, 2020

Ottawa is now working with provinces to try and align the opening of national parks with provincial ones. As the parks begin to reopen, the prime minister said that visitors will have to be prepared to make adjustments. In mid-march, COVID-19 forced the closure of all national parks and historic sites. "I understand that different decisions could be made based on a case-by-case basis, but what we are doing now is what we need to do to keep Canadians safe for the coming months and years".

Scientists make sense of pulsating stars using NASA’s TESS satellite

May 14, 2020

In a new study , by a team including researchers at the University of Birmingham, UK, and the University of Sydney , Australia, a subset of this class has been found that shows much simpler, ordered and understandable pulsation spectra. While the "incredibly precise data from NASA's TESS mission have allowed us to cut through the noise". "Asteroseismology is a powerful tool by which we can understand a broad range of stars", Professor Bedding said.

Quebec schools reopen with emphasis on physical distancing, hygiene

May 14, 2020

Masks, he said, should be worn in tandem with rigorous hand washing and social-distancing measures. "It's like the first day of school with new rules and we need to show them those new rules and make it so that they're as happy as possible so they can learn" said Melanie Primeau, the Principal at Howick Elementary School, just 44 kilometers southwest of Montreal.

Space junk from Chinese rocket was about 15 minutes from hitting NYC

May 14, 2020

McDowell said there were some reports emerging about possible debris found downrange in Cote d'Ivoire. Typically during a launch, a rocket's large first stage will provide the majority of thrust during the first minutes of launch and then drop away before reaching an orbital velocity, falling back into the ocean.

The oldest Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens in Europe

May 14, 2020

Efforts thus far them bumped into issues however they have been probably from someday round 40,000 years in the past, give or take a number of thousand years, stated archaeologist Helen Fewlass of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, a research lead writer.

Brines on Mars may not be habitable

May 14, 2020

On Earth , salt loving (halophilic) and cold loving (psychrophilic) microbes populate the kind of habitats that occur on Mars , prompting some scientists to ask whether these transient liquid water environments could be hospitable for life on the Red Planet.

Free simulator lets you try and fly Elon Musk's Crew Dragon spaceship

May 14, 2020

The game teaches players to control a spaceship's pitch, yaw, roll, and approach speed for a safe docking. Crew Dragon actually docks with the International Space Station (ISS) fully autonomously, but astronauts are able to take over manual control, should that prove necessary, and this simulator provides what SpaceX says is the "actual interface" that astronauts would use in that instance.

Astronomers Understand The Weather On Jupiter With These Incredible High-Res Images

May 13, 2020

Using what is known as the " lucky imaging " technique, scientists have created one of the sharpest infrared images of Jupiter ever taken from Earth, helping to reveal its weather systems, lightning and iconic Great Red Spot in exciting new detail.

Brazil to deploy army to fight Amazon deforestation

May 11, 2020

Rio de Janeiro ( AFP ) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro authorized the army Thursday to fight Amazon wildfires and deforestation, amid warnings the world's biggest rainforest is disappearing even faster than during record devastation a year ago.

Jupiter’s "Radio Light Show" -Reveals Most Gargantuan Storms in the Solar System

May 11, 2020

The astronomers additionally received to know that darkish spots within the well-known Nice Crimson Spot, a large storm vortex wider than Earth, are nothing however gaps within the cloud cowl. New snapshots of Jupiter reveal its turbulent weather in infrared - the spectrum of light just beyond visible wavelengths. Images from Juno, together with previous missions to Jupiter, revealed dark features within the Great Red Spot that appeared, disappeare and changed shape over time.

Polar Vortex Will Make For A Chilly Weekend In NYC

May 11, 2020

Snow fell in parts of northern New York state and MA, with accumulations of up to 10 inches in some places, while scattered flurries touched down in Boston and New York City. Just like better weather is ahead, better days will come, as well. "We will get through this, together". A polar vortex has brought cold weather and springtime snow to parts of the northeast United States and Canada .

Telescopes and spacecraft join forces to probe deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere

May 11, 2020

It is the distance from Earth to Jupiter. This creates a "jack-o-lantern"-like effect in the images where the warm, deep layers of Jupiter's atmosphere glow through gaps in the planet's thick cloud cover". Images sent back by Juno and other missions have revealed dark features that evolve over time within the storm. However, researchers were not sure if features were caused by an actual dark material in the clouds or holes in the clouds showing layers below.

U.S. FDA authorizes first at-home saliva test for COVID-19

May 10, 2020

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it had granted emergency authorization for the first at-home saliva collection kit to test for the coronavirus. Because the infection can take several days to develop, they said, the time lag could result in some people receiving false negative test results for coronavirus.

China's new spacecraft lands back on earth

May 10, 2020

Effective July 2018, access to full reports will only be available with a subscription. The next-generation manned spacecraft needs three parachutes to help it land , whereas its smaller predecessor Shenzhou only needed one. The rocket was 53-metre tall with a 22-ton payload. Meanwhile, an experimental cargo return craft created to transport equipment that was launched as a secondary payload did not fare so well, as it malfunctioned during its return to Earth on Wednesday.

Polar Vortex Set to Whip Up Strong Winds, Freezing Temperatures, and Snow

May 09, 2020

Frost advisories and frost warnings are increasing in the Midwest, and snow is possible for the Northeast and Great Lakes region, with heavy snowfall for northern New England. The cold in the eastern United States is the result of an unruly lobe of the Arctic vortex descending from the Arctic. Around this time of year, the polar vortex breaks up, but this breakup is a bit different, said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research.

Tom Cruise, SpaceX, NASA Plan to Film Feature in Outer Space

May 09, 2020

He announced this on his official tweeter account. Tom Cruise's next movie will be filmed in outer space and will not be using green screens. Cruise has reached out to SpaceX , founded by Elon Musk , to help him with this idea. His firm has established itself as a leader in the private space sector with billions of dollars in funding from NASA since the late 2000s, and its rockets have been supplying cargo to the ISS since 2012.

200 million-year-old fossil shows oldest 'squid attack' on record

May 09, 2020

A rare, 200-million-year-old fossil found off the southern coast of the United Kingdom preserved an encounter in which a squid ancestor crushed the head of a prehistoric fish in its tentacles. One hypothesis is that the squid's eyes were bigger than its stomach: The fish was simply too large for its attacker, and became lodged in the predator's beak.

Snowbirds scrap Saturday flyover in southern Ontario due to… snow!

May 09, 2020

The mission dubbed, Operation INSPIRATION will see the team's signature nine-jet formation, with trailing white smoke, flying over cities across the country. The Snowbirds will takeoff from Ottawa at around 10:30 a.m. and will flyover Perth, Smith Falls, Gananoque, Brockville, Kingston, Greater Napanee, Quinte West and land in Trenton around 11:30 a.m.

The last supermoon of 2020

May 09, 2020

The final in a collection of 4 supermoons, referred to as the Super Flower Moon , would seem within the West Michigan evening sky on Wednesday, May 6 and Thursday, May 7, 2020 . The moon will be at full supermoon glory at 8.45pm Sydney time tonight, May 7, 2020. It will also be the last supermoon of 2020. That is when the moon is nearly exactly opposite to the sun relative to the Earth.

Lonza : Pfizer to outsource some drug production, focus on coronavirus vaccine

May 09, 2020

Missouri's Department of Health & Senior Services confirmed 9,341 cases of COVID-19 and 418 deaths Thursday. This week, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech , a German pharmaceutical company, began human trials for the BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19.

US FDA approves home-collected saliva test for coronavirus

May 09, 2020

Last month, the FDA approved the first at-home test which used samples collected from the patient's nose with a nasal swab and saline. The FDA noted in its release that the Rutgers test is now the only authorized Covid-19 diagnostic test that uses saliva samples to test for the novel coronavirus.

Trump Administration Drafts 'Artemis Accords' Agreement Regarding Mining on the Moon

May 09, 2020

The agreement comes when the Civil Space Agency has a growing role to play in implementing US foreign policy. Whilst the drafted agreement has not yet been formally shared with allies of the United States, the moon has been seen as an increasingly important strategic asset in recent years.

Kate Middleton Says Prince George Is "Jealous" of Princess Charlotte

May 08, 2020

A keen amateur photographer, she has won acclaim for portraits of her children, including snaps of Charlotte delivering food to vulnerable people on the Sandringham estate. On her own skills as a photographer, she said: "One of the fantastic things about photography is really capturing that moment, so it's not stage setting it, it's not clearing your house so you've got the ideal setup.

Closest black hole to Earth has two partners

May 08, 2020

Along with the creation of a glowing accretion disk , these monumental interactions can cause black holes to let off fantastic bursts of X-ray light, which are visible to certain observatories. But don't worry: while 1,000 light-years is cosmically close, it's still a huge distance and this black hole poses no danger to Earth . Now, the discovery of a silent, invisible black hole in HR 6819 can help astronomers find where other silent black holes might be found.

Last supermoon of the year, Photos News & Top Stories

May 08, 2020

This flower Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning. Last night's Flower Moon was the last supermoon of this year. This closer proximity can make it appear up to 7% larger and 15% brighter - as if the moon wasn't mesmerizing enough. This photo was taken on the Haileybury waterfront.

Tom Cruise aims higher with movie shot on space station

May 08, 2020

At the end of the month, astronauts will be launched into space from the United States in American rockets and spacecraft for the first time since 2011. It is also an important stage in NASA's new economic model: The space agency has spent billions on contracts with both SpaceX and Boeing to develop spaceships that will each have to make six round trips to the ISS.

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