Earth-like Planet Fuels Excitement for Space Exploration
The question is the subject of movies, science fiction novels and our own curious minds. Are we alone in the universe? Prevailing scientific wisdom says yes but more and more the answer appears to be...
View ArticleSearch Narrows for Particle to Explain All Mass
For physicists the search for the elusive subatomic particle that gives all things mass is tantamount to the search for the Holy Grail. That’s one reason why scientists call the much-theorized but...
View ArticleIcy Comet Escapes Sun’s Fiery Grip
It may only be ten percent of what it once was but Comet Lovejoy managed to graze the sun and survive, mostly intact. It lost its long trailing tail and a lot of its ice exterior when it made a close...
View ArticleKepler Finds First Earth-Sized Planets
Just a couple of weeks after announcing the discovery of a planet within a distant solar system that is orbiting in what astronomers called the habitable zone for life, another exciting announcement...
View ArticleRosie Redfield — Tyrant Queen of Science
Rosie Redfield is no shrinking violent. The outspoken University of British Columbia microbiologist always seems to have a wild hair about something. This year it ran the gamut from a fight over...
View ArticleNew Mexico Space Rock Recovered
Leann Lloyd had the dubious honor of lugging a metallic rock through airport security in Missouri. She was on her way back to Albuquerque and the Meteorite Museum at University of New Mexico after...
View ArticleBig Solar Storm Brewing
As a precaution planes that travel over the North Pole are being rerouted. Satellites are bracing for a direct hit and technicians are watching energy grids with unblinking eyes. The reason for all...
View ArticleSDF: Science Rap Battle of History — Einstein v. Hawking
Editor’s Note: In 2012 REALscience rolled out a new feature — Science Ditty Friday. Each and every Friday we’ll compile a song (preferably with accompanying video) to kick your weekend off with a...
View ArticleLego Man Goes to Nearer Space
NASA is spending $63 million per astronaut to send them to space on Russian rockets. But a pair of Toronto teens did it for $400. Okay, their astronaut was made of plastic and stood just a couple of...
View ArticleDid Science Cost Newt the Fla Primary?
It may have been too much space talk on the Space Coast in Florida during the Republican primary that cost Newt Gingrich his presidential primary momentum. After all the dramatic yet conservative...
View ArticleWhite House Stages Science Fair
President Obama fires a marshmallow gun and lets robots roam his White House at the White House Science Fair. Three-year-old Danielle Fairchild probably can’t grasp the magnitude of what she’s...
View ArticleWater Race at the Bottom of the World
The Russians proudly claim the honor of being the first nation to reach the subglacial waters of Lake Vostok buried deep beneath 12,000 feet of Antarctic ice. This feat has been ongoing for 20 years...
View ArticleSETI Enlists Citizen Scientists in Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Jill Tarter has never been accused of being a small thinker. The astronomer and director of the Center for SETI Research, one of three non-profit organizations that make up the SETI Institute. The...
View ArticleWater World Becomes Newest Exoplanet on the Block
It may seem far away but astronomers have confirmed that a new planet orbiting a star 42 light years away is mostly made of water. This super Earth is much larger than our own planet and is one of...
View ArticleSDF: Miley Cyrus — Pro-Science Opinion Creates Controversy
Editor’s Note: It’s Science Ditty Friday. Every Friday REALscience compiles a song (generally with an accompanying video) to kick your weekend off with a musical start. Have a favorite science song?...
View ArticleSpaceflight May Damage Eyesight
Can you see yourself in space? Do you envision yourself traveling months or even years to explore our corner of the solar system? If so, you may want to get your eyes checked. A new study of...
View ArticleDaredevil Skydiver Goes for the Record
Some would call Felix Baumgartner crazy. Others call him fearless. Either way this high-diving sky jumper wants to break the world record for highest sky dive, currently held for over 50 years by U.S....
View ArticleNumber Crunching Reveals Martian Life…Maybe
Scientists may have found life on Mars 36 years ago and just not realized it. During the Viking lander mission to the red planet in 1976, robotic probes scooped up soil samples, including some...
View ArticleComplexity Analysis Finds Life on Mars…Probably
Gilbert Levin and Ann Straat spent over three years trying to convince the scientific establishment that they had found life on Mars during the Viking lander missions in the 1970s. But their findings...
View ArticleChris Lintott: Glactic Zookeeper
Self-deprecating astronomer Chris Lintott is terribly British. From his post at University of Oxford he keeps tabs on the universe and everything in it. He says, “This is a problem because the...
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