Category Archives: Science News

Seeking truth, learning how things work, using that knowledge to make new tools

ESA’s Gaia, HD 164695, and SETI

Scientists working with ESA’s Gaia space observatory published the first part of a three-dimensional sky map this week. It’ll be the most comprehensive all-sky survey done so far. Not unexpectedly, this year’s ‘ET calling’ headlines gave way to something slightly … Continue reading

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Philae, Jupiter, and Life

Scientists spotted Philae, the European Space Agency’s spacecraft that crash-landed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014: which will help them make sense of data sent back while the probe still functioned. Other scientists think they’ve worked out where carbon near Earth’s surface … Continue reading

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Proxima Centauri b, Looking for Life

Looking for extraterrestrial life is still a science in search of a subject, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to argue that there couldn’t be critters out there. Today I’ll be talking about the search for life in the universe, a … Continue reading

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Brodgar, Öetzi, and Piltdown Man

Archeologists found a big stone structure buried under a 43-century-old garbage dump in the Orkney Islands. Öetzi, Europe’s frozen mummy, got his wardrobe from many different critters: why, we don’t know. Piltdown Man’s in the news again, too. Looks like … Continue reading

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Polio, Zika, and Using Our Brains

Polio is back in Nigeria: only two cases that we know of; which isn’t particularly comforting, since most folks with polio have no symptoms. The good news is that vaccines are available: and may get to most of those who … Continue reading

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