Category Archives: Science News

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

India: Fourth on the Moon, First near Lunar South Pole

India became the fourth nation to land on Earth’s Moon this week. And the first to land near the Lunar south pole. This is a very big deal. So, in a different way, was the “abnormal situation” that turned Russia’s … Continue reading

Posted in Back to the Moon, Onward to Mars, Being Catholic, Discursive Detours, Journal, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

India’s Goal: Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon

UPDATE August 23, 2023 12:50 UTC SUCCESS! India is now the fourth nation to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to successfully land near the Moon’s south pole. Vikram, the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander, will, if all goes well, … Continue reading

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Frog and Spider are Friends

I’ve decided to list this post in the “Science News” category, although it doesn’t feature a current news item. That’s because some of the tarantula-and-frog research has been news, and current spiders-have-pet-frogs videos remind me of human interest stories, back … Continue reading

Posted in Discursive Detours, Science News | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Fusion Rocket Engines, SETI and Science: Seriously

Nerd alert! This week I used words like deuterium and magnetohydrodynamics. And I may have gone into more detail that necessary about why we didn’t have fusion power generators in the 1960s. A British company’s plans for test-firing a fusion … Continue reading

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Back to Betelgeuse, Methenium in Orion, TRAPPIST-1 Update

Scientists found methenium, a simple organic compound, in a protoplanetary disk. I’ll talk about that this week, and why it’s a big deal. The planet TRAPPIST-1c is about the same size as Venus, but it’s very likely airless. Betelgeuse may … Continue reading

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