fidzu : Science news

A trio of bright planets is shining together in the sunset sky, a must-see night sky sight for stargazers this Memorial Day weekend.

24 May 2013 9:59pm GMT

A 3D printer is slated to arrive at the International Space Station next year, where it will crank out the first parts ever manufactured off planet Earth.

24 May 2013 9:57pm GMT

The tornado that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday (May 23) killed an estimated two dozen people and caused devastating property damage. Residents had advance warning of the storm, thanks to weather forecasts. But with forced budget cuts in effect, forecasters may not be adequately prepared for future natural disasters.

24 May 2013 9:05pm GMT

There are gadgets that change everything (the iPhone, the first Intel Centrino laptops, Bose's noise-canceling headphones), and then there are devices that are so spectacularly bad that they should be immortalized in their own way. The last few decades have seen all kinds of flops, from a not-so-world-changing scooter to Nokia's attempt to beat Nintendo and Sony at their own game.

24 May 2013 6:28pm GMT

Pity the Gowanus Canal. A forgotten relic of Brooklyn's industrial past, the garbage-choked waterway is now home to a putrid stew of toxic waste.

24 May 2013 4:37pm GMT

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Corporate researchers may be living on the moon by the time NASA astronauts head off to visit an asteroid in the 2020s, a study of future human missions unveiled on Thursday shows. The study by Bigelow Aerospace, commissioned by NASA, shows "a lot of excitement and interest from various companies" for such ventures, said Robert Bigelow, founder and president of the Las Vegas-based firm. ...

24 May 2013 12:45am GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Nearly two years after space shuttle Atlantis blasted off for the last time, NASA on Thursday put out a "For Lease" notice for one of its shuttle launch pads in Florida. In a notice posted on its procurement website, the U.S. space agency said it was looking for one or more companies to take over operations and maintenance of Launch Complex 39A. The facility is one of two launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center built in the 1960s to support the Apollo moon program. Both were later modified for the space shuttles, which began flying in 1981. ...

23 May 2013 9:26pm GMT

DALLAS (Reuters) - A solar airplane that developers hope to eventually pilot around the globe landed safely on Thursday in Texas, completing the second and longest leg of an attempt to fly across the United States powered only by the sun. The spindly experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse, touched down at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport shortly after 1 a.m. local time, logging 18 hours and 21 minutes in the air to cover 823 nautical miles from Arizona. The flight set a new absolute world distance record in solar aviation, organizers said. ...

23 May 2013 5:43pm GMT

The Art and Science of the Diagram: Communicating the Knowledge of the Heavens, the Earth and the Arcane, Final Part

23 May 2013 12:23pm GMT

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Public backlash against deadly overseas drone strikes may undermine promising uses of such technology for anything from disaster response to mail delivery, a top U.S. industry group said as it launched a lobbying effort to "demystify" unmanned planes. The Aerospace Industries Association wants to prevent misperceptions and regulatory roadblocks from cutting into a market it says could be worth $89 billion over the next decade, according to a report the trade group will release on Thursday. ...

23 May 2013 2:02am GMT

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In a scene right out of Star Trek, a Texas company is developing a 3-D food printer for astronauts to create custom meals on the fly. With support from NASA, the firm, Systems and Materials Research Corp of Austin, intends to design, build and test a food printer that can work in space. "This project is to demonstrate we can create and change the nutrition of the food and be able to print it in a low-gravity environment," the company's research director and lead chemist, David Irvin, told Reuters. ...

22 May 2013 11:02pm GMT

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Fake eggs made from plant materials could one day replace chicken eggs, one researcher says.

22 May 2013 3:09pm GMT

Genome analysis of stored potato leaf samples identified exactly what strain of blight ravaged potatoes in the Irish famine. Sophie Bushwick reports

21 May 2013 10:09pm GMT

A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at some basic facts:

21 May 2013 9:15pm GMT

Everyone makes mistakes - even Einstein. The truth is, many of the world's greatest scientists made significant blunders along the path toward genius, which should be comforting news for the rest of us.

20 May 2013 1:17pm GMT

Sharing Science Research in the Age of Social Media

20 May 2013 12:12pm GMT