TheRepublic.com - Science News

NASA head views progress on asteroid lasso mission

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:45:20 -0400

PASADENA, California - Surrounded by engineers, NASA chief Charles Bolden inspected a prototype spacecraft engine that could power an audacious mission to lasso an asteroid and tow it closer to Earth for astronauts to explore.

2013 hurricane names: From Andrea to Wendy

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:38:06 -0400

Weather forecasters are predicting another busy Atlantic hurricane season. The storms will get their names from an alphabetical list of 21 names:

Cockroaches quickly lose sweet tooth to survive

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:07:11 -0400

NEW YORK - For decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in an apartment test kitchen in Florida, something went very wrong.

Power of Moore tornado dwarfs Hiroshima bomb

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:59:41 -0400

WASHINGTON - Everything had to come together just perfectly to create the killer tornado in Moore, Oklahoma: wind speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

Oklahoma twister tracked path of 1999 tornado

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:49:15 -0400

NEW YORK - Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

Study: Most shipwrecks a minor US pollution threat

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:31:57 -0400

WASHINGTON - Shipwrecks lying deep off America's coasts are more often historical artifacts than present-day threats from leaking old oil tanks, a new federal report says.

Curiosity rover drills into second Martian rock

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:11:14 -0400

PASADENA, California - NASA's Curiosity rover drills again.

NASA: New pump resolves big space station leak

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:40:08 -0400

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.

Correction: Space Station-Star Trek story

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:52:06 -0400

WASHINGTON - In a story May 15 about astronauts at the International Space Station getting the new "Star Trek" movie, The Associated Press reported erroneously when the film opened on Earth. "Star Trek into Darkness" opened in the United States on Thursday; it opened in some other countries earlier in May.

NASA craft's planet-hunting days may be numbered

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:40:20 -0400

LOS ANGELES - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope is broken, potentially jeopardizing the search for other worlds where life could exist outside our solar system.

Report: Feds' warnings about Sandy were confusing

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:39:36 -0400

WASHINGTON - Federal weather forecasts for Superstorm Sandy were exceptionally accurate last fall, but the warnings themselves were confusing, an internal review found.

Stem cells recovered from cloned human embryos

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:42:17 -0400

NEW YORK - Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

Project aims to track big city carbon footprints

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:29:42 -0400

LOS ANGELES - Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward.

Experts: CO2 record illustrates 'scary' trend

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:28:05 -0400

WASHINGTON - The old saying that "what goes up must come down" doesn't apply to carbon dioxide pollution in the air, which just hit an unnerving milestone.

Wearable robots getting lighter, more portable

Thu, 09 May 2013 03:16:36 -0400

CHICAGO - When Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair to his full 6-foot-2-inches and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.

East about to be overrun by billions of cicadas

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:11:27 -0400

WASHINGTON - Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

Feds: Many causes for dramatic bee disappearance

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:44:30 -0400

WASHINGTON - A new federal report blames a combination of problems for a mysterious and dramatic disappearance of U.S. honeybees since 2006.

Russia charging NASA $70 million per rocket seat

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:33:10 -0400

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - NASA is paying $424 million more to Russia to get U.S. astronauts into space, and the agency's leader is blaming Congress for the extra expense.

Virgin Galactic spaceship makes 1st powered flight

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:50:23 -0400

MOJAVE, California - Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has made its first powered flight, breaking the sound barrier in a test over the Mojave Desert that moves the company closer to its goal of flying paying passengers on brief hops into space.

Monster hurricane watch at Saturn's North Pole

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:04:04 -0400

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured stunning views of a monster hurricane at Saturn's North Pole.