Curiosity Rover performs driveby blast, then stops and fondles its first Martian rock on route to Glenelg

This past weekend, on route to Glenelg, the Curiosity Rover’s first target on Mars, Curiosity arrived at the “Jake Matijevic” rock where it stopped and probed the rock with its huge robotic arm to determine its chemical composition. Curiosity also blasted the specimen with its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer. Then Curiosity shot laser pulses at…

According to a new report issued by UCS, despite their public commitment to sustainability issues, Fox News reporting of global warming is wrong 93% of the time. UCS stated, ““It’s like they were writing and talking about some sort of bizarre world where climate change isn’t happening.”

Moon rocks are rarely offered for sale. Sample moon rocks collected by NASA’s Apollo astronauts are considered National Treasures, property of the United States government, and would never be sold to the public. They have been however, given away. Here are funny stories about lost moon rocks and tips on how you can come into…

It’s that distinctive earthy, musky scent that occurs after a good rain, and it has a name unbefitting its pleasant smell – “petrichor”. The petrichor odor is distinctive (and difficult to duplicate) because there are several sources/causes for the smell, including the force of the rain striking the soil and storm winds stirring everything up.…

Burns are categorized in terms of the degree of the burn. Each degree of burn relates to the increased severity of the burn. You’ve surely heard of horrible third degree burns but did you know that there were really six degrees of burns?

The Space Shuttle Endeavor passed over Southern California today, riding on the back of a Boeing 747 and flanked by a lone jet fighter, on route to its final destination – the California Science Center. This is the last flight for a space shuttle. Check the photo montage here.

40 years ago, scientists coined the term “Junk DNA” to describe the part of the genome that does not contain any genes. Given that genes represent the body’s instructions for how to make vital proteins, egotistical scientists figured Mother Nature must have screwed up in the 98% of the genome without any genes. Or so…

Astronomers are changing their tune and now think extraterrestrial life may be able to survive on more planets than they originally thought. In fact, there may be seven times more life bearing planets than they originally estimate. Earth differs from most planets in that it orbits the Sun on a fairly circular orbit. Most other…

Scientists say they have found a way to use carbon nanotubes to create super hi-resolution holographic images in a process that could pave the way for 3D holographic video. Carbon nanotubes, are exceptionally small manmade materials that are several times thinner than a wavelength of visible light. They are essentially long, thin hollow pipes only…

Researchers have discovered a way to boil water without producing any bubbles. To do so, they manipulated what has been known for a long, long time by using the right kind of texture and chemistry to prevent bubbling during boiling.