Three HIV insights from sombre global meeting

Three HIV insights from sombre global meeting

The run-up to the 20th International AIDS Meeting, scheduled to wrap up on 25 July in Melbourne, was overshadowed by news that a three-year-old child once thought to be cured of HIV still harbors the virus — and by the horrific crash of Malaysian Airlines flight 17, which claimed the lives of six conference delegates.  Read more

Attempt to retrieve NASA probe runs out of gas

Attempt to retrieve NASA probe runs out of gas

An ambitious citizen-science effort to revive and redirect a decades-old NASA spacecraft has hit a snag. The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) probe, now roughly 5 million kilometres from Earth, appears to be out of the nitrogen gas that it needs to pressurize its propulsion system’s rocket thrusters.  Read more

NASA launches carbon-monitoring satellite

NASA launches carbon-monitoring satellite

NASA has launched its first probe dedicated to mapping the distribution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the agency has announced today. The US$465-million Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 lifted off just before 3 a.m. local time (11 am London time) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, after a one-day delay caused by technical issues with the launchpad.  Read more

Lawmakers aim to restrict US agency’s social-science programmes

Conservative politicians in the US House of Representatives are renewing their push to limit the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) support for social-science research. The agency’s social, behavioural, and economic (SBE) sciences directorate would see its recommended funding cut by 42%, under a proposal introduced on 10 March by Representative Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas), the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.  Read more

US Navy’s Arctic strategy forecasts ice-free shipping routes

US Navy's Arctic strategy forecasts ice-free shipping routes

By 2030, the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route could be ice-free and navigable for at least nine weeks each year, with a 10-week ‘shoulder season’, according to projections released today in the US Navy’s Arctic strategy. The Northwest Passage could be open for five weeks, with a six-week shoulder season; and the Bering Strait could be ice-free for a whopping 27 weeks a year, with up to 10 weeks of shoulder season.  Read more