Mars rover mission in need of further funds

Mars rover mission in need of further funds

In what has practically become a routine event, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is asking for a little extra cash. During a public presentation to the NASA Advisory Council’s planetary sciences subcommittee on 26 January, Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said that the mission must add $82.1 million to its $2.476 billion budget after exhausting program funding reserves.  Read more

Biology teachers often dismiss evolution

Biology teachers often dismiss evolution

Almost a century after the famed Scopes Monkey Trial, battles over teaching evolution versus creationism in US public schools persist – but they have shifted to individual classrooms where teachers have a vast influence over whether evolution is present, a new study finds. In the courtroom, advocates for creationist thinking, or its re-packaged equivalent “intelligent design”, have lost nearly every major case in the last 40 years. While this has undoubtedly helped set a high scientific standard for state curricula, the study finds that a majority of public high school teachers are either uncomfortable with teaching evolution or doubtful of its accuracy.  Read more

New House science committee roster will tackle funding issues

New House science committee roster will tackle funding issues

On the same day that President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union Address stressing science and education investments, Democrats announced their picks for ranking members on the subcommittees of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The selections will be finalized during the committee’s organizational meeting, slated for early February.  Read more

AAS: Light matter

AAS: Light matter

The 217th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) concludes today in Seattle, Washington. The conference’s posters and presentations focused on the largest objects imaginable – planets, stars, galaxies, the universe – and researchers presented fascinating news about rocky exoplanets, surprise black holes, enormous sky photos, and cosmic lensing. But in the midst of everything, there were also some smaller moments reflecting the fact that astronomy is an altogether down-to-Earth and very human activity.  Read more

Dwarf galaxy hides a cosmic ‘Little Big Man’

Dwarf galaxy hides a cosmic 'Little Big Man'

Dwarf galaxies are usually thought to be too small to contain supermassive black holes yet Henize 2-10, located about 30 million light years from Earth, appears to be an exception. Work by Amy Reines, a graduate student in astronomy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville reveals that the little galaxy harbors a big secret: a black hole more than 2 million times the mass of our Sun. “There is thought to be a correlation between black hole mass and galaxy mass,” says Amy Reines, who presented the finding as part of her doctoral thesis at the annual meeting of  … Read more

Former party fuel hits the road

Former party fuel hits the road

Proving that second chances do exist, the demonized blend of alcohol and caffeine known as Four Loko has found new life at the fuel pump. Following concerns that alcohol and caffeine combined were more harmful than when taken separately, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned drinks that mix the two substances on 17 November.  Read more

Giant, frozen neutrino telescope completed

Giant, frozen neutrino telescope completed

The weather outside may be frightful where you are but at least it’s not -30 degrees Celsius. Yet in these sub-zero conditions, researchers at the South Pole have placed the final string of detectors for the Icecube Neutrino Observatory, a cubic kilometer-sized telescope meant to search for the origin of cosmic rays, on 18 December.  Read more

NASA withdraws consideration of controversial primate research (Updated)

NASA withdraws consideration of controversial primate research (Updated)

NASA announced that it has decided put a hold on a controversial experiment at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) in Upton, New York, according to a statement that appeared on BNL’s website on 12 December. The experiment, the agency’s first research involving primates in at least two decades, would expose squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) to charged-particle radiation in an attempt to help determine safe levels for astronauts on lengthy missions.  Read more