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December 11, 2014

Swarms of Pluto-Size Objects Kick Up Dust around Adolescent Sun-Like Star
Boston MA (SPX) Dec 12, 2014
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may have detected the dusty hallmarks of an entire family of Pluto-size objects swarming around an adolescent version of our own Sun. By making detailed observations of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the star known as HD 107146, the astronomers detected an unexpected increase in the concentration of millimeter-size dust grains in the disk's outer reaches. This surprising increase, which begins remarkably far - ab ... read more

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How Did Life Become Complex, And Could It Happen Beyond Earth? When astrobiologists contemplate life on nearby planets or moons, they often suggest such life would be simple. Instead of there being some kind of multicellular organism on, say, Jupiter's moon Eur ... more		Engineer Applies Robot Control Theory to Improve Prosthetic Legs A University of Texas at Dallas professor applied robot control theory to enable powered prosthetics to dynamically respond to the wearer's environment and help amputees walk. In research available ... more		Saturn's Moons: What a Difference a Decade Makes Almost immediately after NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft made their brief visits to Saturn in the early 1980s, scientists were hungry for more. The Voyagers had offered them only a brief glimpse of a ... more
				UK Plans to Drill Into Moon, Explore Feasibility of Manned Base UK scientists have put forward goals for the country's recently-proposed Lunar Mission One program, the BBC reported on Monday. The researchers plan to drill 100 meters below the surface of th ... more		Asteroid 2014 UR116 Represents No Threat to the Earth Some recent press reports have suggested that an asteroid designated 2014 UR116, found on October 27, 2014, at the MASTER-II observatory in Kislovodsk, Russia, represents an impact threat to the Ear ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Mars is a Four-Letter Word The recent launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft whipped the media into a frenzy. It was headline news across mainstream broadcasts and publications. We want the media to support space ... more		Airbus Defence and Space signs contract for Microwave Sounder instruments Airbus Defence and Space, the world's second largest space company, has signed a contract to build three MicroWave Sounder (MWS) instruments for the MetOp Second Generation series of satellites (Met ... more		Russia offers to extend nuclear arms limits with US Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Countdown to China's new space programs begins China hopes to put a rover on Mars around 2020, complete a manned space station around 2022 and test a heavy carrier rocket around 2030, a top space scientist revealed Sunday. Lei Fanpei, chai ... more
				China develops new rocket for manned moon mission: media China is developing a huge rocket that will be used for its first manned mission to the moon, state media said Monday, underscoring Beijing's increasingly ambitious space programme. ... more		China's Long March puts satellite in orbit on 200th launch China Sunday put into orbit a satellite jointly developed with Brazil after the 200th launch of its Long March rocket family, state media reported. ... more

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

Early adoption of robotic surgery leads to organ preservation for kidney cancer patients Patients with operable kidney cancers were more likely to have a partial nephrectomy - the recommended treatment for localized tumors - when treated in hospitals that were early adopters of roboti ... more		New 'electronic skin' for prosthetics, robotics detects pressure from different directions Touch can be a subtle sense, but it communicates quickly whether something in our hands is slipping, for example, so we can tighten our grip. For the first time, scientists report the developm ... more		Ex-US climate envoy: Trump threatening 'consensus science' worldwide How did an Indian zoo get the world's most endangered great ape? Australian scientists grapple with 'despicable' butterfly heist		Soyuz Installed at Baikonur, Expected to Launch Wednesday The Soyuz-2.1A carrier rocket has been successfully installed at the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is scheduled for launch on October 29, the press service of the Russian ... more
Flash-Memory Reformat Planned Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals less than a mile (about a kilometer) to the south. The rove ... more		On Pluto's Doorstep, NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Awakens for Encounter After a voyage of nearly nine years and three billion miles - the farthest any space mission has ever traveled to reach its primary target - NASA's New Horizons spacecraft came out of hibernation to ... more		Two Robots, One Challenge, Endless Possibility To the theme song of "2001: A Space Odyssey," a robot with a twisty spine rolled toward Thomas Rosenbaum, the new president of the California Institute of Technology, on Oct. 24, as he stood on a st ... more		Curiosity finds clues to how water helped shape Mars Observations by NASA's Curiosity Rover indicate Mars' Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years. This interpretation of Curiosity's finds in Gal ... more

	Artificial intelligence: Hawking's fears stir debate There was the psychotic HAL 9000 computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey". ... more		Tennessee research offers explanation for Titan dune puzzle Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a peculiar place. Unlike any other moon, it has a dense atmosphere. It has rivers and lakes made up of components of natural gas, such as ethane and methane. It also ... more

What to look for in China and Europe's climate plans

Chinese firms pay price of jihadist strikes against Mali junta

EU states agree broad UN emissions target avoiding 'embarrassment'

China's ardor for a red planet		Ancient lava flows could explain pie-shaped landform on Mars		New Horizons Wakes Up on Pluto's Doorstep		Mars mountain may have arisen from lake sediments: NASA		The first X-ray diffraction measurements on Mars
Giving Thanks for Opportunity's Great Work!		Red Planet's Mystery		NASA craft to probe Pluto after nine-year journey		Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 Completion of Critical Operation Phase		Queen's scientist leads study of 'Super-Earth'

European astronomers spot faint asteroid

Finding infant earths and potential life just got easier

ADS assembles most precise "clock ensemble" ever for operation in space

Flight Status of Micro Deep-Space Explorer "PROCYON"

Mini Rovers Hold Big Promise for Community College Students

Dawn Snaps Its Best-Yet Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Red Planet's Mystery

European astronomers spot faint asteroid

Finding infant earths and potential life just got easier

Meteorite From Mars Contains Alien Biomass

Hawking warns AI 'could spell end of human race'

Waking Up on Pluto's Doorstep

'Mirage Earth' exoplanets may have burned away chances for life

The impact of long duration spaceflights on brain function

Traces of possible Martian biological activity inside a meteorite

Stardust Not Likely to Block Planet Portraits

Meteorite stirs life-on-Mars debate

Eris the largest dwarf planet in Solar System

NASA's Orion Flight Test and the Journey to Mars

Orion Test Flight a Critical Step on NASA's Journey to Mars

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