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December 17, 2014

Super-Earth spotted by ground-based telescope, a first
Cambridge, Mass. (UPI) Dec 17, 2014
For the first time, a ground-based telescope has observed a super-Earth alien planet passing in front of its host star. The exoplanet, roughly twice the size of Earth, is 55 Cancri e. Its host star is 55 Cancri, a Sun-like star 40 light-years away that can be spied with the naked eye in the Cancer constellation. The telescope is the Nordic Optical Telescope, located on the small island of La Palma - the most north-westerly of Spain's Canary Islands. The relatively small telescope is outfitted ... read more

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First steps for Hector the robot stick insect A research team at Bielefeld University has succeeded in teaching the only robot of its kind in the world how to walk. Its first steps have been recorded in a video. You can watch them in Bielefeld ... more		Tag Heuer changes tune, now looking at smartwatches Barely a few months after dismissing Apple's smartwatch, the new chief executive of luxury Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer conceded Tuesday that such a hi-tech gadget might after all have a place in his firm's line-up. ... more		Goddard instrument makes first detection of organic matter on Mars The team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on NASA's Curiosity rover has made the first definitive detection of organic molecules at Mars. Organic molecules are the ... more
				NASA Rover Finds Active and Ancient Organic Chemistry on Mars NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the ro ... more		Oil-dwelling bacteria are social creatures in Earth's deep biosphere Oil reservoirs are scattered deep inside the Earth like far-flung islands in the ocean, so their inhabitants might be expected to be very different, but a new study led by Dartmouth College and Univ ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Spike seen in methane on Mars, but source unknown Methane, a gas that on Earth comes mainly from living organisms, has been measured for the first time making a sudden spike on Mars, leaving scientists puzzled about its origin. ... more		NASA is letting people name the craters of Mercury The team behind NASA's Mercury orbiter, MESSENGER, has begun a competition to name the craters of Mercury. ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Robot named 'Athena' becomes first humanoid robot to pay for a seat on a flight A robot named "Athena" has officially become the first humanoid robot to pay for a seat on a flight. ... more
				MAVEN Identifies Links in Chain Leading to Mars Atmospheric Loss Early discoveries by NASA's newest Mars orbiter are starting to reveal key features about the loss of the planet's atmosphere to space over time. The findings are among the first returns from ... more		Moon Express testing compact lunar lander at Kennedy NASA is working with U.S. industry to develop the capabilities and cutting-edge technologies that will help send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. To achieve this goal, space travelers will need th ... more

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

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Opportunity In No-Flash Mode: Kludge Ready To Radiate Persistent computer resets and "amnesia" events on NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity that have occurred after reformatting the robot's flash memory have prompted a shift to a working mode th ... more		Signs of Ancient Mars Lakes and Quakes Seen in New Map Long ago, in the largest canyon system in our solar system, vibrations from "marsquakes" shook soft sediments that had accumulated in Martian lakes. The shaken sediments formed features that n ... more		Observing Solar System Worlds as if They Were Distant Exoplanets "It takes one to know one," as the old truism goes. When it comes to unraveling the mysteries of far-off exoplanets, the same holds true - one more reason why astronomers want to thoroughly understa ... more		ESA and Omega: a watch for astronauts Swiss watchmaker Omega has announced a new version of its historic space watch, tested and qualified with ESA's help and drawing on an invention of ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy. Jean-Fr ... more

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Red Planet's Mystery

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Queen's scientist leads study of 'Super-Earth'

European astronomers spot faint asteroid

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