|
by William Atkins
|
Solar cell researchers at the University of New South Wales have set the world record for solar power efficiency, by converting 43% of sunlight into electricity.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
Australian palaeontologists discover a new species of dinosaur in Queensland, and nickname the 97 million year old sauropod "Zac."
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
The space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Florida at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 28, 2009, for its journey to the International Space Station. However, the first complete test firing of the new Ares 1 rocket was canceled after a power unit failed with only 20 seconds left in the countdown.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
Although the conclusion is not unexpected, the analysis by a CSIRO researcher has scientifically shown that the 15 years of drought conditions in southeast Australia has been brought about by “diminishing water availability” that started between 1993 and 1996 and continues today.
|
|
|
by Peter Dinham
|
The search for human life beyond mother earth is one of those endless pursuits that never ceases to fascinate and intrigue we earthlings. So far, however, there’s been a deathly silence from outerspace to all the signals sent so far, but that’s no deterrent to Australian website, Hello From Earth, which today sent off a new signal to a far off planet with text messages from 25,000 people from all over the world.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
South Korea made history on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, when it launched its first rocket into space from a launch site within the country. However, the satellite failed to make its intended orbit.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
The Wednesday, August 26, 2009 launch of the space shuttle Discovery was scrubbed again, but this time because of a suspect valve in the main propulsion system. The scheduled launch date is now set for Friday, August 28, 2009, if repairs can be made in the meantime.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
A theory was found to be wrong by a group of astronomers after their research shows that there isn’t a particular ratio of high-mass newborn stars to low-mass newborn stars in all types of galaxies. Instead, stars come in a random mix of masses.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
Even though the weather was supposed to improve as launch time approached at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it didn’t. The NASA manned mission to the International Space Station had to be postponed 24 hours.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
With the space shuttle Discovery packed full of a treadmill named COLBERT and a canister called Leonardo, the NASA STS-128 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to lift off very early Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center; that is, if the weather holds.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
According to an August 2009 Pittsburgh/Harvard study, women who feel lonely and depressed have a 79% higher risk of getting coronary heart disease (CHD).
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
According to a September 12, 2007 news release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the average U.S. life expectancy has increased to 77.9 years.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
According to a CDC study, the average person playing video games has more health problems than non-gamers, including more depression, higher body mass index, and an overall lower quality of life.
|
|
|
by William Atkins
|
A NASA-funded study has hypothesized that about 2.5 billion years ago two types of single-celled microbes came together to produce a new organism that was (for the first time) able to take in sunlight to produce oxygen. At a time in which Earth did not have oxygen in its atmosphere, this newly formed creature produced oxygen and, subsequently, made it possible for humans to exist.
|
|
