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by William Atkins
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On June 12, 2009, the crew of the International Space Station just happened to be zipping overhead at just the moment the Sarychev Peak volcano erupted. The Russian volcano produced magnificent images now available on the Web from many different sources.
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by William Atkins
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The Cassini spacecraft has detected sodium salts within ice grains of the outermost ring of Saturn. Since jets from its moon Enceladus replenish the material found in the ring, astronomers think an ocean of liquid water could exist beneath its surface.
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by William Atkins
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A defibrillator-and-cardiac-resynchronization apparatus has been developed by Boston Scientific that reduces deaths from mild heart failure by 29% when compared to a defibrillator alone. It was already shown to greatly cut fatalities in patients with severe heart failure.
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by William Atkins
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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has completed the necessary maneuvers for insertion into orbit about the Moon. NASA confirms its preliminary lunar orbit at 6:27 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
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by William Atkins
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Australian scientists found that drinking skim milk for breakfast rather than fruit drinks reduces appetite hunger throughout the morning and, also, causes overweight people to eat less calories at lunch. Overall, a small but effective way to manage your weight.
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by William Atkins
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A study made by the Harvard School of Public Health states that tobacco companies make major changes in the design of cigarettes, all without informing the public. Its authors state that the FDA should require complete disclosure from the tobacco industry of such changes in the future.
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by William Atkins
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In New Mexico, the world’s first facility, which will be used exclusively to send paying customers into space, has broken ground in the remote desert. While the project is expensive, the costs of each space trip are still quite pricey, too!
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by William Atkins
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Fifty-six medical centers were ranked in 2009 by the U.S. News Media Group's study, but only ten were ranked in all specialties.
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by William Atkins
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On June 19, 2009, CERN officials announced that its super-fast particle accelerator and collider will restart in the fall of 2009, several weeks later than originally scheduled due to additional repairs and tests to the system.
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by William Atkins
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The NASA LRO/LCROSS mission lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida, at 5:32 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 18, 2009, for its robotic mission to the Moon. The lunar mission will collect more data about the Moon than any other previous mission, and it is the first U.S. unmanned lunar mission of the 21st century, leading to the NASA manned missions of the Constellation program.
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by William Atkins
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A Bucknell University professor led researchers in an explanation as to why a curveball in baseball breaks so much when seen by a batter. Their imagery won them Best Illusion of the Year for 2009 by Vision Sciences Society.
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by William Atkins
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According to the UN Environment Programme, 80% of the trash taken from Earth’s oceans consists of plastics such as shopping bags and drinking bottles. The report calls thin film plastic bags "pointless." In other words, we don't need them anymore: get rid of them with a worldwide ban!
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by William Atkins
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On June 17, 2009, NASA was again forced to postpone the launch of its STS-127 mission to complete the Japanese Kibo laboratory on the Space Station because of a gaseous hydrogen leak outside of its external tank. No liftoff until at least July 11.
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by William Atkins
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NASA announced June 15, 2009, that the space shuttle Endeavour will lift off on June 17 for the Space Station, followed by the launch, one day later, of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite for its very important mission to study the Moon up close and personal.
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