Science Spotlight
Recent Posts
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Cat’s Paw Nebula “littered” w/ baby stars
Most skygazers recognize the Orion Nebula, one of the closest stellar nurseries to Earth. Although it makes for great views in backyard telescopes, the Orion Nebula is far from the most prolific star-forming region in...
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Young star suggests our sun was a feisty toddler
If you had a time machine that could take you anywhere in the past, what time would you choose? Most people would probably pick the era of the dinosaurs in hopes of spotting a T....
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Smithsonian scientists discover that rainforests take the heat
South American rainforests thrived during three extreme global warming events in the past, say paleontologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in a new report published in the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science....
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Discovery: Turtle shells appeared 40 million years earlier than previously believed
Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, vertebrae and shoulder girdle bones. The turtle shell is a...
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Music of the Spheres: Star Songs
Plato, the Greek philosopher and mathematician, described music and astronomy as “sister sciences” that both encompass harmonious motions, whether of instrument strings or celestial objects. This philosophy of a “Music of the Spheres” was symbolic....
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A meteorite explodes on the Moon: Q&A with geophysicist Bruce Campbell
A fiery explosion on the surface of the Moon, visible to the naked eye, recently surprised NASA astronomers monitoring the Moon for meteorite strikes. Occurring March 17 it was the biggest explosion in the 8-year...
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Black-hole powered jets plow into galaxy
This composite image of a galaxy illustrates how the intense gravity of a super massive black hole can be tapped to generate immense power. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical light obtained...
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Mosses have strong potential to acclimate to global warming, study indicates
They’ve got no roots or veins and grow in hanging pendants or tightly packed mats attached to stones, soil and wood. Called by some “the secret plants that surround us,” the bryophytes (mosses and liverworts)...
