Only one spacecraft in about 60 years of human space-faring, the Voyager 2, has ever come close to Uranus and Neptune, during flybys in 1986 and 1989 respectively. The comparative dearth of information about the two outermost planets in the solar system has long rankled astronomers and scientists, and to address that, NASA on Tuesday unveiled a study of future mission concepts that will explore the so-called “ice giants.”
More than a decade after the demise of supersonic Concorde jets, the drive for easy and affordable access to space has inspired proposals for a new generation of superfast airliners able to streak across continents in minutes.
An experiment that recently arrived at the International Space Station will test a new solar array design that rolls up to form a compact cylinder for launch with significantly less mass and volume, potentially offering substantial cost savings as well as an increase in power for satellites.
Most cars and trucks in the United States run on a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol, a renewable fuel made primarily from fermented corn. But to produce the 14 billion gallons of ethanol consumed annually by American drivers requires millions of acres of farmland.
Enormous hopes are linked to electric cars as the solution to the automotive industry’s climate problems. However, electric car batteries are eco-villains during their manufacturing. Several tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) are generated even before the batteries leave the factory this especially happens with the production of making electric RV batteries.
A scientific consensus has emerged among top mainstream climate scientists that “skeptics” or “lukewarmers” were not long ago derided for suggesting — there was a nearly two-decade-long “hiatus” in global warming that climate models failed to accurately predict or replicate.
Cats conquered our hearts and our laps more than once, a new genetic study shows.
DNA evidence suggests cats were domesticated several times, earning their keep around grain stores and traveling the world as vital crew members in the holds of ships.
The weather report for California 8,200 years ago was exceptionally wet and stormy.
That is the conclusion of a paleoclimate study that analyzed stalagmite records from White Moon Cave in the Santa Cruz Mountains published online Jun. 20 in Scientific Reports.
Monsanto has drawn plenty of criticism for its technology-driven (and heavily litigious) approach to agriculture, but its latest effort might just hint at the future of farming.
It’s partnering with Atomwise on the use of AI to quickly discover molecules that can protect crops against disease and pests.
On Monday, a team of prominent researchers sharply critiqued an influential paper arguing that wind, solar, and hydroelectric power could affordably meet most of the nation’s energy needs by 2055, saying it contained modeling errors and implausible assumptions that could distort public policy and spending decisions (see “Fifty-States Plan Charts a Path Away from Fossil Fuels”).