Mind-bending Discoveries from NASA's MESSENGER Spacecraft

Source NASA Science News for April 30, 2015

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft crashed into Mercury on April 30th, ending a years-long mission that made many unexpected discoveries about the innermost planet. Today's story summarizes some of MESSENGER's most surprising finds.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/30apr_messenger/

Deep Quiet on the Sun

Source - Space Weather News for April 30, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

DEEP QUIET: Everyone knows that high solar activity has a profound effect on the space around Earth.  Less well known is that *low* solar activity can be equally transformative. This week, the sun is plunging into a quiet state with almost no sunspots and a vanishing chance of flares. Find out what this means on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com

OTHER STORIES: we are following on http://spaceweather.com today: (1) A 10,000 km-long plume of sulfurous gas from Chile's Calbuco volcano is now crossing the Atlantic Ocean en route to Africa; and (2) On April 28th, microbes sent to the edge of space to test their response to cosmic radiation crash-landed in the California desert--and it did not go well for the microbes.

Desert Dust Feeds Amazon Forests

Source - NASA Science News for April 29, 2015

The Amazon rainforest and the Sahara desert seem utterly different. Yet NASA satellites have discovered a surprising connection that intimately links these two disparate parts of our planet.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/29apr_amazondust/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7lVGhTPQAY&feature=youtu.be



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Big Picture Science for Monday 27 April 2015 - Invisible Worlds

Big Picture Science - Invisible Worlds

ENCORE: You can’t see it, but it’s there, whether an atom, a gravity wave, or the bottom of the ocean … but we have technology that allows us to detect what eludes our sight. When we do, whole worlds open up.

Without telescopes, asteroids become visible only three seconds before they slam into the Earth. Find out how we track them long before that happens. Also, could pulsars help us detect the gravity waves that Einstein’s theory predicts?

Plus, why string theory and parallel universes may remain just interesting ideas … the story of the woman who mapped the ocean floor … and why the disappearance of honeybees may change what you eat.

Guests:

• David Morrison – NASA space scientist and Director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute
• May Berenbaum – Entomologist, University of Illinois
• Scott Ransom – Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
• Lee Smolin – Theoretical physicist, Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, Canada, author of Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
• Hali Felt – Author of Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor

This encore podcast was first released on September 23, 2013

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Invisible_Worlds

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Volcanic Lightning in Southern Chile

Source - Space Weather News for April 23, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile erupted yesterday. Two blasts in 24 hours on April 22nd sent plumes of ash and sulfurous gas shooting at least 33,000 feet high. One of the eruptions occured at night and put on a spectacular display of rare and mysterious volcanic lightning. 

Visit http://spaceweather.com for a picture of the lightning and a discussion of its underlying physics.

NASA Wants You … to Help Name Stuff on Pluto

Source - NASA Science News for April 21, 2015

When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto this July, the spacecraft's high-resolution cameras will spot many new landforms on the dwarf planet's unexplored surface. They are all going to need names—and NASA wants you to help.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/21apr_pluto/

Earth Day Meteor Shower

Source - NASA Science News for April 21, 2015

On April 22nd, at the end of a day devoted to Earth, people can look to the heavens for a beautiful shower of Lyrid meteors.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/21apr_lyrids2015/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rNmmHXEdTc&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Source - Space Weather News for April 20, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras this week when a solar wind stream and a faint CME are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field in quick succession.  NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% to 65% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on April 21-22.

At the same time, Earth will be passing through a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher, source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower.  Sky watchers are already seeing a smattering of late-night fireballs as Earth approaches the diffuse core of the debris stream.  Meteor rates are expected to crest on April 22-23 with as many as 20 Lyrids per hour.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and observing tips.

Big Picture Science for Monday 20 April 2015 - Life in Space

Big Picture Science - Life in Space

ENCORE: Discovering bacteria on Mars would be big news. But nothing would scratch our alien itch like making contact with intelligent life. Hear why one man is impatient for the discovery, and also about the new tools that may speed up the “eureka” moment. One novel telescope may help us find E.T. at home, by detecting the heat of his cities.

Also, the father of modern SETI research and how decoding the squeals of dolphins could teach us how to communicate with aliens.

Guests:

• Lee Billings – Journalist and author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars
• Olivier Guyon – Optical physicist, astronomer, University of Arizona and Suburu telescope; 2012 McArthur Genius award winner
• Jeff Kuhn – Physicist, Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Colossus Telescope
• Frank Drake – Astronomer, SETI Institute
• Denise Herzing – Behavioral biologist and research director of the Wild Dolphin Project

This encore podcast was first released on October 7, 2013.

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Life_in_Space

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for Monday 13 April 2015 - Skeptic Check: Monster Mashup

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Monster Mashup

ENCORE: Monsters don’t exist. Except when they do. And extinction is forever, except when it isn’t. So, which animals are mythical and which are in hiding?

Bigfoot sightings are plentiful, but real evidence for the hirsute creature is a big zilch. Yet, the coelacanth, a predatory fish thought extinct, actually lives. Today, its genome is offering clues as to how and when our fishy ancestors first flopped onto land.

Meanwhile, the ivory-billed woodpecker assumes mythic status as it flutters between existence and extinction. And, from passenger pigeons to the wooly mammoth, hi-tech genetics may imitate Jurassic Park, and bring back vanished animals.

Guests:

• Donald Prothero – Paleontologist, geologist, former professor at Occidental College, co-author of Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids
• Chris Amemiya – Biologist and geneticist at the University of Washington and the Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle
• John Fitzpatrick – Ornithologist and director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
• Ben Novak – Visiting biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, lead coordinating scientist of “The Great Comeback” at the Revive and Restore project, Long Now Foundation

This encore podcast was first released on December 9, 2013

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Monster_Mashup

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Geomagnetic storm sparks auroras over the USA

Source - Space Weather News for April 10, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

On Friday, April 10th, a G2-class geomagnetic storm erupted. Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into the USA, where auroras were photographed as far south as Colorado.  At the time of this alert, storm conditions are still underway with a possibility for more storming when a belated CME arrives later in the day.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

Citizen Scientists Discover Yellow Balls in Space

Source - NASA Science News for April 9, 2015

Citizen scientists scanning images from a NASA observatory have found "yellow balls" in space that may hold important clues to the mysteries of star birth.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/09apr_yellowballs/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blr-qDffIq0&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Big Picture Science for Monday 06 April 2015 - Raising the Minimum Age

Big Picture Science - Raising the Minimum Age

We all try to fight it: the inexorable march of time. The fountain of youth doesn’t exist, and all those wrinkle creams can’t help. But modern science is giving us new weapons in the fight against aging. So how far are we willing to go?

Hear when aging begins, a summary of the latest biotech research, and how a lab full of youthful worms might help humans stay healthy.

Also, a geneticist who takes a radical approach: collect the DNA that codes for longevity and restructure our genome. He finds inspiration – and perhaps genes as well – in the bi-centenarian bowhead whale.

But what if age really is mind over matter? A psychologist’s extraordinary thought experiment with septuagenarian men turns back the clock 20 years. Will it work on diseases such as cancer as well?

Guests:

• Gordon Lithgow – Geneticist, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California
• Manish Chamoli – Post-doctoral researcher, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
• George Church – Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, author of Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves
• Ellen Langer – Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Raising_the_Minimum_Age

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Total Eclipse of the Moon on Saturday

Source - Space Weather News for April 3, 2015: http://spaceweather.com

LUNAR ECLIPSE:  Sky watchers on the Pacific side of Earth can see a brief but beautiful lunar eclipse on Saturday morning, April 4th.  The Moon will turn red, and possibly turquoise, too, as the lunar disk passes through the shadow of our planet.  Totality lasts for less than 5 minutes, so it is important to be outside at the right moment. 

Check http://spaceweather.com for viewing times and more information.