|
|
| |
|
| Avatars in Space |
| Topic: Robotics & A.I. |
03/15/10 |
| At this year's Oscars, there was a great deal of buzz surrounding the science fiction epic, Avatar. The movie focuses on human explorers virtually immersing themselves in the environment of a distant world through the eyes and body of an avatar. The movie may be science fiction, but the concepts behind avatars in space exploration are based in science fact. |
|
|
|
| Getting WISE About Nemesis |
| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
03/11/10 |
| Is our Sun part of a binary star system? An unseen companion star, nicknamed “Nemesis,” may be sending comets towards Earth. If Nemesis exists, NASA’s new WISE telescope should be able to spot it. |
|
|
|
| Avatar’s New Twist on Plants |
| Topic: Alien Life |
03/04/10 |
| Although they're not nominated for an Academy Award, plants play a central role in the blockbuster movie "Avatar." A botanist provided the science behind how these unusual organisms may have evolved. |
|
|
|
| First Fossil-Makers in Hot Water |
| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
03/01/10 |
| Microbe mats in Yellowstone's hot springs may be living analogs of the primordial microbe communities that constructed the oldest rock fossils on Earth. |
|
|
|
| Shooting Meteorites in a Barrel |
| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
02/25/10 |
| High-impact lab experiments simulate whether the building blocks of life could have survived the rough arrival on Earth via meteorite impact. |
|
|
|
| A Drop in the Bucket |
| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
02/18/10 |
| A new technique is being developed to detect water in the protoplanetary disks of other solar systems. If successful, it would help in our understanding of how habitable planets form. |
|
|
|
| Detecting Our Martian Cousins |
| Topic: Mars |
02/15/10 |
| The possibility that life was shared between Earth and Mars could be tested with a DNA analyzer. One research team has built a prototype and plans field tests on a South American volcano. |
|
|
|
| Bringing the Definition of ‘Life’ to Closure |
| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/11/10 |
| In the search for life beyond Earth, we should not expect to find life forms we’re familiar with. Determining whether something completely alien is ‘alive’ could be a challenge, so a universal definition of life is needed. Biologists have yet to agree on a definition, but a new theory attempts to provide a solution. |
|
|
|
| More Money, and a New Path to the Stars |
| Topic: Moon to Mars |
02/02/10 |
| The Obama Administration plans to cancel NASA’s Constellation program that was to take American astronauts back to the Moon. Instead, NASA will oversee a competition among commercial space developers to come up with the technology to reach the stars. |
|
|
|
| Studying Titan’s Lakes on Earth |
| Topic: Titan |
01/28/10 |
| A new project aims to replicate the surface on the moon Titan in order to learn more about its hydrocarbon lakes. This study could also tell us about the chemistry that led to the origin of life on early Earth. |
|
|
|
|
|
