In another ambitious step toward becoming a strong space power in the world, China will fully kick off the research and development of its Phase-4 lunar research project and planetary exploration project, as well as the development of the Chang'e-7 and Tianwen-2 probes, deputies of the national legislature political advisors from the space sector told […]
A group of diplomats from nine countries, including Fiji, Mongolia and the Seychelles, visited northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Monday to Saturday to discover the beauty of this stunning part of China. In the six days, they visited several iconic sites in Xinjiang, including the International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, the world heritage […]
BALTIMORE — For centuries, clashes between science and religion have made waves within society at large and in the academic world. You probably haven’t heard very much, though, about similar clashes between science and history. Yet scientists and historians have fundamentally different perspectives on history, especially when it’s the history of science. Scientists tend to […]
Scientists have discovered how one microbe plays it cool. Until now, it was a mystery how Pseudomonas syringae bacteria turn water into ice at temperatures above a normal freezing point. P. syringae pulls off its cool trick by rearranging nearby water molecules, researchers in the United States and Germany report online April 22 in Science […]
The galaxy is starting to feel a little crowded. Over 1,000 planets have just been added to the roster of worlds known to orbit other stars in the Milky Way, researchers announced May 10 at a news briefing. This is the largest number of exoplanets announced at once. Most of the 1,284 worlds are larger […]
A form of multicellular life visible to the naked eye may have emerged nearly a billion years earlier than scientists once thought. At 1.56 billion years old, fossils discovered in north China represent the best evidence yet for the early existence of large eukaryotes, paleobiologist Maoyan Zhu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing […]
Two more of the ingredients for life as we know it have turned up in space, this time from a comet orbiting the sun. While hints of both have been seen in comets before, this is the clearest evidence to date. Glycine, the smallest of the 20 amino acids that build proteins, is floating in […]
From California to China, desert moss (Syntrichia caninervis) braves life in hot deserts and still stays hydrated. What’s its secret? The moss gathers water via a topsy-turvy collection system in its leaves. Moss leaves have tiny hairlike points at their ends called awns. Previous evidence pointed to a potential role for the awns in water […]
For the second time, scientists have glimpsed elusive ripples that vibrate the fabric of space. A new observation of gravitational waves, announced by scientists with the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, LIGO, follows their first detection, reported earlier this year (SN: 3/5/16, p. 6). The second detection further opens a new window through which to […]
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Success of an indoor spraying campaign to combat malaria on an African island may have started a worrisome trend in local mosquito evolution. Since 2004, using pesticides inside homes has eradicated two of four malaria-spreading Anopheles mosquitoes on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, vector biologist Jacob I. Meyers of Texas A&M University […]