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News | Archive (11 August 2007)
Mars-bound Phoenix adjusts course successfully
— 14:49 GMT | AstronomyNASA's Phoenix Mars Lander today accomplished the first and largest of six course corrections planned during the spacecraft's flight from Earth to Mars. Phoenix left Earth 4 August, bound for a challenging touchdown on 25 May 2008, at a site farther north than any previous Mars landing. It will robotically dig to underground ice and run laboratory tests assessing whether the site could ever have been hospitable to microbial life…
Natural fireworks, courtesy of the Perseid meteor shower
— 14:49 GMT | AstronomyAs the Perseid meteor shower becomes visible in all its glory on 13 August, natural fireworks will fill the sky. Showers of meteors, or 'shooting stars,' appear as bright streaks of light in the sky. The display runs through the night. Dust trails are left behind by every comet as it nears the Sun. As Earth's orbit crosses the dust ejected by the comet Swift-Tuttle, a regular occurrence every August, it provides a fabulous spectacle for viewers on Earth. As the particles enter the atmosphere, they burn up, producing the fireworks. This phenomenon, called the 'Perseid' meteor shower, gets its name from the constellation Perseus, from where the shooting stars seem to come…
Early modern human skull includes surprising Neanderthal feature
— 14:49 GMT | Geology and palaeontologyIn 1942, a human braincase was found in Romania during phosphate mining. The skull's geological age has remained uncertain. Now, new radiocarbon analysis appearing in the August issue of Current Anthropology directly dates the skull to approximately 33.000 years ago, placing it in the Upper Palaeolithic. Though this braincase is in many ways similar to other known specimens from the period, the fossil also presents a distinctly Neanderthal feature, ubiquitous among Neanderthals, extremely rare among archaic humans, and unknown among prior modern humans…
European bird conservation works
— 14:49 GMT | EnvironmentIn the first scientific analysis of its kind anywhere in the world, the RSPB has shown that one example of protecting birds at a continental scale has improved the fortunes of the most threatened and vulnerable European species - signalling that conservation works, if it is enshrined in law. In a ground-breaking paper published in Science, the RSPB shows that the Birds Directive - a law protecting birds across the European Union - has successfully protected those species considered to be at most risk and in need of most urgent protection and has made a significant difference in protecting many of Europe's birds from further decline…
What makes Mars magnetic?
— 14:49 GMT | AstronomySo how have these rocks hung onto their magnetic directions and what do they tell us about Mars? Strangely, the answer to these questions might be sitting here on Earth. Most continental rocks on Earth align their magnetic moments with the current magnetic field - they are said to have 'induced' magnetism. 'I consider induced rocks to have 'Alzheimers.' These are the rocks that forgot where they were born and how to get home,' explains Suzanne McEnroe from the Geological Survey of Norway at a European Science Foundation (ESF), EuroMinScI conference near Nice, France this year…
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Giant fossil bats out of Africa
Large binocular telescope achieves first binocular light