Sometime in the next 24 hours, a European spacecraft will begin an epic voyage to study a comet and land a probe on its surface.
The Rosetta spacecraft was due to take off this morning from a site in French Guyana, but was delayed by inclement weather, and is now scheduled to depart early Friday morning. [...]
Just a few quickies today:
* The international space station (pictured above) is shedding debris. Three pieces have been spotted floating away in the last eight months, and nobody knows how many more might have been missed. NASA’s being careful but doesn’t think there’s any danger –chances are good these are just ordinary moon pigeons. Jokes [...]
Gary Schwartz Is Back, Tom Short Retreats Again, Murder Is Okay, Witnesses Wilted, Karen Kvetches, Things Volkamer Forgot, Natasha Flees, Feng Shui Problems, and Respect Withheld…
Read all about it in the new edition of Swift, posted today at the home of the James Randi Educational Foundation!
Today marks the first birthday of Mbeli, a western lowland gorilla living at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. In this photo, she’s trying to snatch a piece of food from her mother, Mouila.
Western lowland gorillas are the most common subspecies of gorilla, but they’re still highly endangered, with only 550 individuals in captivity, and somewhere between 10,000 [...]
New Director, Catalog Quackery, Polygraphy Again, Hajj Havoc, “Life Coach” Bombed, Feng Shui for You?, Poisoned Doctors, Scientific Proof for Homeopathy, Startling New Form of Matter & Theory of Sight Discovered, Dowsers Flunk Again, Karen: “Leggo My Lego!”, Natasha/Natalia/Natalya, and Another French Revolution, Spinney Exults, and A REAL Scientific Breakthrough… in the new issue of [...]
It’s a busy week here at Dropping Science headquarters, located high atop the beautiful Dropping Science building in New York City. Today’s update will just be these quick links:
* Have two new elements been identified?
* Scientists have detected the first extrasolar planet with an oxygen and carbon atmosphere, but we couldn’t live there- it’s being [...]