 Top Stories in Science |
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NASA revealed images sent by its MESSENGER probe in January, when it snapped up some 1,200 photos taken from some 120 miles from the planet's surface. MESSENGER, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft launched by NASA in 2004, raced past Mercury on January 14 in the first visit in almost 33 years to the mysterious small planet, in the first of four sweeps over Mercury by the probe. Now, scientists have analyzed these unprecedented images and have come up with 11 papers published yesterday, July 3, in Science. It appears that the innermost planet of our...
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The innermost planet of the solar system, Mercury, revealed
its mysteries 33 years after the first flyby performed by Mariner 10 in
1974-1975. In January 2008, the MESSENGER spacecraft sent never-before-seen
images of Mercury’s surface, expanding the data scientists have had at their
disposal until now.
For most of us, Mercury is one of those planets that allow
the naked eye to watch its spectacle in the morning and evening twilight. For scientists,
there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the planet that looks
somewhat similar to the Moon.
The images sent by MESSENGER...
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A study by Italian researchers may offer the answer to sudden infant death syndrome, the third leading cause of death among infants aged between a week and a year, killing 2,500 infants annually in the U.S. and thousands more globally. Some previous studies have linked SIDS to smoking around infants and during pregnancy; some others have stressed the importance of putting babies to sleep on their backs, thus the SIDS dropping almost three quarters. According to the new findings, a malfunction in the regulation of the brain chemical serotonin may be at the root of SIDS. Serotonin is a...
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30 years since it was launched in 1977, Voyager 2 reached and crossed the edge of our solar system where the solar wind still manages to push back against the interstellar wind particles that try to enter it. This boundary is called the termination shock front and the space that it defines is called the heliosphere. Voyager 1 already crossed this boundary in 2004, but some of its sensors had failed before the probe got to the termination shock, so scientist weren’t able to get enough information about the physical phenomena that take place in that region. Because of this, Voyager 2 remained...
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The years of excavations at the site where George Washington
was raised finally paid off for the team of archaeologists in charge of the
project. On July 2, the George Washington Foundation announced the discovery of
the remains of the house where the first U.S. President spent the early years
of his life.
Seven seasons of excavations brought to light parts of the
wooden structure of the house once inhabited by George Washington and his
family. The Washington residence was larger than one-and-a-half story house, on
a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock River.
The archaeologists...
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