http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Another space industry heavyweight has signed onto New Mexico's Spaceport America. http://phys.org/news287159631.html Space & Earth Tue, 07 May 2013 15:50:02 EST news287159631 (AP)—Two small wildfires in California's wine country this week could be a harbinger of a nasty summer fire season across the West. http://phys.org/news286647368.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 May 2013 17:40:02 EST news286647368 (AP)—New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation aimed at saving the state's quarter-billion-dollar spaceport and retaining Virgin Galactic as its anchor tenant. http://phys.org/news284123039.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:04:08 EST news284123039 (Phys.org) —DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is getting closer to its goal of securing robotic hands that mimic the hand's finer movements, at an affordable cost. A research project has been under way to develop artificial hands; the main goals have been of an economic as well as technical nature; DARPA has been looking for robotic hand systems that offer not only optimal dexterity but can also come at a lower cost than in the past. The high costs associated with effective robotic hands have been $10,000 and up. http://phys.org/news284097939.html Electronics Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:30:01 EST news284097939 Spaceport America has been urging legislators to limit potential lawsuits from wealthy outer space tourists who take off from New Mexico, saying such a bill is crucial to the future of the project. http://phys.org/news276540743.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:52:44 EST news276540743 (AP)—Federal officials have approved a plan that sets aside public lands across the West for big solar power plants, cementing a new government approach to renewable energy development after years of delays and false starts. http://phys.org/news269279570.html Technology Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:53:01 EST news269279570 Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to make a second attempt to become the world's first supersonic skydiver with a 23-mile (37-kilometer) free fall over New Mexico on Sunday or Monday. http://phys.org/news269094087.html Space & Earth Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:22:13 EST news269094087 A weather hold that threatened to cancel extreme athlete and skydiver Felix Baumgartner's death-defying, 23-mile free fall into the southeastern New Mexico desert has been lifted. http://phys.org/news269002085.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:48:11 EST news269002085 (AP)—Plans for extreme athlete and skydiver Felix Baumgartner to make a death-defying, 23-mile (37-kilometer) free fall into the southeastern New Mexico desert were on hold Tuesday morning due to winds, but his team was still hoping the weather would clear in time to make the jump. http://phys.org/news268985464.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:14:21 EST news268985464 A new study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology reports that live insects were found in 47% of firewood bundles purchased from big box stores, gas stations and grocery stores in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. http://phys.org/news268909261.html Biology Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:00:10 EST news268909261 Experienced skydiver and extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to take the leap of his life on Tuesday, attempting the highest, fastest free fall in history. http://phys.org/news268889582.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Oct 2012 05:10:01 EST news268889582 US organizers of an Austrian daredevil's record-breaking attempt to jump from the edge of space have delayed the mission by a day due to forecast wind, they said Friday. http://phys.org/news268728084.html Space & Earth Sat, 06 Oct 2012 07:41:35 EST news268728084 Skydiver Felix Baumgartner will have to wait until fall before attempting a supersonic jump from 23 miles (37 kilometers) above the Earth. http://phys.org/news264342417.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:27:03 EST news264342417 This image of the Whitewater-Baldy fire, in western New Mexico, was taken on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 2000 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies onboard NASA's Aqua satellite. http://phys.org/news257673778.html Space & Earth Thu, 31 May 2012 09:03:04 EST news257673778 (Phys.org) -- The American West has a drinking problem. On farms and in cities, we are guzzling water at an alarming rate. http://phys.org/news255771650.html Space & Earth Wed, 09 May 2012 08:41:13 EST news255771650 Scientists have discovered a new tiny shrimp-like species in a gypsum cave in southeastern New Mexico, only a few dozen miles from the famous caves at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. http://phys.org/news253902180.html Biology Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:23:06 EST news253902180 "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner has jumped 2,500 times from planes and helicopters, as well as some of the highest landmarks and skyscrapers on the planet - the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro, the Millau Viaduct in southern France, the 101-story Taipei 101 in Taiwan. http://phys.org/news251038975.html Space & Earth Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:03:07 EST news251038975 A small asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth tomorrow (January 27, 2012). Named 2012 BX34, this 11 meter- (36 feet-) wide 8 meter- (26-foot-) space rock (astronomers have updated their estimates of the size) will skim Earth less than 60,000 km (37,000 miles, .0004 AU)>, at around 15:30 UTC, (10:30 am EST) according to the Minor Planet Center. The latest estimates have this small bus-sized asteroid it traveling at about about 8,900 meters/second (about 20,000 miles per hour). 2012 BX34 has been observed by the Catalina Sky Survey and the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona, and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in New Mexico, so its orbit is well defined and there is no risk of impact to Earth. http://phys.org/news246878276.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:27:50 EST news246878276 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Rio Grande Rift, a thinning and stretching of Earth’s surface that extends from Colorado’s central Rocky Mountains to Mexico, is not dead but geologically alive and active, according to a new study involving scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.   http://phys.org/news245572974.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:43:19 EST news245572974 (AP) -- NASA has booked a charter suborbital flight from Virgin Galactic's spaceport operations in southern New Mexico. http://phys.org/news237815020.html Space & Earth Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:44:11 EST news237815020 (AP) -- A New Mexico man is facing burglary charges after authorities say he broke into an Albuquerque-area home then left behind a cell phone linked to his Facebook profile. http://phys.org/news237480177.html Technology Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:43:20 EST news237480177 New Mexico, home to several of the nation's premier scientific, nuclear and military institutions, is planning to embark on a science project of unprecedented scale - a petri dish the size of a large U.S. city. http://phys.org/news234544755.html Technology Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:19:29 EST news234544755 (AP) -- Federal forest officials say a wind-driven wildfire has forced the evacuations of about 100 people in northern New Mexico and the closure of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. http://phys.org/news228364021.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Jun 2011 03:27:20 EST news228364021 The second largest fire in Arizona history, the Wallow Fire is graphically depicted by this Landsat image, taken June 7, which shows burning in the mountains of eastern Arizona near the border with New Mexico. http://phys.org/news226920678.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:31:32 EST news226920678 There's an old saying that if you don't like the weather in New Mexico, wait five minutes. Maybe it should be amended to 10,000 years, according to new research. http://phys.org/news218135080.html Space & Earth Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:40:07 EST news218135080 (AP) -- NASA is waiting for a break in Florida's rainy weather so the space shuttle Atlantis can return home on schedule. http://phys.org/news162183827.html Space & Earth Fri, 22 May 2009 04:04:06 EST news162183827