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. Just how much activity on Earth can be seen from orbit? In the dark of night, the Soyuz rocket launch on March 29/28, 2013 was bright enough to be seen by the International Space Station crew 350 km (220 miles) above. "Soyuz Rocket Launch – the moment of ignition, as-seen from their target, the Space Station," tweeted ISS commander Chris Hadfield in sharing this image. http://phys.org/news283763112.html Space & Earth Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:05:25 EST news283763112 When a robot is moving one of its limbs through free space, its behavior is well-described by a few simple equations. But as soon as it strikes something solid—when a walking robot's foot hits the ground, or a grasping robot's hand touches an object—those equations break down. Roboticists typically use ad hoc control strategies to negotiate collisions and then revert to their rigorous mathematical models when the robot begins to move again. http://phys.org/news283073465.html Electronics Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:31:43 EST news283073465 (Phys.org)—A team of physicists in Israel has succeeded in generating an electron Airy beam for the first time. As they describe in their paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers used a technique similar to that used by previous researchers to create Airy beams based on light. http://phys.org/news280733956.html Physics Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:50:01 EST news280733956 The first firm details of the 15 February asteroid impact in Russia, the largest in more than a century, are becoming clear. ESA is carefully assessing the information as crucial input for developing the Agency's asteroid-hunting effort. http://phys.org/news280489693.html Space & Earth Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:00:07 EST news280489693 (Phys.org)—Stanford researchers, in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have designed a robotic platform that could take space exploration to new heights. http://phys.org/news276342272.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:44:41 EST news276342272 (Phys.org)—Magnetism may be one of the most fundamental concepts in physics, but under the surface, magnetism holds complex secrets that scientists are still trying to unravel. One of these areas involves the dynamics of magnetic topological defects in thin films of ferromagnetic materials. In a new study, physicists have demonstrated that magnetic topological defects called skyrmions, which resemble swirling eddies or bubbles, behave differently than do other magnetic defects. The scientists show that skyrmions' unusual behavior arises from the strange occurrence of waves on the bubbles' edges that travel with different speeds in opposite directions. http://phys.org/news274338979.html Physics Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:40:02 EST news274338979 Massive blue whales perform 360° rolls in order to take in the largest possible volume of krill according to research published in Biology Letters today. Whales also roll over when searching for krill, enabling them to identify where their prey are most densely collected.  http://phys.org/news273397753.html Biology Thu, 29 Nov 2012 08:10:02 EST news273397753 What makes soccer star Christiano Ronaldo's "knuckleball" shot so unpredictable and difficult to stop? At the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting, November 18 – 20, 2012, in San Diego, Calif., a team of researchers investigating this phenomenon will reveal their findings. http://phys.org/news272295942.html Physics Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:46:09 EST news272295942 Galactic tourism may still be a daydream for most of us, but for anyone interested in a glimpse of the International Space Station sooner, NASA is ready to help. http://phys.org/news271231041.html Space & Earth Sun, 04 Nov 2012 05:57:40 EST news271231041 As urban populations expand, downtown buildings are going nowhere but up. The huge energy needs of these skyscrapers mean that these towers are not only office buildings, they're polluters with smokestacks billowing out toxins from the rooftop. Our cities are dirtier than we think. New research from Concordia University just might clean them up. http://phys.org/news270996507.html Technology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:48:55 EST news270996507 (Phys.org)—NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft completed a firing of its onboard rocket motors earlier today. The maneuver began at 1 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT), lasted 71 seconds, and changed its velocity by 4.5 mph (2 meters per second). The rocket burn was performed to keep the venerable comet hunter's options open for yet another exploration of a solar system small body, this time a possible future visit to a small near-Earth asteroid called 2002 GT. http://phys.org/news268648291.html Space & Earth Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:31:39 EST news268648291 A medical school committee is weighing whether to hire a promising young neuroscientist. Will she have a brilliant future as a researcher, publish in top journals and nab abundant research funds? http://phys.org/news266673237.html Other Sciences Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:00:08 EST news266673237 Children of immigrants are outperforming children whose family trees have deeper roots in the United States, learning more in school and then making smoother transitions into adulthood, according to sociologists at The Johns Hopkins University. http://phys.org/news266516490.html Other Sciences Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:00:04 EST news266516490 (Phys.org) -- Six days before reaching Mars, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft performed a flight-path adjustment scheduled more than nine months ago. http://phys.org/news262857482.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:10:04 EST news262857482 The terms of welfare reform and Labor market activation in the UK need to be re-set, according to a senior university policy expert Andrew Jones, director of the Local Economy Policy Unit at London South Bank University, and editor of Local Economy, published by SAGE. He warns that the UK Government's predominant philosophy towards the UK Welfare state accepts and supports social hierarchy and defends privilege. This, he argues, is re-creating and strengthening the conditions that provoked the 2007 economic crisis. http://phys.org/news262604168.html Other Sciences Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:36:39 EST news262604168 (Phys.org) -- A maneuver on Tuesday adjusted the flight path of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for delivering the rover Curiosity to a landing target beside a Martian mountain. http://phys.org/news260006062.html Space & Earth Wed, 27 Jun 2012 08:54:40 EST news260006062 (Phys.org) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn's tiny moon Methone as part of a trajectory that will take it on a close flyby of another of Saturn's moons, Titan. The Titan flyby will put the spacecraft in an orbit around Saturn that is inclined, or tilted, relative to the plane of the planet's equator. The flyby of Methone took place on May 20 at a distance of about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers). It was Cassini's closest flyby of the 2-mile-wide (3-kilometer-wide) moon. The best previous Cassini images were taken on June 8, 2005, at a distance of about 140,000 miles (225,000 kilometers), and they barely resolved this object. http://phys.org/news256894204.html Space & Earth Tue, 22 May 2012 08:30:27 EST news256894204 According to a Russian news story, a report just released by the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests sending a satellite with a radio beacon to asteroid 99942 Apophis for better determining its trajectory and finding out how big of a threat it might be to Earth in passes the asteroid will make in 2036 and 2068. http://phys.org/news253268707.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:50:02 EST news253268707 Using a new ultrafast camera, researchers have recorded the first real-time image of two atoms vibrating in a molecule. http://phys.org/news250346864.html Physics Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:00:01 EST news250346864 Europe on Monday successfully launched a new lightweight rocket carrying a test payload, culminating a more than 12-year quest to master the entire range of space launchers. http://phys.org/news248333183.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:26:37 EST news248333183 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Wednesday with the mission's first trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver took place on Feb. 1. It is the first of a dozen planned rocket firings that, over the next five years, will keep Juno on course for its rendezvous with Jupiter. http://phys.org/news247478983.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:09:52 EST news247478983 NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Wednesday with the biggest maneuver planned for the mission's journey between Earth and Mars. http://phys.org/news245663336.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:00:01 EST news245663336 Firing on all engines, NASA's latest rover to Mars executed a course adjustment Wednesday that put it on track for a landing on the red planet in August. http://phys.org/news245529110.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:10:49 EST news245529110 (PhysOrg.com) -- An engine firing on Jan. 11 will be the biggest maneuver that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft will perform on its flight between Earth and Mars. http://phys.org/news245320604.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:37:11 EST news245320604 Russia on Thursday announced its scientists had for the first time made contact with its stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, a day after the European Space Agency said it had received a signal. http://phys.org/news241353291.html Space & Earth Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:35:25 EST news241353291 A Russian probe that was to visit a moon of Mars but is stuck in orbit around the Earth could burn up in the Earth's atmosphere in January, the head of the Russian space agency said Monday. http://phys.org/news240467139.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:25:49 EST news240467139 It was an unprecedented event: On October 6, 2008, asteroid 2008 TC3 was spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey Telescope in Arizona. Plotting its trajectory, astronomers knew the 80-ton rock was heading for a collision course with Earth. Just 19 hours later, 2008 TC3 streaked over skies of northern Sudan and then exploded about 37 km above the Nubian Desert. This was the first time an asteroid was predicted – and predicted correctly — to impact Earth. Luckily, it wasn’t big enough to cause any problems, and its path brought it over a remote area. But this presented scientists with an exciting and unparalleled opportunity to possibly study fragments of an asteroid that had been spectrally classified before striking Earth. http://phys.org/news239357167.html Space & Earth Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:06:30 EST news239357167 (AP) -- Pieces of a retired German satellite hurtling toward the atmosphere may crash to earth this weekend, the German Aerospace Center said Thursday. http://phys.org/news238309006.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:57:14 EST news238309006 Ever since the great Japan tsunami on March 11 washed millions of tons of debris into the Pacific, scientists at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, have been trying to track the trajectory of this debris that can threaten small ships and coastlines. For nearly half a year, Senior Researcher Nikolai Maximenko and Computer Scientific Programmer Jan Hafner had only their state-of-the-art – but still untested – computer model of currents to speculate where the debris might end up. Now valuable sightings of the debris are reported from places where the model predicted. http://phys.org/news237809409.html Space & Earth Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:10:19 EST news237809409 An Ariane-5 rocket launch that was postponed because of a strike at the Kourou space centre in French Guiana is to go ahead on Wednesday after the dispute was resolved, officials said. http://phys.org/news235829435.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:10:46 EST news235829435