News tagged with life science

Honoring the fundamental role of microbes in the natural history of our planet

Inspired by a 2009 colloquium on microbial evolution convened at the Galapagos Islands, a new book from ASM Press, Microbes and Evolution: The World That Darwin Never Saw celebrates Charles Darwin and his landmark publication ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Life on Mars: just add carbon and stir

The building blocks of life have been discovered on Mars ... in Martian meteorites that fell to Earth.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological

(Phys.org) -- Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen--the building blocks of all life on Earth--have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Famed US alien seeker shifts gaze back to Earth

After decades spent scanning the heavens for signs of life elsewhere in the cosmos, astronomer Jill Tarter is stepping back, and letting a colleague take charge of the quest.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 13

Scientists use 'crowd funding' to secure research funds

When Tara Crawford saw a fishing net wrapped around a young California sea lion’s neck, cutting into its flesh and causing an infection, it reinforced her motivation to help these animals through her ...

Other Sciences / Other

created May 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

A long-held assumption confirmed: We can learn a lot from other species' genes

Researchers at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute have confirmed the long-held belief that studying the genes we share with other animals is useful. The study, published ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Economic growth in China has not meant greater life satisfaction for Chinese people: long-term study

Despite an unprecedented rate of economic growth, Chinese people are less happy overall than they were two decades ago, reveals timely new research from economist Richard Easterlin, one of the founders of the field of "happiness ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Mojave Desert tests prepare for NASA Mars Roving

(Phys.org) -- Team members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission took a test rover to Dumont Dunes in California's Mojave Desert this week to improve knowledge of the best way to operate a similar rover, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Free-floating planets in the Milky Way outnumber stars by factors of thousands

A few hundred thousand billion free-floating life-bearing Earth-sized planets may exist in the space between stars in the Milky Way. So argues an international team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 10, 2012 | popularity 2.6 / 5 (17) | comments 53

WSU astrobiologist proposes fleet of probes to seek life on Mars

A Washington State University astrobiologist is leading a group of 20 scientists in calling for a mission to Mars with "a strong and comprehensive life detection component." At the heart of their proposal ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

The MIRI infrared instrument has two faces

A short new video takes viewers behind the scenes with the MIRI or the Mid-Infrared Instrument that will fly on-board NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. MIRI is a state-of-the-art infrared instrument that ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Mites form friendly societies

For plant-inhabiting predatory mites, living among familiar neighbors reduces stress. This allows individuals to focus on other tasks and be more productive, in particular while they are foraging. The new study by Markus ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Natural river networks are essential for biodiversity

To alter natural waterways is to take a serious risk of endangering species living on the entire length of a river. In a joint project, scientists from EPFL, EAWAG and Princeton University have modeled the ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Mars-bound Curiosity craft adjusts path, tests instruments

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, halfway to Mars, adjusted its flight path today for delivery of the one-ton rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars in August.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast