"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."

— Dr. Lee De Forest

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Deadly meat allergies from tick bites are on the rise. Should you be worried?

Scientific American.com - Sun, 07/12/2026 - 6:30am

Alpha-gal syndrome is increasing across the U.S., driven by lone star ticks

Categories: Astronomy

Is it a problem for cats to eat insects? Researchers are probing feline diets to find out

Scientific American.com - Sun, 07/12/2026 - 6:00am

The sheer amount of insects that free-range cats consume might surprise you

Categories: Astronomy

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/12/2026 - 4:00am

Where can you find dragons fighting in the night sky?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sun, 07/12/2026 - 4:00am

What are these two bands in the sky?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

Wally Funk, Aviation Pioneer and Oldest Woman to Travel to Space, Dies at 87

Universe Today - Sat, 07/11/2026 - 7:14pm

Wally Funk, an aviation pioneer who was the oldest woman to launch into space, has died. She was 87.

Categories: Astronomy

How a 1,900-year-old latrine helps explain why Roman concrete lasts

Scientific American.com - Sat, 07/11/2026 - 11:00am

An ancient sample shows calcite threading through this material’s cracks and pores, offering possible lessons for making modern concrete last longer

Categories: Astronomy

Wimbledon 2026 opened with a 148 mph serve—here’s how tennis players' brains track such fast balls

Scientific American.com - Sat, 07/11/2026 - 7:00am

Tennis players can return high-speed balls using a combination of reaction and predicting the future

Categories: Astronomy

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sat, 07/11/2026 - 12:00am

What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Sat, 07/11/2026 - 12:00am


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

A Rapidly-Growing Black Hole in a Nearby Galaxy Could Provide a Window Into the Early Universe.

Universe Today - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 8:51pm

The black hole at the centre of a nearby galaxy is growing exceptionally fast, and is producing a burst of radio emission that has never been observed before. With characteristics that are expected in the early Universe, this unique galaxy provides important insights into the processes that governed the growth of the first black holes.

Categories: Astronomy

Early Career Faculty (ECF) 2025 Awards

NASA News - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 3:23pm

1 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Back to ECF Home

Advanced Diagnostics for High-Enthalpy Test Facilities Simulating Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry

  • Damiano Baccarella
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    Application of Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization Diagnostics to the Characterization of Arcjet Flows​
  • Ciprian Dumitrache
    Colorado State University
    Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Nonequilibrium Flowfields Characterization in Atmospheric Entry Studies​
  • Dan Fries
    University of Kentucky, Lexington
    Multiplexed Polarization Spectroscopy for Single-Shot Multi-Species Diagnostics in High-Enthalpy Flows​
  • Yi Mazumdar
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    Simultaneous Temperature, Species, and Velocity Measurements using Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Ground Testing of Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry Systems​

Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft Using Machine Learning Methods to Enable Onboard Guidance, Navigation, and Control

  • Glen Chou
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    Robust Real-Time Hierarchical Neural Planning and Control with System-Level Guarantees
  • Roshan Eapen
    Pennsylvania State University
    Hamilton-Jacobi aided Planning and Reasoning for Intelligent Spacecraft Maneuvers (HJ-PRISM)
  • Bin Hu
    University of Houston
    Safety-Enabled and Efficient Onboard Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft via Physics-Informed Reinforcement Learning

Categories: NASA

Early Career Faculty (ECF) 2025 Awards

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 3:23pm

1 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Back to ECF Home

Advanced Diagnostics for High-Enthalpy Test Facilities Simulating Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry

  • Damiano Baccarella
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    Application of Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization Diagnostics to the Characterization of Arcjet Flows​
  • Ciprian Dumitrache
    Colorado State University
    Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Nonequilibrium Flowfields Characterization in Atmospheric Entry Studies​
  • Dan Fries
    University of Kentucky, Lexington
    Multiplexed Polarization Spectroscopy for Single-Shot Multi-Species Diagnostics in High-Enthalpy Flows​
  • Yi Mazumdar
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    Simultaneous Temperature, Species, and Velocity Measurements using Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Ground Testing of Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry Systems​

Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft Using Machine Learning Methods to Enable Onboard Guidance, Navigation, and Control

  • Glen Chou
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    Robust Real-Time Hierarchical Neural Planning and Control with System-Level Guarantees
  • Roshan Eapen
    Pennsylvania State University
    Hamilton-Jacobi aided Planning and Reasoning for Intelligent Spacecraft Maneuvers (HJ-PRISM)
  • Bin Hu
    University of Houston
    Safety-Enabled and Efficient Onboard Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft via Physics-Informed Reinforcement Learning

Categories: NASA

NASA Volunteers Help Zooniverse Reach 1 Billion Classifications

NASA News - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 3:00pm
Explore This Section

  1. Science
  2. Citizen Science
  3. NASA Volunteers Help…
 

The Zooniverse, a NASA grantee that runs the world’s largest platform for online people-powered research, has reached an extraordinary milestone: 1 billion classifications contributed by volunteers around the world. This milestone is a celebration of everyone who has marked a dip in a light curve, confirmed the presence of a moving object in a short video, or identified species in a camera trap image. Each of these small contributions collectively advances our understanding of the universe.

A total of 31 NASA-sponsored citizen science projects have been hosted on Zooniverse, accounting for 120 million classifications by 324 thousand volunteers since 2020. Through projects like Planet Hunters TESS, Daily Minor Planet, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Space Umbrella, and Snapshot Wisconsin, volunteers help discover exoplanets, identify near-Earth objects and asteroids, search for brown dwarfs and planetary systems, analyze effects of the solar wind, and inform wildlife management decisions. These projects have led to 96 scientific publications, and 56 of these articles feature NASA citizen scientists as co-authors to recognize the significance of their research contributions. These efforts demonstrate how public participation can accelerate discovery by combining human curiosity and pattern recognition with data from NASA missions and observatories. Collaboration between volunteers, scientists, and computing technology will be even more important in the future as we tackle enormous and complex datasets, like those from NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

“One billion classifications represent far more than a number; it’s one billion moments of curiosity transformed into meaningful contributions to research,” said Laura Trouille, principal investigator of Zooniverse and vice president of Science Engagement at the Adler Planetarium. “Every classification on Zooniverse brings us one step closer to new discoveries and a deeper understanding of our universe, our world, and ourselves.” 

Zooniverse is the world’s largest platform for people-powered research. Co-founded by the Adler Planetarium and the University of Oxford, with the University of Minnesota serving as a key institutional partner, Zooniverse enables anyone, anywhere to contribute directly to real scientific research. Through its six-year collaboration with NASA, Zooniverse provides science-enabling infrastructure to NASA researchers through tools and a community of more than 3 million registered volunteers.

Facebook logo @nasascience_

@nasascience_

Instagram logo @nasascience_

Linkedin logo @nasascience_

Categories: NASA

NASA Volunteers Help Zooniverse Reach 1 Billion Classifications

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 3:00pm
Explore This Section

  1. Science
  2. Citizen Science
  3. NASA Volunteers Help…
 

The Zooniverse, a NASA grantee that runs the world’s largest platform for online people-powered research, has reached an extraordinary milestone: 1 billion classifications contributed by volunteers around the world. This milestone is a celebration of everyone who has marked a dip in a light curve, confirmed the presence of a moving object in a short video, or identified species in a camera trap image. Each of these small contributions collectively advances our understanding of the universe.

A total of 31 NASA-sponsored citizen science projects have been hosted on Zooniverse, accounting for 120 million classifications by 324 thousand volunteers since 2020. Through projects like Planet Hunters TESS, Daily Minor Planet, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Space Umbrella, and Snapshot Wisconsin, volunteers help discover exoplanets, identify near-Earth objects and asteroids, search for brown dwarfs and planetary systems, analyze effects of the solar wind, and inform wildlife management decisions. These projects have led to 96 scientific publications, and 56 of these articles feature NASA citizen scientists as co-authors to recognize the significance of their research contributions. These efforts demonstrate how public participation can accelerate discovery by combining human curiosity and pattern recognition with data from NASA missions and observatories. Collaboration between volunteers, scientists, and computing technology will be even more important in the future as we tackle enormous and complex datasets, like those from NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

“One billion classifications represent far more than a number; it’s one billion moments of curiosity transformed into meaningful contributions to research,” said Laura Trouille, principal investigator of Zooniverse and vice president of Science Engagement at the Adler Planetarium. “Every classification on Zooniverse brings us one step closer to new discoveries and a deeper understanding of our universe, our world, and ourselves.” 

Zooniverse is the world’s largest platform for people-powered research. Co-founded by the Adler Planetarium and the University of Oxford, with the University of Minnesota serving as a key institutional partner, Zooniverse enables anyone, anywhere to contribute directly to real scientific research. Through its six-year collaboration with NASA, Zooniverse provides science-enabling infrastructure to NASA researchers through tools and a community of more than 3 million registered volunteers.

Facebook logo @nasascience_

@nasascience_

Instagram logo @nasascience_

Linkedin logo @nasascience_

Categories: NASA

China’s Long March 10B rocket successfully launches—and lands—in a global spaceflight milestone

Scientific American.com - Fri, 07/10/2026 - 1:10pm

The inaugural launch and first-stage booster recovery of China’s Long March 10B rocket intensifies the nation’s spaceflight rivalry with the U.S.

Categories: Astronomy