Lifeboat Foundation

Japanese spacecraft landed on the asteroid surface.

Hayabusa2 has collected a second sample from the asteroid’s surface. It could give us a unique insight into how the early solar system was formed.

The procedure: After a few hours of maneuvering, the spacecraft touched down on Ryugu’s surface at 9:15 p.m. US Eastern time yesterday. It then fired a bullet into the asteroid and collected some of the debris stirred up by the shot. The Japanese space agency JAXA tweeted that the mission had been a success and that the space probe had now left the surface again. It’s the second sampling mission after a similar one in April, and it required particularly careful preparations, because any problems could cause the materials gathered during the first operation to be lost. In April, Hayabusa2 had also fired a copper bomb into the asteroid’s surface to expose the rocks beneath, in anticipation of today’s mission.

Continue reading “A Japanese spacecraft just grabbed more rocks from the asteroid Ryugu” »

Mutations in the autism gene NLGN3 may alter the gut nervous system of mice.

Naruto running?

A Facebook event called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” has amassed an army of memers, schemers and tinfoil hat-wearing conspirators to raid the top-secret Air Force military base in the middle of Nevada’s desert.

Over 289,000 users confirmed they’re planning to come along, while 314,000 are “interested.” It’s gotten so big that the event is grabbing the attention of local and even international media.

Continue reading “Almost 300,000 People Say They’re Gonna Storm Area 51” »

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Warming can encourage the growth of microbes in permafrost that produce more greenhouse gases.

• By Chelsea Harvey, E&E News on July 10, 2019

A roadblock to sustainable energy solutions is coming unstuck.

• By Andrea Thompson on July 1, 2019

New possibilities for treating cancer and other ills.

• By Elizabeth O’Day on July 1, 2019

But now much of the coast is covered in heaps of rotting seaweed, contributing to an economic and ecological crisis.

The issue has been caused by an enormous bloom of sargassum algae, which washed ashore from the nearby Sargasso Sea. There has long been sargassum in that part of the ocean. But the rate of its growth has increased rapidly in recent years – so much so that in 2018 its summer bloom almost spanned the Atlantic from West Africa to the Caribbean.

And things are set to get even worse.

The study also suggests that reforesting such a large area wouldn’t impact our capacity for growing and farming food.