The Columbian

Science & Technology

Hello, hive mind: Bees can do basic arithmetic, a new study finds

March 19, 2019, 6:00am Life

The oval-shaped brain of a honeybee is roughly the size of a single sesame seed. It contains fewer than 1 million neurons, while the human brain contains 100 billion. Read story

MIT’s latest dog-like robot can do backflips

March 19, 2019, 6:00am Life

They can already open doors, traverse steep flights of stairs, run at high speed and unload your dishwasher. Read story

NASA’s new rocket won’t be ready for moon shot next year

March 13, 2019, 9:48am Nation & World

NASA’s top official says the space agency’s new rocket won’t be ready for a moon shot next year. Read story

An image taken from video issued by Nekton shows Lucy Woodall, Nekton Mission principle scientist, left, alongside pilot Randy Holt inside a submersible 60 metres below surface of Indian Ocean during a descent into the Indian Ocean off Alphonse Atoll near the Seychelles, Tuesday March 12, 2019. Members of the British-led Nekton research team boarded two submersible vessels and descended into the waters off the Seychelles on Tuesday, marking a defining moment in their mission to document changes to the Indian Ocean. The submersibles will be battling strong undersea currents and potentially challenging weather conditions as they survey the side of an undersea mountain off Alphonse Atoll.

Indian Ocean exploration mission makes historic broadcast

March 12, 2019, 2:45pm Nation & World

A British-led scientific mission to document changes taking place beneath the Indian Ocean has broadcast its first live, television-quality video transmission from a two-person submersible. Read story

Series at Columbia Springs to focus on climate change, environment

March 9, 2019, 6:03am Clark County Life

Lecturers Grace Teigen and Gene Wigglesworth are launching a four-part workshop series this month on climate change, the environment and what people can do about it. Read story

This image provided by NASA shows SpaceX’s Dragon capsule carrying a test dummy splashed down into the Atlantic ocean off the Florida coast, Friday, March 8, 2019. It marks the first time in 50 years that a capsule designed for astronauts returned from space by plopping into the Atlantic.

SpaceX crew capsule ends test flight with ocean splashdown

March 8, 2019, 9:36am Nation & World

SpaceX’s swanky new crew capsule returned from the International Space Station to an old-fashioned splashdown in the Atlantic on Friday, successfully ending a test flight that could lead to astronaut rides later this year. Read story

In this Feb. 28, 2019 photo, a fossilized dinosaur footprints are shown on a paving stone at the Valley Forge National Historical Park in Valley Forge, Pa. A volunteer at the park outside Philadelphia recently discovered dozens of fossilized dinosaur footprints on flat rocks used to pave a section of hiking trail.

Dinosaur tracks make fresh impression at Valley Forge park

March 6, 2019, 1:35pm Nation & World

The national park on the site where George Washington and the struggling Continental Army endured a tough winter during the American Revolution boasts a new feature that’s a couple of hundred million years old — dozens of fossilized dinosaur footprints discovered on rocks used to pave a section of hiking… Read story

U.S. geological scientist unravels a “not-so-ancient geological crime”

March 1, 2019, 12:30pm Northwest

Red cedar “ghost forests,” a Japanese villager’s handwritten notes, and Native American oral histories: They all offered clues that led scientists to precisely date the last megaquake that rocked the Pacific Northwest. Read story

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, front with white cap, attends a protest rally in Hamburg, Germany, Friday, March 1, 2019.

Students in Hamburg, elsewhere call for climate action

March 1, 2019, 8:53am Nation & World

Thousands of students skipped class Friday in Hamburg to call for action against global warming, part of a string of protests that have been taking place in cities across the world over recent months. Read story