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Science & Technology

June meteor swarm might hold some surprises

January 29, 2019, 5:47am Life

On June 30, 1908, an object the size of an apartment building came hurtling out of the sky and exploded in the atmosphere above Siberia. The Tunguska event, named for a river, flattened trees for 800 square miles. It occurred in one of the least-populated places in Asia, and no… Read story

An illustration showing Galagadon nordquistae.

Ancient shark had ‘spaceship-shaped teeth’

An illustration showing Galagadon nordquistae.

January 29, 2019, 5:47am Life

A new species of prehistoric freshwater shark has been found by a North Carolina State lecturer, and it had “spaceship-shaped teeth,” according to statement from the university. Read story

This Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019 image made available by NASA on Thursday, Jan. 24 shows the Kuiper belt object Ultima Thule, about 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, encountered by the New Horizons spacecraft. It will take almost two years for New Horizons to transmit all the data from the flyby, 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away.

Faraway space snowman is pitted and has bright ‘collar’

This Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019 image made available by NASA on Thursday, Jan. 24 shows the Kuiper belt object Ultima Thule, about 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, encountered by the New Horizons spacecraft. It will take almost two years for New Horizons to transmit all the data from the flyby, 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away.

January 25, 2019, 9:18am Life

The space snowman visited by NASA on New Year’s Day is pitted all over. It also has a bright “collar” around its two fused spheres. Read story

The Ocean Zephyr stands docked in Bremerhaven, Germany, Wednesday Jan. 23, 2019. The Britain-based Nekton Mission will use submarines to go 300 meters below the surface and sonar equipment to survey depths of up to 2,000 meters once the Ocean Zephyr reaches the Seychelles. Final preparations were being made Thursday for the start of an unprecedented, years-long mission to explore the Indian Ocean, during which scientists hope to document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades.

Uncharted waters: Scientists to explore Indian Ocean depths

The Ocean Zephyr stands docked in Bremerhaven, Germany, Wednesday Jan. 23, 2019. The Britain-based Nekton Mission will use submarines to go 300 meters below the surface and sonar equipment to survey depths of up to 2,000 meters once the Ocean Zephyr reaches the Seychelles. Final preparations were being made Thursday for the start of an unprecedented, years-long mission to explore the Indian Ocean, during which scientists hope to document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades.

January 24, 2019, 4:35pm Nation & World

Scientists prepared Thursday to embark on an unprecedented, years-long mission to explore the Indian Ocean and document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades. Read story

Why massive dinosaurs had funky ‘crazy straw’ noses

January 22, 2019, 6:04am Life

The late Cretaceous, which ended 66 million years ago, was a rough-and-tumble time. Dinosaurs like Ankylosaurus left reminders of brutishness in their fossilized armor. Spikes sprouted from their shoulders. Row after row of bony plates covered their backs. With low and well-protected bulks, tipping the scales at a ton or… Read story

This image from video provided by John Nyakatura this month shows computer-generated and robotic simulations of an Orabates pabsti dinosaur’s footprints while walking. Nyakatura has spent years studying the four-legged plant-eater.

Robot re-creates the walk of a 290-million-year-old creature

This image from video provided by John Nyakatura this month shows computer-generated and robotic simulations of an Orabates pabsti dinosaur’s footprints while walking. Nyakatura has spent years studying the four-legged plant-eater.

January 22, 2019, 6:02am Life

How did the earliest land animals move? Scientists have used a nearly 300-million-year old fossil skeleton and preserved ancient footprints to create a moving robot model of prehistoric life. Read story

This July 23, 2008, image shows the planet Saturn, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. On Thursday, an Italian-led team reported in the journal Science that the planet’s primary rings appear to be 10 million to 100 million years old. Saturn, on the other hand, is 4.5 billion years old, like all our solar system’s planets.

Scientists: Saturn didn’t always have rings

This July 23, 2008, image shows the planet Saturn, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. On Thursday, an Italian-led team reported in the journal Science that the planet’s primary rings appear to be 10 million to 100 million years old. Saturn, on the other hand, is 4.5 billion years old, like all our solar system’s planets.

January 22, 2019, 6:01am Life

Saturn may have flown solo for billions of years — almost its entire existence — before getting its stunning set of rings, a new study suggests. Read story

A U.S. Flag in downtown Washington flies in front of the moon during a lunar eclipse, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. The entire eclipse will exceed three hours. Totality - when the moon’s completely bathed in Earth’s shadow - will last an hour. Expect the eclipsed, or blood moon, to turn red from sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere. (AP Photo/J.

2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse comes with supermoon bonus

A U.S. Flag in downtown Washington flies in front of the moon during a lunar eclipse, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. The entire eclipse will exceed three hours. Totality - when the moon’s completely bathed in Earth’s shadow - will last an hour. Expect the eclipsed, or blood moon, to turn red from sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere. (AP Photo/J.

January 21, 2019, 9:39am Life

The only total lunar eclipse this year and next came with a supermoon bonus. Read story

The new iPad Pro from Apple.

New 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro perfect combo

The new iPad Pro from Apple.

January 20, 2019, 6:00am Business

I can remember when the iPad was just something we hoped Apple would release. Read story

This undated photo released by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, shows a piece of lapis lazuli. During the European Middle Ages, Afghanistan was the only known source of the rare blue stone which at the time was ground up and used as a pigment. Modern-day scientists who examined the 1,000 year-old remains of a middle-aged woman in Germany discovered the semi-precious stone in the tartar on her teeth. From that, they concluded the woman was an artist involved in creating illuminated manuscripts, a task usually associated with monks. The find is considered the most direct evidence yet of a woman taking part in the making of high-quality illuminated manuscripts, the lavishly illustrated religious and secular texts of the Middle Ages. And it corroborates other findings that suggest female artisans were not as rare as previously thought.

Blue teeth reveal medieval woman as artist

This undated photo released by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, shows a piece of lapis lazuli. During the European Middle Ages, Afghanistan was the only known source of the rare blue stone which at the time was ground up and used as a pigment. Modern-day scientists who examined the 1,000 year-old remains of a middle-aged woman in Germany discovered the semi-precious stone in the tartar on her teeth. From that, they concluded the woman was an artist involved in creating illuminated manuscripts, a task usually associated with monks. The find is considered the most direct evidence yet of a woman taking part in the making of high-quality illuminated manuscripts, the lavishly illustrated religious and secular texts of the Middle Ages. And it corroborates other findings that suggest female artisans were not as rare as previously thought.

January 17, 2019, 6:05am Life

About 1,000 years ago, a woman in Germany died and was buried in an unmarked grave in a church cemetery. No record of her life survived, and no historian had reason to wonder who she was. But when modern scientists examined her dug-up remains, they discovered something peculiar — brilliant… Read story