The Columbian

Science & Technology

The James Webb Space Telescope is separated in space on Saturday. The $10 billion infrared observatory is intended as the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA’s new telescope’s problems repaired

January 3, 2022, 4:02pm Life

NASA’s new space telescope is on the verge of completing the riskiest part of its mission — unfolding and tightening a huge sunshade — after ground controllers fixed a pair of problems, officials said Monday. Read story

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has 16 of world’s most influential scientists

December 28, 2021, 6:57pm Life

Sixteen of the scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland have been named among the most influential in the world. Read story

This undated photo provided by researcher Bryan Fry shows a Komodo dragon at Komodo National Park in Indonesia. In 2021, construction for tourism in Komodo National Park has raised concerns from the United Nations officials, environmental activists and residents about damage to habitat of the Komodo dragon.

Development sparks fear at Komodo park

December 28, 2021, 6:08am Life

On a dirt path, forked yellow tongue darting from its mouth, a member of the world’s largest lizard species lazes on an island in eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park as tourists snap photos. Read story

NASA records ‘sounds’ on Jupiter’s moon: ‘It’s the real deal’

December 28, 2021, 6:08am Life

NASA has recorded eerie “sounds” coming from one of Jupiter’s moons, and the audio is like something straight out of a 1950s science fiction movie. Read story

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Tuesday morning, Dec. 21, 2021. The rocket is carrying supplies for the International Space Station.

SpaceX launches Christmas presents, supplies to station

December 21, 2021, 8:13am Life

SpaceX launched Christmas gifts, goodies and supplies to the International Space Station on Tuesday and got a present in return: the company’s 100th successful rocket landing. Read story

In this aerial photo, destruction from a recent tornado is seen Dec. 12 in downtown Mayfield, Ky. According to a study presented at the American Geophysical Union conference on Dec. 13, nasty winter tornadoes -- like the deadly one that hit five states -- are likely to be stronger and stay on the ground longer with a wider swath of destruction in a warming world.

Study: Nasty winter storms may increase

December 21, 2021, 6:04am Life

like the deadly ones that hit five states Dec. 10 — are likely to be stronger and stay on the ground longer with a wider swath of destruction in a warming world, a new study shows. Read story

A Pacific footballfish that was found on the shores of Encinitas last week is just the 31st collected specimen known to exist in the world. Three have been found in California this year alone.

Appearance of rare fish stirs buzz

December 21, 2021, 6:01am Life

Confronted with a jet-black globular fish with razor-sharp teeth, prickly skin and a strange stalk protruding from its head, lifeguards at Swami’s Beach in Encinitas, Calif., immediately knew they had something extraordinary on their hands. Read story

In this Sept. 29, 2014 photo made available by NASA, James Webb Space Telescope Optical Engineer Larkin Carey examines two test mirror segments on a prototype at the Goddard Space Flight Center's giant clean room in Greenbelt, Md. Webb will attempt to look back in time 13.7 billion years, a mere 100 million years after the universe-forming Big Bang as the original stars were forming.

Hubble telescope’s bigger, more powerful successor to soar

December 20, 2021, 11:19am Life

The Hubble Space Telescope’s successor is a time-traveling wonder capable of peering back to within a hair’s breadth of the dawn of the universe. And it’s finally on the brink of flight. Read story

In this photo taken from video footage released by the Roscosmos Space Agency, Russian space agency rescue team help spaceflight participant Yusaku Maezawa to get from the capsule shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-20 space capsule about 150 km ( 80 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. The Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut safely returned to Earth on Monday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station.

Japanese space tourists safely return to Earth

December 20, 2021, 8:32am Nation & World

A Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut safely returned to Earth on Monday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station. Read story

FILE - Flames burn up a tree as part of the Windy Fire in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2021. Sequoia National Park says lightning-sparked wildfires in the past two years have killed a minimum of nearly 10,000 giant sequoia trees in California. The estimate released Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, accounts for 13% to 19% of the native sequoias that are the largest trees on Earth.

Study draws link between melting Arctic ice and Western U.S. fires that flare in the fall

December 20, 2021, 8:04am Latest News

Melting Arctic sea ice appears to be having far-reaching atmospheric impacts that increase the likelihood of extreme fall fire weather in the western United States, according to a study that used a mix of data analysis and computer modeling to draw this link. Read story