Scientists are still trying to figure out where Mars’ methane comes from. Now there’s a new mystery that might be connected: unusual fluctuations of oxygen in Mars’ atmosphere, detected by the Curiosity rover. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/oxygen-methane-mystery-mars-curiosity-rover…
Tag: Maryland
Ultima Thule renamed to avoid Nazi link
The distant Kuiper Belt object formerly known as 2014 MU69 – later known as Ultima Thule – has been renamed again. Its new name is Arrokoth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/ultima-thule-renamed-to-avoid-nazi-link…
Astronomers catch a record-setting X-ray burst
The sudden spike of X-rays released as much energy in 20 seconds as our sun does in nearly 10 days. Turns out it was a massive thermonuclear flash on a pulsar, the crushed remains of a star that exploded as a supernova long ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/record-setting-x-ray-burst-j1808-pulsar…
Study Reveals How Two Strains of One Bacterium Combine To Cause Flesh-Eating Infection
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: A new study by a team of scientists that included researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of Texas Medical Branch used genetic analysis to reveal how two different strains of a single species of flesh-eating bacteria worked in concert to become more dangerous than either one strain alone. The study…
Company Seeks FDA Approval For Single-Dose Drug To Cure HIV/AIDS
“Wednesday night was an exciting one for investors and employees at American Gene Technologies,” reports a local Maryland news station. “After years in the making, they submitted a nearly 1,000-page document to FDA. And within its pages just may lie the cure for HIV/AIDS.” Founded in 2007, the privately-held company has less than 50 employees according to LinkedIn. Based in Maryland,…
TESS planet-hunter shows you the southern sky
Mosaic of the southern sky constructed from 208 images by NASA’s TESS spacecraft, taken during the mission’s first year of science operations. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/tess-panorama-southern-sky-video…
40% Of America’s Schools Have Now Dropped Their SAT/ACT Testing Requirement
“A record number” of U.S. schools are now accepting nearly all of their students without requiring an SAT or ACT test score, reports the Washington Post: Robert A. Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest, which opposes the misuse of standardized tests, said the past year has seen the “fastest growth spurt ever” of schools ending the SAT/ACT test score as an…
Is AT&T Hiding A Widespread Voicemail Outage?
Though people can still leave voicemail messages, “Some AT&T customers say they have not had access to their voicemail since the beginning of October,” one local news site reported this week: An AT&T spokesperson sent the following statement to ABC11 about the issue: “We’re aware that some customers may be having difficulty retrieving their voicemail due to a vendor server problem….
Update on the 2nd interstellar visitor
Astronomers in Poland have just published the 1st peer-reviewed paper on the 2nd interstellar visitor, now officially labeled as a comet, 2I/Borisov. Plus check out the new Hubble Space Telescope image of this object. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/2i-borisov-hubble-image-looks-like-a-comet…
2019’s Arctic sea ice minimum 2nd-lowest on record
Arctic sea ice likely reached its smallest extent for 2019 on September 18. At 1.6 million square miles (4.15 million square km), that minimum is now in a 3-way tie for 2nd-smallest in the satellite record. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/2019-arctic-sea-ice-minimum-2nd-lowest-video…