journey | Common News Update

Sep232023 by adminNo Comments

Osiris-Rex: Asteroid Bennu ‘is a journey back to our origins’

Science

NASABy Jonathan AmosScience correspondent in Dugway, UtahNasa's Osiris-Rex capsule will come screaming into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday at more than 15 times the speed of a rifle bullet.It will make a fireball in the sky as it does so, but a heat shield and parachutes will slow the descent and bring it into a gentle touchdown in Utah's West Desert.The capsule carries a precious cargo - a handful of dust grabbed from asteroid Bennu, a mountain-sized space rock that promises to inform the most profound of questions: Where do we come from? "When we get the 250g (9oz) of asteroid Bennu back on Earth, we'll be looking at material that existed before our planet, maybe even some grains that existed before our Solar System," says Prof Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator on the mission. "We...

Mar22021 by adminNo Comments

Human origins: ‘Little Foot’ fossil’s big journey out of Africa

Science

A priceless fossil was briefly brought to a UK research centre in complete secrecy two years ago, in an operation that had more than a touch of the spy novel about it. The specimen was transported across South Africa with an armed guard, treated like an incognito VIP on an international flight, and then whisked slickly to the Diamond X-ray Light Source just south of Oxford.It was at the British research facility that scientists were able to see some microscopic details in the ancient remains that could help unravel key clues to the origins of modern humans.Details of the operation have been made public only now, as the first results from the X-ray investigations have been shared with the wider research community."It was immensely nerve-wracking," palaeoanthropologist Dominic Stratford reca...

Aug262020 by adminNo Comments

Bacteria could survive journey to Mars, according to ISS study

Technology

Bacteria could survive the extreme radiation and temperature fluctuations in the vacuum of space to land on another planet and begin reproducing there, according to a new study.This is one such theory for how life began on Earth, known as panspermia, in which it initially arrived from outer space rather than resulted from self-replicating molecules which naturally developed here on this planet. To prove that microbes could survive in space, Professor Akihiko Yamagishi of the University of Tokyo placed radioresistant Deinococcus bacteria in exposure panels outside of the International Space Station. Image: Japanese astronaut Mr Yugi set up the exposure experiment Professor Yamagishi and the Tanpopo astrobiology team have now published ...

Jan282020 by adminNo Comments

Antarctica melting: Journey to the ‘doomsday’ glacier

Science

The images are murky at first.Sediment sweeps past the camera as Icefin, a bright yellow remotely operated robot submarine, moves tentatively forward under the ice.Then the waters begin to clear.Icefin is under almost half a mile (600m) of ice, at the front of one the fastest-changing large glaciers in the world. Suddenly a shadow looms above, an overhanging cliff of dirt-encrusted ice.It doesn't look like much, but this is a unique image - the first ever pictures from a frontier that is changing our world.Icefin has reached the point at which the warm ocean water meets the wall of ice at the front of the mighty Thwaites glacier - the point where this vast body of ice begins to melt. The ...

Feb62019 by adminNo Comments

Son's 200-mile London-Devon journey beats ambulance

Health

A man who travelled nearly 200 miles to reach his injured mother arrived before an ambulance reached her.Mark Clements caught a bus, tube and two trains from London to Exmouth, Devon on Saturday after his 77-year-old mother fell and broke her hip.The initial 999 call was made at 09:00 GMT but paramedics did not arrive until seven hours later.South Western Ambulance Service apologised and said it was experiencing "an unprecedented rise in demand".Mr Clements said he and his family - some of whom were waiting with his mother - were "appalled" by what happened."My mother was lying in an awkward position on a cold conservatory floor and was unable to move," he said. Mr Clements took three hours and 4...