Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 1

I can't believe that I'm even typing this, and it feels like I'm saying that more the last few months than in my 11 years working for TweakTown -- but Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas suggested during a congressional hearing that the US could fight climate change by altering the orbit of the moon.

Yes.

Altering the orbit... of the moon...

Gohment suggested that the Earth's climate can be influenced by solar flares, as well as the connection with the Earth and the moon and the distance between them -- and if closer, could solve climate change.

While questioning US Forest Service Associate Deputy Chief Jennifer Eberlien, he asked if the National Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management could change the orbits of the moon and the Earth -- noting recent comments of the past director of NASA.

A team of researchers has managed to uncover multiple different items that date back hundreds of years.

Archaeologists with the Glacier Archaeology Program in Norway were inspecting the Lendbreen glacier that's located in Norway's Breheimen National Park, and made some shocking discoveries. According to the findings that were posted to the researchers' Facebook Page called "Secrets of the Ice", the archaeologists uncovered a 500-year-old candle box along with spears, horse snowshoes, walking sticks, dog leashes, mittens, and the remains of a dog.

The Facebook post states that the wooden box is made out of pine, and inside was beeswax. The researchers state in the post that what is seen in the below image is the remains of a beeswax candle that's dated anywhere between 1475 - 1635 AD. Candle boxes and beeswax candles were commonly used throughout the area during that time as a source of light, and now researchers are able to confirm that such candles and candle boxes were used between the aforementioned time periods. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Senior administration officials who are close to the coming UFO report headed for Congress have said that the report won't disclose any alien link to the recent UFO videos.

According to a report by The New York Times, "senior administration officials" who were briefed on the coming report scheduled for Congress by June 25 have said that the report won't reveal any evidence that links the UFO sightings to extraterrestrial life. US intelligence agencies will deliver the report to Congress, and most of its contents will be revealed to the public.

However, some parts of it will remain classified, but the Times reports that the parts that will remain classified "will not contain any evidence concluding that the phenomena are alien spacecraft". If the objects seen in the now-famous Navy pilot videos aren't extraterrestrial life, then what is it? The Times reports that these UFOs may be hypersonic technology that has been developed in China or Russia. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Have you ever wondered how expensive toilets can get? Well, I bet you never thought a toilet could be worth millions of dollars.

International Space Station (ISS) astronauts are installing the world's most expensive toilet aboard the floating laboratory. The new toilet arrived aboard the ISS back in September of last year and is a massive upgrade over the current one that is on the ISS. The new toilet is much smaller, lighter, and has been better equipped for female use.

The new toilet, dubbed the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), will cost $23 million and features handholds and foot restraints instead of the thigh straps that are on the old toilet. NASA received feedback from ISS astronauts regarding the old toilet and made the appropriate changes, stating, "Everyone positions themselves differently while 'going,' and consistent astronaut feedback indicated that the traditional thigh straps were a hassle." The new toilet won't be replacing the old toilet, so now the ISS has two toilets for its growing crew!

NASA's small but study, Mars helicopter has successfully completed its seventh flight. This time Ingenuity has explored a new area.

NASA launched Ingenuity off the surface of Mars and took it 350 feet south to inspect a possible landing location that has only been seen from orbiting spacecrafts. The mission took Ingenuity to a completely new terrain that was then captured on the helicopter's navigation camera for further research. NASA announced that the mission was a success, giving Ingenuity its seventh flight badge.

When Ingenuity touched down on Mars with Perseverance, the new Mars rover, NASA planned that the small helicopter would only have five flights, as that's all it was designed to do. However, Ingenuity doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and recently it encountered a shock test that gave NASA researchers some insight into just how strong the helicopter is - more on that story here. Ingenuity is currently stationed in the new landing location, awaiting orders. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

The current sanctions against the Russian space sector by the United States have caused Russia's space chief to threaten to leave the International Space Station (ISS).

A new report by NBC has revealed that Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said during a Russian government hearing that Russia will withdraw from the ISS in 2025 if the United States doesn't immediately lift the current sanctions imposed on Russia. Rogozin goes on to say, "If the sanctions ... remain and are not lifted in the near future, the issue of Russia's withdrawal from the ISS will be the responsibility of the American partners."

Additionally, Rogozin said that Russia cannot launch some of its satellites its construct due to US sanctions stopping it from importing a certain microchip set. "We have more than enough rockets but nothing to launch them with. We have spacecraft that are nearly assembled, but they lack one specific microchip set that we have no way of purchasing because of the sanctions." Lastly, Rogozin says that the US and Russia need to work together, and if the sanctions aren't lifted immediately, Russia will pull out of the ISS and deploy its own space station.

Researchers have run the numbers on a theoretical large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results, it would be much more powerful than the one we currently have on Earth.

A new pre-print study has explored the possibility of a large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results of the study, the Circular Collider on the Moon (CCM) would be able to generate a proton-proton center-of-mass collision energy of 14 PeV. In the study, the researchers estimated that the CCM would be 6,835 miles long, which is much bigger than the one currently on Earth that measures in at 16.6 miles.

The study found that if a large hadron collider was constructed on the Moon, it would be able to generate 1,000 times more energy than the one at CERN, assuming the dipole magnetic field was 20 T. Having a large hadron collider of this size may pave the way for unprecedented particle physics discoveries that could help physicists, and the human race as a whole, better understand the universe and how it came to be. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has flown past Jupiter's largest moon, and on its way, it has snapped some awesome pictures of it.

On June 7, NASA's Juno orbiter flew past Jupiter's largest moon named Ganymede. The recent flyby by Juno has marked the closest spacecraft to fly past Ganymede in two whole decades. The orbiter snapped some pictures of the moon with its JunoCam imager and its Stellar Reference Unit, revealing the surface of the moon in remarkable detail.

From the images taken by Juno, we can see craters, its terrain, and long structural features that NASA says are "possibly linked to tectonic faults." Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said, "This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation. We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder."

We're all waiting for the coveted UFO report from the Pentagon, which will discuss all things UFOs and UAPs (or unidentified flying objects aka unidentified aerial phenomena) -- we've got astrophycistist Neil deGrasse Tyson adding in some of his thoughts with CNN recently.

During the interview with John Berman on CNN, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked about the "ring of fire" solar eclipse, the upcoming UFO report from the Pentagon, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) about physically moving the moon to fight climate change -- no, I'm not kidding and neither was he. You can see that in the CNN video above, and Tyson's comments.

Tyson's comments about UFOs kicks off at around the 2:28 mark, where Neil deGrasse Tyson said to CNN's John Berman: "I wish we had better evidence than monochromic fuzzy Navy video, if we're being visited by aliens -- you know, we upload 6 billion high-resolution color photos and videos to the internet every day. We have unwittingly crowdsourcing the observation of the planet, and I want better evidence than that... and just because you don't know what it is, doesn't mean you then know what it is ".

This week the world will be able to see the very first solar eclipse of 2021, and here's how anyone can watch it happen!

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun at a very precise angle, hence why it only happens once a year. If you want to view the eclipse in person, you will need to be located in the Northern hemisphere, preferably in Canada, northern Russia, or Greenland, as you will see the total solar eclipse. If you are stationed in North America, Europe, or Asia, you will see a partial solar eclipse, and if that's not good enough for you, then there is an easy solution.

Through the power of the internet, anyone can enjoy the solar eclipse from the comfort of their own home, and while it doesn't come close to how gorgeous the eclipse is in real life, it's better than not seeing it at all. Above is a link to a livestream by timeanddate that will begin at 5 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), tune in to see the "Ring of Fire" solar eclipse. If you are interested in reading more about the coming solar eclipse, check out this link here.