March 13, 2014 5:00 pm
Scientists announced on Feb. 26 that NASA’s Kepler space telescope has discovered 715 new exoplanets. These newly discovered worlds double the current number of confirmed exoplanets, bringing the total tally to roughly 1,700. These exoplanets, which are planets outside of our solar system, were found to orbit 305 stars—revealing multiple-planet […]
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February 27, 2014 5:00 pm
The genetic testing of embryos for the presence of disease-causing genes has become an increasing trend. It has been deemed a beneficial practice by many scientists, but it raises a number of ethical questions. Genetic testing of embryos is nothing new—it has been around for more than 10 years. But […]
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February 13, 2014 4:19 pm
Scientists have extracted the DNA of one of the earliest recorded plagues and reconstructed its genetic code from 1,500-year-old teeth. These teeth came from the mouths of sixth century skeletons, discovered by housing developers digging outside of Munich, Germany. They uncovered graves filled with multiple individuals—a sign that is often […]
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January 30, 2014 5:38 pm
A new study released by the United States National Academy of Sciences found that Chinese exportation of goods is a contributor to air pollution in Western United States. The study, published Jan. 20, examines how air pollution in the U.S. is affected by China’s production of goods for export. Authored […]
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November 14, 2013 7:05 pm
The United Nations Environment Program released its Emissions Gap Report for 2013 on Nov. 5. In it, the U.N. warned that if the world does not decrease carbon emissions, the chances of keeping the global temperature in check will quickly diminish. In the report, 44 groups of scientists in 17 […]
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October 31, 2013 6:03 pm
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found water in the fine-grained soil of Mars. The discovery—published in the journal Science on Sept. 26—is part of the first set of formal results from the experiments conducted by the rover during its first four months on Mars’s surface. The Curiosity rover has been exploring […]
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