Spacewalk planned to fix ammonia leak on space station

MIAMI (Reuters) – NASA plans to send two astronauts aboard the International Space Station out on a spacewalk on Saturday to try to fix an ammonia leak in a cooling system on one of the station’s solar arrays, the U.S. space agency said on Friday. The crew spotted a steady stream of small, white frozen ammonia flakes floating away from a coolant line outside the orbital outpost on Thursday. Continue reading

NASA rover studies ice sheet

WASHINGTON (dpa) – A NASA rover was due to begin roaming the frigid landscape of Greenland next week, collecting data to help scientists better understand changes in the massive ice sheet, an agency spokeswoman said Friday. The robot carries what NASA described as “ground-penetrating radar” to study how snow accumulates layer by layer to form the ice sheet, the agency said. For the past six months NASA’s Mars rover has made headlines with its exploration of the surface of the Red Planet since landing there in August Continue reading

1913 Liberty Head nickel sells for $3.1 million

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., April 25 (UPI) — A 1913 Liberty Head nickel sold for $3.17 million at auction in Illinois Thursday, with a buyer calling it “one of the greatest coins at that price range.” The coin, one of five known to exist, had been stored away for 41 years because its owner had been told, erroneously as it turned out, it was not authentic. Melva Givens, of Salem, Va., inherited the coin from George O. Continue reading

Eclipse Aerospace opens ABQ plant to public tours

Eclipse Aerospace announced Tuesday it has opened up its jet manufacturing operation to public tours. The tour offers an opportunity to see Eclipse 550 jets during the assembly process, from the first friction stir weld to final paint striping, the company said in a news release. Continue reading

West Liberty company certified landfill free

WEST LIBERTY, Iowa The 1,900 or so employees at West Liberty Foods three plants can produce up to 425 million pounds of food annually but no more than 1 percent of their garbage is taken to the landfill. The West Liberty plant, which employs about 830 people, has been certified by an independent agency as landfill free. Continue reading

USC medical school launches fully online graduate program

The Keck School of Medicine at USC has begun accepting applications for a newly created online public health graduate program – the first of its kind at the medical school. The program, which combines online coursework and a practicum, is set tobegin in the spring of 2013 and is the first fully online graduate program offered at the medical school. Continue reading

Libertarian Party gets ballot access in W.Va.

Libertarian Party gets ballot access in W.Va. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Libertarian Party candidates no longer have to collect signatures to have their name placed on ballots, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant announced Thursday. Continue reading

NASA's WISE Telescope Discovers Millions of Black Holes

Living up to its name, NASA’s WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) telescope has uncovered millions of black holes and extreme galaxies across the universe. Recently released images from the telescope reveal millions of dusty black hole candidates, as well as about 1,000 even dustier objects, which scientists believe are among the brightest galaxies ever discovered, and which have appropriately been nicknamed “hot DOGs,” or dust-obscured galaxies. “WISE has exposed a menagerie of hidden objects,” WISE program scientist Hashima Hasan said in a statement. Continue reading

Harvard Scientists Create ‘Cyborg-Like’ Tissue

Itwas a memorable moment in the movie The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, when the cyborg takes a switchblade knife and removes the artificial skin from his hand. Though thought to be only a cool, futuristic effect, this could soon be reality Continue reading

Wisconsin, Michigan beaches get $2.6 million to protect water quality

The federal government announced Tuesday a $2.6 million batch of grants to protect water quality at Great Lakes beaches in Wisconsin and Michigan. It includes a $1 million grant to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to work to reconfigure eight state beaches to reduce bacteria levels. Continue reading