For Students | NASA

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Women's History Month

Meet some of NASAs women engineers, scientists, educators, interns and others. View site

View image galleries on a wide variety of NASA topics. Go now

Students can use this page as a starting point to learn about jobs at NASA. View site

Eligible students can access a portfolio of NASA internship, fellowship and scholarship opportunities through a single portal and a single application. View site

NASA has inducted more than 80 high-performing interns into a new virtual community. View site

Use these educational video segments to inspire and engage students. View site

NASA Recommends Discontinuation of Student Rocket Activity

In 2012, an air pressurized paper rocket launcher being used by an educator failed. This launcher is described in NASA's Rockets Educator Guide, publications EG-2011-11-223-KSC, pp. 86-90 and EG-2008-05-060-KSC, pp. 86-90. NASA completed an engineering investigation into the failure and determined that the launcher, or design equivalents, should not be used. NASA has removed the launcher design from its website and its education curriculum. Individuals and organizations should immediately discontinue use of the launcher published in the referenced NASA publications. The point of contact for additional information is Diane DeTroye, NASA Office of Education, at nasaedpartners@nasa.gov. We request that your organization assist NASA in disseminating this information as widely as possible throughout the education community.

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For Students | NASA

NASA approves space station visit despite dead computer

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is pressing ahead with Monday's planned launch of a supply ship despite a critical computer outage at the International Space Station, promising the situation is safe.

Mission managers decided Sunday to proceed with the countdown for the SpaceX capsule, Dragon, already a month late in delivering more than 2 tons of cargo.

"We're good to go," said NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini.

Suffredini noted the many important supplies aboard the Dragon, including a new spacesuit and repair parts for the older spacesuits already in orbit. Much-needed food is also packed away.

"There's a certain amount of urgency to go ahead and get these vehicles" at the space station, he told reporters. These shipments have to fit around other space station operations, like crew comings and goings.

"Things start to bunch up," Suffredini said, "and so we're just trying to fly as soon as we safely can, which is what we believe we're doing."

This backup computer, located on the outside of the space station, mysteriously failed to work when activated Friday. The main computer kept operating perfectly, and the six-man crew was never in any danger. NASA debated whether to delay the SpaceX mission and, on Sunday, determined the station has sufficient redundancy to safely support the visiting vessel.

A spacewalk will be required, meanwhile, to replace the bad computer. Engineers don't know why it failed.

Suffredini said the spacewalk will be conducted by a pair of astronauts on April 22, using suits outfitted with new fan components to avoid the near-disaster that occurred last summer. An Italian astronaut almost drowned when his helmet flooded with water from the suit's cooling system.

An April 22 spacewalk will give SpaceX two chances to get its unmanned Dragon capsule flying. Good weather is forecast for Monday's 4:58 p.m. launch. If that doesn't work, the next launch attempt would come Friday.

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NASA approves space station visit despite dead computer

Welcome to the body parts shop… would you like to place an order?

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Professor Alexander Seifalian

There aren't many scientists who have grown human cells on the back of a butterfly wing, but Alexander is one of them!

Professor Alexander Seifalian (UCL Centre for Nanotechnology & Regenerative Medicine) and his team are aiming to make organ donation a thing of the past, combining nano-composite materials with stem cell technologies for the growth of replacement organs.

He used his discoveries to fight for the life of a young Icelandic man whose throat was destroyed by cancer. Given two weeks to live, Alexander set out to build for the man the world's first artificial windpipe, made from nanomaterials and stem cells - and succeeded.

"Welcome to the body parts shop... would you like to place an order?"

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Welcome to the body parts shop... would you like to place an order?

Nano shake-up

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

14-Apr-2014

Contact: Andrea Boyle Tippett aboyle@udel.edu 302-831-1421 University of Delaware

Significant advances have been made in chemotherapy over the past decade, but targeting drugs to cancer cells while avoiding healthy tissues continues to be a major challenge.

Nanotechnology has unlocked new pathways for targeted drug delivery, including the use of nanocarriers, or capsules, that can transport cargoes of small-molecule therapeutics to specific locations in the body.

The catch? These carriers are tiny, and it matters just how tiny they are. Change the size from 10 nanometers to 100 nanometers, and the drugs can end up in the wrong cells or organs and thereby damage healthy tissues.

A common assumption is that once a nanocarrier is created, it maintains its size and shape on the shelf as well as in the body.

However, recent work by a group of researchers led by Thomas H. Epps, III, and Millicent Sullivan in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware has shown that routine procedures in handling and processing nanocarrier solutions can have a significant influence on the size and shape of these miniscule structures.

Their findings are reported in a paper, "Size Evolution of Highly Amphiphilic Macromolecular Solution Assemblies Via a Distinct Bimodal Pathway," published in Nature Communications on April 7.

Sullivan explains that chemotherapeutic agents are designed to affect processes related to cell division. Therefore, they not only kill cancer cells but also are toxic to other rapidly proliferating cells such as those in hair follicles and bone marrow. Side effects can range from hair loss to compromised immune systems.

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Nano shake-up

Nano Shake-Up: Routine Handling Can Affect Nano Drug Carriers

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Newswise Significant advances have been made in chemotherapy over the past decade, but targeting drugs to cancer cells while avoiding healthy tissues continues to be a major challenge.

Nanotechnology has unlocked new pathways for targeted drug delivery, including the use of nanocarriers, or capsules, that can transport cargoes of small-molecule therapeutics to specific locations in the body.

The catch? These carriers are tiny, and it matters just how tiny they are. Change the size from 10 nanometers to 100 nanometers, and the drugs can end up in the wrong cells or organs and thereby damage healthy tissues.

A common assumption is that once a nanocarrier is created, it maintains its size and shape on the shelf as well as in the body.

However, recent work by a group of researchers led by Thomas H. Epps, III, and Millicent Sullivan in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware has shown that routine procedures in handling and processing nanocarrier solutions can have a significant influence on the size and shape of these miniscule structures.

Their findings are reported in a paper, Size Evolution of Highly Amphiphilic Macromolecular Solution Assemblies Via a Distinct Bimodal Pathway, published in Nature Communications on April 7.

Sullivan explains that chemotherapeutic agents are designed to affect processes related to cell division. Therefore, they not only kill cancer cells but also are toxic to other rapidly proliferating cells such as those in hair follicles and bone marrow. Side effects can range from hair loss to compromised immune systems.

Our goal is to deliver drugs more selectively and specifically to cancer cells, Sullivan says. We want to sequester the drug so that we can control when and where it has an impact.

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Nano Shake-Up: Routine Handling Can Affect Nano Drug Carriers

Fatal accidental shooting serves as gun safety reminder

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Gun safety experts said this case is a reminder that gun owners need to take extra precaution.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said the boy was inside a home on Glasgow Road near Moores Chapel at the time of the incident. MEDIC arrived on-scene shortly after 1 p.m. and found the child shot.

Police said family members were about to take the boy to the hospital when the paramedic arrived and took him to Carolinas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim. Police said several adults in the home at the time of the shooting are cooperating with officers and that no foul play was involved.

Gun safety experts said every gun owner should own some type of gun lock.

"Gun owners sometimes get a little cocky. You just can't do that" said Larry Hyatt with Hyatt Gun Shop.

NC law requires that gun owners store their firearm in a manner in which it cannot be accessed or fired by a minor.

Neighbors said the incident served as a tragic reminder.

"See, that part of the block, there's a bunch of kids they all play behind this park. They get the basketball hoop. You see them, it's harder. It's even sadder when you see the kids," said neighbor John Thomas.

Police said no one has been charged at this point in time, but detectives will consult with the district attorney's office.

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Fatal accidental shooting serves as gun safety reminder

Trapuzzano murder sparks effort identifying violent teens

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Nathan Trapuzzano (Provided Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) The murder of Nathan Trapuzzano could lead to new efforts aimed at identifying violent teenagers.

State Senator Jim Merritt is taking a lead role, arranging a meeting with Juvenile Judge Moores, police,and public safety officials to seek changes in the law that might prevent similar murders in the future.

Simeon Adams,16, is accused in the Trapuzzano killing.

Do we need a violent juvenile prison? asked Merritt.

Right now we have 70 young men in our detention facility, said Judge Moores. Twenty-one of them have gun charges.

Judge Moores is bothered by a lack of good parenting. Theres a huge parental supervision and responsibility issue, she said. That I dont see being addressed.

Too many kids have ADD, said Bill Stanczykiewicz of the Indiana Youth Institute. Adult deficit disorder.

He sees an example to follow in Boston. Over about an 8-year period, he said. They went from 60 juvenile homicides to zero and it was a combination of government, the health sector, schools, after school programs, the faith community all coming together to surround these kids with support and positive influences.

Or, he says, they will find negative influences.

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Trapuzzano murder sparks effort identifying violent teens