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NASA fixes malfunctioning spacecraft the same way you fix your troublesome laptop When faced with a potentially mission-ending problem with NASA’s 15-year-old Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, engineers performed a time-honored procedure to fix it: They turned it off and then turned it back on again. Success! IBEX is now fully operational again. Actually, they
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The cloudy material that drifts from chimney-like vents in the ocean floor could harbor microscopic lifeforms scientists never even knew existed. The ridges of the ocean seabed are littered with fissures called hydrothermal vents that spew hot, deep-Earth fluids containing hydrogen sulfides, methane, and hydrogen out into the ocean. Around the warm periphery of these
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Japanese authorities are preparing to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, nearly 12 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This will relieve pressure on more than 1,000 storage tanks, creating much-needed space for other vital remediation works. But the plan has attracted controversy. At first glance, releasing radioactive water into the ocean does
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The bright, white tail feathers of the otherwise inconspicuous Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) are the most reflective on record. An international team of researchers found that the woodcock’s white patches reflected up to 55 percent of light, making their feathers around 30 percent more reflective than any other bird previously measured. Woodcocks are mottled brown
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One of the most plastic-contaminated birds in the whole world is silently suffering from a novel, emerging disease scientists have coined ‘plasticosis’. It’s reportedly the first time researchers have ever documented and quantified the pathological effects of ingested plastic in wild animals, and it’s got scientists stressing about the health of more than just one