Science/Nature

[ad_1] 23 May 2024Harry Roy,BBC Radio NewcastleESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASADurham University scientists form part of the Euclid teamA space mission involving Durham University scientists, designed to help understand the dark Universe, has released five new and spectacular images.The university is a key partner of the European Space Agency’s (Esa) Euclid space telescope, which launched in July 2023.Professor Richard Massey, of Durham’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, said: "Euclid is the most sensitive camera

[ad_1] 22 May 2024Jonathan Amos,Science correspondent, @BBCAmosAirbus UKArtwork: Vigil would provide a side-on view of the gap between the Sun and the EarthBritish engineers will lead the development of a new satellite to monitor the Sun for the energetic outbursts it sends towards Earth.The announcement of Vigil, as the spacecraft will be known, is timely following the major solar storm that hit our planet earlier this month.The event, the biggest

[ad_1] The US says Russia launched a satellite last week which it believes may be capable of attacking other such probes."Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter space weapon," said Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder on Tuesday evening.It was on the "same orbit" as a US government satellite, he said, adding that Washington would continue to monitor the situation and had

[ad_1] 18 May 2024Georgina Rannard,Science reporterGetty ImagesThere is good news for anyone who enjoyed the show-stopping aurora borealis last weekend - or missed it: there are almost certainly more on the way.The huge sunspot cluster that hurled energy and gas towards Earth will rotate back towards us in around two weeks.Scientists say it will probably still be large and complex enough to generate more explosions that could hit Earth’s magnetic

[ad_1] England will get dozens of new monitored bathing sites, the government said on Monday, in the largest ever expansion of wild swimming areas. Twenty-seven new locations, most of them on rivers, have been designated, which means summer pollution testing.But the official designation of a bathing site doesn't mean it is clean. Most of the more than 400 existing swimming spots meet minimum standards but the two river sites currently

[ad_1] On a parabolic flight last year, where John experienced weightlessness for the first time, he found his day-to-day, hi-tech, microprocessor prosthetic leg would need recalibrating.In fact, John thinks he might need several prosthetic legs on the ISS. "There would be a prosthesis for running, a back up for the microprocessor prosthesis, and then there's the mechanical one, which will probably need to be worn inside the spacesuit for launch

[ad_1] Europe has rights to one berth on the international laboratory every year or so, and although the orbiting platform is due to be decommissioned in the early 2030s, a number of commercial vehicles are due to replace it - some with strong European backing. But the US space agency (Nasa) is also committed to going back to the Moon this decade under its Artemis programme, and, with Esa being

[ad_1] In Russellville, Arkansas, 300 couples from across the country signed up, saying "I do" just before the sky went black. As the sky brightened, the group cut wedding cakes and danced - all part of the aptly named Total Eclipse of the Heart festival. Following the Moon one state over, in Ellsinore, Missouri, was amateur astronomer Darcy Howard, who had driven from her home in central Arkansas to be

[ad_1] Last month was the world's warmest February in modern times, the EU's climate service says, extending the run of monthly records to nine in a row.Each month since June 2023 has seen new temperature highs for the time of year.The world's sea surface is at its hottest on record, while Antarctic sea-ice has again reached extreme lows.Temperatures are still being boosted by the Pacific's El Niño weather event, but

[ad_1] "We have a well-sealed system, you don't smell it," says Joe Beach, reassuringly. He is co-founder and chief executive of Starfire Energy, a US-based firm that is developing a means of producing ammonia from renewable energy, air and water. But, he argues, the pungency of ammonia is actually a benefit. If there's a leak, you'll soon know.Ammonia, or NH3, is nothing more than nitrogen and hydrogen, both highly abundant