Christian Science Monitor | Science

NASA to exchange 'flagship' missions for small-ball projects

NASA is drastically scaling back its Mars exploration initiatives in exchange for smaller, more efficient missions, agency officials say.

Will 2012 be the year scientists find the 'God Particle'? (+video)

Researchers at CERN are cranking up the power on their Large Hadron Collider, in a last-ditch attempt to uncover the Higgs Boson, the so-called God Particle thought to be responsible for giving matter the property of mass. This will be their last chance to find the elusive particle before the particle-smasher is shut down for an upgrade.

Is NASA giving up on Mars? (+video)

NASA's 2013 budget includes deep cuts to its planetary science mission, particularly its efforts to send spacecraft to Mars. Instead, the space agency will focus on human spaceflight and infrared astronomy. Is NASA now heading down the wrong path?

Will Japan hold a referendum to scrap nuclear power?

A year an earthquake and a tsunami caused the world's worst nuclear disaster in a quarter century, a group of activists in Osaka, Japan, are seeking to hold a referendum that would ban nuclear power for Osaka.

Why you shouldn't expect a hoverboard any time soon

Researchers at NYU say they have made a breakthrough in understanding how insects manage to remain in one place in the air. But building vehicles that can do the same is a tall order.

Obama's NASA budget favors a space telescope over Mars exploration

The proposed 2013 federal budget shifts funding away from missions to Mars and emphasizes manned spaceflight and astronomy.

Shocker: Video of live woolly mammoth not entirely authentic (+videos)

Footage from a Russian filmmaker's personal history project was altered to create a widely discussed – and now thoroughly debunked – sighting of a woolly mammoth.

NASA calls for new spaceships to taxi astronauts to space station

NASA is looking for two private firms to design and build 'space taxis' to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

What makes a planet livable? Five things scientists look for.

Since 1995, astronomers have been hunting in earnest for possible havens for life outside the solar system. So far, they've detected more than 550 extrasolar planets, or exoplanets. Another 2,000-plus possible planets are waiting in the wings for confirmation. Researchers are working on ways to identify a "potentially Earth-like" planet – even if it isn't an identical twin. One group, led by Washington State University astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch, has proposed a way to rate any planet's potential habitability and how similar some of its basic properties are to Earth's. Based on the rating systems, published in a recent issue of the journal Astrobiology, here is what the team looks for.

Mars budget cuts 'irrational' says former NASA science chief

NASA faces deep budget cuts, forcing it to eliminate some missions to explore Mars. The cuts will allow the agency to continue its plans to build a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA moon waypoint could be first deep-space human outpost

According to a Feb. 3 memo from William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, a team is being formed to develop a cohesive plan for exploring a spot in space known as the Earth-moon libration point 2.

Obama to slash NASA budget. Will space exploration suffer?

NASA’s planetary science division would shoulder a heavy share of the cut. Under the president’s proposal, its budget would drop from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, a 20 percent reduction.

Red Planet meets red ink: budget ax could chop two NASA Mars missions

The budget to be released by President Obama Monday is expected to include a one-third cut in NASA's Mars program, in part to pay for other cost overruns within the agency.

Remarkably blurry video captures live 'woolly mammoth'

A spectacularly low-quality video from Siberia appears to capture a woolly mammoth, an animal that has been extinct in mainland Russia for about 10,000 years. Either that or it's a bear with a fish in its mouth.

Purple squirrel spotted in Pennsylvania. Did it fall into a portable toilet?

Purple squirrel: A couple in Jersey Shore, Pa., spotted a squirrel with a purple hue. Speculations as to how the animal got that way include pokeberries, fracking fluid, and a portable toilet.

Mars missions cancelled? NASA budget could prompt deep cuts.

While exactly how much money is allocated to NASA is unknown, insiders expect a significant reduction in the portion slotted for robotic exploration of Mars and other solar system bodies.

Enormous subglacial Lake Vostok could hold clues for alien life

Since drilling through miles of ice to reach the massive underground lake, scientists have begun to speculate on what exists, or lives, in the frigid freshwater.

Scientists unravel mystery of zebra stripes

Why do zebras have stripes? One study suggests that the animals' distinctive vertical black-and-white pattern may have evolved to confuse biting insects.

Asian, American continents about to collide (in 50 million years or so)

A team of Yale geologists predict that Asia and the Americas will smash into each other, forming a new supercontinent dubbed 'Amasia.'

Amazing 3-D images show how earthquakes warp the Earth's surface

Laser scans of the Earth's surface published in the journal Science reveal how earthquakes distort the planet's surface, showing exactly where the ground moved and by how much.