There are trillions of bacteria living in our bodies, making up complex communities of microbes regulating processes like digestion and immunity. For Caltech biologist Sarkis Mazmanian, they also make up the focus of his research: understanding how the “good” ... More »
An artist’s depiction of the twin spacecraft that comprise NASA’s Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. During the GRAIL mission’s science phase, spacecraft (Ebb and Flow) transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them ... More »
Later this week, a four-wheeled robot designed and built by Caltech undergraduate students will maneuver, apparently under its own guidance, through various challenges at the NASA Johnson Space Center Rock Yard in Houston. In actuality, the robot’s every move ... More »
DNA tile ribbons (shown here in an atomic force microscopy image) can store information in their arrangement of tiles—12.5nm x 4nm x 2nm self-assembled DNA structures. This information can be propagated during ribbon growth, and replicated in a cycle of ribb... More »
These series of radar images of asteroid 1999 RQ36 were obtained by NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. on Sept 23, 1999. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in , has accurately determined the mass ... More »
Artist’s concept of NuSTAR in orbit. NuSTAR has a 33-foot (10-meter) mast that deploys after launch to separate the optics modules (right) from the detectors in the focal plane (left). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will hold a news conference on Wednesda... More »
One day each spring, kept secret until the last minute, Caltech seniors ditch their classes and vanish from campus, leaving behind complex, imaginative scavenger hunts, mazes, puzzles, and other challenges that are carefully planned out to occupy the undercl... More »
NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ. Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a ... More »
Artist’s concept showing NASA’s NuSTAR mission orbiting Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Final pre-launch preparations are underway for NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. The mission, which will use X-ray vision to hunt for hidden bl... More »
Sunday evening’s solar eclipse dazzled hundreds of sun gazers who gathered on Caltech’s campus to watch the rare alignment, a partial annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that wowed spectators around the world. In an event organized by the Caltech Astronomy Ou... More »
What makes a piece of armor effective? Sure, it needs to be strong, and it should be lightweight. But what is it about a material’s composition that gives it such properties? And can we develop materials that provide even better protection? With decades’ worth... More »
This artist’s concept depicts a comet-like tail of a possible disintegrating super Mercury-size planet candidate as it transits, or crosses, its parent star, named KIC 12557548. The results are based on data from NASA’s Kepler mission. At an orbital distance o... More »
