The sky is gray, but you’re not sure if the clouds will clear or rain will pour. Do you grab an umbrella when you go outside? Decisions like this are filled with ambiguity, and we’re faced with them every day, whether picking stocks or choosing the sweetest wa... More »
A team of computer programmers at JPL is giving earthlings the power to journey through the solar system using a new interactive Web-based tool called “Eyes on the Solar System.” The “Eyes on the Solar System” interface combines video game technology and NASA ... More »
A JPL-led research team has confirmed what Walt Disney told us all along: Earth really is a small world, after all. Since Charles Darwin’s time, scientists have speculated that the solid Earth might be expanding or contracting. That was the prevailing belief... More »
Scientists often find strange and unexpected things when they look at materials at the nanoscale—the level of single atoms and molecules. This holds true even for the most common materials, such as water. Case in point: In the last couple of years,... More »
Much like cities organize contingency plans and supplies for emergencies, chronic infectious diseases like HIV form reservoirs that ensure their survival in adverse conditions. But these reservoirs—small populations of viruses or bacteria of a specific type ... More »
Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known “Trojan” asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth. Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet near stable points... More »
While many hotel rooms, recording studios, and even some homes are built with materials to help absorb or reflect sound, mechanisms to truly control the direction of sound waves are still in their infancy. However, researchers at Caltech have now created the f... More »
NASA’s JPL Â and Chevron Corporation in San Ramon, have announced a partnership to develop a range of advanced technologies that can be used in harsh environments, both on Earth and in space. “We are proud that the same pool of talent that sends rovers to Mars... More »
Artificial intelligence has been the inspiration for countless books and movies, as well as the aspiration of countless scientists and engineers. Researchers at Caltech have now taken a major step toward creating artificial intelligence—not in a robot or a s... More »
Dawn took this image during its current orbit of Vesta, traveling from the day side to the night side. The large structure near the south pole that showed up so prominently in previous images is visible in the center of the illuminated surface. Compared to oth... More »
New observations from the Herschel Space Observatory show a bizarre, twisted ring of dense gas at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Only a few portions of the ring, which stretches across more than 600 light-years, were known before. Herschel’s view reveals ... More »
Edward M. Stolper, provost of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and William E. Leonard Professor of Geology, has been named a Foreign Member of Great Britain’s Royal Society. He is one of eight scientists elected in 2011. Stolper’s election br... More »
