Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 2:35 pm
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory prepares for its annual Open House event with plenty of hands-on activities and opportunities to talk with scientists and engineers. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , invites the public to its ... More »
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 1:35 pm
Transit data are rich with information. By measuring the depth of the dip in brightness and knowing the size of the star, scientists can determine the size or radius of the planet. The orbital period of the planet can be determined by measuring the elapsed tim... More »
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 11:30 am
Providing a possible new route to hydrogen-gas production, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have devised a series of chemical reactions that allows them, for the first time, to split water in a nontoxic, noncorrosive way, at rela... More »
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 10:35 am
This artist concept features NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover along with an illustrated astronaut bird. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will host a 3-day NASA Social for 25 of its social media followers Aug. 3-5 at the agency’s Jet Propulsion... More »
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 9:00 am
The last Venus transit, pictured here, occurred in 2004. The next one won’t happen until 2117. [Credit: David Cortner] Today Venus will pass between Earth and the sun, appearing as a small black dot moving across the sun’s face. The transit of Venus is a rare ... More »
Monday, June 4, 2012 | 12:30 pm
A nuzzle of the neck, a stroke of the wrist, a brush of the knee—these caresses often signal a loving touch, but can also feel highly aversive, depending on who is delivering the touch, and to whom. Interested in how the brain makes connections between touch a... More »
Monday, June 4, 2012 | 11:30 am
This large copper cylindrical vessel is the Enriched Xenon Observatory 200’s (EXO-200) time projection chamber, the part of the detector that contains the liquid xenon, isotopically enriched in xenon-136. The photo shows the chamber being inserted into the cry... More »
Monday, June 4, 2012 | 12:00 am
(Left) Fred BS ’62 and Joyce Hameetman during the 2009 dedication of the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, which houses the Hameetman Auditorium. (Right) Fred Hameetman (far left) with fellow classmates at the 1962 grand opening of Winnett Student ... More »
Friday, June 1, 2012 | 9:05 am
NASA’s Global Hawk soars aloft from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The NASA Global Hawk is well-suited for hurricane investigations because it can over-fly hurricanes at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet with flight durations of up to 28 hours – something pil... More »
Friday, June 1, 2012 | 12:00 am
Medicare’s new method for buying medical supplies and equipment—everything from wheelchairs and hospital beds to insulin shots and oxygen tanks—is doomed to face severe difficulties, according to a new study by Caltech researchers. The Center for Medicar... More »
Thursday, May 31, 2012 | 4:35 pm
Artist concept of lightning on Venus. Image credit: ESA A Venus transit across the face of the sun is a relatively rare event — occurring in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. There have been all of 53 transits of Venus across the sun between... More »
Thursday, May 31, 2012 | 11:05 am
Cassini imaging scientists used views like this one to help them identify the source locations for individual jets spurting ice particles, water vapor and trace organic compounds from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science... More »