“It’s on the money,” said Paul Nied, one of three telescope operators for the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory near San Diego. Nied was sitting in a large black chair at the helm of the controls for the massive telescope, which is nestl... More »
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena again played host to the annual Los Angeles regional Ocean Sciences Bowl tournament on Jan. 20. This event, known as the Los Angeles Surf Bowl, has been a staple at JPL since 2000. The tournament saw eight schools from Los... More »
The U.S. Postal Service has issued two new Priority Mail stamps celebrating NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most complex telescope ever put in space. The stamps, issued Jan. 22, feature images of the cosmos captured by Webb s... More »
In the latest of a series of innovative designs for wearable sensors that use sweat to identify and measure physiological conditions, Caltech’s Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering, has devised an “electronic skin” that continuously monitors nin... More »
In a pioneering study published in the journal Nature on January 18, researchers from Caltech, the University of Chicago, and Maynooth University in Ireland have discovered neural-network-like abilities in molecular self-assembly. The research, led by Profess... More »
Researchers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have reported in a new study that the Greenland Ice Sheet has lost approximately one-fifth more ice mass in the past four decades than previously estimated. The Greenland Ice Sheet has shed about one-fifth m... More »
In January 2004, twin NASA rovers named Spirit and Opportunity touched down on opposite sides of Mars, kicking off a new era of interplanetary robotic exploration. They arrived in dramatic fashion three weeks apart, each nestled in a cluster of airbags that bo... More »
One year ago, Caltech’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) launched into space to demonstrate and test three technological innovations that are among those necessary to make space solar power a reality. The spaceborne testbed demonstrated the ability to b... More »
Bacteria are remarkably good swimmers—a trait that can be detrimental to human health. One of the most common bacterial infections in a healthcare setting comes from bacteria entering the body through catheters, thin tubes inserted in the urinary tract. Though... More »
The chemical industry has long been shadowed by unwelcome images of billowing smokestacks and pipes discharging toxic effluent. Modern manufacturing practices have done much to mitigate the industry’s environmental impact, but there remains room for improvemen... More »
? While stationary for two weeks during Mars solar conjunction in November 2023, NASA’s Curiosity rover used its front and rear black-and-white Hazcams to capture 12 hours of a Martian day. The rover’s shadow is visible on the surface in these images taken by ... More »
NASA’s Juno spacecraft manaed by JPL in Pasadena will on Tuesday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the most volcanic worl... More »
