Stuff YOU Should Know
A Bridge of Love in Northern Africa In a world where it often seems like everyone is at war, the neighboring North African countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea have finally made peace. Once upon a time, these two countries were actually the same nation. But twenty years ago, Eritrea declared its independence from Ethiopia. Soon […]
YOU DECIDE: Space Mission to the Moon
In December, President Trump announced his administration’s plans to send American astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972. The directive, called Space Policy Directive 1 (SPD-1), was signed on the 45th anniversary of Apollo 17’s landing on the moon on December 13, 1972. In his speech, Trump said that the goal […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Trump Settles Lawsuits Last Friday, President-elect Donald Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle three civil fraud lawsuits filed against himself and against Trump University, his now-defunct real estate training program. The settlement came ten days before jury selection was set to begin and marks a reversal for Trump, who has previously claimed that he […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Self-Driving Chairs? Tired of waiting in long lines at restaurants, concerts, and amusement parks? Thanks to a Japanese car company, you may not have to some time in the future. Nissan has recently developed the ProPilot, a battery-operated chair that automatically follows another chair in front of it along a set path, maintaining a fixed […]
Home From Space!
Last year, btw brought you news of the launch of the longest-ever consecutive space mission. The two-man mission was made up of Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Komiyenko and American Scott Kelly. They were gone for nearly a year (340 days), traveled a total of 143,846,525 miles (circling the earth 5,440 times), and return-landed via parachute in […]
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Close Up on Pluto Back in 2006, NASA launched New Horizons, a mission to explore the Kuiper belt. This is the region of our solar system that lies beyond our planets and includes Pluto. On July 14, the unmanned spacecraft made its closest approach, getting within 7,800 miles of the former planet (downgraded to dwarf […]
Year in Review: Science and Technology
It seems like there are always significant advances in how we view, approach, expand on, and apply what we know and understand about both natural and applied sciences. Here’s what we learned this year: Space Exploration–As we mentioned in the Year in Review: World News post, 2014 was a big year for exploring beyond our earthly boundaries. India […]
New Adventures in Outer Space!
The European Space Agency (ESA), Europe’s equivalent of our NASA, successfully landed the first probe ever on a comet on November 12. Mission control is located at the European Space Operations Centre located in Darmstadt, Germany. The Mission Ten years ago, ESA launched a robotic space probe called Rosetta into space. Its original target was […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Be My Gaekkebreve? Valentine’s Day Around the World As Americans load up on chocolate or flowers and head out for nice dinners this weekend, people all over the world will celebrate their Valentine’s Days in other unique ways. Japan The Japanese turn the tables on traditional gender roles. Women in Japan spend this day lavishing […]