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When Crocodiles Ate Dinosaurs
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
11/21/09 |
| Summary: Scientists have unearthed the remains of five ancient crocodiles, including three newly named species. The finding provides new information about the evolutionary history of life on Earth. |
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Receding Ice, Rising Oceans
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| Topic: Climate |
11/20/09 |
| Summary: Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, recently discussed how receding glaciers could have catastrophic consequences for Earth's climate. Increasing loss of glacial ice will lead to increasing water levels in the oceans. Ultimately, these changes could profoundly affect the biosphere. |
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Hunting for Planets in the Dark
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| Topic: New Planets |
11/19/09 |
| Summary: A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find. |
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Subaru Spots Strange Spin
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
11/18/09 |
| Summary: Astronomers have found that the extrasolar planet HAT-P-7b has a retrograde or highly tilted orbit. Studying such planets is important in understanding the diversity of planetary systems and assessing current models of how planets migrate. The findings could help astrobiologists in the search for habitable planets beyond our solar system. |
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Primordial Soup Not Simmering
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
11/17/09 |
| Summary: Features discovered in 3.4 billion-year-old rocks indicate that temperatures on early Earth may have been dramatically cooler than previously believed. The finding could have implications in understanding the conditions in which life first evolved on our planet. |
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Taking a Bite of Antarctic Ice
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| Topic: Mars |
11/16/09 |
| Summary: NASA’s IceBite team will spend six weeks studying a place on Earth that resembles the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The ultimate goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for a future mission to the martian polar north. |
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LCROSS Confirms Water on the Moon
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| Topic: Moon to Mars |
11/15/09 |
| Summary: Preliminary data from NASA’s LCROSS mission indicates that water ice is present in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. LCROSS crashed into the Cabeus crater on October 9, creating a plume of material. Water ice could be a vital resource for future human explorers. |
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Lacking Lithium
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
11/14/09 |
| Summary: A census of 500 stars has successfully linked the 'lithium mystery' observed in our Sun to the presence of planetary systems. The study shows that Sun-like stars with planetary systems lack lithium, and could help astronomers identify more stars that host planets. |
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Measuring Climate Change
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| Topic: Climate |
11/13/09 |
| Summary: Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, recently spoke with Dr. Marty Mlynczak of NASA's Langley Research Center about the limitations of the technology we have on hand to measure climate change. Things we can't measure could be important in understanding the links between climate and habitability. |
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Discoveries in the Deep
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| Topic: Moon to Mars |
11/12/09 |
| Summary: Scientists from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have been using Pavilion Lake as a testing ground for the future human exploration of other worlds. |
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