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Apophis has been high on the list of potential planet-threatening near-earth objects since its discovery in 2004, when initial projections indicated the three-and-a-half-football-fields-long space rock had a 2.7 percent possibility of impacting Earth during a flyby in 2029. The likelihood of that 2029 impact quickly dwindled to zero as more telescope data was collected, but that same data then suggested that Apophis retained a small chance of impacting Earth just a few years later when it returned for another close pass in 2036....

The universe is full of interesting places to travel! Now all we have to do is figure out how to get there.

The satellite’s final orbital route will regularly take it over both of Earth’s poles. Working in tandem with its sister satellite, Landsat 8, NASA will receive pictures of the entire globe every eight days. To do this, Landsat 9 is equipped with instruments like the Operational Land Imager-2 and the Thermal Infrared Sensor-2. With all these component parts, Landsat 9 can scrutinize Earth with incredible precision. “As the impacts of the climate crisis intensify in the United States and across the globe, Landsat 9 will provide data and imagery to help make science-based decisions on key issues including water use, wildfire impacts, coral reef degradation, glacier and ice-shelf retreat, and tropical deforestation,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a NASA statement....

NASA has good reason for this unique set-up. The aircraft is called the X-59, and its creators hope it will break the speed of sound without producing a “boom” sound. If it can smash through the sound barrier quieter than a traditional supersonic plane, then maybe it could cruise over land without disturbing the civilians on the ground below. So why isn’t there a windshield? To keep the plane aerodynamic, NASA gave it a very long nose....

Astrobiology is also a key objective for NASA’s Perseverance rover’s current mission. One of the key initiatives of the mission that began when the rover was launched in 2020 is capturing samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The space car is into its second science campaign, collecting rock-core samples in Mars’ Jezero Crater. Scientists have long believed that this 28 mile-wide crater could be a top prospect for finding signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet....

In the past few years, the National Park Service (NPS) has cracked down on recreational activities of all sorts in an effort to manage human impact on natural environments. Most recently, the agency denied a request by the South Dakota governor’s office to allow Fourth of July fireworks at Mount Rushmore, citing tribal opposition and wildfire risk as reasons for its decision. This verdict is in line with others the NPS has made lately that aim to regulate recreational activities, including hiking, biking, and scenic air tours....

A month later, a second team posted their own preliminary evidence that three similar cases had appeared in the US during the height of the Omicron surge, between November 2021 and February 2022. SARS-CoV-2 has produced hybrids before, mostly involving the Alpha variant. But none of those ended up driving widespread outbreaks, and instead disappeared in the face of newly evolved strains. Organisms swap genetic code with surprising regularity—influenza viruses, for example, have a modular structure that allows them to swap whole segments with one another....

“We believe AI should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as is possible safely,” OpenAI writes in its first blog post, published just a few moments ago. The goal? Make the scope of A.I less narrow. Right now, machines are either good at identifying people, or answering questions, but not both. But the ultimate goal in A.I research is to “generalize” intelligence—have an algorithm that can do it all....

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Exeter in the U.K. released their findings earlier this week in the journal Advanced Materials. This could pave the way for smart fabric that could change appearance in response to heat or pressure. By studying the fruit of Margaritaria nobilis, a South American tropical plant commonly known as the “bastard hogberry,” scientists identified the structural origins of the seed’s color, a bright blue....

Almost everything that makes a good Star Wars flick is present–ominous voiceovers, lightsaber battles in snow, nobodies in the desert, and a complete and total void of Jar Jar Binks. Even the acting, what little we see of it, seems a galaxy better than the wooden stumbling of Hayden Christensen‘s portrayal of a young Darth Vader in love. This trailer focuses on Daisey Ridely’s Rey, about whom we know very little, and features a ton of dogfights between TIE fighters and X-wings, about which we can never know enough....

In late July, the Navy awarded a contract worth up to $39.2 million to Teledyne Brown Engineering for these underwater sensing robots. Formally the program is for “littoral battlespace sensing-gliders,” or LBS-G, a clunky acronym rich with meaning. Breaking down the jargon helps reveal what these craft will do, and where. “Littoral” is coastal, the spaces along major bodies of water that are of profound interest for human use, home to much boat traffic, and especially to any incursions that threaten activity on land....

North Korea is widely considered to have both nuclear warheads (the explosive head of a weapon) and missiles (which deliver the warheads) that can likely reach most corners of the continental U.S. Whether the country can put the two together into a viable nuclear weapon is a bit of an open question—they have yet to show definitely that their missiles can carry a nuclear payload—but it remains a serious international issue....

The samples Curiosity’s instruments analyzed, gathered from the Gale crater at the site of an ancient lake, found organic carbon in the same density that it exists in barren places on Earth, such as the Atacama Desert. Knowing how much of the stuff there is on Mars gives planetary scientists a better idea of just how likely it was that life was ever on the planet. Carbon bound to a hydrogen atom is dubbed organic carbon, the compound that forms the basis of life—at least, as we define it here at home....

The findings are just a glimpse into the complex ways climate change can upend the planet’s wildlife, in this case shifting seasonal norms that have been around thousands of years in just a few decades. “Spring is arriving much earlier across most of North America, and there is important geographic variability to that change,” says Eric Waller, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey in California and the lead author of the new study....

You know those people in your office who are always sitting there rubbing in hand sanitizer gel, while you shiver at the thought of the feel of that stuff and wonder why they don’t just stand up and go wash their hands? Well, the stuff won’t even protect you from getting a cold. But washing your hands might.Researchers have developed an auto key that blocks the driver’s cell phone from being used while it’s in the ignition....

While sugar cookies, gingerbread, and chocolate chips get most of the hype as the year draws to a close, a tiny “super grain” might have the potential to make a super cookie. In a recent study published in the Journal of Food Science researchers from Washington State University (WSU) show how two types of quinoa that are bred to specifically grow in Washington state can be a high-fiber, high-protein additive to the flour used to bake cookies....

Nintendo first announced plans for the upcoming Pokémon 3DS bundle during its latest Nintendo Direct event. Along with announcing Cloud’s appearance in Super Smash Bros, the gaming giant introduced plans to provide Poké-fans with all the hype they’d need to gear up for the re-release of Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow on the Nintendo eShop. Now that the regular-size 3DS has made its way west, the faceplate craze can finally take root....

“A former NASA astronaut provides experienced guidance for the private astronauts during pre-flight preparation through mission execution,” the agency explained in its statement on Monday. “Based on their past on-orbit and NASA experience, the [private astronaut mission] commander provides a link between the resident ISS expedition crew and the private astronauts and reduces risk to ISS operations and PAM/ISS safety.” The new resumé qualification comes via “lessons learned” from April’s first all-private crew stay in the ISS courtesy of Axiom Space, during which time things got a bit tense....

We soon learned that our bodies are an entire ecosystem teeming with bacteria, the majority of which reside on our skin and inside our guts. They help digest our food, keep our bowels moving, and when they can, prevent those disease-causing bacteria from making themselves at home. We also found that some microbes are even more influential than others. Bacteria like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, which are the organisms found in fermented foods like yogurt and kimchi, are thought to make our guts healthier....