SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY
Life May Have Begun in Upper Atmosphere
An experiment that simulated chemical reactions in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan suggests that life could have begun in the sky. It was the first experiment to produce amino acids and the nucleotide bases without the need for liquid water, researchers said.
In other space news, astronomers have gotten a rare view of a recent asteroid collision. It was the first time scientists have been able to observe such a collision while it was happening.
Elsewhere, scientists enlisted teenagers to scan thousands of computerized "star plots" in a galactic treasure hunt for pulsars in which two students have hit the jackpot.
And Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceship Enterprise recently made its first solo test flight. If all continues to go well, it will soon take people on short trips above the atmosphere. The ticket price: $200,000.
Science in the Media
Newspapers:
Magazines and Web Sites:
The Science-Media Intersection:
Subscribe to Our Content!
Visit our RSS Feeds page to choose among 13 customized feeds, or create a free My AmSci account to request an email notice whenever a specified author, department or discipline appears online.