MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (UPI) — A Dutch-led team of scientists has announced the discovery of the first dinosaur tracks to be found on the Arabian Peninsula. Led by Anne Schulp of the Maastricht Museum of Natural History in the Netherlands, the researchers found evidence of a large ornithopod dinosaur, as well as a herd of 11 […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Dinosaur tracks found on Arabian Peninsula

PARIS (UPI) — The European Space Agency says it is ready to help the U.S. space agency monitor the Phoenix spacecraft’s descent and landing on Mars this weekend. The ESA said its Mars Express mission control team has completed major preparations for supporting the entry, descent and landing phases of the U.S. National Aeronautics and […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on ESA ready to assist NASA’s Phoenix mission

MILTON KEYNES, England (UPI) — British researchers say many improvements are needed in the care provided to people in the final stages of dementia. Open University Professor Jan Draper and Clinical Nurse Specialist Deborah Birch reached that conclusion after reviewing 29 published studies conducted in nine nations during the past 10 years. “We must act […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Change needed in end-of-life dementia care

PARIS (UPI) — The Ulysses observatory, a U.S.-European mission, has won an international award for the scientific productivity of the spacecraft, now orbiting the sun. The European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will receive the 2008 International SpaceOps Award for Outstanding Achievement from the International Committee on Technical Interchange for Space […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on ESA, NASA to share space achievement award

DURHAM, N.C. (UPI) — U.S. engineers say the world is moving closer to the day when robots will perform surgery with minimal or no guidance from a doctor. Duke University researchers say their feasibility studies may represent the first concrete steps toward achieving such a space age vision of the future. For their experiments, the […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Robots may someday operate without doctors

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (UPI) — U.S. space shuttle Discovery will undergo a terminal countdown test this week in preparation for its STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the shuttle, now at its Kennedy Space Center launch pad, will under go its “dress rehearsal” countdown Tuesday through Friday. […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Shuttle ready for terminal countdown test

BEDFORD, England (UPI) — A British scientist suggests hurricanes and other storms are increasing in intensity and are limiting the growth of some corals. The Earthwatch Institute-supported study focused on the ability of corals in Belize to “recruit” new coral into their communities. “Increasing evidence now shows that storms are becoming more intense due to […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Increasingly intense storms threaten coral

BOULDER, Colo. (UPI) — U.S. climate scientists are forecasting a 3-in-5 chance of record low amounts of Arctic sea ice forming this year. The University of Colorado-Boulder researchers said their forecast of a 59 percent chance of record low Arctic sea ice is based on satellite data, temperature records and a preponderance of younger and […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Record low 2008 Arctic ice a probability

GREENBELT, Md. (UPI) — The U.S. space agency says its Polar satellite has concluded its 12-year mission to study the Northern and Southern lights. When the Polar satellite was launched in February 1996, the plan was for a two-year mission to study the lights that form a ring around Earth’s north and south magnetic poles. […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on NASA’s Polar satellite ends its mission

WOODS HOLE, Mass. (UPI) — U.S. marine scientists say they’ve established a network of electronic buoys along Massachusetts Bay’s shipping lanes to protect endangered right whales. The Right Whale Listening Network developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recognizes the whales’ distinctive calls and routes the information to a public […]

««  Read More      Comments Off on Buoy network protects endangered whales