Here First - Science and Technology Blog

Recently, NASA foretold the winners of 12 honours for analysing the biologic consequences of radiation. In the top of the list is a $1.75 million project to irradiate eighteen squirrel monkeys in an attempt to determine how space radiation affects the central nervous system. If its accepted, the experimentation it's going to be the first NASA-funded primate project to start after more than 30 years. The experimentation is destined to enquire the effects of solar flares and astronomic cosmic irradiations: both will bombard cosmonauts with burdened particles in heavier numbers once they leave the protective cover of Earth's magnetosphere. Since 2004, the United States has started the big plan of returning the astronauts to the moon, with the ultimate goal of attending Mars. You can find evidence that space irradiation impacts the brain, but it's not very clear the real level of danger it poses to deep-space adventurers. NASA states the new experiment will show what it...

NASA has detected a deep space sound that defies belief or any explanation. They don't have a single clue about its origin, according to Alan Kogut from the Goddard Space Center. According to NASA, "the source of this cosmic radio background remains a mystery". It's not primordial stars, it's not any known radio source, and in fact, the problem here is that there is "not enough radio galaxies to account for the signal". In other words, nothing in the known cosmos is capable of producing this deafening sound. University of Maryland at College Park's Dale Fixsen—part of NASA's ARCADE team— says, that to get this kind of signal, "you'd have to pack [radio galaxies] into the universe like sardines. There wouldn't be any space left between one galaxy and the next". So in more scientific terms: They don't have a flying frak about what the hell this may be. NASA

 Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth Credit: Mir 27 Crew; Copyright: CNES Explanation: Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse . The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth . This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon . This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station, which was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001.