[ June 27, 2016 ] Watch live: Huge solid rocket booster to be test-fired Tuesday News and other top stories.

• [ June 27, 2016 ] Watch live: Huge solid rocket booster to be test-fired Tuesday News

  

  NASA TV coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT). A 154-foot-long (47-meter) solid rocket booster will be ignited for two minutes Tuesday at a remote test site in Utah, wrapping up a series of five ground firings to prove the motor’s readiness for flight on NASA’s Space Launch System. Sitting horizontally at a test cell at Orbital ATK’s rocket propulsion manufacturing facility in Promontory, Utah, the solid rocket motor will fire at 10:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT) for slightly more than two minut..

  >> view original



• Ancient insects camouflaged themselves in dirt and dead bugs

  

  Nature is full of camouflage artists and insects certainly are masters of disguise. Some look like the dead leaves or branches they perch on, while others mimic the flowers or lichen where they live. This ability to blend into their environment obviously allows them to survive. A team of researchers led by Bo Wang, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing, found ancient insects that have been cleverly disguising themselves for more than 100 million years. But they didn't just look like the..

  >> view original



• Draft Democratic Platform Urges Fossil Fuel Company Probe

  June 27, 2016 Draft Democratic Platform Urges Fossil Fuel Company Probe By Rachel Leven June 27 — The Justice Department must investigate fossil fuel companies for fraud over whether they allegedly misled investors and the public on climate science, the recently announced draft Democratic Party platform said. The platform shifts away from the widely touted “all-of-the-above” energy strategy toward a focus on the clean energy-centered future. Notably, the draft platform t..

  >> view original



• Denver's Union Station joins trend of urban beekeeping

  

  Outfitted in a white long-sleeved jacket and a ventilated hood, beekeeper Caitlin Rose Kenney removes a wooden frame, exposing honeycomb to the bright sunlight on the roof of Denver Union Station. Hundreds of bees buzz around her, and thousands more remain in the four Langstroth hives near her feet. They’re part of an urban beekeeping project Union Station began last summer. The station and its restaurants have invested $12,000 to start and maintain the hives. In doing so, they’ve joined a grow..

  >> view original



• What did the New Horizon's spacecraft just spot on Pluto's moon?

  

  Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, has a canyon that rivals not only Earth’s Grand Canyon, but every other canyon in the solar system.NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft offered humanity its first detailed look at the icy worlds on the edge of the solar system when it sped past Pluto on July 14, 2015, with seven instruments collecting data that scientists will continue to receive until October.The data sent back so far has already pointed to far more dynamic processes than scientists could have predicted..

  >> view original



• New state pollinator protection plan announced at Cornell

  

  Patrick Shanahan/University PhotographyDean Kathryn Boor speaks at Cornell’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies in Varna, New York, June 24, at an event to announce recommendations outlined in the NYS Pollinator Protection Plan.State officials and Kathryn Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Cornell’s College of the Agriculture and Life Sciences, announced recommendations of the New York State Pollinator Task Force at Cornell’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies in Varna, New York, June 24.The 2016-17 stat..

  >> view original



• NASA's Juno Mission Is to Be Captured by Jupiter

  

  “One of the primary goals of Juno is to learn the recipe for solar systems,” said Scott Bolton, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio who is the principal investigator for the $1.1 billion mission. “How do you make the solar system? How do you make the planets in our solar system?” Photo The Juno spacecraft captured this image of Jupiter, the yellow planet on the right, and several of its moons on June 21. Credit NASA Jupiter is the titan among p..

  >> view original



• Aging Monkeys Choose Their Friends Wisely, Study Says

  

  With age, humans become more selective about who they hang out with. And new research suggests that monkeys behave in a similar way. A team of researchers from the German Primate Center found that Barbary macaques experience motivational changes as they get older, especially when it comes to how they spend their time -- and who with. The findings, scientists say, may provide evolutionary insight into why aging humans have a tendency to become more particular.  Thomas Dressler via Getty Image..

  >> view original



• Discovery of Huge Stash of Helium is a 'Game-Changer' for Industry

  

  Experts have been warning of a looming shortage of helium for years, as the known reserves are being depleted. Now British researchers have discovered a large reserve of helium gas in Tanzania, using a new exploration method that offers hope for the future. It turns out that volcanic activity plays a critical role in creating new helium reserves, according to Diveena Danabalan, a graduate student at Durham University who presented the team’s findings at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference ..

  >> view original

Feathers, fur, and scales: Do they share a common ancestry? .	After being No. 2, new Nashville schools chief takes center stage .
Funeral arrangements made for Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley .	With a British adieu to EU, it's farewell to a Fed rate hike for now .