An experiment that was conducted aboard — or rather outside of — the International Space Station, proves that biological organisms can survive the harsh environment of space for extended periods of time. The experiment was designed investigate how human expeditions to Mars could one day sustain themselves, and how the biology of extremophiles — organisms that thrive in conditions that would be deadly to other creatures here on Earth — would fare in the harshness of space. The success of the experiment not only provided surprisingly positive results, it also offers new evidence that life on Earth may have originated from elsewhere in the cosmos.
read more

We’re all familiar with the concept of early spaceflight experiments that sent animals into space, including fruit flies, various rodents, all the way up through the quintessential space-monkey. These high-flying menageries were sent aloft to study the effects of travel into space on biological organisms, as no-one at the time knew what would happen to a human being if they were sent to that high an altitude.
read more

A small asteroid passed extremely close to the Earth on January 9, missing us by only 192,500 kilometers (119,500 miles), roughly half the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Because of its small size, the asteroid, called 2017 AG13, wasn’t spotted until two days before its approach.
read more

Researchers at NASA have developed a new substance that generates minute amounts of electricity, for use in a bandage that takes advantage of an electrically-based healing process. This new substance, a polymer called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), produces a mild electrical current when pressure or heat, such as body heat, is applied to it.

“This method utilizes generated low level electrical stimulation to promote the wound healing process while simultaneously protecting it from infection,” according to NASA.
read more