China to build constellation of very-low Earth orbit satellites

China is planning on building up a constellation of very-low Earth orbit satellites, and the first launch will be this September, the Global Times learned from China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC) on Wednesday. Very-low Earth orbit refers to an altitude of 150 to 300 kilometers away from the Earth. Compared with traditional orbits, […]

Shanghai marks 86th anniversary of Battle of Songhu with commemorative activities

Shanghai held a series of commemorative activities on Sunday, August 13th, marking the 86th anniversary of the Battle of Songhu, also known as the Battle of Shanghai. These events aimed to honor the soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives during the battle against Japanese invaders, while also providing an opportunity for more people to […]

Exclusive: Project manager urges smooth collaboration as Indian equipment for China Space Station cooperation struggles with export clearance

"We cannot speculate on why it has taken so long to get clearance or what the issues are," said Jayant Murthy, a senior Indian astrophysicist and manager of a project dubbed the first-ever space technology collaboration between China and India. It was expected to be the first international payload to go to the China Space […]

Australian fairy circles first to be found outside Africa

Beyond the small mining town of Newman in Western Australia lie the first fairy circles scientists have described outside of Africa. These patches of bare soil dot outback grasslands in almost regular polka-dot patterns, just like the puzzling circle landscapes known from Namibia, says ecologist Stephan Getzin of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research-UFZ in […]

How Zika became the prime suspect in microcephaly mystery

The prime suspect in Brazil’s recent surge in birth defects may be convicted this summer, in the sweltering cities of Colombia. That’s when the first big wave of pregnant women infected with Zika virus last fall will begin to give birth. Whether or not these babies are born with shrunken brains, a condition known as […]

Ancient arachnid was almost a spider

A 305-million-year-old arachnid might shed some light on spider evolution. Researchers discovered the fossilized remains of Idmonarachne brasieri curled up in ironstone from central France. The legs, mouthparts and body of the 1-centimeter-long arachnid were all spiderlike. But the ancient arthropod was missing a key feature of all true spiders: silk-spinning organs. I. brasieri also […]

Typhoid toxin aids survival in mice

A DNA-damaging protein in typhoid bacteria might keep infected animals alive and provide a safe haven for the microbes. Typhoid toxin, a protein produced by the typhoid fever-causing bacterium Salmonella enterica Typhi, tears DNA molecules apart. But the protein actually prolonged survival and reduced gut inflammation in mice infected with S. enterica, an international team […]

Viking-era woman sheds light on Iceland’s earliest settlers

ATLANTA — Iceland’s “woman in blue,” the partial skeleton of a young woman found in 1938 in a grave with Viking-era objects, was a child of some of the island’s earliest settlers, researchers reported April 14 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Tooth development and wear suggest she was between […]

Gelada monkeys know their linguistic math

The grunts, moans and wobbles of gelada monkeys, a chatty species residing in Ethiopia’s northern highlands, observe a universal mathematical principle seen until now only in human language. The new research, published online April 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on the evolution of primate communication and complex human […]