Month: August 2024

10 of Futurama’s smartest science references and gags

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When “Futurama” first beamed onto planet Earth in 1999, it was no surprise that a TV series co-created by “The Simpsons” mastermind Matt Groening was packed with smart references to pop culture and current affairs. But beyond the conveyor belt of gags about “Star Trek” and the state of planet Earth, the show’s team of writers — many of whom are science graduates — have also managed to squeeze in plenty of ingenious references to physics, mathematics and other branches of the sciences. Below we’ve picked out √100 (okay, 10)…

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NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover

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2 min read NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover NASA’s VIPER robotic Moon rover is seen here in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover. VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was designed to map the…

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‘Alien: Romulus’ is just 1 week away. Watch 2 new terrifying clips to get ready (video)

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We only have seven more days to wait until director Fede Alvarez’s highly-anticipated sequel “Alien: Romulus” makes us once again scream in outer space. The film will introduce us to the abandoned outer space slaughterhouse that houses a hive of extraterrestrial biomechanical beasts known as xenomorphs. With just one week to wait, a new pair of sneak peeks help whet our appetites for this seventh entry in the storied sci-fi horror franchise. The first recently-hatched teaser titled “10 Days” attacks your senses with a haunting sonic cue replicated from Ridley…

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Watch an exclusive clip from Hulu’s ‘Solar Opposites’ Season 5 (video)

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With due respect to “Futurama,” one of Hulu’s funniest adult animated shows over the past few years has been “Solar Opposites” and its wacky gang of marooned aliens on our Big Blue Marble adjusting to life amid humans. With four seasons already in the can after a successful 2020 launch, 20th Television Animation’s irreverent sci-fi series from executive producers Mike McMahan (“Star Trek: Lower Decks“) and Josh Bycel (“Happy Endings”) returns on Aug. 12 with a 12-episode fifth season. To reignite fan enthusiasm and bring everyone back up to speed,…

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NASA shuts down NEOWISE asteroid hunter after almost 15 years in space

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A prolific NASA asteroid-hunting mission has come to an end. Engineers sent a final command to the agency’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft on Thursday (Aug. 8), ordering the probe to turn off its transmitter after nearly 15 years of operation in low Earth orbit.  “The NEOWISE mission has been an extraordinary success story as it helped us better understand our place in the universe by tracking asteroids and comets that could be hazardous for us on Earth,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate…

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NASA Hosts Astronaut Don Pettit Prelaunch Interviews

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NASA astronaut Don Pettit during crew qualification exams at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Credits: GCTC/Roscosmos NASA astronaut Don Pettit is available for limited interview opportunities beginning at 10 a.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 16, to discuss his upcoming mission to the International Space Station in September. The virtual interviews will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA+ through a variety of platforms including social media. Interested media must submit a request no later than 12 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15,…

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Astro Campers SCoPE Out New Worlds

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Learn Home Astro Campers SCoPE Out New… Astrophysics Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Stories Science Activation Highlights Citizen Science   2 min read Astro Campers SCoPE Out New Worlds Teachers at Smokey Mountain Elementary School have collaborated with the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) program’s Smoky Mountains STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Collaborative (SMSC) and project coordinator, Randi Neff, to create a summer camp for students who are passionate about STEM topics. What started as a small summer camp has since evolved into Astro…

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A ‘FURST’ of its Kind: Sounding Rocket Mission to Study Sun as a Star

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) By Jessica Barnett  From Earth, one might be tempted to view the Sun as a unique celestial object like no other, as it’s the star our home planet orbits and the one our planet relies on most for heat and light. But if you took a step back and compared the Sun to the other stars NASA has studied over the years, how would it compare? Would it still be so unique? The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) aims…

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NASA Teams Change Brakes to Keep Artemis Crew Safe

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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, begin installing the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad…

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Regina Caputo Charts the Future of High-Energy Astrophysics

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Research astrophysicist Regina Caputo puzzles out how the universe works by studying the most extreme events in the cosmos. ​​Name: Regina CaputoTitle: Research Astrophysicist Organization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661) Regina Caputo is a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She focuses on technology development and support for gamma-ray telescopes. Photo credit: NASA/David Friedlander What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I’m a research astrophysicist in the particle astrophysics lab at Goddard. I’m really interested in the most…

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