Rover arrives at new site on martian surface
(PhysOrg.com) -- After a journey of almost three years, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red Planet's Endeavour crater to study rocks never seen before.
View ArticleMars rover Opportunity studying new surroundings (Update)
The Mars rover Opportunity is snapping pictures like a tourist since arriving at its latest crater destination, much to the delight of scientists many millions of miles away.
View ArticleOpportunity begins study of martian crater, new samples 'unlike any seen before'
(PhysOrg.com) -- The initial work of NASA's Mars rover Opportunity at its new location on Mars shows surface compositional differences from anything the robot has studied in its first 7.5 years of...
View ArticleStudy of clays suggests watery Mars underground
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new NASA study suggests if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting habitats were most likely below the Red Planet's surface.
View ArticleHydrodynamics of writing with ink
For millennia, writing has been the preferred way to convey information and knowledge from one generation to another. We first developed the ability to write on clay tablets with a point, and then...
View ArticleBaking in the details: Semitic Museum project conserves thousands of ancient...
In the basement of Harvards Semitic Museum, Alex Douglas looked at the pieces of baked clay in front of him, teasing out how they fit together into a small tablet, thousands of years old and marked...
View ArticleThe fermented cereal beverage of the Sumerians may not have been beer
Archaeological finds from cuneiform tablets and remnants of different vessels from over 4,000 years ago show that even around the dawn of civilisation, fermented cereal juice was highly enjoyed by...
View ArticleNew analysis of clay deposits in ancient Martian Lakes
Mars was once a much wetter world than it is now, with hot springs, rivers, lakes and perhaps even oceans. Just how wet exactly, and for how long, is still a subject of considerable debate. One vital...
View ArticleDiscovery of the first evidence for Pre-Columbian sources of Maya Blue
Once again, science and anthropology have teamed up to solve questions concerning the fascinating, brilliantly hued pigment known as Maya Blue. Impervious to the effects of chemical or physical...
View ArticleRedefining archaeological research
Gently cradling a 5,000-year-old cuneiform clay tablet from Ur (modern day Iraq), Andrew Nelson wishes he could peel back the layers to find out what makes up this first-generation iPad. And thanks to...
View ArticleBacteria alive (more or less) in 86-million-year-old seabed clay
(Phys.org) -- A new study by scientists from Denmark and Germany has found live bacteria trapped in red clay deposited on the ocean floor some 86 million years ago. The bacteria use miniscule amounts...
View ArticlePlump up the clay: Carbon dioxide moves into and expands a common mineral in...
(Phys.org) -- For the first time, scientists have direct evidence that high-pressure carbon dioxide or CO2 migrates into the clay montmorillonite causing it to expand, according to scientists at...
View ArticleScientists evaluate different antimicrobial metals for use in water filters
Porous ceramic water filters are often coated with colloidal silver, which prevents the growth of microbes trapped in the micro- and nano-scale pores of the filter. Other metals such as copper and zinc...
View ArticleNovel clay-based coating may point the way to new generation of green flame...
(Phys.org) -- In searching for better flame retardants for home furnishingsa large source of fuel in house firesNational Institute of Standards and Technology researchers defied the conventional...
View ArticleTurning glass into clay
The magic mineral and microbial processes that transform volcanic glass into clay have been identified, adding important knowledge to how clay is formed.
View ArticleOpportunity rover tops 35 kilometers of driving
Meanwhile, back in Meridiani Planum … the Opportunity rover keeps on trucking, and has now exceeded over 35 kilometers (21.75 miles) of driving on its odometer! Quite an accomplishment for the...
View ArticleEarly Mars may not have been hospitable after all: study
Instead of a warm, wet and possibly life-bearing planet as some scientists contend, early Mars may have been a hostile and volatile place with frequent volcanic outbursts, a study said Sunday.
View ArticleMartian clay minerals might have a much hotter origin
(Phys.org)—Ancient Mars, like Earth today, was a diverse planet shaped by many different geologic processes. So when scientists, using rovers or orbiting spacecraft, detect a particular mineral there,...
View ArticleOpportunity rover finds intriguing new spherules at Cape York
One of the most interesting discoveries made so far by the Opportunity rover on Mars has been the small round spherules or "blueberries" as they are commonly referred to, covering the ground at the...
View ArticleArcheologists examine one of the oldest hoards found in Europe
Jewelry and female figurines from Belica, Serbia, to be exhibited for the first time at Tübingen University Museum.
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