Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Spacewalking astronauts fix station’s power system
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A pair of spacewalking
astronauts cleaned, greased and finally coaxed a jammed bolt
into position on Wednesday, restoring the International Space
Station’s power system. The spacewalk by NASA astronaut Sunita
Williams and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide was the second in a week
to replace a key part of the station’s power system.
UK paraplegic woman first to take robotic suit home
LONDON (Reuters) – A British woman paralyzed from the chest
down by a horse riding accident has become the first person to
take home a robotic exoskeleton that enables her to walk.
Although bionic exoskeletons have been used in hospitals and
rehabilitation centers, Claire Lomas is the first to take the
ReWalk suit home for everyday use.
Hundreds pay tribute to Neil Armstrong at Kennedy Space
Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – As family and friends
of Neil Armstrong gathered in Ohio on Friday for a private
memorial service, NASA paid tribute to the Apollo astronaut,
calling him a great American and a space hero. “He never
dwelled on his remarkable accomplishments or sought the
limelight,” Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut
Robert Cabana said during a short tribute to Armstrong at the
Visitor Complex’s Apollo-Saturn 5 Center.
Spineless creatures under threat, from worms to bees: study
OSLO (Reuters) – The vital tasks carried out by tiny
“engineers” like earthworms that recycle waste and bees that
pollinate crops are under threat because one fifth of the
world’s spineless creatures may be at risk of extinction, a
study showed on Friday. The rising human population is putting
ever more pressure on the “spineless creatures that rule the
world” including slugs, spiders, jellyfish, lobsters, corals,
and bugs such as beetles and butterflies, it said.
Stuck bolt on space station stymies spacewalkers
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA on Thursday halted
attempts to replace a power distributor on the International
Space Station after spacewalking astronauts were repeatedly
stymied by a jammed bolt, officials said. NASA astronaut Sunita
Williams and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide, both station flight
engineers, had planned to spend 6.5 hours outside the orbital
outpost to work on its power system and install electrical
cables for a new Russian module expected to arrive next year.
Scientists test new marine robot hurricane-hunters
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Rocket blasts off, puts NASA radiation belt probes in orbit
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“Little flash” as bionic eye brings amazed woman some sight
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A bionic eye has given an Australian
woman partial sight and researchers say it is an important step
towards eventually helping visually impaired people get around
independently. Dianne Ashworth, who has severe vision loss due
to the inherited condition retinitis pigmentosa, was fitted
with a prototype bionic eye in May at the Royal Victorian Eye
and Ear Hospital. It was switched on a month later.
Planet has two parent stars and a sibling, NASA telescope
finds
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – In a dazzling and
previously undetected display of orbital dynamics, two planets
beyond the solar system have been found circling a pair of
stars, scientists using NASA’s Kepler space telescope said on
Wednesday. Unlike single planets orbiting single stars, the
planets in the Kepler-47 system, located about 5,000 light
years away in the constellation Cygnus, are flying around a
“moving target,” San Diego State University astronomer Jerome
Orosz said in a paper published in this week’s Science
magazine.
