Rocket Lab to recover booster from ocean after July 14 launch

Rocket Lab's next mission will feature a booster recovery at sea, if all goes according to plan. Analysis of that booster, and a handful of previously recovered rockets, suggests that the currently expendable Electron can indeed be made partially reusable, Rocket Lab has said. Related stories: "Starling will demonstrate technologies for in-space network communications, onboard relative navigation between spacecraft, autonomous maneuver planning and execution and distributed science autonomy — an experiment for small spacecraft to autonomously react to observations, paving the way for future science missions," Rocket Lab wrote in the June 22 statement. The Electron will also launch the LEO 3 demonstration satellite for the Canadian communications company Telesat and two cubesats for Virginia-based Spire Global, which operates a constellation that observes Earth in radio frequencies.

Sewerby Hall and Gardens: Penguin chick enjoys first dip in enclosure

A penguin chick has been pictured taking its very first dip. Parents Sigsbee and Twinnie watched as their chick ventured out of its nest and took the plunge on Friday at Sewerby Hall and Gardens near Bridlington in East Yorkshire. Head zookeeper John Pickering said: "We're thrilled to see the chick take its first swim. I'm sure this will be a special sight for our visitors." The yet-to-be-named Humboldt chick was born on 8 April. Mr Pickering added: "Its parents are very proud to see their baby growing up and starting to explore the enclosure." The Humboldt chick will be given a name once its sex is known, he explained. Keepers are unable to tell whether it is a male or female until it loses its baby feathers and the formation of its head becomes apparent. Her grandchild is already proving a big hit with visitors to zoo, according to the attraction. Native to South America, Humboldts can live up to 20 years in the wild and are classed as "vulnerable to extinction".

Scarborough: The seaside resort where swimming is not advised

The mineral rich waters of Scarborough's spa are reputed to have made the North Yorkshire town England's first seaside resort more than 350 years ago. But today it's sea water, rather than spa water, which is the subject of discussion. Residents and holidaymakers alike have been advised to not swim in either of the town's bays due to poor water quality. BBC News went along to find out how the bathing 'ban' has gone down. For John Dalton a swim in the sea is nothing to worry about and very much something to look forward to. The 69-year-old doesn't believe the water he bathes in is dirty. "The water is really clear, you can see the bottom, there are seals and dolphins out there. "When people tell me the bay is dirty, I don't believe them," he tells me as he enjoys a coffee in a cafe near the beach after his second dip of the day. "I do think it's disgraceful that companies can discharge effluent and toxins into the sea."The media will put people off. You should trust your own senses and the fact that sea life is abundant here. "Now people don't want to go into that beautiful sea, which is crystal clear today, because of something they have heard." When we meet it's a hot and sunny day in Scarborough. Perfect beach weather. But looking out across the wide sandy crescent of South Bay there is no-one swimming in the invitingly cool water. An isolated paddleboarder breaks the scene as they slowly move away from the shore. The reason for the lack of activity could be the stark warning signs peppering the entrances to the sand, setting out the area's poor water quality rating. A short walk past the arcades, ice cream sellers and harbour reveals a similar picture in the town's North Bay. Normally rated excellent, Yorkshire Water says the plunge in quality is explained by a damaged screen at a storm overflow allowing sewage and debris to spill out into the bay. A temporary repair was quickly carried out, the firm says, but the guidance will remain in place pending further tests. Steve Crawford, who runs the Fluid Concept Surf School in the South Bay, believes the poor water rating has had a "profound" impact on his business, resulting in thousands in lost income. "As a business, I can't teach and the lifeguards are actively telling people to not go in the water." Another business owner pointed me to an area just offshore and said they had seen what they believed to be a brown sewage spill on the water last week. While they said the warning against swimming had not had a direct impact on their customers it was "a big issue" in the town. On the sweeping Marine Drive, which joins the two bays, visitors Christine Sykes and Carol Voakes are looking at an information board installed some time ago by Yorkshire Water. Across the top it reads 'Making Yorkshire's beaches the best in Europe' and explains how £50m was spent in the area between 2011 and 2014. It explains how the investment means the firm is able to "store more storm water at times of heavy or prolonged rainfall when the sewerage system can become overwhelmed". The pair, who are walking their dogs, tell me they would have second thoughts about letting their pets swim in the water. "We think it's dreadful that this has happened. "We worry about the dogs getting in the water and it's a shame for the little kids, all they want to do is get in the water," Christine explains. "The water quality should be good, we pay enough in water rates," Carol adds. Hotelier Lynn Jackson, from Scarborough Hospitality Association, says members of the group haven't seen a dip in bookings so far but fears families planning summer breaks could think twice. "It's one of the risks that you take going into any water sadly, I don't think there's any bit of water in the UK that doesn't get sewage, it's a calculated risk. "I'm very well aware of it, I'm friends with surfers, I have been to the meetings [about it], it seems that whatever we do and whatever we say, nothing changes." However, she warns against pinning the blame solely on water companies, adding that litter on the beach can get washed into the water, while waste, oil and fuel spillages from boats could also have an impact. Back on the South Bay, a man who is renting out deck chairs pointed out the bathing water warning signs, and then two poles which he said mark a safe swimming area. He describes it as "confusing" for visitors. Charity shop volunteers Sue Emms, 79, and Val Humphreys, 88, say they have swum in the sea in Scarborough since they were children, but that people were now becoming more aware of water quality. Sue told me: "There's a lot more information nowadays. I don't think I would be very happy going in now, I wouldn't go in it myself personally. "People come to Scarborough with their children so I would have thought maybe they will go somewhere else now." North Yorkshire Council says the water quality in the South Bay has been an issue for a number of years and requires a "multi-agency response". Councillor Derek Bastiman from the authority explains how a "dedicated business growth hub team" is in the process of contacting firms directly affected by the bathing water quality status to see if they can provide support. He says it is "obviously disappointing" that the water quality was again rated poor in 2022 but the council continues to encourage visitors to the coast. A Yorkshire Water spokesperson tells me a number of factors have an impact on water quality, including sewage, agricultural and industrial inputs, wildlife, birds and road drainage. They say it can be "complex" to identify the cause of poor bathing water quality. "In the 2022 bathing season, Scarborough South classification fell from 'sufficient' to 'poor' despite the number of sewage discharges on Yorkshire's coastline reducing by half," the spokesperson adds. Nationally, campaign group Surfers Against Sewage has called for an end to sewage discharges into UK bathing waters and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030. The Environment Agency says it is working to protect and improve bathing waters by regulating and holding polluters to account. For people like surf school owner Mr Crawford action can not come soon enough. "This is going to hit a lot of people," he said. "It's just that I've been hit hardest first."

Watch the moon's shadow travel across North America during 2024's total solar eclipse (video)

A total solar eclipse will be visible across North America on April 8, 2024. What is a solar eclipse? "To make your duration of totality longer, travel to the center of the path of totality closest to you. " Zeiler told Space.com in an email. "You’ll never regret the travel to see totality, nature’s greatest sight". "If you see a curve on an eclipse map that says 99%, don’t think that means a total eclipse. 99% partial eclipse = 0% total eclipse! The difference between being inside and outside the path of totality is absolutely night and day." Zeiler continued. Related stories: Many weeks and multiple data sets were required to create the impressive flyover animation. He then rendered the moon's shadow, frame-by-frame, on the topography of the area. "In the mountainous parts of the path in Mexico, you’ll see how the shadow edge responds to mountain elevations," Zeiler said. "The last work in creating the animation took about 3 weeks." During that time Zeiler simulated the arc of an imaginary spacecraft following the moon's shadow. This NASA map shows the paths of the annular "ring of fire" solar eclipse of Oct. 14, 2023 (left) and the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse. Click the top right corner to expand full screen. (Image credit: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio/Michala Garrison; eclipse calculations by Ernie Wright, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) During both the annular solar eclipse of 2023 and the total eclipse of 2024, all 48 contiguous states of the U.S. — the lower 48 states on the North American continent — will see at least a partial eclipse whereby part of the sun is obscured by the moon's shadow.

What scientists say keeps mosquitoes at bay

For as long as there have been humans, there have been mosquitoes buzzing around in hopes of a bite to eat. “We’re always in a war, a perpetual war against mosquitoes,” said Dr. Conor McMeniman, an assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore. Even if the mosquitoes near you don’t carry these diseases, they’re still a nuisance. Here’s the lowdown on how mosquitoes hunt us, what attracts them, and what scientists recommend for keeping them at bay. Most of the time, mosquitoes drink plant nectars and juices, and even help pollinate flowers. But when the time comes for female mosquitoes to produce eggs, the soon-to-be moms require extra protein, which they get by drinking blood. “When a mosquito bites, it’s actually sticking its mouth parts into your skin and probing around in the skin to actually find a blood vessel,” McMeniman said. Once it hits sanguine pay dirt, the mosquito sucks up red blood cells and plasma like it’s guzzling bubble tea through a straw. Mosquitoes kill more people than any other animal as they spread diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus. - Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images It’s to the mosquito’s advantage to drink quickly and then buzz off undetected. To accomplish this, “mosquitoes spit into the skin a whole cocktail of different proteins” that act as painkillers and anticoagulants that keep the blood from clotting, he said. The itchiness and discomfort from mosquito bites — a result of our bodies’ inflammatory response to this chemical cocktail — only come later, when the perpetrator is no longer at risk of getting swatted. People have different reactions to mosquito bites — one person can emerge from a barbecue relatively unscathed with a couple of pimple-like spots, whereas a friend is stuck nursing dozens of silver dollar-size welts for the following week. “How attractive you think you are to mosquitoes might not necessarily correlate with how attractive you actually are to the mosquitoes,” McMeniman said. “Some of that is driven by the perception of your reaction to the mosquitoes and whether you’re itching.” “There could be a variety of factors that might influence the composition of your scent,” McMeniman said, “including your underlying diet and genetics and physiology. All of these things could potentially influence the types of molecules emitted by the human body and also influence the composition of the microbiome that lives naturally on our skin.” It’d be nice simply to replicate the odor profile of the people whom mosquitoes avoid and sell it as a body spray to those with the dubious honor of being “tastier,” but at this point, it’s not realistic. “We’re still trying to understand the chemistry of this process,” he said. While the fine details of which scents draw mosquitoes in are still being explored by researchers, there’s a general pattern to the insects’ ability to find us. “First they smell you, then they see you, and then when they’re close enough, maybe within a meter of the host, they can actually detect thermal cues dissipating from your skin,” McMeniman said. One of the most important scents that draws mosquitoes in from far away is carbon dioxide, the gas that we exhale when we breathe. The itchiness and discomfort from mosquito bites come later when the perpetrator is no longer at risk of getting swatted. - Rick Bowmer/AP “As a universal, most of them are attracted to CO₂ from a long distance,” said Dr. Kristen Healy, an associate professor of entomology at Louisiana State University and president of the American Mosquito Control Association. “There’s been plenty of studies to show that CO₂ from our breath as we exhale, and especially when you get large groups together” can attract mosquitoes. Body heat and sweat also seem to play a role. Based on her own experiences, Healy said this hypothesis has held up. “If I’m active and I’m sweating, I definitely will notice a difference in mosquito attraction because they can cue into those other extra odors,” she said. “It would be really useful to scale those studies up to see how general these findings are across different hosts,” McMeniman said. Until then, you probably shouldn’t throw out all your red shirts and dump all your beer just yet. Perhaps as a result of the complexity and unsolved mysteries around mosquito attraction, there are countless devices and sprays that promise to drive the insects away. Newfangled gadgets such as ultrasonic mosquito repellent devices are “not necessarily backed by research and science, and they’re kind of just out there on the market,” Healy said. “I would never trust a product that says it’s 100% effective at killing mosquitoes.” Devices that spray insect repellent over a larger area can be effective, but “I think it’s worth noting that these are insecticides — obviously, they’ve passed EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) registration standards, but you are walking around in a cloud of insecticide,” McMeniman said. No silver bullet exists to protect yourself from mosquito bites, but get a good bug spray and reapply it as needed. - Liudmila Chernetska/iStockphoto/Getty Images Instead, Healy and McMeniman recommend more tried and true methods. To keep mosquitoes out of your home, make sure your windows are screened and run a fan or air conditioner at night. CIear away debris and drain standing water in your yard on a weekly basis to prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. Ultimately, there’s no silver bullet that will protect you from mosquito bites. As tantalizing as the information yielded by various studies may be, there’s no simple diet to follow, color to avoid or scent of soap to wash with that will drive mosquitoes away. Mosquitoes are a part of the natural world, and interacting with them is part of coexisting on our planet. Get a good bug spray and remember to reapply it as needed.

The benefits and risks of deep-sea exploration

As humans, we seek to explore the unknown. This motivation, propelled by curiosity and the quest for knowledge, is why we venture beyond the familiar spaces of our everyday lives. The beginning of humanity was marked by migration. Many early humans began their trek out of Africa tens of thousands of years ago, eventually settling in just about every corner of the planet. A bioluminescent jellyfish is shown in an image taken during exploration of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. - NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration/AP The deep ocean is an alien landscape that scientists have only just begun to understand. Miles beneath the waves, the seafloor is home to life that doesn’t exist anywhere else on the planet, including organisms that glow with bioluminescence and cluster around hydrothermal vents for food and energy. So much remains to be explored because reaching the bottom of the ocean is an incredibly difficult task. Deep-sea vessels must be able to navigate intense darkness, pressure, cold temperatures and challenging terrain. But the ocean depths have much to offer, including lifesaving compounds and the secrets of how life on Earth evolved. The event is nearly 10 months away, but people are already anticipating the total solar eclipse that will pass over Mexico, the US and Canada on April 8, 2024. For those able to be within the path of totality, the moon will completely block the face of the sun, turning daytime surroundings into night for a few minutes. The Trumpington Cross found at the burial site was believed to have been unearthed for the first time since the seventh century. - University of Cambridge When a teenage Anglo-Saxon girl died in England about 1,300 years ago, she was laid to rest in a way that suggested she was an aristocrat or royalty. Her grave was uncovered in 2012 near the village of Trumpington, but researchers are still trying to unravel the mysteries surrounding her identity. So far, chemical analysis of her bones has helped UK researchers determine that she traveled to England from the Alps in what is now southern Germany sometime in the seventh century. She was buried with a rare gold and garnet-encrusted cross. Abortion hasn’t always been the controversial quagmire of conflicting opinions, politics and legalities that it is today. Instead, the practice was more common than people might think in premodern times, appearing in Greek plays, on Roman coins, within the medieval biographies of saints and inside Victorian pamphlets. Across time, different plants were associated with ending unwanted pregnancies. The first recorded extinction in world history was traced to such a plant, which disappeared due to its value, in ancient Rome. The Geminid meteor shower streaks across the night sky over the Lhasa River in Tibet on December 14, 2022. - Jiang Feibo/China News Service/Getty Images On the cold, clear nights of mid-December, glowing yellow meteors can usually be seen streaking across the sky. Astronomers consider the Geminid meteor shower to be one of the scintillating highlights of the year, but the origin of the shower has posed a bit of a cosmic mystery. Rather than a comet, the celestial event seems to stem from an odd type of asteroid. These intriguing stories may catch your eye: