Headline Universe

Welcome to our Headline Universe section! Although Windows to the Universe isn't a news website, we do try to keep the site up to date with as much information as possible about the Earth and space sciences. We have organized news in a number of different categories - by subject (Earth News, Solar System News, Universe News, and Space Mission News) as well as news that is Hot Off the Press! Through our collaboration with the National Science Foundation, through which we keep you up to date on NSF-funded research highlights, we also have an abundance of News Releases from the NSF (in addition to podcasts, videos, and interactives) that we have collected here for you as well as integrating them in the categories mentioned above. Finally, we have a link to our older news pieces, going back to 1995, in our Archive section.
Ann Budd of the University of Iowa and John Pandolfi of the University of
Queensland, Australia, two scientists who have been studying corals reefs,
say that it's important to not only protect endangered
<a href="/earth/climate/coral_change.html&edu=high">corals</a> in
areas that have the largest variety of species, but also the corals in
the edges of the reefs.  Find our more about their research
<a href="/headline_universe/olpa/CoralReef_17June10.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em> Image courtesy of NOAA</em></small></p>Scientists are currently tracking the effects of the <a href="/teacher_resources/main/teach_oil_spill.html&edu=high">recent Gulf of Mexico
oil spill</a> on
the wetlands of the Louisiana coast. Robert Twilley and Guerry Holm of
Louisiana State University (LSU) want to know more about the role the
Mississippi River will play in keeping it from contaminating the coast and
wetlands in this part of the Gulf of Mexico.  Find out more about their
research <a href="/headline_universe/olpa/OilSpill_17June10.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of USGS</em></small></p>Daniel Wolf Savin, a senior research scientist at Columbia University's
Astrophysics Laboratory, has published a paper on the research he and his
colleagues have done on how stars began. They learned that hydrogen and
helium produced all other
<a href="/physical_science/element.html&edu=high">elements</a> in
the <a href="/the_universe/the_universe.html&edu=high">universe</a>.
Find out more about their research
<a href="/headline_universe/olpa/stars_01july10.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em> Image Courtesy of Daniel Wolf Savin, Columbia University</em></small></p>A new study shows that
<a href="/earth/Water/overview.html&edu=high">water</a> might
have been present very early in the
<a href="/earth/past/geologic_time.html&edu=high">formation</a> of
<a href="/earth/earth.html&edu=high">Earth</a>. Before this new
information, scientists thought water came to Earth from
<a href="/comets/comets.html&edu=high">comets</a>.
Find out more <a href="/headline_universe/olpa/SilverEarth_13may10.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em> Image Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey</em></small></p>Anthony Wesley is an amateur astronomer in Australia. On the night of July
19, 2009, Wesley noticed a dark spot on
<a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&edu=high">Jupiter</a> that
hadn't been there before. He had discovered the remains of a huge
impact on Jupiter! Find out more
<a href="/jupiter/jupiter_impact_july_2009.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em> Images courtesy of NASA, ESA, and H. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), and the Jupiter Impact Team.</em></small></p>Astronomers have discovered a
<a href="/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets/planet_definition.html&edu=high">planet</a> about
40 light-years from
<a href="/earth/earth.html&edu=high">Earth</a> that contains
<a href="/earth/Water/overview.html&edu=high">water</a>.
They describe this planet as a "super-Earth" planet because it is between
one and ten times the mass of the Earth. Although too hot to sustain
<a href="/earth/Life/life.html&edu=high">life</a>,
it is much smaller, cooler, and more Earthlike than any other planet that
has been discovered outside our <a href="/our_solar_system/solar_system.html&edu=high">solar
system</a>.
Find out more <a href="/headline_universe/olpa/WaterPlanet_16Dec09.html&edu=high">here</a>.<p><small><em>Image Courtesy of David Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA</em></small></p>

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