Credit: Getty Images: Science Photo Library - SCIEPRO While harsh radiation and a "weightless" environment make International Space Station microbes mutate, there's no danger of them turning into superbugs resistant to antibiotics, a new study shows.A team analyzing bacteria on the space station discovered different genes in the space bacteria than similar bacteria on Earth. The space genes, however, won't hurt the astronauts. "We were looking for different kinds of genes to see if the same genes were present in the bacteria in both places," said principal investigator Erica ..read more

Credit: Getty Images: Ron Miller/Stocktrek Images Primitive life might exist on a large, rocky planet that is relatively nearby Earth, according to a team of scientists who presented their work at an astronomy conference last week.The team says that the planet – known as Barnard b or GJ 699 b – might have microbes or other simple life in its environment as long as there is a lot of thermal activity within the planet itself. This would theoretically provide enough energy for life to survive. It's an exciting find given that the planet is only six light-years away from Earth, m ..read more

Credit: Getty Images: Eugen Wais/EyeEmFlying in space can be a bit like growing old, because without exercise and proper nutrition astronauts on weeks- or months-long missions would come back to Earth with difficulties staying balanced, with weaker bones and muscles, and with other health problems that are usually confined to seniors or those with disease.To help better understand these effects, a new investigation on the International Space Station (ISS) will study aging and how the age of mice living in microgravity affects the progression of symptoms that mimic some human d ..read more

Credit: NASA/SpaceX NASA has confirmed that the first test flight of SpaceX’s human-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft won’t take place in January, announcing on Thursday that the launch would occur “no earlier than February.” The space agency said that more time was needed “to complete hardware testing and joint reviews.”The uncrewed test flight, named Demo-1, was originally set to launch on Jan. 17, but SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently tweeted that it would be pushed back by at least a few weeks. No official date has been rescheduled. “About a month away from the first orbital t ..read more

Credit: NASA Just a few days after Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques launched to the International Space Station on Dec. 3, the first-time space flyer faced a considerable challenge: learning how his perception is altered by spaceflight.Scientists know that astronauts in microgravity often feel like they’re moving if they see another object moving, even when they’re immobile, which is a phenomenon that makes depth perception more difficult. This would especially be a problem when capturing a cargo spacecraft using the robotic Canadarm2. While the track record for successf ..read more

Credit: Seeker Media The Swim may be over, but the cause for which Ben Lecomte tried to swim across the Pacific Ocean remains as important as ever.Lecomte logged about 1,700 miles in the water, using the effort to bring attention to the growing problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. He and the crew had persevered in the face of rough weather systems, seasickness, and a steady stream of garbage. But a storm mid-voyage damaged the mainsail of their research vessel, Seeker, in November, forcing them to limp back to port in Hawaii. “We had to stop the world record a ..read more

Credit: Getty Images If you’re ordering seafood these days, you may be getting a side of plastics, whether you want it or not.New research funded by the U.K.’s Natural Environment Research Council has found that tiny particles of plastic called microplastics or nanoplastics are accumulating within the intestines and other organs of the great scallop, a commercially important species harvested for food. Although the new research used laboratory conditions to track the absorption of nanoplastics, it points to current ocean pollution issues and a growing concern over microplasti ..read more

Credit: NASA NASA has an asteroid hunter ready to snag precious cargo from the surface of a space rock. Named after an Egyptian deity of the afterlife, OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) will make its first approach by asteroid Bennu on Dec. 3.Riding onboard is a special robotic arm built by Lockheed Martin that will collect samples from the asteroid in mid-2020. The ultimate goal is to gather 60 grams of material through a special scoop-and-stoop procedure that will see the spacecraft passing just above the aste ..read more