November 2013

Kano kit components (Image Kano)

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The Kano project is having a great success raising funds for the project on Kickstarter. It’s a kit that allows you to build a computer based on the famous Raspberry Pi thanks to a series of components and two manuals. Started on November 19 with the goal of reaching $100,000, the pledges exceeded that figure in little time. At this moment, the amount of the pledges is $868.049 but there’s time until December 19 to make an offer.

The comet ISON tracked by the STEREO satellite (Image NASA/STEREO)

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In recent months, the comet ISON was the center of attention not only of astronomers, amateur and professional, but also of the general public because it had been mentioned as a possible comet of the century for its great brightness. It was followed and photographed by instruments on the ground and in space, including the good old Hubble Space Telescope, especially yesterday, when it moved close to the Sun. It was the most critical moment and it seemed that ISON was destroyed by the Sun’s gravity but after a few hours at least some fragments came out.

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In 2005 the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex were found in Montana and so far the discovery was certainly interesting but not extraordinary. But when Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences announced that she had found not only bones but also soft tissue, many remained skeptical. Today, this exceptional discovery has an explanation.

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NASA has confirmed that the Mars Rover Curiosity has resumed its normal operations on Saturday, November 23, 2013, after a few days its work had been suspended following the detection of an electrical abnormality. The rover was never in real dangers but as a precaution it was decided to interrupt the scientific research it’s pursuing in order to proceed to a diagnosis of the problem without any worries.