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the first time in any animal, scientists have isolated magnetic cells in the fish that respond to these fields

may help researchers get to the root of magnetic sensing in a variety of creatures, including birds.

Previous research has shown that many species of fish, as well as migratory birds, have the ability to detect differences in magnetic field strengths, which vary around the

magnetism in each cell was tens to hundreds of times stronger than researchers had hypothesized

suggests that the fish may be able to detect not only the direction of North based on magnetism, but small differences in magnetic field strength that can give them more detailed information about their precise latitude and longitude

between one and four cells that rotated in turn with the rotating magnetic field. The team transferred the rotating cells to individual glass slides to study them further under the microscope.

Pluto's other moons are Charon, Nix, Hydra and P4. Charon is by far the largest, measuring 648 miles (1,043 kilometers) across. Nix and Hydra range between 20 and 70 miles (32 to 113 km) wide, while P4 is thought to be 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) across. 

concern about hazards is going up," he added, referring to the collision risk New Horizons will face when it cruises by Pluto in a few years

provisionally named S/2012 (134340) 1, though it's also going by the moniker P5

P5 appears to be irregularly shaped, with a diameter between 6 and 15 miles (10 to 24 km). It zips around Pluto at an average distance of 29,000 miles (47,000 km

Charon was first spotted in 1978, 48 years after the discovery of Pluto. Nix and Hydra were found by Hubble in 2005

Pluto orbits 3.65 billion miles (5.87 billion km) from the sun on average, about 39 times farther away than Earth does

The inventory of the Pluto system we're taking now with Hubble will help the New Horizons team design a safer trajectory for the spacecraft

Patients merely have to provide a pin-prick sample of blood.

The device uses a spinning disk, much like a CD player, to manipulate a sample. The disks contain commercially available reagents and antibodies specific to each protein marker.

envisions a "plug and play" approach whereby the physician chooses among a "cardiac disk," "immune disk" and similar options.

The disks

cost pennies to manufacture

Results can be delivered to the physician's computer in 15 minutes.

recently led a National Institutes of Health grant

to adapt the lab-on-a-disk platform for toxin diagnostics

device could be the most accurate method available to detect the botulinum toxin

despite scientific advances, laboratory mice remain the only reliable way to test for botulism

mouse bioassay is primitive, but remains the gold standard due to its sensitivity

SpinDx botulinum assay vastly outperformed the mouse bioassay in head-to-head tests, and requires absolutely no animal testing. Plus there are a lot of cost and speed advantages

botulism is quite rare — only about 145 cases are reported in the United States each year

lethality of the toxin makes it an attractive candidate for bioterrorism

first privately funded team to do all of this will receive the $20 million grand prize

additional $10 million is set aside for second place and various special accomplishments, such as detecting water, bringing the prize's total purse to $30 million.

wraps up whenever all prizes are claimed — or, failing that, at the end of 2015

Moon Express officials say they're on target to beat the deadline.

outlined how it plans to modify its launch pads to support such a mission

discussed the Dragon capsule's docking capabilities, living arrangements, weight and power requirements and potential ground landing sites

designed to carry seven astronauts

also presented studies that showed how its launch abort system, which is known as SuperDraco, would perform if an emergency occurred shortly after liftoff

company told NASA how it would attempt to safeguard astronauts if something unexpected occurred on the way to orbit, in space or during the trip home

ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade

SpaceX is one of four companies — along with Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp. — to receive funding over the last two years from NASA's Commercial Crew Program. CCP

NASA hopes at least two of these firms can have vehicles up and running by 2017

Three veteran space travelers from three different countries are gearing up to launch toward the International Space Station

will join the three spaceflyers already living on the space station: commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, his cosmonaut colleague Sergei Revin, and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who have all been in space since May.

Malenchenko: Malenchenko, 50, is a colonel in the Russian Air Force and will command the Soyuz spacecraft for Russia's Federal Space Agency. He is making his third trip

first long-duration spaceflight aboard Russia's Mir space station.

Sunita Williams: Williams, 46, hails from Needham, Mass., and is a U.S. Navy captain making her second long-duration spaceflight

Williams currently holds the world record for most spacewalks by a woman (four) and the most time in space by a female astronaut (195 days

Akhiko Hoshide: Hoshide, 44, is an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and is making his second spaceflight

Hoshide first flew to the space station in 2008

to deliver Japan's huge Kibo laboratory module to the International Space Station.

Through the remainder of this year, 200 experiments will be performed