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findings provide the first direct neural evidence for the idea that the human memory system tags memories with information about where and when they were formed

this study involved playing a simple video game on a bedside computer

The game in this experiment involved making deliveries to stores in a virtual city

The participants were first given a period where they were allowed to freely explore the city and learn the stores' locations

When the game began, participants were only instructed where their next stop was, without being told what they were delivering

After they reached their destination, the game would reveal the item that had been delivered, and then give the participant their next stop

After 13 deliveries, the screen went blank and participants were asked to remember and name as many of the items they had delivered in the order they came to mind

This allowed the researchers to correlate the neural activation associated with the formation of spatial memories (the locations of the stores) and the recall of episodic memories: (the list of items that had been delivered).

"Having these patients play our games allows us to record every action they take in the game and to measure the responses of neurons both during spatial navigation and then later during verbal recall."

By asking participants to recall the items they delivered instead of the stores they visited, the researchers could test whether their spatial memory systems were being activated

map-like nature of the neurons associated with spatial memory made this comparison possible

During navigation, neurons in the hippocampus and neighboring regions can often represent the patient's virtual location within the town

Using the brain recordings generated while the participants navigated the city, the researchers were able to develop a neural map that corresponded to the city's layout

As participants passed by a particular store, the researchers correlated their spatial memory of that location with the pattern of place cell activation recorded

With maps of place cell activations in hand, the researchers were able to cross- reference each participant's spatial memories as they accessed their episodic memories of the delivered items

given just the place cell activations of a participant

could predict, with better than chance accuracy, the item he or she was recalling

cannot distinguish whether these spatial memories are actually helping the participants access their episodic memories

seeing that this place cell activation plays a role in the memory retrieval processes

Earlier neuroscience research

had suggested the hippocampus has two distinct roles

tracking location information for spatial memory, and

recording events for episodic memory

This experiment provides further evidence that these roles are intertwined

Most of the fossils that weren’t blasted to dust had had their labels burned, so no one could identify what the remaining concrete jackets held or where they had been dug up

A CT scan of one such lump

revealed that it held a vertebra

from a Plateosaurus

the researchers report

That, in turn, allowed the researchers to determine where the fossil had originally been unearthed, among other details

Scientists have long used CT scans to peek inside fossil-bearing rocks, but the increasing use of 3D printers now enables them to make endless numbers of exact copies of those relics

The technique might even help museum folk speed up their analyses: By knowing what’s inside a lump of rock, researchers can determine which fossils are worth extracting, and which ones can wait

‘Yutu’ stems from a Chinese fairy tale, in which the goddess Chang’e flew off to the moon taking her little pet Jade rabbit with her.

The Chang’e 3 lander will fire thrusters to enter lunar orbit on Dec. 6.

It is due to make a powered descent to the lunar surface on Dec. 14, firing thrusters at an altitude of 15 km (9 mi) for touchdown in a preselected area called the Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum region.

If successful, the Chang’e 3 mission will mark the first soft landing on the Moon since the Soviet Union’s unmanned Luna 24 sample return vehicle landed nearly four decades ago back in 1976.

Jack Rabbit measures 150 centimeters high and weighs approximately 120 kilograms

The rover and lander are equipped with multiple cameras, spectrometers, an optical telescope, radar and other sensors to investigate the lunar surface and composition

The rover is expected to continue operating for at least three months

The next step will be an unmanned lunar sample return mission, perhaps around 2020

Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned at 00:49 hrs (IST) on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes

MOM is nicknamed ‘Mangalyaan’ – which in Hindi means ‘Mars craft

NOVEMBER 30, 2013

Then the European–US Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spotted a faint glimmer on the other side of the Sun, on a trajectory where ISON would have been expected to appear

ISON is probably the most observed comet ever

a disintegrating comet sometimes gives off more light, at least temporarily, so researchers look at the comet's pattern of behavior over the previous few days to work out what it may be doing.

At times observations have suggested ISON was getting dimmer and might already be in pieces

over Nov. 26-27, 2013, the comet once again brightened. In the early hours of Nov. 27, the comet appeared in the view of the European Space Agency/NASA mission the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph instrument

If the comet has already broken up, it should disintegrate completely as it makes its slingshot around the sun

This would provide a great opportunity for scientists to see the insides of the comet, and better understand its composition

Officials had not announced a new target launch date

SpaceX was targeting liftoff of the 22-story rocket at 5:39 p.m. EST (2239 GMT) Thursday, aiming to achieve the first Thanksgiving Day launch from Florida's Space Coast since 1959

The launch was pushed back to Thursday after multiple technical problems thwarted an initial launch attempt Monday

The rocket's mission is to place the SES 8 television broadcasting satellite into orbit

e highest altitude ever achieved by a SpaceX launch.

the flight is critical to SpaceX's future in the commercial launch market, in which it competes against stalwart launch vehicles from Europe and Russia to haul large telecommunications satellites into orbit.

The Falcon 9 pressurized its propellant tanks, switched to internal power and ignited its nine Merlin 1D first stage engines a few seconds before the appointed launch time

the Falcon 9's computer-controlled countdown sequencer recognized a problem and called off the launch

As engineers continued to study the problem, SpaceX elected to restart the countdown to preserve a chance to launch Thursday

Ultimately, however, SpaceX said they could not get comfortable with the issue in time and ordered another hold with less than a minute left in the day's second countdown.

The image also gives a rather good approximation of what MOM’s color camera will actually see

since the probe will enter a similarly highly elliptical orbit around Mars

required three functioning wheels to maintain the precision pointing necessary to detect the signal of small Earth-sized exoplanets

With the failure of a second reaction wheel, the spacecraft can no longer precisely point at the mission's original field of view. The culprit is none other than our own sun

pushes the spacecraft around

the pressure exerted when the photons of sunlight strike the spacecraft

Without a third wheel to help counteract the solar pressure, the spacecraft's ultra-precise pointing capability cannot be controlled in all directions.

Kepler mission and Ball Aerospace engineers have developed an innovative way of recovering pointing stability by maneuvering the spacecraft so that the solar pressure is evenly distributed across the surfaces of the spacecraft

To achieve this level of stability, the orientation of the spacecraft must be nearly parallel to its orbital path around the sun

This technique of using the sun as the 'third wheel' to control pointing is currently being tested on the spacecraft and early results are already coming i

During a pointing performance test in late October, a full frame image of the space telescope's full field of view was captured showing part of the constellation Sagittarius

Photons of light from a distant star field were collected over a 30-minute period and produced an image quality within five percent of the primary mission image quality

Additional testing is underway to demonstrate the ability to maintain this level of pointing control for days and weeks.

The K2 mission concept has been presented to NASA Headquarters

A decision to proceed to the 2014 Senior Review – a biannual assessment of operating missions – and propose for budget to fly K2 is expected by the end of 2013

For four years, the space telescope simultaneously and continuously monitored the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, recording a measurement every 30 minutes.