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will function much like a high-powered magnifying glass

instrument will take color pictures of features as tiny as 12.5 microns — smaller than the width of a human hair

MAHLI sits on the end of Curiosity's five-jointed, 7-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm

Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)

small camera located on Curiosity's main body, will record video of the rover's descent to the Martian surface

will click on a mile or two above the ground, as soon as Curiosity jettisons its heat shield. The instrument will then take video at five frames per second until the rover touches down. The footage will help the MSL team plan Curiosity's Red Planet rovings, and it should also provide information about the geological context of the landing site, the 100-mile-wide

Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

makes up about half of the rover's science payload.

a suite of three separate instruments — a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph and a laser spectrometer

will search for carbon-containing compounds, the building blocks of life as we know it

look for other elements associated with life on Earth, such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen

The rover's robotic arm will drop samples into SAM via an inlet on the rover's exterior

Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)

CheMin will identify different types of minerals on Mars and quantify their abundance

will help scientists better understand past environmental conditions on the Red Planet

CheMin has an inlet on Curiosity's exterior to accept samples delivered by the rover's robotic arm

will shine a fine X-ray beam through the sample, identifying minerals' crystalline structures based on how the X-rays diffract

Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam)

This instrument will fire a laser at Martian rocks from up to 30 feet (9 meters) away and analyze the composition of the vaporized bits

help the mission team determine from afar whether or not they want to send the rover over to investigate a particular landform

The laser sits on Curiosity's mast, along with a camera and a small telescope

Three spectrographs sit in the rover's body, connected to the mast components by fiber optics

spectrographs will analyze the light emitted by excited electrons in the vaporized rock samples

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)

sits at the end of Curiosity's arm, will measure the abundances of various chemical elements in Martian rocks and dirt

APXS will shoot out X-rays and helium nuclei. This barrage will knock electrons in the sample out of their orbits, causing a release of X-rays. Scientists will be able to identify elements based on the characteristic energies of these emitted X-rays

Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)

located near the back of Curiosity's main body, will help the rover search for ice and water-logged minerals beneath the Martian surface

The instrument will fire beams of neutrons at the ground, then note the speed at which these particles travel when they bounce back. Hydrogen atoms tend to slow neutrons down, so an abundance of sluggish neutrons would signal underground water or ice

should be able to map out water concentrations as low as 0.1 percent at depths up to 6 feet (2 m).

Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)

instrument will measure and identify high-energy radiation of all types on the Red Planet, from fast-moving protons to gamma rays

designed specifically to help prepare for future human exploration of Mars

will allow scientists to determine just how much radiation an astronaut would be exposed to on Mars

Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)

partway up Curiosity's mast, is a Martian weather station

measure atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, air temperature, ground temperature and ultraviolet radiation.

integrated into daily and seasonal reports

MSL Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI)

MEDLI isn't one of Curiosity's 10 instruments

will measure the temperatures and pressures the heat shield experiences as the MSL spacecraft streaks through the Martian sky

will tell engineers how well the heat shield, and their models of the spacecraft's trajectory, performed

data to improve designs for future Mars-bound spacecraft

Perth station heard a signal from Phobos-Grunt at about 2025 GMT (3:25 p.m. EST) Tuesday

There has been no contact with Phobos-Grunt since then

"no meaningful telemetry" was received from Phobos-Grunt

only an acquisition of a radio signal

November 23

Phobos-Grunt is likely functional and charging batteries through its solar panels

23 November

The signals received from Phobos–Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft's orbital position

Telemetry typically includes information on the status and health of a spacecraft's systems

24 November

November 24

Equipped with four solid-fuel strap-on boosters for additional power, the 1.2-million-pound

Four-and-a-half minutes after takeoff, the first stage dropped away

hydrogen-fueled RL10 engine at the base of the Centaur second stage ignited

parking orbit 11-and-a-half minutes after launch.

Telemetry from the rocket was spotty during a 20-minute coast to the Mars departure point

Earth-escape velocity of 22,500 mph

Mars Science Laboratory and its solar-powered interplanetary cruise stage separated from the Centaur

During the eight-and-a-half-month cruise to Mars

test the rover's instruments

adjust the craft's trajectory

tweak the control software

Curiosity will reach the red planet on Aug. 5

Elsewhere on the rover is the autograph of the 14-year-old girl from Kansas who gave Curiosity its name

millions of digital signatures from members of the public who signed up through NASA

NASA's Mars program leaders round out the autographs on the plate

It's on the rover in the front left corner

it will be visible and that at some point will be photographed on Mars by Curiosity's camera-topped mast

"When we made the request to the White House for permission to launch, we took this along with us and said, 'Oh by the way, if you sign this we will stick it on the rover.'"

Clara Ma, who won NASA's naming contest with the suggestion of "Curiosity," signed the rover in 2009

As part of her prize, she was invited to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where in June 2009 she donned a "bunny suit" to step into a clean room and sign her name on the rover

Silicon chips attached to Curiosity's deck bear the digital signatures of people who submitted their names through NASA's website for going to Mars aboard the rover. Each chip is about the size of a dime

More than 1.24 million names were submitted online

etched into silicon using an electron-beam machine used for fabricating micro-devices at JPL

more than 20,000 visitors to locations of work on the rover at JPL and Kennedy Space Center wrote their names on pages, which were scanned and reproduced at microscopic scale on another chip

As Curiosity drives over the martian terrain, the groves in each wheel will form a string of 'dash' and 'dot' imprints — morse code that will spell out "J-P-L."

telemetric data from the spacecraft could help identify the causes of the failure and make adjustments for future interplanetary missions

We can also use smell to see if therapies are working

Smell loss can be caused by a number of ailments

since the 1970s, it has been identified as an early sign of this disease

There is currently no effective treatment or cure for the disease

They found that just a tiny amount of amyloid beta – too little to be seen on today's brain scans - causes smell loss in mouse models

Amyloid beta plaque accumulated first in parts of the brain associated with smell, well before accumulating in areas associated with cognition and coordination

Despite spending more time sniffing, the mice failed to remember smells and became incapable of telling the difference between odors

While losses in the olfactory system occurred, the rest of the mouse model brain, including the hippocampus, which is a center for memory, continued to act normally early in the disease stage

Mice were given a synthetic liver x-receptor agonist, a drug that clears amyloid beta from the brain

After two weeks on the drug, the mice could process smells normally

After withdrawal of the drug for one week, impairments returned

team are now following-up on these discoveries to determine how amyloid spreads throughout the brain, to learn methods to slow disease progression

those that didn’t or whether they’re accuracy held any deeper meaning

chimps that both threw more and were more likely to hit their targets showed heightened development in the motor cortex

more connections between it and the Broca’s area, which they say is an important part of speech in humans

Such findings led the term to suggest that the ability to throw is, or was, a precursor to speech development in human beings

those that could throw better also appeared to be better communicators within their group

better throwing chimps didn’t appear to posses any more physical prowess than other chimps

throwing didn’t develop as a means of hunting, but as a form of communication within groups

throwing stuff at someone else became a form of self expression

goal was to find a star just before it ended its life

a binary star system located in M51 produced just the results they were looking fo

ne star dropped amplitude just a short period of time before the other exploded

Maybe stars give off a clear signal of impending doom, maybe they don’t

But we’ll learn something new about dying stars no matter the outcome

it was a binary star system being studied by the OSU team

consisted of both a blue and red star

At this point, the astronomers surmise the red star was the one that dimmed significantly over the three-year period while the blue one blew its top

reviewing the LBT data

when compared with Hubble images, the red star dimmed at about 10% over the final three-year period at an estimated 3% per previous years

researchers surmise the red star may have actually survived the supernova event

After the light from the explosion fades away, we should be able to see the companion that did not explode

human skin can stretch by a factor of 1.5

the wiring can stretch with the robots’ movements, such as twisting and turning, without losing its ability to transfer power and data.

the elastic cables could prove useful for minimizing cord clutter in homes and offices

made of an outer elastic shell with spiraled internal wiring that unspirals when pulled

Another application of the elastic cables could be wearable electronics - possibly for health-monitoring materials, wearable solar panels, and futuristic electronic clothing fashions

launch on January 19, 2006

speeding toward Pluto at around 34,500 mph (55,500 km/hr).

New Horizons will pass by Pluto and its moons on July 14, 2015

It will image Pluto’s surface in unprecedented detail, resolving features as small as 200 feet (60 meters) across

will not land or enter orbit around Pluto

instead quickly pass by and continue on into the Kuiper Belt

team is currently investigating further exploration targets should its mission be extended.

spanning latitudes from roughly 30°N to 50°N, the Phlegra Montes

gently rolling series of hills that have been probed by radar

surmised these low mountain ranges are not volcanic in origin, but created through tectonic forces and may conceal a copious supply of frozen water

high resolution stereo imaging from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, we’re able to detect a feature called ‘lobate debris aprons’.

it’s a normal feature for mountains found around these latitudes

Earlier studies of the debris aprons show the material has slid down the mountain slopes with time – a feature shared with Earth’s glaciers

scientists surmise this region may be a type of Martian glacier

also been confirmed by radar on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

lobate debris aprons could indeed signal the presence of ice – perhaps only 20 meter below the surface

, nearby impact craters also show signs of recent glaciation

ridges formed inside these ancient holes from snowfall, and then slid down the slopes

With time, it compacted to form a glacier structure

A one time, Mars’ polar axis was quite different than it is today

it created different climatic conditions and mid-latitude glaciers may have developed at different times over the last several hundred million years

Submitters should introduce themselves and mention their location

just a few months after a different team of researchers announced the discovery of 50 newfound alien worlds

including one rocky planet that could be a good candidate for life

list of known alien planets is now well over 700 and climbing fast

researchers surveyed about 300 stars using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and instruments in Texas and Arizona

focused on so-called "retired" type A stars that are at least 1.5 times more massive than our own sun

just beyond the main stage of life — hence the name "retired"

ballooning out to become what's known as subgiant stars

scrutinized these stars, looking for slight wobbles caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets

revealed 18 new alien worlds

All 18 planets also orbit relatively far from their stars, at a distance of at least 0.7 times the span from Earth to the sun (about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers

the new finds lend support to one of two theories that attempt to explain the formation and evolution of planets

core accretion, posits that planets grow as gas and dust glom onto seed particles in a protoplanetary disk.

predicts that the characteristics of a planetary system — the number and size of planets, for example — depend strongly on the mass of the star

competing theory, called gravitational collapse, holds that planets form when big clouds of gas and dust in the disk spontaneously collapse into clumps that become planets

According to this idea, stellar mass should have little impact on planet size, number and other characteristics

it seems that stellar mass does in fact play an important role

Those ten candidates were found from the remains of about 350 trillion collisions using the ATLAS and CMS detectors.

Higgs field that is everywhere

The elusive Higgs particle would be the carrier of that field, interacting with all the other particles

The Higgs boson is a pivotal part of the standard model of particle physics

one of the main reasons of why the Large Hadron Collider was built

we've been living with Higgs theory now for almost 50 years

Tuesday's data will not be confirmed until they are able to produce repeated evidence in future experiments

expect this to happen around next summer