NASA, SpaceX launch US–European satellite to monitor Earth’s oceans

NASA, SpaceX launch US-European satellite to monitor Earth's oceans
The Sentinel-6B satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California at 9:21 p.m. PST on Nov. 16.
Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

About the size of a full-size pickup truck, a newly launched satellite by NASA and its partners will provide ocean and atmospheric information to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure, and benefit commercial activities, such as shipping.

The Sentinel-6B satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California at 9:21 p.m. PST on Nov. 16. Contact between the satellite and a ground station in northern Canada occurred about 1 hour and 30 minutes later at 10:54 p.m...

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Nature-inspired navigation system helps robots traverse complex environments without GPS

A bio-inspired system could enhance robot navigation in real-world environments
Performance of the insect-inspired navigation component. The graph shows the AntBot- inspired Spiking Neural Network (red) maintaining a significantly lower positional drift over time compared to conventional Visual-Inertial Odometry (blue) in a challenging desert environment. Credit: (2025). DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5674916

Robots could soon be able to autonomously complete search and rescue missions, inspections, complex maintenance operations and various other real-world tasks. To do this, however, they should be able to smoothly navigate unknown and complex environments without breaking down or getting stuck, which would require human intervention.

Most autonomous navigation systems rely on global positioning systems (GPS), which can provide information about where a robot is located ...

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Astronomers spot a rare planet-stripping eruption on a nearby star

Artist’s impression of an explosion on another star

Scientists have finally confirmed a powerful coronal mass ejection from another star, using LOFAR radio data paired with XMM-Newton’s Xray insights. The eruption blasted into space at extraordinary speeds, strong enough to strip atmospheres from close-orbiting worlds. This suggests planets around active red dwarfs may be far less hospitable than hoped.

Astronomers working with the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory and the LOFAR radio telescope have obtained clear evidence of a violent burst of material hurled into space by a distant star. The outflow was strong enough that any nearby planet in its path would likely have its atmosphere stripped away.

This burst was identified as a coronal mass ejection (CME), a typ...

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Hidden weakness makes prostate cancer self-destruct

Hidden Weak Spot May Help Defeat Prostate Cancer
Scientists have identified a major weakness in prostate cancer cells by uncovering two enzymes, PDIA1 and PDIA5, that help the disease survive and resist treatment. Blocking these enzymes destabilizes the androgen receptor, the main driver of prostate cancer, causing tumor shrinkage and cell death. Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists found a hidden flaw in prostate cancer’s survival system. Researchers have discovered that prostate cancer depends on two key enzymes, PDIA1 and PDIA5, to survive and resist therapy. When blocked, these enzymes cause the androgen receptor to collapse, killing cancer cells and enhancing the effects of drugs like enzalutamide. They also disrupt the cancer’s energy system, striking it on multiple fronts...

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