Science News - Federal News Network

Listen Live

Helicopter Escort — Home_Launch_13223

Space Operations

NASA talks UFOs with public ahead of final report on unidentified flying objects

NASA is publicly addressing the subject of UFOs a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings. And it insists it's not hiding anything. The space agency televised Wednesday's four-hour meeting featuring an independent panel of experts. The team includes 16 scientists and other experts selected by NASA including retired astronaut Scott Kelly, the first American to spend nearly a year in space. NASA says several committee members have been subjected to online harassment for serving on the team. They say that detracts from the scientific process. A final report is expected by the end of July.

Artificial Intelligence

US officials seek to crack down on harmful AI products

Agency Oversight

Report: Fire training, equipment lacking at US nuclear dump

People

US astronaut ends record spaceflight with Russian ride home

Army

National Guard deploys for new emergency: Teacher shortages

Management

Biden taps 2 to step in for ousted science adviser Lander

Workforce

White House: Top scientist resigns over treatment of staff

FILE - In this May 11, 2015, file photo, nuclear waste is stored in underground containers at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The Biden administration has affirmed a Trump administration interpretation of high-level radioactive waste that is based on the waste's radioactivity rather than how it was produced. The U.S. Department of Energy announcement last week means some radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production stored for decades in Idaho, Washington and South Carolina could be reclassified and moved for permanent storage elsewhere. (AP Photo/Keith Ridler, File)

Facilities/Construction

Biden administration affirms Trump era interpretation for high-level nuclear waste

U.S Naval Academy midshipmen stand at attention for the national anthem during the academy's graduation and commissioning ceremony, Friday, May 24, 2019, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Will Newton)

Navy

Naval Academy expels 18 after online exam cheating probe

Michael Regan

Management

EPA chief reinstates science advisory board he dismantled

An Atlas 5 rocket carrying the NROL-79 mission is launched at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The rocket carrying a classified U.S. satellite dubbed NROL-79 is described only as a national security payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. (Matt Hartman via AP)

Space Operations

Vandenberg Air Force Base to be renamed Space Force Base

FILE - This Feb. 2, 2020, file photo provided by the Department of Defense shows empty lodging facilities at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The Pentagon is already helping combat the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and is considering ways to do more. But the military faces limits. Its health care system is geared more toward handling combat casualties than infectious diseases. And there are logistical and legal concerns about expanding the military’s role in civilian affairs, such as tasking it with enforcing quarantines. Defense officials also want to be careful not to do anything to weaken its ability to defend the nation. (Todd Holly/U.S. Air Force via AP, File)

Defense

Military's role in response to coronavirus outbreak is growing

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, In this photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express, launches from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order soon, possibly as early as Tuesday, Dec. 18, creating a U.S. Space Command that will better organize and advance the military's vast operations in space, U.S. officials say. (Senior Airman Clayton Wear/U.S. Air Force via AP, File)

Defense

Trump orders creation of Space Force, but within Air Force

FILE - This March 23, 2018, file photo shows an envelope containing a 2018 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident as part of the nation's only test run of the 2020 Census. The Supreme Court will decide whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship that could affect the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal money.(AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith, File)

Cybersecurity

Potential privacy lapse found in Americans' 2010 census data

This undated photo provided by NASA shows SOFIA over the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains with its telescope door open during a test flight. The world's largest airborne observatory was supposed to be parked in Seattle this week, so thousands of scientists attending the "Super Bowl of Astronomy" could behold this marvel: a Boeing 747, like this one shown, for example, outfitted with a massive telescope used to study the fundamental mysteries of the universe. (Jim Ross/NASA via AP)

Government Shutdown

Hundreds of federal scientists miss conferences in shutdown

The undated photo provided by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology shows the entrance to the archaeological site of Vindija Cave, Croatia. Scientists say they have succeeded in extracting DNA of ancient humans from sediment in caves where no bones were found in what could provide vast amounts of genetic material for future research (Johannes Krause, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology via AP)

World News

DNA from dirt: Tracing ancient humans found in 'empty' caves

ADDS THAT THE WHALE IN THE PICTURE IS A HUMPBACK WHALE - This April 24, 2017 photo provided by MERR Institute, Inc. shows a dead humpback whale at Port Mahon, Del. Federal officials said humpback whales have been dying in unusually large numbers along the Atlantic Coast. (Suzanne Thurman/MERR Institute, Inc. via AP)

Government News

Scientists investigate large number of humpback whale deaths

This image provided by the U.S. Postal Service shows a Total Solar Eclipse Forever stamp. The stamp, that when touched transforms the image of the blacked-out sun into the moon, comes out in June 2017, on the Summer Solstice. (U.S. Postal Service via AP)

Business News

Touch new stamp and presto, total solar eclipse becomes moon

This image made available by NASA in April 2017 shows a still from the short film "Cassini's Grand Finale," with the spacecraft diving between Saturn and the planet's innermost ring. Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004 and has been exploring it from orbit ever since. Cassini’s fuel tank is almost empty, so NASA has opted for a risky, but science-rich grand finale. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

Business News

Spacecraft survives unprecedented trip between Saturn, rings

Science News

Dead 43-foot whale washes up on beach at New Jersey shore

Business News

Florida teacher accused of calling ag students 'murderers'

Dan Harrington

Business News

Abating bait: Decline in prized worms threatens way of life

FILE - This May 23, 2016, file photo, shows the northernmost boundary of the proposed Bears Ears region, along the Colorado River, in southeastern Utah. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday, April 26, 2017, directing his interior secretary to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands, as he singled out "a massive federal land grab" by the Obama administration. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP file, File)

Government News

Monument review includes oceans, tribal lands and Sequoias