Hasta La Gadget!

A group of MIT researchers believe they have discovered the source of the moon’s magnetism, a puzzler that has baffled scientists since the 1970s when Apollo astronauts first brought moon rocks to Earth, Space.com reports.

“Earth’s rotating, iron core produces the planet’s magnetic field. But the moon does not have such a setup,” the report said. Instead, MIT scientists now believe that the Moon did in fact have a liquid core with a dynamo about 4.2 billion years ago. Most moon rocks lose their traces of magnetism when subjected to major shocks from impacts. But the scientists found their smoking gun by examining the oldest moon rock brought to Earth—by Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, the only geologist ever to walk on the moon, during the last lunar landing mission, Apollo 17, in 1972.

“Many people think that it’s the most interesting lunar rock,” said MIT’s Ben Weiss in the article; his team found traces of the original magnetic field using a commercial rock magnetometer equipped with a robotic system geared toward detecting faint traces of magnetism. The report said that the findings fit in with the prevailing theory that the moon was born when a Mars-sized body crashed into the Earth and blasted much of its crust into space, where it clumped together to form the moon.

Scientists have discovered methane in Mars’ atmosphere using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck telescope—both in Mauna Kea, Hawaii—raising the possibility that life may have existed on the red planet, according to CNN.

No one is sure how long it’s been there, but NASA officials and scientists said that the methane could have come from subsurface microorganisms, geological activity, or even comets that struck the planet in the past.

“It’s time, it’s prudent that we begin to explore Mars looking for the possibility of a life form that’s exhaling methane,” said Lisa Pratt, professor of geological sciences at Indiana University, at a NASA news briefing Thursday.

NASA’s latest Mars mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander, recently came to an end after successfully verifying the presence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, discovering small amounts of salts that could be nutrients for life, and seeing snow falling from clouds, according to the report. Recently, NASA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Engineers all over the world have focused their vast brainpower to overcome one major obstacle—space pooping. The Japanese think they have a solution with their fancy new wearable toilet.

Indeed, this is a far cry from the glorified Depends former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak drove cross country in a couple of years back. These can detect when you relieve yourself, remove the waste with suction and clean you up after each use. They can even eliminate unpleasant sounds and odors.

Unfortunately, the wearable toilet project won’t be completed for another five years—but I can see a market for this outside of the space program. It’s perfect for the incontinent, elderly and just plain lazy. [Yomiuri via Pink Tentacle]