The Columbian

Science & Technology

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off in a heavy haze for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, June 6, 2024.

SpaceX’s mega rocket completes its fourth test flight from Texas without exploding

June 6, 2024, 1:30pm Business

SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket completed its first full test flight Thursday, returning to Earth without exploding after blasting off from Texas. Read story

Boeing’s Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a mission to the International Space Station, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Boeing’s astronaut capsule arrives at the space station after thruster trouble

June 6, 2024, 1:20pm Business

Boeing’s new capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, delayed by last-minute thruster trouble that almost derailed the docking for this first test flight with astronauts. Read story

This April 2024 photo taken by Blair Morrow and provided by Alex Lundberg shows a large section of tusk from a long-extinct mastodon that Lundberg and his diver companion found on the sea floor off Florida's Gulf coast. They first thought it was just a large piece of wood.

Fossil-hunting diver says he has found a large section of mastodon tusk off Florida’s coast

June 6, 2024, 8:34am Life

At first, fossil-hunting diver Alex Lundberg thought the lengthy object on the sea floor off Florida's Gulf Coast was a piece of wood. It turned out to be something far rarer, Lundberg said: a large section of tusk from a long-extinct mastodon. Read story

Boeing's Starliner capsule, atop an Atlas V rocket, lifts off from launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are headed to the International Space Station.

Boeing launches NASA astronauts for the first time after years of delays

June 5, 2024, 1:35pm Business

Boeing launched astronauts for the first time Wednesday, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA. Read story

FILE _ Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, a crew member of the next mission to the International Space Station, attends a news conference at the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, on July 21, 2015. The 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut has become the first person to spend 1000 days in space, Russian space agency Roscosmos said Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Kononenko achieved the milestone on Tuesday, having made five journeys to the International Space Station dating back to 2008.

A Russian cosmonaut becomes the first person to spend 1,000 days in space

June 5, 2024, 8:06am Life

A 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut has become the first person to spend 1,000 days in space, Russian space agency Roscosmos said Wednesday. Read story

This photo provided by NASA, an STS-125 crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured this image of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on May 19, 2009. NASA said the telescope slipped into a hibernating state more than a week ago when one of its gyroscopes _ part of the pointing system _ malfunctioned. The same device has been acting up for months and disrupting scientific operations.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope temporarily pauses observations after malfunction

June 4, 2024, 8:35am Life

The Hubble Space Telescope has temporarily stopped observing the cosmos. Read story

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a replay screen shows Chang’e-6 probe collecting samples on the moon surface, at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth.

Craft unfurls China’s flag on the far side of the moon and lifts off with lunar rocks to bring home

June 4, 2024, 8:31am Life

China said its lunar spacecraft unfurled the country’s red and gold flag for the first time on the far side of the moon before part of the vehicle blasted off early Tuesday with rock and soil samples to bring back to Earth. Read story

A mosquito sits in the bottom of a bottle containing a particular insecticide as part of a test during a tour of the Center for Disease Control laboratory Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colo.

How to manage mosquitoes: At Colorado facility, scientists working to find best ways to repel, kill annoying pests

June 4, 2024, 6:01am Health

There’s an old joke that mosquitoes are like family: They are annoying, but they carry your blood. Read story

Plant last seen in Vermont in 1916 rediscovered by accident

June 4, 2024, 5:59am Life

A plant that hasn’t been seen in Vermont since 1916 was just rediscovered by accident, the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department says. Botanist Grace Glynn had been looking for a lost species called false mermaid-weed for about a year. Read story

A beloved backyard peach tree produced only a few fruits a year because Japanese beetles in the hundreds would eat at the leaves, depleting the plant’s energy to make peaches.

New Japanese beetle trap ‘eco-friendly’

June 4, 2024, 5:57am Life

Aditya Prabhu loved eating the peaches off the tree in the backyard of his mom’s house. The only problem was the plant produced only a few pieces of fruit each year because Japanese beetles in the hundreds would eat at the leaves, depleting the plant’s energy to make peaches. Read story