50-meter asteroid will come within 17,000 miles of Earth on 2/15/2013

"Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s," says Don Yeomans of NASA's Near Earth Object Program says, "we've never seen an object this big get so close to Earth." That's about 5% of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. (See also: The Last Policeman: solving a murder before an asteroid wipes out life on Earth .)

An asteroid will come close to hitting the Earth the day before Election Day According to current NASA data, there's a chance that a celestial immigrant dubbed Asteroid 2018VP1 will try to illegally cross our planetary border on or around Nov. 2, 2020 — the day before the next US election. The good news — or the bad news, depending on how apocalyptic you're feeling — is that this […] READ THE REST

NASA delivers first grant in 30 years to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence NASA has funded a new research collaborative research effort between Harvard, the Smithsonian Institutions, and the University of Rochester to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). This is the first NASA grant for SETI in three decades and the first ever to search for signs of ET that aren't radio transmissions. Instead, the scientists will look […] READ THE REST

"My dad launched the quest to find alien intelligence. It changed astronomy." In 1960, Frank Drake, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, launched Project Ozma, the first scientific effort to listen for radio communications from extraterrestrials. Frank, now 90, is still serious about SETI, writing research papers and advising scientists who are listening to the stars for signs of intelligent life. (I came to know […] READ THE REST

Electrical engineering is one of the most stable professions around, and this training can help get you there When you were a kid, your mom and dad probably told you to grow up and become a doctor or a lawyer. Practical people that they were, your parents probably assumed that if you were able to scale the educational heights of those revered professions, you'd be handsomely rewarded with a hefty paycheck. While you […] READ THE REST

The Jamstik lets you practice your guitar skills anytime, anywhere A decent starter electric guitar will often run you about $500 nowadays. If you'd rather learn to play before you dump hundreds into a cool instrument, the Jamstik Guitar Trainer is a brilliant way of turning you into a guitar player without the huge upfront expense. In addition to saving you money, the Jamstik has […] READ THE REST