Mixing modern materials? Math app helps you manage your mashup

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Polymers play a vast number of roles in daily life, but they lack many properties that would make them even more useful. As in cooking, a way around these limitations is to mix in other ingredients that have the right properties. Scientists have just made recipe development a more palatable job.
via Science Daily

Move aside carbon: Boron nitride-reinforced materials are even stronger

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When mixed with lightweight polymers, tiny carbon tubes reinforce the material, promising lightweight and strong materials for airplanes, spaceships, cars and even sports equipment. While such carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites have attracted enormous interest from the materials research community, a group of scientists now has evidence that a different nanotube -- made from boron nitride -- could offer even more strength per unit of weight.
via Science Daily

Cassini completes final close Enceladus flyby

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting data and images from the mission's final close flyby of Saturn's active moon Enceladus. Cassini passed Enceladus at a distance of 3,106 miles (4,999 kilometers) on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 9:49 a.m. PST (12:49 p.m. EST).
via Science Daily
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Lowdown on Ceres: Images from Dawn's closest orbit

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NASA's Dawn spacecraft, cruising in its lowest and final orbit at dwarf planet Ceres, has delivered the first images from its best-ever viewpoint. The new images showcase details of the cratered and fractured surface. 3-D versions of two of these views are also available.
via Science Daily
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Giant comets could pose danger to life on Earth

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The discovery of hundreds of giant comets in the outer planetary system over the last two decades means that these objects pose a much greater hazard to life than asteroids, a team of astronomers reports.
via Science Daily
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Solstice Illuminated: A Year of Sky

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SpaceX Successfully Lands Rocket After Launch of Satellites Into Orbit

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The launch and then landing could become a familiar sight in spaceflight, allowing rockets to be refurbished and reused.










via New York Times