Workers on scaffolding repaint the NASA logo near the top of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 20, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
The space agency televised the hourslong hearing 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.
Several committee members have been subjected to “online abuse” for serving on the team, which detracts from the scientific process, said NASA's Dan Evans, adding that NASA security is dealing with it.
“It’s precisely this rigorous, evidence-based approach that allows one to separate the fact from fiction," Evans said.
The study is a first step in trying to explain mysterious sightings in the sky that NASA calls UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomena.
The group is looking at what unclassified information is available on the subject and how much more is needed to understand what's going on in the sky, according to astrophysicist David Spergel, the committee's chair who runs the Simons Foundation.
No secret military data are included, such as anything surrounding the suspected spy balloons from China spotted flying over the U.S. earlier this year.
The meeting was held at at NASA headquarters in Washington with the public taking part remotely.
A final report is expected by the end of July.
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News of Russian forces taking control of a Ukrainian after artillery bombardment of a nuclear power plant raised concerns this week. Nuclear policy expert and Quincy Institute Distinguished Fellow Joe Cirincione joined Cheddar News to discuss the implications for a potential disaster. “I’m with the director general of the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. He says that he is extremely concerned, and that this Russian attack is a severe risk and that Russia clearly violated the fundamental principle of preserving the integrity of nuclear power plants," Cirincione said.
Adam Battle, research assistant at University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, joins Cheddar News to discuss space junk heading to the moon and if more should be done to prevent space junk in the future.
UN and Ukrainian officials say no radiation was released from a Russian attack at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and firefighters have extinguished a blaze at the facility..
Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), corn-based ethanol has been mixed into gasoline sold at pumps in the U.S. since 2005, when a policy was enacted aimed at reducing emissions. Corn-based ethanol had been thought to be a relatively greener energy source compared to other biofuels, but now, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports it may be actually worse for the climate than straight gasoline. Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Sustainability, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell and discussed the pushback against the study. "Essentially when you need to produce more corn to meet the demand for use as ethanol as fuel, farmers respond and they switch more crops like soybeans and wheat into corn," Lark said. "They also bring more land into production, so things that used to be pasture grassland, and both those activities are associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions."
Caroline Hickman, lecturer at University of Bath and psychosocial researcher on climate change, joins Cheddar News to discuss climate change's impact on mental health.
In a nearly 3,700 page UN report, climate scientists outline the imminent dangers caused by climate change, saying fossil fuels are 'choking humanity.' The report calls some of the impacts of global warming 'irreversible,' warning of extreme consequences in the near future. Kristie L. Ebi, Professor of Global Health and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
World leaders are currently dealing with a handful of pressing issues, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic; but it could be argued that the most pressing issue is one that has experienced its fair share of neglect in the past -- climate change. As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, there is fear the focus on climate will once again be pushed aside. However, the White House appears to be making some effort to prevent that from happening. The White House Office of Science and Technology held a first-of-its-kind roundtable discussion with some of the nation's leading climate scientists on Thursday. Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, and author of the book 'The New Climate War' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss his experience as one of the climate scientists at the White House event.
On December 25, 2021, NASA got into the holiday spirit by launching the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space science observatory in history.
It is intended to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship mission in astrophysics and is able to view objects too old and distant for Hubble. Gregory Robinson, director of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope program, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the mission. "I think a lot of what we don't know today is what I'm expecting to find and certainly really understand what took place more than 13.5 billion years ago and see the formation of some of the first galaxies in our universe," said Robinson.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted blood donations leading to severe shortages throughout the country. Chloe Aiello reports on the desperate need for new donors.
