It’s 10 o’clock, and do you know where your Oriental Honey Buzzard is?
Tracking the whereabouts of birds and other migrating wildlife across thousands of miles of land, air, and sea is no easy feat. Yet to protect the habitats of endangered species, scientists need to know where these roving animals go during their seasonal travels.
Rather […]

by Patrick Barry
At one time or another, we’ve all stared at beautiful images of spiral galaxies, daydreaming about the billions of stars and countless worlds they contain. What mysteries—and even life forms—must lurk within those vast disks?
Now consider this: many of the galaxies you’ve seen are actually much larger than they appear. NASA’s Galaxy Evolution […]

by Patrick L. Barry
During the summer and fall of 2006, U.S. Coast Guard planes flew over the North Pacific in search of illegal, unlicensed, and unregulated fishing boats. It was a tricky operation—in part because low clouds often block the pilots’ view of anything floating on the ocean surface below.
To assist in these efforts, they […]

by Patrick L. Barry
Like the explorers of centuries past who set sail for new lands, humans may someday sail across deep space to visit other stars. Only it won’t be wind pushing their sails, but the slight pressure of sunlight.

Solar sails, as they’re called, hold great promise for providing propulsion in space without the […]