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Brian Vastag

Giant asteroid smashed into Iowa 470 million years ago

Last updated Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 10:27am

WASHINGTON — An asteroid as big as a city block smashed into what is now northern Iowa about 470 million years ago, says a Smithsonian geologist, supporting a theory that a giant space rock broke up and bombarded Earth just as early life began flourishing in the oceans.

Features, Asteroid, Space Read more Comments

More than 100 chimps to 'retire' from medical research

Brian Vastag The Washington Post

Last updated Friday, September 21, 2012 - 2:37pm

WASHINGTON - In a move that signals the United States is further backing away from medical research with chimpanzees, the National Institutes of Health will retire 110 of its 563 research chimpanzees over the next year, the institute’s director, Francis S. Collins, said Friday.

Animal Rights, Medical research, National Read more Comments

Fiona Harrison is leading a NASA mission to study black holes, supernovae and the sun. Photo Courtesy of CalTech

New NASA telescope advances study of black holes and the sun

Brian Vastag The Washington Post.

Last updated Monday, June 11, 2012 - 2:09pm

Fiona Harrison is a professor of physics and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and scientific leader for a NASA space telescope, NuSTAR, that's set to launch Wednesday. The $170 million mission will study high-energy X-rays from black holes, supernova explosions and our very own sun. Harrison, the second woman to lead a NASA mission, conceived the telescope in the early 1990s but had to wait for technology to catch up.

Q: Most people think of X-rays in terms of a dental visit, but for astrophysicists, these high-energy waves open a window on strange objects in the universe. Why did you get interested in them?

California Institute of Technology, NuSTAR, Science, space telescope, NASA, National Read more Comments