Science

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station yesterday completing its mission and first official test run.

This is the first time the station has ever made an official "hook-up" with a commercial spacecraft and first time it has had contact with the U.S.-made ship since last year's retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet.

The SpaceX capsule is the first of many commercial cargo spacecraft the U.S. plans to send to the International Space Station. These types of capsules could eventually be used to transport astronauts to and from the station as well. more >>

For the first time since 1994, Northern California residents will have a chance to witness a rare annular solar eclipse on Sunday.

Those living in the Bay Area can drive just a few hours and catch a glimpse at this rare phenomenon.

Annular eclipses differ from normal solar eclipses since they have a different effect on the moon, where instead of completely blocking out the sun, it leaves a "ring of fire" surrounding the moon's dark silhouette. more >>

The biggest moon of the year has approached this month and can be seen at its biggest and brightest Saturday, May 5.

In the U.S., the moon will reach its peak fullness at 11:35 p.m. EST. Almost simultaneously, the moon's perigee will occur, meaning the moon will reach its closest point to Earth in its orbit. Because of the moon's closeness to Earth, Saturday's supermoon will be especially pronounced.

At perigee, the moon lies only 221,802 kilometers from the Earth along its orbit. Later this month on May 19 the moon will reach its apogee- the farthest point from the Earth, at 252,555 miles away. more >>

A bill currently being amended in the California State Senate would make it harder for doctors who practice conversion therapy to service homosexual clients. If passed, it would be the first bill in the United States to regulate the practice.

Senate Bill 1127, which was introduced by State Senator Ted Lieu in February, would ban conversion therapy for anyone under the age of 18 and require adults to sign an informed consent form before entering treatment.

"Under no circumstances shall a patient under 18 years of age undergo sexual orientation change efforts, regardless of the willingness of a patient's parent, guardian, conservator, or other person to authorize such efforts," reads the bill in part, which was last amended on Monday. more >>

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley suggests that compassion motivates the non-religious more so than people of faith when it comes to helping others in need, and that religious people may instead be compelled to action by doctrinal beliefs.

The three experiments that established the results revealed that when it came to generosity and giving, the more compassion nonbelievers felt, the more likely they were to lend a hand to the needy, the university reported. On the other hand, highly religious people did not feel the same connection between how compassionate they felt about a certain situation and how much they were influenced to help out.

"Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," explained Robb Willer, co-author of the study and UC Berkeley social psychologist. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns." more >>

A professor at an evangelical university in Southern California claims that evangelicals are becoming more convinced of the evidence for man-made global warming ahead of Earth Day this Sunday.

Mark McReynolds, assistant professor of Environmental Science at Biola University, said, "Evangelicals, like the rest of our society, are coming around to the real evidence of global climate change. It is a big, complicated topic, with many implications for us in the U.S."

"Climate scientists are in near unanimity that the evidence speaks loudly for human-caused climate change and the general public is slowly understanding the issue and its implications." more >>