[Wednesday, August 1, 2007] Picture a cool place, teeming with a multitude of hot bodies twirling about in rapidly changing formations of singles and couples, partners and groups, constantly dissolving and reforming.

[Friday, August 3, 2007] A planet orbiting a giant red star has been discovered by an astronomy team led by Penn State's Alex Wolszczan, who in 1992 discovered the first planets ever found outside our solar system.

[Monday, August 6, 2007] A new study reveals correlations between plentiful sunspots and periods of heavy rain in East Africa. Intense rainfall in the region often leads to flooding and disease outbreaks.

[Monday, August 6, 2007] An international team of astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey announce today the discovery of TrES-4, a new extrasolar planet in the constellation of Hercules.

[Wednesday, August 8, 2007] The DNA of ancient microorganisms, long frozen in glaciers, may return to life as the glaciers melt, according to a paper published online this week.

[Thursday, August 9, 2007] As space shuttle Endeavour and 10 million cinnamon basil seeds are set to launch on a mission to the International Space Station, NASA has opened registration for the Lunar Plant Growth Chamber challenge.

[Thursday, August 9, 2007] When space shuttle Endeavour rocketed into space yesterday, it took along a common microorganism normally found in the upper respiratory tract of approximately 40 percent of the healthy human population.

[Sunday, August 12, 2007] NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed for the first time surface details of Saturn's moon Hyperion, including cup-like craters filled with hydrocarbons that may indicate more widespread presence in our solar system of basic chemicals necessary for life.

[Tuesday, August 14, 2007] A new model of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus may quell hopes of finding life there. Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, the model explains the most salient observations on Enceladus without requiring the presence of liquid water.

[Tuesday, August 14, 2007] Snapshots from space may someday confirm the presence of lakes and oceans on Europa--one of Jupiter's moons--and on other planetary bodies. I

[Tuesday, August 14, 2007] University of Queensland researchers have identified microbial remains in some of the oldest preserved organic matter on Earth, confirmed to be 3.5 billion years-old.

[Wednesday, August 15, 2007] Using a novel underwater robot, UD marine scientists will help reveal the mysteries of the Black Sea's geology and maritime history, including ages-old shipwrecks, during an international expedition that is now underway.

[Wednesday, August 15, 2007] New findings suggest that a large comet may have exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, explaining riddles that scientists have wrestled with for decades, including an abrupt cooling of much of the planet and the extinction of large mammals.

[Saturday, August 18, 2007] The chemical fingerprint of a burned-out star indicates that Earth-like planets may not be rare in the universe and could give clues to what our solar system will look like when our sun dies some five billion years from now.

[Saturday, August 18, 2007] Sam Kounaves spends his time unraveling fundamental questions in planetary science by applying "extreme analytical chemistry" to the harshest environments imaginable: Places like Death Valley, Antarctica and now Mars.

[Saturday, August 18, 2007] "I became more and more excited the closer I got to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. After a busy year working in the SAM Lab at NASA Goddard I am returning to the arctic as part of the Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition, otherwise known as AMASE 07."

[Sunday, August 19, 2007] For two weeks, an international crew of scientists and engineers are field-testing instruments for future Mars missions. Thea Falkenberg, winner of a student contest to join the AMASE expedition, reports back on her experiences through a daily blog.

[Monday, August 20, 2007] Dr. Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames, gave a Director's Colloquium to students and staff on Aug. 14. The topic of McKay's discussion was Titan, the largest moon on Saturn.

[Monday, August 20, 2007] ISU recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary of providing graduate level training to the future leaders of the global space community.

[Thursday, August 23, 2007] The question of whether Titan can retain its thick, organic atmosphere for the rest of its lifetime could hinge on how efficiently methane molecules were packed inside water "crates" during a period of the moon's formation.

[Thursday, August 23, 2007] On 12th March 2008, Cassini will swing by Saturn's moon Enceladus at an altitude of less than 100 kilometres at the point of closest approach.

[Thursday, August 23, 2007] Autonomous systems developed for ESA's ExoMars rover, which will allow it to analyse Martian terrain and identify the best point on rocks to drill for samples without need for human intervention.

[Thursday, August 23, 2007] A new interpretation of data from NASA's Viking landers indicates that 0.1% of the Martian soil tested could have a biological origin.

[Monday, August 27, 2007] SpaceDev announced today that it provided key hardware and instruments for the recently launched Mars Phoenix Lander, now on its way to Mars.

[Thursday, August 30, 2007] NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected enough water vapor to fill the oceans on Earth five times inside the collapsing nest of a forming star system.