Latest Ice Stories

Arctic ice has reformed rapidly this winter after a record summer low, but it still covers less of the Arctic Ocean than it did in previous decades, NASA scientists announced today in an update of the states of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. March is the month where Arctic sea ice traditionally hits its highest extent after the Northern Hemisphere winter and Antarctic sea ice reaches its lowest extent. NASA satellites have monitored sea ice coverage over both poles for nearly...

Arctic sea ice that re-formed after last summer's melt should be seen as an illusion rather than a new hope, according to Walter Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.By glancing at a satellite image of the area, one could easily assume that the ice is making a comeback. Meier said the ice became more vulnerable after being melted and frozen."What's going on underneath the surface is really the key thing," Meier said. Having formed since September, more than 70 percent of...

A few sharp ice crystals ruin ice cream's silky texture, as all connoisseurs know. An edible, tasteless antifreeze may soon come to the rescue. The non-toxic antifreeze, made from a gelatin protein, could be added to any frozen food to prevent unappetizing ice crystals from forming, without otherwise affecting the food itself. "This has been a major problem in frozen foods," said food scientist Srinivasan Damodaran of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who...

Wobbles on Mars cause ice ages that are much more dramatic than those on Earth, says astronomer Norbert Schörghofer of the University of Hawaii. Thanks to our large, stabilizing Moon, Earth's rotation axis is always tilted by about 23 degrees. The tilt of Mars, however, can wobble by as much as10 degrees from its current 25 degrees. Wobbles cause big changes in the amount of sunlight reaching different parts of Mars, so vast amounts of ice shift between the poles and the rest of the planet...

A new NASA study has found that in 2005 the Arctic replaced very little of the thick sea ice it normally loses and replenishes each year. Replenishment of this thick, perennial sea ice each year is essential to the maintenance and stability of the Arctic summer ice cover. The findings complement a NASA study released in fall 2006 that found a 14-percent drop in this perennial ice between 2004 and 2005. The lack of replenishment suggests that the decline may continue in the near future....

By Claudia Puig In most cases, doggedly pursuing a dream is laudable. But if it does nothing else, The Astronaut Farmer demonstrates that not every dream is worth pursuing. At least not the belabored one of a narcissistic crackpot masquerading as an admirable dreamer. Billy Bob Thornton plays the farmer and would-be astronaut, conveniently named Charlie Farmer. (The ditzy but well-meaning town shrink is cloyingly named Nurse Good.) Despite those monikers, this is neither a satire nor an...

Icy airplane wings can be a serious safety hazard, especially during takeoff. It doesn't take much: a sheet of ice no thicker than a compact disc can reduce lift by 25 percent or more. But an anti-icing fluid developed by engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center helps stop ice from ever forming. Airplane wings are typically cleared with a deicing solution that's applied after ice has already formed. The NASA-developed formula takes the "ounce of prevention" approach. When applied to...

This mosaic image was built from ten observations by the OMEGA Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express, when the spacecraft was flying at about 6000 kilometres altitude over the south pole during the Martian early to mid-Spring.The dark region within the bright seasonal cap below and to the right of the pole is the so-called "˜cryptic region' on Mars. During Southern spring, this area "˜mysteriously' become much darker than the rest of the...

"She is riding like a dream." So said mission commander Walter Schirra as Apollo 7 rocketed into history on Oct. 11, 1968. During the 10-day mission, Apollo 7's crew -- Commander Walter Schirra, Command Service Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham--paved the way for the missions to follow.Once Apollo 7 cleared the pad, a three-shift mission control team-led by flight directors Glynn Lunney, Eugene Kranz and Gerald D. Griffin in Houston took over. A...

By Sheigh Crabtree LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Charlize Theron has lured Oscar-nominated British director Alan Parker from a filmmaking hiatus to direct her passion project "Ice at the Bottom of the World." Theron is set to star in and produce the ensemble family drama about a Navy captain who returns home to the Chesapeake Bay to find his daughter a heroin addict and the single mother of a multiracial child. Bob Berney's Picturehouse, Theron's Denver & Delilah Films and...