Small Town Life

The Perseids Are About to Have Their Best Year in Over a Decade

David E. Warner (Dave) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:01:36 GMT

The Perseids peak the night of August 12 into the early morning of August 13, and 2026 is lining up to be about as good as this shower gets. The reason comes down to one thing: the moon. It’s new that same night - 0% illuminated, gone from the sky before 9 p.m. - which means no moonlight washing out the fainter streaks.

Astronomers are calling it the bes…

How NASA's "Cool Suits" Are Keeping Firefighters Alive During America's Worst Heat Waves

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:01:00 GMT

An illustration…

Right now, a heat dome is baking the American West. Las Vegas and Phoenix have flirted with all-time records this week, tens of millions of people are under heat alerts from California to Montana, and firefighters in Washington and Oregon are working an already record-paced wildfire season under some of the most dangerous conditions in y…

How NASA’s Digital Imaging Revolution Transformed Medical Diagnostics

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:01:33 GMT

Early NASA digital enhancement of lunar surface imagery (Surveyor-era processing that helped pioneer the techniques later applied to medical imaging). NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

In the 1960s and 1970s, NASA scientists faced a challenge that seemed purely scientific: how to extract every possible detail from grainy, low-resolution photographs of…

How NASA’s Spacecraft Insulation Became a Cornerstone of Energy-Efficient Homes

David E. Warner (Dave) — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:02:10 GMT

In the vacuum of space, temperature extremes are brutal. A spacecraft can swing from hundreds of degrees below zero in shadow to hundreds above in direct sunlight within minutes.

To protect astronauts and sensitive electronics, NASA developed ultra-efficient, lightweight insulation materials that reflect heat, block radiation, and minimize conduction.

Tho…

The Sky Our Founders Saw

David E. Warner (Dave) — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:01:18 GMT

This Saturday, July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250 years old. There will be fireworks, flags, and no shortage of speeches — but if you step outside after the pyrotechnics fade and look up, you’ll be doing something the men who founded this country did too.

And it turns out their sky, and their relationship to it, has a few surprises worth digging i…

How NASA’s Apollo-Era Portable Tools Created the Cordless Revolution

David E. Warner (Dave) — Thu, 21 May 2026 09:01:18 GMT

Walk into any hardware store in Little Falls or Herkimer today, and you’ll see walls of cordless drills, impact drivers, saws, and nail guns. Lightweight, powerful, and running on rechargeable batteries, these tools are so common we barely think about them.

Yet their existence traces directly back to NASA’s Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s, when eng…

How NASA’s Liquid Hydrogen Expertise Is Powering Clean Energy on Earth

David E. Warner (Dave) — Thu, 14 May 2026 09:02:16 GMT

Air Products Completes Liquid Hydrogen Fill at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

When NASA launches a rocket, the most visible part is the bright orange flame at liftoff. Much of that power comes from liquid hydrogen (LH2) — the lightest, most energy-dense fuel known.

For decades, NASA has been the world’s leading expert in handling, storing, and using liquid …

How NASA’s Origami Techniques Are Reshaping Architecture and Design on Earth

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 05 May 2026 09:01:35 GMT

When NASA needs to launch a massive solar array or a starshade the size of a baseball field into space, the biggest challenge isn’t building it — it’s fitting it inside a…

How NASA’s Mars AI Is Making Manufacturing Smarter

David E. Warner (Dave) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:01:15 GMT

When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021, it didn’t just rely on pre-programmed commands from Earth. It used advanced artificial intelligence to navigate treacherous terrain, avoid obstacles, and decide where to drill for samples—all with limited human input and a 20-minute communication delay.

That same autonomous navigation and computer vi…

How NASA-Backed Biomining Microbes Are Making Mining Greener on Earth—and Possibly Beyond

David E. Warner (Dave) — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:02:42 GMT

Vat bioleaching involves fully submerging crushed ore in a bio-lixiviant. It is quicker but more expensive than heap leaching. Credit: BiotaTec.

In the search for critical metals like copper, gold, rare earth elements, and even platinum-group metals, traditional mining often relies on heavy machinery, toxic chemicals, and massive energy inputs that scar …

The Wrong Cut at the Wrong Time: Why America Must Not Retreat from Space

David E. Warner (Dave) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:26:17 GMT

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon. Image Credit: NASA

Right now, four human beings are doing something no one has done in more than half a century - flying around the Moon. The Artemis II crew - Reid Wiseman, Victo…

Artemis II Poised for Historic Liftoff: First Crewed Moon Mission in Over 50 Years

David E. Warner (Dave) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:02:14 GMT

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photographer: NASA/Keegan Barber

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — So what are you going to be watching on TV tonight? Because NASA is on the verge of a monumental mileston…

How Satellite and GPS Tech Are Transforming Mohawk Valley Farms

David E. Warner (Dave) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 09:01:00 GMT

April is going to be an exciting month for spaceflight, but meanwhile, here in the rolling hills and fertile floodplains of the Mohawk Valley, where dairy farms have defined the landscape for generations, a quiet revolution is underway.

Farmers in Herkimer County are no longer relying solely on gut instinct or uniform field treatments. Instead, they’re h…

Starlink: From SpaceX Rockets to Rural Routers

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:01:21 GMT

This invention is near and dear to my heart. The first ten years of living in Upstate, we were out at Spruce Lake. And the internet? No such thing out there, except for WildBlue Satellite (which later became ViaSat) and then HughesNet.

It was slow. If there were thick clouds? It was probably out. Then, if it was raining or snowing, it was out.

Lots of co…

Satellite Radio Has Brought Endless Music and Talk to Every Driveway

David E. Warner (Dave) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:02:19 GMT

Before satellite radio, your car radio choices were limited by geography—static on long drives, local stations dominating the dial, and no way to hear the same station from New York to California.

Then Sirius and XM (now merged as SiriusXM) arrived, beaming hundreds of crystal-clear channels nationwide from satellites 22,000 miles above Earth.

The technol…

How NASA’s Satellite Imagery Turned into the Maps We Live By

David E. Warner (Dave) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:01:18 GMT

Every time you open Google Maps to find a restaurant, check traffic on your commute, or virtually tour a potential new home, you’re using satellite imagery that traces its roots directly to NASA’s pioneering Earth-observation programs.

What began as scientific missions to monitor weather, climate, and natural resources has become the invisible foundation…

How Microgravity-Made ZBLAN Could Supercharge the Internet

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:01:49 GMT

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Norishige Kanai with the Made in Space fiber optics hardware.

Fiber-optic cables carry the backbone of the modern internet—trillions of bits per second racing through hair-thin strands of glass across oceans and continents. But even the best Earth-made optical fibers have a fundamental limit: tiny imper…

Heat Shield to Hot Laps

David E. Warner (Dave) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:01:44 GMT

The Space Shuttle faced one of the most extreme thermal challenges in human engineering: re-entering Earth’s atmosphere at 17,500 mph, generating temperatures up to 3,000°F (1,650°C) on its leading edges and belly.

The reusable thermal protection system (TPS) relied on thousands of ceramic tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels, coated with spec…

How NASA’s Infrared Therapy Became a Go-To Tool for Chronic Pain Relief

David E. Warner (Dave) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:02:36 GMT

Astronauts on long-duration space missions experience more than muscle atrophy and bone loss—they also endure chronic pain from cramped quarters, repetitive strain, and the physical toll of microgravity on joints and backs.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center began researching non-drug ways to manage pain and accelerate tis…

From Robotic Arms to Real Arms

David E. Warner (Dave) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 10:00:28 GMT

JPL/Carolina Martinez

In the weightless void of space, a robotic arm must move with precision, strength, and delicacy—gripping tools, capturing satellites, assembling structures—all without the benefit of gravity’s help or human muscle feedback.

NASA’s decades-long development of advanced robotic limbs for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, a…