NASA is looking to hire someone for a new position. The job is to protect humans from aliens! Actually,the planetary protection officer will be responsible for alien contamination from people bringing Earth microbes into space and from any accidental space organisms coming back to Earth. Such a position will be only the second such job in the world. Sounds like this could be an out of this world job! Illustration from NASA:

A total solar eclipse to cover the USA from coast to coast hasn't occurred in the USA since 1918 and one to exclusively occur only over the United Sates hasn't happened since Revolutionary War days (1776). However, that will change on August 21st. On that day, the moon will block out the sun leaving what scientists call a "diamond ring" remaining. The entire solar event will last just 3 minutes.

There are lots and lots of jellyfish in the oceans and their increasing numbers are causing a number of problems. Jellyfish can sting. Some people actually have died from the toxins(poison) in their sting. Jellyfish also get caught in fishing nets. They also like to cluster near oil rigs and wind turbines and can clog water intake values.On a positive side, jellyfish are a main food for many marine creatures. Jellyfish are also used in medical research. Danish scientists think they have found a way to use reduce the growing number of jellyfish-eat them! Eating jellyfish is something that people in Asian countries have long done but munching on jellyfish hasn't been popular with much of the world. Drying jellyfish in a lab,specifically the very abundant moon jellies, scientists created a papery,salty protein snack. Would you eat a crispy jellyfish?

Photograph from seeker.com

Would you take a walk along this bridge? The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge has opened in the Zermatt area of Switzerland. The amazing bridge cuts the time to about 19 minutes to make a distance that previously needed four hours from Zermatt to another village called Grachen. The 1621ft.long Europabruecke Bridge is about 25 inches wide and at points is 279 ft. above the valley. It does offer some beautiful views of the famed Matterhorn mountain.

Illustration from telegraph.uk.co

Scientists have developed an amazingly strong medical glue and it was created after studying slugs! The slimy slug secretes mucus as a defensive tactic. This mucus was studied and found to have amazing stickiness and it even adheres to damp surfaces. Three times stronger than any current medical glue, the slug glue will be very helpful in surgery procedures in the near future.

Photograph from bbc.com

Last year, a ten year old New Mexico boy was on a hike with his family when he stumbled over what Jude Sparks thought was the remains of a cow skull. Looking more closely, he saw tusks and realized it was something unusual. Scientists say he found a 1.2 million year old fossil. Specifically, Jude found the 2000 pound preserved skull of a mastodon-type elephant called a Stegomastodon. This past May, the very fragile remains were carefully removed and brought to the New Mexico State University. Further investigation is planned for the site to search for addition remains of the Stegomastodon.

Photograph from wkrg.com