Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
Between now and the end of the primary season, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in each of the states having primary or special elections for federal or state office this year plus stories from all research universities in major cities having municipal elections as listed in the Green Papers or the 2014 Daily Kos Elections Calendar. Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from the states of Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.
This week's featured stories come from NASA and the Washington Post.
A Star Wars Day Message from NASA
In celebration of Star Wars Day, NASA flight engineer Rick Mastracchio hopes to deliver a special message from the International Space Station. Little does he know, however, that the Empire plans to jam his transmissions. Thankfully, R2-D2 is on the case.
The surprisingly simple way Egyptians moved massive pyramid stones without modern technology
By Terrence McCoy
Few have traveled to the pyramids of Egypt and not wondered how an ancient civilization without modern technology could have constructed structures so large they can be viewed from space. Some have theorized they were built inside out.On the flakier side, some say aliens did it.
Perhaps the most confounding mystery of all involves how incredibly large stones made their way to the middle of the desert without massive mechanical assistance. No camel, even the Egyptian kind, is that strong.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
To combine the topics of pyramids and Star Wars day, here is a pyramid in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Welcome to Korriban AKA Evil Space Egypt.
More stories after the jump.