NASA has released a panorama of the Gale Crater and Mount Sharp compiled from 122 images taken by the Curiosity rover in November. The rover is spending its 3,000th solar day on the red planet.

High-school juniors from four communities are eligible to enroll in the CTE Partnership/After Dark program at Essex North Shore Technical and Agricultural School. Through the free program, students can receive workforce training through career and technical education courses and earn as many as 24 college credits.

Disagreements take up more real estate in the brain than agreements, a study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience suggests. After measuring brain activity in pairs of people either agreeing or disagreeing during discussions, researchers found that agreements activated sensory brain regions, while arguments activated cognitive regions, such as the frontal lobes.

Researchers have observed Volta's electric eels hunting in packs of more than 100, working together to trap and shock prey ahead of a feeding frenzy, according to findings published in Ecology and Evolution. The Amazon eels herd thousands of small fish into the shallows where they send out shocks to stun the fish so they can be devoured easily.

A huge gas giant exoplanet that orbits its star every 218 days has been discovered about 1,300 light-years away, researchers reported at the American Astronomical Society meeting. Kepler-1514b's lengthy orbit is rare among exoplanets, with just a handful found with orbits of more than 200 days, researchers say.

The Office of Naval Research has awarded a $541,167 grant to Penn State scientists investigating freestream turbulence and how it affects aircraft performance in an effort to help the Navy design safer high-performance aircraft. "As ... engineers are trying to improve airplane wings, inlets or turbomachinery applications, we want them to have a clearer understanding of what the effects of freestream turbulence could be," said principal investigator David Williams.

A Texas school district is adopting a new learning model that focuses on technical and college classes. Under the program -- aimed at improving college- and career-readiness -- students could graduate high school already having earned a technical certificate, an associate degree or both.

Career and technical education programs have had to reimagine traditionally hands-on, in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Officials say they have had to teach concepts via video and make scheduling and operational changes to keep students and staff safe.

A years-long push for career and technical education is paying off for a North Carolina district that recently was recognized as having the most students in the state to earn CTE certifications. Officials say the credentials give students a head start on college and career.

Houseflies possess a special set of wings that helps them avoid fly swatters, a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science suggests. While all fly species have these hindwings, only houseflies and blowflies use them to help them take off five times more quickly than other species, though researchers are not yet sure why.