When NASA's space shuttle Discovery is launched this Thursday after a three-month delay, it will send the work of Yale applied physics professors Marshall Long and Mitchell Smooke soaring to new heights. Long and Smooke are endeavouring to improve safety in space stations as well as discover more efficient fuel combustion methods on Earth through an experiment they will conduct on the combustion process in zero gravity. The experiment, called SLICE, will investigate the changing nature of ignited gases in space and may be useful in reducing pollution emissions by improving the efficiency of the burning method Read more