Victoria Falls is said to be the largest waterfall on Earth, and Angel Falls the highest, but no matter how impressive they might look to us, both these natural wonders fall far short of the true victors. The largest and most powerful waterfalls we know of are actually surrounded by water, deep beneath the lapping
Month: July 2020
Before our Solar System had planets, it had planetesimals. Scientists think that most of the meteorites that have struck Earth are fragments of these planetesimals. Scientists also think that these planetesimals either melted completely, very early in their history, or that they remained as little more than collections of rocks, or “rubble piles”. But one
Here’s the story – our protagonist rewinds history, locates baby Hitler, and averts global war by putting him on a path to peace … but, oh noes! This sets off a domino chain of events that stops our hero from being born, or worse, kicks off the apocalypse. Unintended ‘butterfly effect‘-style consequences of time travel might be
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who made spaceflight history on May 30 by becoming the first people to launch to orbit aboard a SpaceX vehicle, might see their weekend homecoming plans thrown to the wind. After docking SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour ship to the International Space Station and spending two months there, the men are preparing to
Away from the glare of civilisation’s blinding lights, an unimpeded view of the night sky makes you feel like you’re standing on the shores of eternity. But there is one place on Earth where the sights stretch just that little bit further than anywhere else. Researchers have measured the clarity of the stars at a
Researchers have successfully revived tiny microbes trapped dormant in a seemingly lifeless zone of the seabed for more than 100 million years. A team of scientists from Japan and America were looking to see whether microscopic life survives in the less-than-hospitable conditions beneath the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean. “We wanted to know how long
Fourteen years after receiving the official go-ahead, scientists on Tuesday began assembling a giant machine in southern France designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion, the process which powers the Sun, can be a safe and viable energy source on Earth. The groundbreaking multinational experiment, known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), has seen components arrive in
Humans are about to make history by sending a little piece of a Martian rock back to the surface of Mars for the first time ever. The meteorite fragment Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (or SaU 008) will hitch a ride on the 2020 NASA Perseverance rover mission on Thursday – some 600,000 years after it
A first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence (AI) study of romantic relationships based on data from thousands of couples has identified the top predictors that make partners feel positively about their relationship – and the findings show romantic happiness is about a lot more than simply who you’re with. Researchers conducted a machine-learning analysis of data collected from
Norway’s Arctic archipelago Svalbard on Saturday recorded its highest-ever temperature, the country’s meteorological institute reported. According to scientific study, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as for the rest of the planet. For the second day in a row, the archipelago registered 21.2 degrees Celsius (70.2 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon, just
NASA on Monday gave its latest Mars rover Perseverance the all clear to launch later this week on a mission to seek out signs of ancient microbial life. “The launch readiness review is complete, and we are indeed go for launch,” administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “We are in extraordinary times right now with the coronavirus
While greenhouse gases are warming Earth’s surface, they’re also causing rapid cooling far above us, at the edge of space. In fact, the upper atmosphere about 90 kilometres (56 miles) above Antarctica is cooling at a rate 10 times faster than the average warming at the planet’s surface. Our new research has precisely measured this
A stunning flash of ultraviolet light from an exploding white dwarf has been detected by astronomers for only the second time, and could give researchers important clues about what spurs the demise of these ancient, spent stars. Researchers became aware of this unusual supernova – called SN2019yvq – last December, only a day after the
Living in the present can be a present in itself, but during a global pandemic, when the world is in crisis, reflecting only on the ‘now’ might not be your best tactic. If we want to get through this tragedy stronger than ever, psychologist Jennifer Aaker and Szu-chi Huang from Stanford University argue we need
It’s common knowledge that the Sun is the centre of the Solar System. Around it, the planets orbit – along with a thick belt of asteroids, some meteor fields, and a handful of far-travelling comets. But that’s not the whole story. “Instead, everything orbits the Solar System centre of mass,” James O’Donoghue, a planetary scientist
The Hubble space telescope has spent the past 30 years orbiting 547 km (340 miles) above Earth. The ageing satellite has had a couple of hiccups in the last few years, but it’s not done taking incredible photos of our cosmic backyard yet. For example, earlier this month, Hubble flexed its Solar System chops, and
We have developed four-winged bird-like robots, called ornithopters, that can take off and fly with the agility of swifts, hummingbirds and insects. We did this by reverse engineering the aerodynamics and biomechanics of these creatures. Our ornithopters have the potential to outperform and outmanoeuvre existing drone configurations with static wings or propellers. What are ornithopters?
During a visit to a bookstore a few weeks ago, we couldn’t help but stare at a display unit featuring no fewer than 10 books telling you how to rid plastics from your daily life. We’re bombarded by information on the topic of marine litter and plastic pollution, but how much do we really know
Understanding what’s going on in the mind of toddlers is helpful in improving everything from education and parenting to pre-school entertainment, and new research sheds light on how these young kids react to a feeling we’ve all had at some point: uncertainty. In tests with a total of 160 toddlers aged between 25 and 32
China has launched its Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. A rocket holding an orbiter, lander and rover took flight from the country’s Hainan province earlier this week, with hopes to deploy the rover on Mars’s surface by early next year. Similarly, the launch of the Emirates Mars Mission last Sunday marked the Arab world’s foray into interplanetary
This stunning image captured last year by physicists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland is the first-ever photo of quantum entanglement – a phenomenon so strange, physicist Albert Einstein famously described it as ‘spooky action at a distance’. It might not look like much, but just stop and think about it for a second:
As plants begin to spread across melting permafrost, scientists are growing ever more worried their roots will stir microbes into unleashing vast stores of carbon. To scientists, roots are known as rhizomes, and when these tendrils extend deeper into the soil, it accelerates microbial decomposition by up to fourfold, potentially ‘priming’ the frozen ground for
In the very early days of the Solar System, baby Earth may have taken a much shorter time to form than we previously thought. According to an analysis in February 2020, there’s evidence that most of Earth took just 5 million years to come together – several times shorter than current models suggest. This revision
Nearly a century after experiments confirmed that atoms, matter’s smallest building blocks, have ethereal, wave-like characteristics, physicists have just found a new way to show how mammoth-sized molecules ripple with the same uncertainty. Researchers from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, put a new spin on a classic experiment to create
Landsat 8 strikes again. Landsat 8 is the United States Geological Survey’s most recently launched satellite, and it holds the powerful Operational Land Imager (OLI.) The OLI is a powerful multi-spectral imager with a wide dynamic range. The OLI does a great job of keeping an eye on Earth, and now it’s captured images of
Spiral galaxies look nice and tidy, with most of their stars and gas confined to a disc neatly arranged in swirling spiral arms. But there’s a lot more to a galaxy than what we can see, as a new image of invisible phenomena adroitly demonstrates. The image shows a galaxy called NGC 4217, around 67
Thermosets are some of the toughest plastics around. They’re used in products that have to be particularly durable and heat-resistant – but that also makes them very difficult to break down and recycle. That could change with the help of new research into the chemical bonds that hold these thermosets together. The study suggests that
Our collective pandemic experience has made us keenly aware that bats have an uncanny ability to carry around deadly viruses, but somehow still survive. There is a lot we don’t yet know about this enviable virus resistance – along with other bat abilities, such as extreme longevity – but new highly-detailed genome sequences may provide
US officials and scientists have begun laying the groundwork for a more secure “virtually unhackable” internet based on quantum computing technology. At a presentation Thursday, Department of Energy (DOE) officials issued a report that lays out a blueprint strategy for the development of a national quantum internet, using laws of quantum mechanics to transmit information
Many expecting fathers claim they’d love to take on the aching back, cramped organs, and painful contractions of their partner’s pregnancy. But so far, the male seahorse is the only vertebrate to make good on such a swap. These remarkable fish can hold more than 1,000 embryos in a ‘brood pouch’ for up to a
Energy generated from nuclear fusion holds plenty of potential as a clean and almost limitless source of power, but many obstacles need to be overcome before it’s a practical reality – and scientists may have just clambered over another one. New models of an unwanted fusion phenomenon called ‘chirping’, where vital heat can be lost
It’s been busily orbiting and observing Jupiter and its moons for four years now, but the scientific spacecraft Juno still has some surprises to share. For the first time, it has imaged the north pole of one of the oddest objects in the Solar System, Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. There, the constant rain of plasma from
The United States accused Russia on Thursday of test-firing an anti-satellite weapon in space, warning that the threat against Washington’s systems was “real, serious and increasing.” US Space Command “has evidence” that Moscow “conducted a non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon” on July 15, it said in a statement. “Last week’s test is another
A massive survey of the world’s coral reefs has turned up a shocking decline in the populations of reef sharks. Over a three year period, almost no sharks at all were recorded at 19 percent of the reefs being monitored, meaning the predators are “functionally extinct” in up to eight nations. The cause is likely
Scattered through the genomes of humans around the world we can find remnants of a Neanderthal ancestry. In some, this bestows resilience to illness, or even a unique head shape. A rare few, it seems, have inherited the Neanderthals‘ sensitive side. Evolutionary geneticists have taken a close look at a genetic variation in Neanderthal DNA
A new DNA study published Thursday sheds fresh light on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, from the legacy of rape that can be seen in today’s genetics to how disease likely decimated some groups forced to work in deadly conditions. For example, DNA from one African region may be under-represented in the US
China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space. The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July
We humans are a rowdy, disruptive bunch. Our very day-to-day living causes the planet to hum. Quite literally – driving and travelling, digging and construction, industry, and even sports events all contribute to a constant background hum of high-frequency seismic noise. Now, thanks to global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is experiencing the
As scientists scramble to figure out where exactly the coronavirus pandemic emerged, other virologists are still chasing the origins of another once-devastating disease – smallpox. Now, they’ve found viral DNA of an ancient strain of smallpox in Viking Age archaeological remains from northern Europe. The samples, dated at the earliest to 603 CE, provide definitive
When we peer out into intergalactic space, evidence for dark matter is everywhere. It’s in the rotation of galaxies, which cannot be accounted for by observable matter alone. It’s in the way galaxies cluster together, and the path of light as it travels through the Universe. We can’t see dark matter directly, but the effects
Scientists have, for the first time, discovered an active leak of methane gas from the sea floor in Antarctica. It is a process that’s likely to accelerate the process of global heating. The finding was published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the Royal Society B scientific journal on Tuesday. Methane is powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates climate
Tools excavated from a cave in central Mexico are strong evidence that humans were living in North America at least 30,000 years ago, some 15,000 years earlier than previously thought, scientists said Wednesday. Artefacts, including 1,900 stone tools, showed human occupation of the high-altitude Chiquihuite Cave over a roughly 20,000 year period, they reported in
Antarctica is known for its remote and pristine wilderness, as one of the last intact expanses of land on our planet. But after just two centuries of exploration, new research has found there are very few parts of this icy continent that have never been touched by humans. While 99.6 percent of Antarctica can still
The answers to many questions in astronomy are hidden behind the veil of deep time. One of those questions is around the role that supernovae played in the early Universe. It was the job of early supernovae to forge the heavier elements that were not forged in the Big Bang. How did that process play out?
On 15 July 2020, what looked like your typical dry waterway was engulfed by a sickening dust puffing black sludge, reminiscent of the villainous cartoon toxin, Hexxus from FernGully: The Last Rainforest. The Cañada del Oro Wash in Arizona became choked with this monstrosity – known as a sediment slug - after what officials said was a minor storm,
If doomsday comes, know this: precautions have been taken. On an isolated Arctic archipelago, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – aka Norway’s ‘Doomsday Vault’ – holds over 1 million seed samples in a fortress-like bunker designed to be the most invulnerable seed bank in the world. Svalbard protects more than just seeds, though. On the
Just over 300 light-years away is a star that’s a lot like a very young version of our Sun, with multiple exoplanets orbiting it. That’s an interesting find in itself. But what makes the system truly dazzling is that it just became the first of its kind to be directly imaged, planets and all. On
Dogs have an enviable sense of direction. Even in a completely unfamiliar place, our pets have an uncanny way of tracking down a shortcut. For the first time, Czech scientists have found evidence that canines can sense and navigate using Earth’s weak magnetic field. Exactly how they do this and to what extent is still
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