Man-made climate change could turn Antarctica green, with plants colonizing the land as ice sheets shrink, scientists have warned. Experts believe clues about the future of the planet can be gleaned from the Pliocene period three million years ago the last time carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were as high as they are today. Carbon dioxide levels in the …
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India destroyed a satellite with a missile last week, and pieces were thrown into a path that risks the international space station
Last week, India destroyed in a move that left many confused, one of its own satellites. According to a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this operation ("Mission Shakti") was performed using a new type of anti-satellite missile. With this one action, Modi claimed that India had "established itself as a spatial", effectively joining the United States, Russia and China. …
Read More »Scientists find hypnotic upward-facing mirror pools on the seabed
Schmidt Ocean Institute Thanks to some underground underwater researchers, I am now firmly convinced that the seabed contains portals for a Stranger Things -que Upside Down. A team of scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute have spent their days exploring the depth of California Golf as part of the "Microbial Mysteries" expedition. During the last month, the team has tried …
Read More »SpaceX test-burner engine on massive new Starship for the first time
SpaceX's massive new spacecraft successfully tested its rocket engine for the first time Wednesday. The "jumper" version of the Starship rocket – called Starhopper – did not leave the ground, but the powerful Raptor engine was fired shortly attached to the ground at the SpaceX plant in southern Texas. "Starhopper finished tethered hop. All systems green," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon …
Read More »Transparent wood that stores and releases heat created by scientists
Scientists have created transparent wood that can absorb and release heat. This tree could one day be used in the construction industry to make environmentally friendly buildings where researchers presented their findings at the American Chemical Society (ACS) in the spring of 2019 National Meeting & Exposition. In 2016, a team led by Lars Berglund from KTH Royal Institute of …
Read More »Dinosaur extermination is an unsolved mystery. This old fish may have turned off some important evidence.
To some extent, fossils are photographic images of the past. One still from millions or even billions of years ago is preserved within the Earth's bedrock, under layers accumulated over time. If you're lucky, use these copies as a snapshot of the past. With that logic, a new set of fossils found in North Dakota could possibly give us our …
Read More »Scientists clarify the origin of photons in mysterious gamma-ray bursts
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from the RIKEN cluster for pioneering research and business partners have used simulations to show that photons emitted by long gamma ray bursts, among the most energetic events taking place in the universe, originate from the photo sphere – the visible part of it "relativistic jet" emitted by exploding stars. Gamma-ray bursts are the most …
Read More »As Sea Ice Disappears, So Do Nutrients for Wildlife
Arctic sea ice continues to suffer long-term declines — and many scientists are concerned with the future that will see no ice cover during the warmest months. Ice-free summers could help accelerate climate change in the rapidly warming Arctic, scientists say, and have profound consequences on the region's delicate ecosystem, from algae to polar bears. sea ice to keep tabs …
Read More »Starliner first flight delayed, crew mission not likely by 2020
Enlarge / Technicians at the Boeing Space Environment Test Facility in El Segundo, California, After several weeks of rumors NASA has officially announced that the first test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will slip from April to August. However, it is worth noting that NASA still characterizes it as a "work date" rather than a confirmed start date. As part …
Read More »Two years before the detection of gravitational waves, two KITP postdocs at UC Santa Barbara had a novel idea
Two neutron stars collide, sending out gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation detected on Earth in 2017. Credit: FERMILAB The history of science is filled with stories of enthusiastic researchers slowly winning over skeptical colleagues to their point of view. Astrophysicist Scott Hughes can relate to these. "For the first 15 or 16 years of my career I was …
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