Sci/Tech

An international team of researchers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. The measurement is based on the planet’s thermal emission: heat energy given off in the form of infrared light detected by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The result indicates that the planet’s dayside has a […]

In summer 2021, a stunning heat wave swept western North America, from British Columbia to Washington, Oregon and beyond into other inland areas where the climate is generally mild. Temperature records were set by tens of degrees in many places, wildfires broke out, and at least 1,400 people died. Scientists blamed the event largely on […]

Stonehenge is an astonishingly complex monument, which attracts attention mostly for its spectacular megalithic circle and “horseshoe”, built around 2600 BC. Over the years, several theories have been put forward about Stonehenge’s meaning and function. Today, however, archaeologists have a rather clear picture of this monument as a “place for the ancestors”, located within a […]

March 23, 2023 – If we were to ask a room full of women how many of them had never experienced mansplaining, very few would raise their hands. Or even no one at all. Similarly, if we were to ask a room full of men how many of them had manterrupted a woman, not many of them […]

A NASA Earth-observing satellite has helped researchers track carbon dioxide emissions for more than 100 countries around the world. The pilot project offers a powerful new look at the carbon dioxide being emitted in these countries and how much of it is removed from the atmosphere by forests and other carbon-absorbing “sinks” within their borders. The […]

March 6, 2023 – Sexual minority families—where parental sexual orientation or gender identity is considered outside cultural, societal, or physiological norms—fare as well as, or better than, ‘traditional’ families with parents of the opposite sex, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. Parental sexual orientation […]

Sea level rise this century may disproportionately affect certain Asian megacities as well as western tropical Pacific islands and the western Indian Ocean, according to new research that looks at the effects of natural sea level fluctuations on the projected rise due to climate change. The study, led by scientists at the French National Center […]

3D rendering of the tiktaalik, an extinct walking fish. Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock Chris Organ, University of Reading When you think about human evolution, there’s a good chance you’re imagining chimpanzees exploring ancient forests or early humans daubing woolly mammoths on to cave walls. But we humans, along with bears, lizards, hummingbirds and Tyrannosaurus rex, are actually […]

February 22, 2023 – In a new study, an international team of astrophysicists has discovered several mysterious objects hiding in images from the James Webb Space Telescope: six potential galaxies that emerged so early in the universe’s history and are so massive they should not be possible under current cosmological theory. Each of the candidate […]

February 16, 2023 – Large-scale infrastructure projects can profoundly affect local economies, but assessing these effects is challenging. In a new study, a researcher evaluated all large-scale hydroelectric dams built in the United States in the 20th century. He found that dams constructed in the first half of the century spurred short- and long-term growth, […]

For the seventh time, a small asteroid – a meteoroid as astronomers call it — was discovered in space as it raced towards Earth impact. The predicted time and location of the impact (02:50 – 03:03 UTC, above northern France) were made possible with observations by European astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky using the 60 cm Schmidt telescope from […]

During a break from looking at planets around other stars, ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (Cheops) mission has observed a dwarf planet in our own Solar System and made a decisive contribution to the discovery of a dense ring of material around it. The dwarf planet is known as Quaoar. The presence of a ring at a distance […]

An extremely large earthquake has occurred in the southeast of Turkey, near the border with Syria. Data from seismometers which measure shaking of the ground caused by earthquake waves suggest this this event, in the early morning of February 6, was a magnitude 7.8 out of 10 on the moment magnitude scale. Seismic waves were […]

ARLINGTON, VA, CHICAGO and DALLAS, February 6, 2023 — Leading health organizations are urging people to get a flu shot if they haven’t already done so. Compared to last year’s mild flu season,[1] the U.S. has already seen more than three times the number of flu-related deaths.[2] While seasonal influenza activity shows a declining trend,[3] flu season is expected to […]

February 2, 2023 – Microscopic plants called phytoplankton have gained scientific fame for their key role in transferring carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean, but they now may need to share their spotlight with salps, the jelly-like organisms that feed on them. The ocean is a major reservoir of carbon, absorbing large quantities of […]

January 26, 2023 – The Amazon rainforest has been degraded by a much greater extent than scientists previously believed with more than a third of remaining forest affected by humans, according to a new study published on January 27 in the journal Science. The paper was led by an international team of 35 scientists and researchers, from institutions such […]

January 26, 2023 – Fathers exposed to chemicals in plastics can affect the metabolic health of their offspring for two generations, a University of California, Riverside, mouse study reports. Plastics, which are now ubiquitous, contain endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, that have been linked to increased risk of many chronic diseases; parental exposure to EDCs, for example, […]

On Thursday, Jan. 26, a small near-Earth asteroid will have a very close encounter with our planet. Designated 2023 BU, the asteroid will zoom over the southern tip of South America at about 4:27 p.m. PST (7:27 p.m. EST) only 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) above the planet’s surface and well within the orbit of geosynchronous […]

Curtin University-led research into the durability and age of an ancient asteroid made of rocky rubble and dust, revealed significant findings that could contribute to potentially saving the planet if one ever hurtled toward Earth. The international team studied three tiny dust particles collected from the surface of ancient 500-metre-long rubble pile asteroid, Itokawa, returned […]