Mather & Percival, Conversation
The dinosaurs may have volcanoes to thank for their domination of the planet, at least according to one theory. Most scientists think that a severe bout of volcanic activity 200m years ago may have...
Ramin Skibba, Quanta
Does space-time emerge from a network of quantum bits? That's the theory behind emergent gravity, an idea most recently proposed by Erik Verlinde, a theoretical physicist at the University of Amsterdam. His theory does away with the need for dark matter unseen particles that appear to affect the behavior of galaxies and other large-scale structures in the universe.
Rachel Hartigan Shea, Nat Geo
Nearly 80 years ago, on July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, New Guinea, in a Lockheed Electra 10E on one of the last legs of their around-the-world flight. They were aiming for tiny Howland Island just north of the equator. They couldn't find it, and despite many attempts, no one has been able to find them.
Joshua Sokol, Science News
In early 2016, astronomers made a stunning claim: A giant planet was patrolling the farthest reaches of our solar system. Planet Nine, as they called it, was too far away to see directly. So its existence was inferred from the way its gravity had herded six distant icy worlds into clustered orbits.
Abigail Beall, Wired UK
With the potential to provide almost limitless energy, free of any radioactive by-product or greenhouse gases, nuclear fusion is the goal many are aiming to achieve.Creating a system to harness the power of nuclear fusion is proving difficult, however. Now, researchers think they have taken a step closer to that goal.
Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic
Summertime in Washington, D.C. sometimes seems like an exercise in survival. There are swampy heatwaves in a region where the standard dress-code includes a blazer. And a metro that always seems to be catching fire.But also: squirrel attacks.I was attacked by a squirrel while running this morning so that's a real thing that happens apparently, my colleague Adam Serwer told me this morning.
Shaena Montanari, Nat Geo
For wildebeest, the yearly migration across the Serengeti can mean life or death.Predators such as crocodiles and big cats lie in wait as the herd of more than one million makes its 1,000-mile loop across the savannas of Tanzania and Kenya.But one of the most seriousand overlookedthreats of this overland migration is drowning. With thousands crossing the Mara River at the same time, scores of the antelopes are swept away by the current. (Read how wildebeest know when... Читать дальше...
Rebecca Morelle, BBC
A million-year-long period of extreme volcanic activity most likely paved the way for the dawn of the dinosaurs, a study suggests.Scientists have analysed ancient rocks and have found traces of emissions from huge volcanic eruptions that happened about 200 million years ago.This would have led to one of the largest mass extinctions on record, enabling dinosaurs to become dominant.
Tariq Malik, Space.com
SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket to at least Friday (June 23), setting the stage for a possible "weekend doubleheader," company representatives said this weekend.On Sunday (June 18), SpaceX announced it had pushed back the Monday afternoon launch of a Bulgarian communications satellite to no earlier than Friday so ground crews could replace a valve on the Falcon 9 booster.The delay means SpaceX will now launch a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket... Читать дальше...
Dennis Overbye, NYT
Are we still alone?Setting the stage for the next chapter in the quest to end cosmic loneliness, astronomers released a list on Monday of 4,034 objects they are 90 percent sure are planets orbiting other stars.The new list is the final and most reliable result of a four-year cosmic census of a tiny region of the Milky Way by NASA's Kepler spacecraft.
Matt Williams, Universe Today
The aerospike engine is a time-honored concept. In the past, NASA tested the concept extensively on the ground and hoped to incorporate it into the Space Shuttle and their next-generation Venture Star program (a Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) vehicle). However, due to budget constraints, the Space Shuttle ended up being equipped with bell-shaped nozzles instead, and the Venture Star never saw the light of day. But thanks to New Mexico-based aerospace company ARCA... Читать дальше...
Belle Dume, Nanotechweb
An entirely artificial nano-biocatalyst for converting sunlight into hydrogen that works at ambient temperature in water at neutral pH has been developed by researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory in the US. The catalyst, which consists of a synthetic transmembrane proton pump and titanium-dioxide semiconductor nanoparticles, produces around 240 mol and 17.74 mmmol of hydrogen per hour when exposed to monochromatic green and white light, respectively. The work is... Читать дальше...
John Timmer, Ars Tech
Gas giants like Jupiter have to grow fast. Newborn stars are embedded in a disk of gas and dust that goes on to form planets. But the ignition of the star releases energy that drives away much of the gas within a relatively short time. Thus, producing something like Jupiter involved a race to gather material before it was pushed out of the Solar System entirely.Simulations have suggested that Jupiter could have won this race by quickly building a massive, solid core that was able to start drawing in nearby gas. Читать дальше...