Our Solar System is trying to kill us. Four catastrophic ways Earth could eventually be obliterated
As the late ex-Beatle George Harrison wrote, “All things must pass”. His lyrics resonate with our daily affairs,…
Australians missing in Nepal targeted by ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘abhorrent’ racist slurs | Nepal-Tibet flood disaster
A slew of racist social media comments have been made towards Australians missing in the catastrophic Nepal-Tibet floods,…
Starwatch: Sagitta’s arrow shape makes it easy to see against a dark sky | Astronomy
We are on the hunt for another small, northern summer constellation this week: Sagitta, the arrow. Although it…
A millionth of a second after the Big Bang, matter existed as a near-perfect liquid so hot that protons and neutrons could not yet form—and CERN has now recreated a microscopic droplet of it using oxygen nuclei, the smallest collision system yet to reveal one of its defining signatures.
During the universe’s first few microseconds, temperatures were too high for quarks and gluons to remain confined inside…
Charity thanks HMP La Moye inmates for work to save hedgehogs
An animal charity has thanked prison inmates for helping to save hedgehogs’ lives. Prisoners in HMP La Moye,…
Kepler stared at the same 150,000 stars in Cygnus for four years without looking away, watching for the tiny dimming of a planet crossing in front of them, and the four years of staring turned up more than 2,600 confirmed worlds
Every telescope before it was built to look around. Kepler was built to stare. Launched in March 2009…
Forbidden planet: was Pluto’s 2006 demotion a big mistake? | Astronomy
Twenty years ago, Pluto got demoted. After a vote by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 2006,…
Quantum interference offers a radically different way to measure time
A new “quantum watch” uses changing interference patterns inside excited helium atoms to determine how much time has…
Virginia scientists discover the cues black bears use for hibernation
Researchers have long assumed that the timing of American black bear (Ursus americanus) annual hibernation mostly depends on…
Antarctica developed a continental-scale ice sheet 34 million years ago while Earth was about 5°C warmer than today — helped by slow-moving mantle waves that had spent more than 100 million years lifting its interior high enough for permanent ice to survive.
Antarctica did not wait for Earth to become as cold as it is today. At the Eocene-Oligocene transition…
NASA Deep Space Network’s New Goldstone Antenna Goes Online
Long shadows are cast by the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone…
Scientists catch a laser beam pushing an atom sideways for first time
A spinning table-tennis ball can suddenly bend away from its expected path. This is called the Magnus effect. …