News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
MUON MATTERS In “The Unseen Universe,” Marcela Carena describes apparent discrepancies between the observed behavior of muons—one of the three types of charged leptons—and calculations based on the Standard Model of particle physics. If the discrepancies for muons are real, I would also expect discrepancies for tau leptons. VAN SNYDER La Crescenta, Calif. As a … Read more
SpaceX will launch more than four dozen satellites and land the returning rocket on Monday (Feb. 21), and you can watch the action live. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 49 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Sunday at 9:44 a.m. EST (1444 … Read more
The latest U.S. astronauts to follow John Glenn into orbit and the Australian city that lit up for his mission 60 years ago both celebrated the legacy of Glenn’s historic American spaceflight. The four NASA crew members currently on board the International Space Station marked the anniversary in a video while the airport in Perth, … Read more
The United States’ human spaceflight program got a much-needed shot in the arm 60 years ago today. On Feb. 20, 1962, NASA astronaut John Glenn launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral inside a tiny capsule named Friendship 7. The Mercury spacecraft circled Earth three times, ultimately splashing down near the Turks and Caicos Islands four hours … Read more
In the Mediterranean region, the soil is degrading, and land is turning to desert faster than anywhere else in the European Union, according to a new analysis. Experts warn that the combined effects of unsustainable land practices and climate change have depleted a finite resource to a critical point. A recent publication by a … Read more
Flowering plants in the Antarctic region are rapidly expanding, scientists say, indicating the continuing effects of climate change on the continent. The findings suggest we may have reached a tipping point in this fragile, remote ecosystem. A new study of this plant expansion looked at the two flowering plants native to Antarctica, Deschampsia antarctica … Read more
Earth’s last major ice age locked up gargantuan amounts of water in vast glaciers. Once they melted, it was a spectacle to behold as tremendous floods gouged channels into the face of the planet. The remnants of one of the largest of these ancient deluges are still visible in eastern Washington, in an area … Read more
These are strange times indeed! During the Super Bowl this past week, fans were zapped with a mind-warping new trailer for Marvel Studios’ upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (May 6) and the far-out preview perfectly captures the Sorcerer Supreme’s trippy dimensional-hopping insanity. Stepping in for “Doctor Strange” helmer Scott Derrickson, who did … Read more
China’s Tiangong space station is still under construction but the astronauts aboard are already bringing aspects of Chinese traditions and culture into space. Shenzhou 13 mission astronaut Wang Yaping, China’s second woman in space and the first aboard the space station, played a song with a guzheng, a traditional Chinese string instrument, aboard the Tianhe … Read more
Record-breaking gusts of up to 122 mph (196 km/h) were recorded in England Friday (Feb. 18) as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and parts of the Netherlands and France face their worst storm in over three decades. Trees have collapsed, trucks and cars have toppled on their sides, and thousands of homes have been left … Read more