Science

Dimming The Sun Is a Dangerous Gamble And Should Be Banned, Scientists Warn

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Planetary-scale engineering schemes designed to cool Earth’s surface and lessen the impact of global heating are potentially dangerous and should be blocked by governments, more than 60 policy experts and scientists said on Monday.   Even if injecting billions of sulphur particles into the middle atmosphere – the most hotly debated plan for so-called solar radiation … Read more

Mars rover detects carbon signature that hints at past life source | Science

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Since 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover has trundled across Mars, drilling into rocks and running the grit through a sophisticated onboard chemistry lab, aiming to tease out evidence for life. Today, a team of rover scientists announced an intriguing signal, one that may or may not be evidence of past life, but is, at the very … Read more

Sleep: Unknown voices spark more activity in sleeping brain than familiar ones

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Unfamiliar voices seem to put the sleeping brain on alert in a way that familiar voices don’t Humans 17 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Electroencephalography (EEG) is used to monitor brain activity Shutterstock / NPS_87 The sleeping brain is more active if it hears unfamiliar voices rather than familiar ones. The finding suggests that … Read more

This Medieval Italian Man Replaced His Amputated Hand With a Knife

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In 2018, archaeologists described a truly fascinating puzzle. It looks like this medieval Italian man went through life with a knife attached to his arm, in place of his amputated hand.   The skeleton in question was found in a Longobard necropolis in the north of Italy, dating back to around the 6th to 8th centuries … Read more

Ozone pollution: Gas causes $63 billion damage per year to East Asian crops

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Rising levels of ground-level ozone in China and nearby countries are having a big effect on the yields of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize Environment 17 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Emissions from vehicles in places like Beijing, China, are contributing to a rise in ozone pollution in East Asia AerialPerspective … Read more

Striking satellite photo captures Mount Vesuvius peering through a hole in the clouds

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In this image captured Jan. 2 by the Landsat 8 satellite Mount Vesuvius is clearly visible through a circular hole in the clouds. (Image credit: Joshua Stevens/Landsat/NASA Earth Observatory) One of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, Mount Vesuvius, appears to “peer up” into the sky through an eerily circular hole in the clouds in this … Read more

In a First, an ‘Atomic Fountain’ Has Measured the Curvature of Spacetime

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In 1797, English scientist Henry Cavendish measured the strength of gravity with a contraption made of lead spheres, wooden rods and wire. In the 21st century, scientists are doing something very similar with rather more sophisticated tools: atoms. Gravity might be an early subject in introductory physics classes, but that doesn’t mean scientists aren’t still trying to … Read more