Science

How Does Climate Change Affect Deadly Tornadoes? A Scientist Explains

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The deadly tornado outbreak that tore through communities from Arkansas to Illinois on the night of 10-11 December 2021, was so unusual in its duration and strength, particularly for December, that a lot of people including the US president are asking what role climate change might have played – and whether tornadoes will become more … Read more

Mysterious Object That Survived a Close Encounter With a Black Hole Is Unmasked

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A mysterious cloud that somehow survived a close encounter with a supermassive black hole has now been unmasked. According to a new study of the object, called G2, it’s actually three baby stars, shrouded in a thick cloud of the gas and dust from which they were born. This interpretation offers a very tidy solution … Read more

Bizarre Transparent Fish That Sees Through Its Own Head Captured in Rare Footage

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Thousands of feet beneath the surface of Monterey Bay off California, scientists recently captured footage of a fish with a bulbous, translucent head and green orb-like eyes that peer out through its forehead.   This bizarre creature, known as a barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma), is very rarely seen. Researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research … Read more

Stunning New Images Reveal The Chaotic Glory of The Sun in Mind-Blowing Detail

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You’re looking at a 300-megapixel photo of our Sun. Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy used a specially modified telescope, taking over 150,000 individual photos and combining them into this magnificent image (see below).   “It took about 10 hours to stack all the data, and another 3-4 hours to get it from a raw stack to the final image,” … Read more

Where to see the northern lights: 2022 aurora borealis guide

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Photos don’t do the northern lights justice. To fully appreciate the glory and grandeur of this celestial display, which is also known as the aurora borealis, you have to settle beneath the ever-changing lights and watch them curve and curl, slither and flicker. Here’s how to see the northern lights.  Amazing auroras: Stunning northern lights photos The first … Read more

Russian Proton rocket launches two communications satellites to space

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A Russian Proton rocket overcame a one-week delay to launch two communications satellites into space Monday (Dec. 13). The Express-AMU3 and Express-AMU7 spacecraft flew to space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:07 a.m. EST (1207 GMT or 5:07 p.m. local time). Russian space agency Roscosmos reported launch success and said the upper stage … Read more

Thwaites glacier could break free of Antarctica by 2030

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Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier could break free of the continent within 10 years, which could lead to catastrophic sea level rise and potentially set off a domino effect in surrounding ice Environment 13 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Thwaites glacier on the West Antarctic ice sheet NASA/OIB/Jeremy Harbeck The front of a “doomsday glacier” in Antarctica … Read more

Air pollution: Almost 8000 lives being saved as US moves to vehicles that emit fewer tiny particles known as PM2.5

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Almost 8000 fewer lives are being lost to air pollution from vehicle emissions in the US per year, thanks to cleaner engines that produce fewer tiny particles   Health 13 December 2021 By Clare Wilson Cars in a traffic jam Shutterstock/LanaElcova Nearly 8000 lives are being saved in the US every year thanks to … Read more