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The festive season will be dominated by a large wave of covid-19 infections caused by the omicron variant, but few countries appear to have substantially changed their plans Health 13 December 2021 By Michael Le Page A shop window in Tehran, Iran Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images There now seems little doubt that the Christmas … Read more
Solar system formation began approximately 4.5 billion years ago, when gravity pulled a cloud of dust and gas together to form our solar system. Scientists can’t directly study how our own solar system formed, but combining observations of young stellar systems in a range of wavelengths with computer simulations has led to models of what … Read more
Two pulsars locked in close binary orbit have once again validated predictions made by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Over 16 years, an international team of astronomers has observed the pulsar pair, named PSR J0737−3039A/B, finding that the relativistic effects can be measured in the timing of their pulses – just as predicted and expected. … Read more
The tornado outbreak that likely killed more than 100 people over the weekend was an anomaly in every way possible. The deaths were concentrated in a state—Kentucky—that has been relatively unscathed by tornadoes and tornado fatalities. The outbreak hit during a month when tornadoes are least likely to occur. And it struck at night, when … Read more
An alarming crackup has begun at the foot of Antarctica’s vulnerable Thwaites Glacier, whose meltwater is already responsible for about 4% of global sea-level rise. An ice sheet the size of Florida, Thwaites ends its slide into the ocean as a floating ledge of ice 45 kilometers wide. But now this ice shelf, riven by … Read more
When COVID shut down life as usual in the spring of 2020, most physicians in the U.S. focused on the immediate physical dangers from the novel coronavirus. But soon pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris began thinking of COVID’s longer-term emotional damage and those who would be especially vulnerable: children. “The pandemic is a massive stressor,” explains … Read more
On 8 December 2020, Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. 12 months and billions of shots later, several countries are already on a third round of coronavirus vaccinations Health 8 December 2021 By Clare Wilson Margaret Keenan was vaccinated at University … Read more
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Mike Lee, Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University How did the crocodiles survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs? – Éamonn, age 5, Western Australia Hi Éamonn! This is a great question, … Read more
By Rowan Hooper NIKO TAVERNISE/NETFLIX The Netflix disaster-satire film Don’t Look Up is a thinly-veiled metaphor for humanity’s haphazard efforts to tackle climate change, told through the story of a giant comet that’s on a collision course with Earth. New Scientist podcast editor Rowan Hooper reviewed Don’t Look Up with the help of Emily Atkin, … Read more
A new Hubble Space Telescope image of a spiral galaxy shows sparkling stars, including a couple that snuck into the foreground. The telescope captured UGC 11537, a galaxy 230 million light-years away in the constellation Aquila; the galaxy sits at almost 10 times the distance to the spectacular Andromeda Galaxy (M31) that is just barely … Read more