Scientists spot supermassive black hole hiding inside thick cosmic dust

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A supermassive black hole masked by a cloud of cosmic dust was found at the center of an active galaxy in new images from the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The galaxy, known as Messier 77 or NGC 1068, is a barred spiral galaxy located about 47 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cetus. Taken … Read more

COVID Dominated Their Science Lives: Here’s What Four Experts Learned over Two Years

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Amesh Adalja, Rupali Limaye, Jeffrey Shaman and Brian Wahl all know SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, inside and out. Adalja, an ER doctor and biosecurity specialist, saw this pandemic coming back in 2018 when he headed a report called The Characteristics of Pandemic Pathogens. It states, “The most probable naturally occurring [global catastrophic biological risk]–level threat that humans face is … Read more

Professional Sports Leagues Need to Reduce Their Carbon Footprints

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North American sports leagues have at best an inconsistent track record on sustainability; while they all offer some mix of elementary school environmentalism (tree planting, recycling, and preventing food waste), most bask in luxury on board hyperpolluting private planes traveling across the world. This behavior sends a mixed message. Emissions from air travel are the … Read more

The Pandemic Set Off a Boom in Diagnostics

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A decade ago Willy Ssengooba began crisscrossing Uganda, training health-care workers on how to use a new machine to detect tuberculosis. The deadly lung disease infects around 90,000 people in the East African nation annually, but it can sometimes take months to diagnose using traditional methods such as culturing samples of coughed-up sputum. These new … Read more

Best cameras for low light photography

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Low light shooting is notoriously difficult. After all, cameras are designed to capture light and record it, so if there’s less light, it’s harder for the camera to do its job. There are a few things you should look for when considering whether or not to purchase one of the best cameras for low light … Read more

Historic sea level rise predicted by NASA and government task force

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As climate change continues to progress, so will its effects. In a new collaborative report, NASA and other U.S. government agencies have found that sea levels will rise up to a foot by 2050.  The report, which comes from a sea level rise task force that includes a number of government agencies including NASA as … Read more

Moon’s Hidden Depths Uncovered with New Algorithm

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Certain areas near the moon’s poles linger perpetually in shadow, never receiving direct sunlight. Recent studies suggest these so-called permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) contain rich ice reservoirs that could reveal details about the early solar system; they could also help future visitors make fuel and other resources. But these areas are hard to photograph from … Read more

Luxury watchmaker Ulysses Nardin unveils Blast Moonstruck watch that charts moon phases

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A new luxury watch closely tracks the phases of the moon in an elegant format — and comes with a hefty price tag. On Feb. 1, the Swiss luxury watchmaking company Ulysse Nardin launched a new wristwatch called “Blast Moonstruck,” which aims to show how the moon, the sun and other celestial movements appear from … Read more

Celebrate Perseverance rover’s 1-year ‘Marsiversary’ with these events

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The Perseverance rover is about to celebrate one year on Mars, and NASA wants you to be part of the party. The space agency and mission team members are holding a variety of events around the country to mark the “Marsiversary” of the life-hunting, sample-caching Perseverance and the tiny helicopter Ingenuity, which touched down with … Read more