News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Uranus and Neptune are the most twin-like of all the planets in the Solar System. They are almost the same size and mass, have similar compositions and structures, even similar rotation rates. Which makes one glaring difference quite perplexing. Neptune is a fetching shade of azure, with visible swirling storms. Uranus is more of … Read more
Melting ice can take on different shapes depending on the temperature of the water around it, new research reveals, giving us new insights into the complex physics that underlie this deceptively complicated transition. The team behind the research created ultra-pure ‘clear’ ice for their experiments, free from bubbles and impurities, then observed the ice … Read more
For the ancient Maya people who lived across central America for thousands of years, the cacao plant that chocolate comes from was considered to be a gift from the gods – so much so that beans from these trees were used as a unit of currency. Now, researchers have been able to identify new … Read more
Coral reefs have long been regarded as one of the earliest and most significant ecological casualties of global warming. In new research published in the journal PLOS Climate, we found that the future of these tropical ecosystems – thought to harbor more species than any other – is probably worse than anticipated. Climate change … Read more
A jaw-dropping lightning megaflash that snaked across three states in the southern US just won a world record. A megaflash is not your standard cloud-to-ground lightning bolt. It’s an enormous electric zigzag that travels from one electrified cloud to the next, almost instantaneously. A big enough thunderstorm system can allow a megaflash to cover hundreds of … Read more
It’s a shame that the best episode of “The Book of Boba Fett” didn’t even feature him, but what an episode! (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm) Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Book of Boba Fett” Episode 5 There are so many things to take away from episode 5 of “The Book of Boba Fett,” the new spinoff … Read more
A CME erupted on Jan. 30, 2022 and is set to arrive at Earth on Feb. 2, 2022. (Image credit: SOHO) A powerful solar flare has been traveling through space and it will arrive at planet Earth Wednesday (Feb. 2). In the early hours of Saturday morning (Jan. 30), a coronal mass ejection, a powerful … Read more
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Climate change is raising flood risks in neighborhoods across the U.S. much faster than many people realize. Over the next three decades, the cost of flood damage is on pace to rise 26% due to climate change alone, an … Read more
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has snagged a sample to replace the material that got stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled into a rock called Issole on Dec. 29, 2021, collecting its sixth cored sample since touching down inside the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater last February. But the car-sized rover couldn’t seal up the titanium tube … Read more
An unprecedentedly detailed new telescope image of the complex heart of our galaxy is now giving researchers their best view yet of hundreds of strange magnetic filaments seen nowhere else. To construct the image, astronomers used 200 hours of time on the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (SARAO) MeerKAT telescope. Consisting of 64 antennas spread … Read more