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Trees that grow close together are better at withstanding storms

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As storms become stronger, it might be possible to keep more trees standing if they are planted closer together Environment 11 March 2022 By Alex Wilkins A cedar forest in Kiso district, Nagano prefecture, Japan Sunphol Sorakul/Getty Images Trees that grow close together can survive powerful storms and prevent wind damage by supporting each other. … Read more

When NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flew close by the sun, telescopes were watching from Earth and space

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Telescopes on Earth and in space had the sun safely in their sights when NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made its 11th daring close flyby of the star on Feb. 25, all to understand more about the sun’s behavior. To be clear, the Parker Solar Probe wasn’t directly visible in the various instruments, as the van-sized … Read more

The Closest ‘Black Hole’ to Earth Isn’t What We Thought at All

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What astronomers had concluded to be a black hole a mere 1,120 light-years from Earth instead appears to be something quite different: a two-star system where one of the stars is sucking the life out of the other.   Far from disappointing, though, the conclusion gives astronomers an exciting opportunity to explore how these ‘vampiric’ stars … Read more

T. Rex May Have Actually Been 3 Species, According to a Close Look at The Bones

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A towering colossus and predatory beast, the comically tiny-armed Tyrannosaurus rex is perhaps the most iconic of all prehistoric predators. Its place in the popular imagination is mirrored in academia, with researchers investigating everything from how it walked, to how it mated, to how many there even were.   Despite abundant research into the genus Tyrannosaurus, all adult … Read more

This Extremely Extreme Exoplanet Has Metal Vapor Clouds And Rains Liquid Jewels

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A giant exoplanet 855 light-years away is so extreme, it has clouds of vaporized metals and rains liquid rubies and sapphires. That’s the conclusion astronomers have reached after probing its atmosphere – the most detailed such analysis to date, revealing for the first time the conditions and dynamics of the exoplanet’s permanent night side.   … Read more

Sublime New Hubble Image Reveals a Thrilling Exchange Between Two Galaxies

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The ongoing interaction between two galaxies 320 million light-years away has been captured in a gorgeous Hubble image. They’re collectively known as Arp 282 in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, and they consist of a large barred spiral galaxy named NGC 169, about 140,000 light-years across, and a much smaller polar-ring galaxy named IC … Read more

See Mars shine very close to moon in Saturday’s pre-dawn sky. Here’s where to look.

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Mars and Venus will shine close to the crescent moon 45 minutes before sunrise on Jan. 29, 2022. Look to the southeast on the horizon to see them, weather permitting. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) There’s a cool “close encounter” of worlds happening right against the horizon at sunrise Saturday (Jan. 29). Provided you can see low … Read more

How Biden Could Close Coal Plants without Carbon Regulations

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EPA is preparing to Supreme Court-proof President Biden’s ambitions for a carbon-free power grid by looking beyond direct greenhouse gas regulation and relying on the knock-on effect of stricter air, waste and water rules. It’s a “comprehensive approach” to decarbonize the power grid that’s been in the works since the beginning of the Biden administration … Read more

The Doomsday Clock Is About to Tick, And We’ve Never Been So Close to Midnight

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In less than 24 hours the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will update the Doomsday Clock. It’s currently at 100 seconds from midnight – the metaphorical time when the human race could destroy the world with technologies of its own making.   The hands have never before been this close to midnight. There is scant … Read more

3 newly discovered worlds risk doom orbiting too close to dying stars

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Astronomers have spotted three new exoplanets orbiting dangerously close to their parent stars, on the brink of extinction.  The three exoplanets, named TOI-2337b, TOI-4329b and TOI-2669b, were discovered using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the W. M. Keck Observatory’s High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) in Hawaiʻi. “These planets are in such extreme places that … Read more